This chapter discusses thinking and language. It covers topics such as cognition, concepts, problem solving, algorithms, heuristics, and language development. Cognitive psychologists study mental activities like thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating. The chapter provides examples of insight problems and their solutions, and explores heuristics, biases, and artificial intelligence. It also examines language development in children and the relationship between thought and language.

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

2. Thinking
 Cognition
 mental activities associated with thinking,
knowing, remembering, and communicating
 Cognitive Psychologists
 study these mental activities
 concept formation
 problem solving
 decision making
 judgment formation

3. Thinking
 Concept
 mental grouping of similar objects, events,
ideas, or people
 Prototype
 mental image or best example of a category
 matching new items to the prototype provides a
quick and easy method for including items in a
category (as when comparing feathered creatures
to a prototypical bird, such as a robin)

4. Thinking
 Algorithm
 methodical, logical rule or procedure
that guarantees solving a particular
problem
 contrasts with the usually speedier–but
also more error-prone--use of heuristics

5. Thinking
 Heuristic
 simple thinking strategy that often
allows us to make judgments and
solve problems efficiently
 usually speedier than algorithms
 more error-prone than algorithms

6. Thinking
Unscramble
SPLOYOCHYG
 Algorithm
 all 907,208 combinations
 Heuristic
 throw out all YY combinations
 other heuristics?

7. Thinking
 Insight
 sudden and often novel realization of the solution to
a problem
 contrasts with strategy-based solutions
 Confirmation Bias
 tendency to search for information that confirms
one’s preconceptions
 Fixation
 inability to see a problem from a new perspective
 impediment to problem solving

8. The Matchstick
Problem
 How would you
arrange six
matches to form
four equilateral
triangles?

9. The Three-Jugs
Problem
 Using jugs A,
B, and C,
with the
capacities
shown, how
would you
measure out
the volumes
indicated?

10. The Candle-Mounting
Problem
 Using these
materials, how
would you
mount the
candle on a
bulletin board?

11. Thinking
 Mental Set
 tendency to approach a problem in
a particular way
 especially a way that has been
successful in the past but may or
may not be helpful in solving a new
problem

12. Thinking
 Functional Fixedness
 tendency to think of things
only in terms of their usual
functions
 impediment to problem solving

13. The Matchstick
Problem
 Solution to the
matchstick
problem

14. The Three-Jugs
Problem
 Solution:
a) All seven problems
can be solved by the
equation shown in
(a): B - A - 2C =
desired volume.
 b) But simpler
solutions exist for
problems 6 and 7,
such as A - C for
problem 6.

15. The Candle-Mounting
Problem
 Solving this
problem
requires
recognizing that
a box need not
always serve as
a container

16. Heuristics
 Representativeness Heuristic
 judging the likelihood of things in
terms of how well they seem to
represent, or match, particular
prototypes
 may lead one to ignore other relevant
information

17. Heuristics
 Availability Heuristic
 estimating the likelihood of events
based on their availability in memory
 if instances come readily to mind
(perhaps because of their vividness),
we presume such events are common
 Example: airplane crash

18. Thinking
 Overconfidence
 tendency to be more confident than
correct
 tendency to overestimate the
accuracy of one’s beliefs and
judgments

19. Thinking
 Framing
 the way an issue is posed
 how an issue is framed can
significantly affect decisions and
judgments
 Example: What is the best way
to market ground beef--as 25%
fat or 75% lean?

20. Thinking
 Belief Bias
 the tendency for one’s preexisting beliefs to
distort logical reasoning
 sometimes by making invalid conclusions
seem valid or valid conclusions seem invalid
 Belief Perseverance
 clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the
basis on which they were formed has been
discredited

21. Artificial Intelligence
 Artificial Intelligence
 designing and programming
computer systems
 to do intelligent things
 to simulate human thought processes
 intuitive reasoning
 learning
 understanding language

22. Artificial Intelligence
 Computer Neural Networks
 computer circuits that mimic the
brain’s interconnected neural cells
 performing tasks
 learning to recognize visual patterns
 learning to recognize smells

23. Language
 Language
 our spoken, written, or gestured
works and the way we combine them
to communicate meaning
 Phoneme
 in a spoken language, the smallest
distinctive sound unit

24. Language
 Morpheme
 in a language, the smallest unit that carries
meaning
 may be a word or a part of a word (such as
a prefix)
 Grammar
 a system of rules in a language that enables
us to communicate with and understand
others

25. Language
 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

26. Language
 We are all born to recognize speech sounds from all the
world’s languages
Percentage able 100
to discriminate 90
Hindi t’s 80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 Hindi- 6-8 8-10 10-12 English-
speaking months months months speaking
adults adults
Infants from English-speaking homes

27. 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

28. 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

29. Language
Summary of Language Development
Month Stage
(approximate)
4 Babbles many speech sounds.
10 Babbling reveals households
language.
12 One-word stage.
24 Two-world, telegraphic speech.
24+ Language develops rapidly into
complete sentences.

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

31. Language
Percentage
correct on
 New language
100
grammar learning gets
test 90
harder with
80
age
70
60
50
Native 3-7 8-10 11-15 17-39
Age at school

32. Language
 Linguistic Determinism
 Whorf”s hypothesis that
language determines the way
we think

33. Language
 The interplay
of thought
and language

34. Animal Thinking and
Language
Direction of
nectar source
 The straight-line
part of the dance
points in the
direction of a
nectar source,
relative to the
sun

35. Animal Thinking and
Language
 Gestured Communication

36. Animal Thinking and
Language
 Is this
really
language?