Language and Thought

Structure of LANGUAGE

What is language?

Is a system of symbols and rules that is used for

meaningful communication.

It uses symbols

It is meaningful and therefore can be understood by

other users of that language.

It is generative.

It has rules that govern how symbols can be

arranged.

Building Blocks of Language

Phonemes

They are the smallest distinguishable units in a

language.

In English language, many consonants such as t,

p and m, correspond to single phonemes.

In English language, other consonants such as c

and g, correspond to more than one phonemes.

Morphemes

They are the smallest meaningful units in a

language.

In English language, only a few single letters

such as l and a, are morphemes.

Syntax

It is system of rules that governs how words

can be meaningfully arranged to form phrases

and sentences.

Milestones in language development

A developmental milestone is an ability that is achieved by

most children by certain age. Developmental milestones can

involve physical ,social , emotional, cognitive and

communication skills such as walking , sharing with others ,

expressing emotions and recognizing .

Stages of Language Development in

Children

Stages of Language

Development in Children

Three-month old infants

Around 6 months of age

About 13 months of age

About 18 months of age

About 24 months of age

About 3 years of age

About 3-5 years of age

About 6 years of age

Ambiguous Language

Language may sometimes be used correctly but still have an

unclear meaning or multiple meanings in these cases. In these

cases, language is ambiguous – it can be understood in several

ways. Avoid biting dogs is an example of an ambiguous

sentence. A person might interpret as Keep out of the way of

biting dogs or Don’t bite dogs.

Theories of Language Acquisition

Theories of language acquisition

Role of Nature and Nurture in language acquisition

Two major approaches for syntactic development

Empiricist Approach to learn syntax by linguistic input

Nativist Approach in which the Syntax learning is innate

Behaviorist theories

Proposed by B.F Skinner Suggested Language learning by Operant conditioning Learning by imitation and reinforcement principles Treatment of autism spectrum disorders Role of environment factors in language development Empiricist theory use behaviorist models Relational Frame Theory

Nativist theories

Proposed by Noam Chomsky

Chomsky contradicts learning by linguistic input

Suggested that humans have innate capacity for learning language

Proposed that humans are equipped with LAD

What is LAD

Language development by biological determination

Interactionist theories

Contribution of both biology and experience in language development

Learning of language in interactive and communicative context

Role of both biological predisposition and supportive environment in language development

Focus on caregiver’s attitude for promotion of language habits in children

WHAT IS PROBLEM?

Any obstacle or a state of difficulty that

needs to be resolved is called a problem.

Types of problem

Inducing structure

Problems involve finding relationship between

elements

Example: “Pineapple is to fruit as cabbage is to

___.” In this analogy problem, the answer,

“vegetable,” requires people to figure out the

relationship between “pineapple” and “fruit” and

apply a similar relationship to “cabbage.”

Arranging

Problems involve arranging elements in a way that

fulfills certain criteria

Example: The answer to the problem “Arrange the

letters in LEPAP to make the name of a fruit” is

“APPLE.”

Transformation

Other problem involve making a series of

changes to achieve a specific goal, a process

called transformation.

Characteristics of difficult problem

IntransparencyLack of clarity of situation

Multiple Goals

causes confusion

Inexpressiveness

Not expressed properly

Complexity

Large number of items, inter relations and decisions

Dynamics

Time problems

Unpredictability

Barriers or obstacles in problem solving

Functional fixedness

Irrelevant information

Assumptions

Mental set

Functional Fixedness

The tendency to perceive an item only in

terms of its most common use .

Example: Rachel’s car breaks down while

she is driving through the desert. She is

terribly thirsty. She finds several soda

bottles in the trunk but no bottle opener. She

doesn’t think of using the car key to open

the bottles because of functional fixedness.

Irrelevant information

Unimportant and unrelated information regarding a specific problem.

To identify that which information is relevant and which is irrelevant.

The presentation of the irrelevant information in such a way that we think it

is relevant.

"Fifteen percent of the people in Topeka have unlisted telephone numbers.

You select 200 names at random from the Topeka phone book. How many

of these people have unlisted phone numbers?"[

The people that are not listed in the phone book would not be among the

200 names you selected. The individuals looking at this task would have

naturally wanted to use the 15% given to them in the problem. They see

that there is information present and they immediately think that it needs to

be used. This of course is not true

Assumptions

When dealing with the problem people often make

assumptions about the obstacles that prevent certain

solutions.

Mental set

The tendency to use only those solutions that have worked in past

instead of using alternate ideas.

Example: When Matt’s flashlight hasn’t worked in the past, he’s

just shaken it to get it to work again. One day when it doesn’t come

on, he shakes it, but it still doesn’t work. He would be subject to

mental set if he keeps shaking it without checking whether it needs

new batteries.

problem solving

Approaches Towards Problem Solving

Trial And Error Approach:

It involves trying out different solutions until one works. This

type of strategy is practical only when the number of possible

solutions is relatively small.

Algorithms:

These are step-by-step procedures that are guaranteed to achieve

a particular goal.

Example : Trying of any Recipe

Heuristic:

A heuristic is a general rule of thumb that may lead to a correct

solution but doesn’t guarantee one. Example: A useful heuristic for

finishing a timed exam might be “Do the easy questions first.”

Forming Sub-goals:

Forming sub-goals involves coming up with intermediate steps to

solve a problem. This is a way of simplifying a problem.

Example: Susan is asked to solve the analogy problem “Prison is to

inmate as hospital is to ____.”

Searching For Analogies:

A problem is often easier to solve if it can be compared to a similar

problem.

Example: Mike has to give his two-year-old daughter a bath, but she

resists she is afraid of the water.

Changing the Representation of the Problem:

A problem may be easier to solve if it is represented in a different

form.

Example: If hundreds of guests at a banquet are trying to figure out

where they are supposed to sit, written instructions might not be

easy to follow. A seating chart, however, makes the seating

arrangement easy to understand.

Taking a Break –Incubation:

When a problem is resistant to solution, there is much to be said for

taking a break and not thinking about it for a while. After the break,

you may find that you see the problem in a different light and new

solutions may spring to mind. Researchers have given the

phenomenon a name, incubation.

Decision Making

•Decision-making involves weighing alternatives and

choosing among them.

•Additive strategies and elimination strategies are ways of

making decisions about preferences.

•Using expected value, subjective utility, the availability

heuristic, and the representativeness heuristic are all ways of

making risky decisions.

•Using the representativeness heuristic can make people susceptible

to biases, such as the tendency to ignore base rates and the gambler’s

fallacy.

•Using the availability heuristic can make people susceptible

to overestimating the improbable or underestimating the probable.

•In an effort to minimize risk, people also make decision-making errors,

such as the overconfidence effect, the confirmation bias, and belief

perseverance.