Transcript Cognition and Language
Cognition and Language
Chapter 7
Building Blocks of Thought
• Language – A flexible system of symbols that enables us to
communicate our ideas, thoughts, and feelings
– Nonhumans communicate primarily though
signs
– Human language is
semantic , or meaningful
– It is also characterized by
displacement that it is not limited to the here-and-now in
Structure of Language
• Phonemes – Basic sounds (ph, t) • Morphemes – smallest meaning unit (words, prefixes) • Surface structure – Phrases of sentence • Deep structure – Underlying meaning of a sentence • Grammar – Rules of how sounds combine
Building Blocks of Thought
• Images – Nonverval mental representations of sensory
experiences
• Concepts – Mental categories for classifying people,
objects, or experiences
– Prototype • Mental model containing the most typical
features of a concept
Language, Thought and Culture
Language and Cognition
• Linguistic determinism – Idea that patterns of thinking are determined
by the specific language one speaks
– Research only mildly supports the idea
Culture and Cognition
• All known cultures use categories to form
concepts
• Culture has an effect on – What information is included in a category – How categories are shaped by experience
Nonhuman Thought and Language
• Animal cognition – Animals can form concepts – Apes have demonstrated sophisticated
problem-solving skills
– Chimpanzees and orangutans show signs of
self-awareness
Nonhuman Thought and Language
• The question of language – Chimpanzees have been taught to use
American Sign Language
– Chimpanzees have been observed using
telegraphic speech (two-word combinations)
– Some chimps have learned to use keyboard
symbols to communicate even without formal training
Problem Solving Steps
• Problem representation – Interpreting or defining the problem • Deciding the category a problem belongs to • Selecting a solution strategy • Evaluating progress toward goal
Possible Solution Strategies
• Trial and error – Works best with limited number of choices • Information retrieval – Retrieve from memory information about how such a
problem has been solved in the past
• Algorithms – Step-by-step methods that guarantees a solution – Math problems are an example of the type best
solved using an algorithm
• Heuristics – Rules of thumb that may help simplify a problem,
but do not guarantee a solution
Heuristic Methods
• Hill climbing • Means-end analysis – Move progressively
closer to goal without moving backward
• Subgoals – Aims to reduce the
discrepancy between the current situation and the desired goal at a number of intermediate points
– Break large problem
into smaller, more manageable ones, each of which is easier to solve than the whole problem
• Working backward – Work backward from
the desired goal to the existing condition
Obstacles to Solving Problems
• Motivation – Desire to solve a problem • Mental sets – Tendency to perceive and approach problems
in certain ways
• Functional fixedness – Tendency to see only a limited number of uses
for an object
Creative Problem Solving
• Brainstorming – Produces many ideas – Very popular in business – Ideas are not judged when generated • The creative process – People often become more creative when exposed to
creative peers
Becoming a More Skillful Problem Solver
• Eliminate poor choices • Visualize a solution • Develop expertise • Think flexibly
Decision Making
• Decision making is a special case of problem
solving in which possible solutions or choices are already known
• Logical decision making – Compensatory model • Rational decision-making model in which choices
are systematically evaluated on various criteria
• Example: buying a car – Good when issues are well-defined
Decision-Making Heuristics
• Heuristic processes are used when decisions
involve a high degree of ambiguity
• Representativeness heuristic – New information is compared to our model of the
typical member of a category (prototype)
• Availability heuristic – Decision is based on information that is most easily
retrieved from memory, even if incomplete
• Confirmation bias – Tendency to notice evidence that supports our beliefs
and to ignore evidence that contradicts them
Framing
• How information is presented (or framed) can
have an effect on the outcome of decision making
• Research has demonstrated that framing can
have very dramatic effects on decision-making
Decisions Under Pressure
• When decisions are required quickly, experience
plays a key role
• With increased pressure in an emergency
situation, decision making often deteriorates and can end in panic
Explaining Our Decisions
• •
Hindsight bias
– Tendency to view the outcomes of decisions as
inevitable and predictable after we know the outcome Counterfactual thinking
– Thinking about alternative realities and things that
never happened
– Often takes the form of “If only…” constructions
dealing with causes and consequences