Thinking and language can be summarized in 3 sentences:
Thinking, also called cognition, involves mental processes like forming concepts, using symbols and images, and different types of thinking such as directed and nondirected thought. Problem solving uses strategies like working forward or backward with subgoals, while creativity allows for novel ideas through flexibility, recombination of old ideas, and insights. Language is a system of symbols and rules that develops from babbling to single words to full sentences as children acquire vocabulary and learn the structure of phonemes, morphemes and syntax in their language.
2. History of Studying Thinking
• Tied to philosophy in the past
• Rene Descartes – 1st truth “I think, therefore I
am”
• No way to really measure or assess thinking at
all in the past, now MRI, CT Scans, etc…
• Thinking – Sometimes called “Cognition” in
the research
3. Thinking – Units of Thought
Image – visual mental representation
Symbol – abstract unit of thought
Concept – label for a class of related objects/events
Prototype – representative example
Rule – statement of relation between objects
5. Prototype – a representative example of a concept –
differs from person to person
Ex – Someone in “good shape”; fun games, cute
girl, car, athlete, etc…
6. Kinds of Thinking
• Directed (Convergent) – systematic/logical
thinking to reach a specific goal or answer
• Nondirected (Divergent) – free flow of thoughts
with no particular plan; depends more on
images
• Metacognition – thinking about thinking, your
awareness of your own cognitive processes
8. Problem Solving
Strategies – specific methods for
approaching problems to deal with them
• Subgoals, working forward/backward
• Algorithms – step by step procedure for solving a
problem
• Heuristics (3) – rule of thumb strategy (299)
1. Availability – prominent/easily recalled info is
the answer
-ex – lottery, overestimate
2. Representativeness – use probability and
associations to make guess
3. Anchoring – ideas or standards used to answer
9. 9 dots puzzle – connect all, 4 lines,
can’t pick up your pencil
10. Obstacles to Problem Solving
• Mental Set – habitual
pattern of problem
solving
• Rigidity – when a
mental set gets in the
way of solving a
problem – newspaper
ex…
• Functional Fixedness
– unable to imagine
new uses for some
object
11. Creativity – ability to generate novel
and valuable ideas.
• Flexibility- ability to
overcome rigidity
• Recombination – new
approaches/combina
tion of old
approaches in a new
way
• Insight-”light bulb”
suddenly realize the
answer.
12. Language – a system of symbols and rules
used for meaningful communication.
13. Structure of Language
• Phonemes – smallest parts (sounds)
• Morphemes – smallest units of meaning
• Syntax – rules of arrangement in a language
14. Language Development
• Behavioralists (B.F. Skinner) Operant
Conditioning
• Social Learning theorists modeling
• Biological theorists (Chomsky) other factors
play a role, but children inherit capacity/pre-
programming for language… “LAD” –
Language Acquisition Device
15. How Language Develops
• “Cooing” – 2 months
• Babbling – 4 months
• Single worlds – 12 months
• 2 years – two words to
express meaning
• 2-3 telegraphic speech
• 5 language
development complete,
continue to acquire
vocabulary throughout life
16. Gender and Cultural Factors
• Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis – language and
thought are connected, language in fact
shapes thinking
• Semantic Slanting – making statements so
they evoke a specific emotional response.
e.g. – “Pro Choice – “Abortion”
• Name calling – labeling people in order to
influence their thinking
e.g. “Only an idiot would not go to college”
