Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY (7th Ed) Chapter 10 Thinking and Language Part 2 James A. McCubbin, PhD Clemson University Worth Publishers.

Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY

(7th Ed)

Chapter 10

Thinking and LanguagePart 2

James A. McCubbin, PhDClemson University

Worth Publishers

Language

Language our spoken, written, or gestured

works and the way we combine them to communicate meaning

Language

Phoneme in a spoken language, the smallest

distinctive sound unit “th”

Morpheme in a language, the smallest unit that

carries meaning may be a word or a part of a word

(such as a prefix) “I”

Language

Grammar a system of rules in a language that enables

us to communicate with and understand others

Semantics the set of rules by which we derive meaning

from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language

also, the study of meaning Syntax

the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language

Language We are all born to recognize speech sounds from all

the world’s languages

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Percentage ableto discriminateHindi t’s

Hindi-speaking

adults

6-8 months

8-10months

10-12months

English-speaking

adultsInfants from English-speaking homes

Language Babbling Stage

beginning at 3 to 4 months the stage of speech development in

which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language

One-Word Stage from about age 1 to 2 the stage in speech development

during which a child speaks mostly in single words

Language

Two-Word Stage beginning about age 2 the stage in speech development

during which a child speaks in mostly two-word statements

Telegraphic Speech early speech stage in which the child

speaks like a telegram-–“go car”--using mostly nouns and verbs and omitting “auxiliary” words

Language

Summary of Language Development

Month(approximate)

Stage

4

10

12

24

24+

Babbles many speech sounds.

Babbling reveals households language.

One-word stage.

Two-world, telegraphic speech.

Language develops rapidly intocomplete sentences.

Language

Genes design the mechanisms for a language, and experience activates them as it modifies the brain

Language

New language learning gets harder with age

100

90

80

70

60

50Native 3-7 8-10 11-15 17-39

Percentage correct ongrammar test

Age at school

Skinner explains Language

Operant Conditioning Association: we associate the sight of

things with the sounds of words Imitation: copy model’s words and

syntax Reinforcements: smile and such when

we get it right

Chomsky explains language

Inborn universal grammar He says babies learn to fast for Skinner

to be right Babies understand language before

they start speaking Language acquisition device in us

activates when we experience language

Language explanations

Cognitive NeuroscientistsBelieve in statistical learning (a combination of Skinner and Chomsky)

Thinking and Language are linked

Linguistic DeterminismWhorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think

Different languages impose different concepts of reality

Language influenced Thinking

Relationship between language and culture

Gender linked (stereotypes)New words = new ways of thinkingLearning a new language is very

beneficial

Language

The interplay of thought and language

Thinking without Language

Think in imagesMentally practice skills

or proceduresVisualize overcoming

things or positive outcomes

Animal Thinking and Language

The straight-line part of the dance points in the direction of a nectar source, relative to the sun

Direction ofnectar source

Honey bees

Karl von FrischThey do communicate, but not

considered languageDance

Animal Thinking and Language

Gestured Communication

Animal Thinking and Language

Is this really language?

Do Animals Think

Show insightUse of toolsSolve problemsMost agree they are on level of 2

year old humanGarnders taught sign language to

Washoe the ChimpPatterson taught Koko the gorilla

Can Apes really talk?

Limited vocabulary and with great difficulty

To similar to classical conditioningInterchange phrases w/out realizing that

meaning has changedMany say it’s just modelingAnd that trainers are biased

Younger animals learn more/better/faster People still disagree