ch.8
Discuss arguments for and against each of the following three claims: (a) Children learn language because they are taught language by their parents and/or caregivers. (b) Children pick up language by imitating the utterances of those around them. (c) Language ability in children is innate, encoded in the DNA, and so language does not need to be "learned."
(a)children do acquire language by being surrounded by it and immersed in it all the time but different from being taught to ride a bike. In fact when mothers try to teach their children words they will actively ignore them (pajamas vs. jamamas). they can learn to correct over generalization errors but these errors indicate that children do understand grammar and syntax without being taught (b) some imitation may be involved especially regarding the mouth movements involved in making speech sounds but imitation is not an adequate explanation for language acquisition. So much of what children learn is not available in their environment to be imitated (meaning they don't posses the prior experience to imitate things the way they do in their environment such as being able to say sentences they have never been able to say before (c)Chomsky's insight: "In advance of experience the child is already equipped with an understanding of the basic structure of any human language" (Understanding of STRUCTURE is what is innate) The child begins by being able to distinguish all possible phonemes and then narrow them down to ones that are useful in their language.
In a weather map, identify examples of representations that strongly analogical, strongly symbolic, and midway between these extremes?
*Weather map*—the map itself is purely analogical bc it captures some true spatial relationship -strongly symbolic: lines for like high-pressure areas and the L and H -in between symbolic and analogical: set of colors that re used to reflect temperature (some analogy)
It is overly simplistic to assert either that "language is learned" or "language is innate." What is a reasonable middle ground? Which aspects of language are most likely to be learned and which are most likely to be innate?
-Chomsky says it's probably a mistake to use the word LEARNING its more growth/ maturation; many linguists say MOST of learning language is innate. Some aspects like particular rules such as overgeneralizing become corrected the more the child discovers their native language WITH their innate language acquisition devices. -either language is built-in or it's learned but it's thought to be perhaps both by modern linguists
What are framing effects? Given an example? How do reference points or default options play a role in framing a problem? Describe evidence that supports the importance of these effects in our daily lives. (8.8)
-Framing: the particular way that an issue, decision, or set of options is described. Framing can change decisions by shifting the decision maker's reference point EX: figure 8.2 when asked about the outbreak of a deadly virus the two versions are framed in different ways but they are asking the same thing. One is presented in terms of potential losses (how many will die) and the other in terms of potential gains (how many will be saved). When the problem was framed in terms of loss the 78% opted for the program that was framed in terms of gains. reference points: what counts as a loss or a gain depends on ones reference point. Compared with the worst possible outcome, anything seems like a gain (compared with the worst outcome everything seems like a loss) evidence of importance in daily life: people are more likely to chose the status quo, for example: in countries where the default is to be an organ donor, people are much more likely to do so.
Why is imitation an inadequate explanation of language acquisition?
-Imitation is an inadequate explanation for language learning NOT because children are poor imitators, but because so much of what children learn is not available in their environment some aspects are imitation but structurally something is innate. Nicaraguan sign language study. also whole object and mutual exclusivity principle
Describe two ways that psychologists can study what infants know about language or how much of language they understand.
-To determine whether babies differentiate between two speech sounds, psychologists use operant conditioning (infants are seated across from researcher who engages them with fun toys while a series of phonemes plays over a loudspeaker. the infant is trained to turn their head to the right whenever the phoneme changes; they are rewarded for doing so) Critically infants will turn their head to the wall only if they can perceive the phoneme change. -another study: to determine if babies understand which syllables go with which other syllables. Researchers played audio recording with a continuous stream of a made-up language but just like in real language there were no pauses separating these words from other word. The syllables in these words occurred consistently together. when the recording played a pattern the babies already knew it wasn't terribly interesting. The babies showed more interested if presented with pattern that was sequenced in a less predictable way with syllables they already knew. Thus the babies had learned the made up language with nothing to go on but the pattern of sounds.
How do symbolic representations differ from those that are analogical? Why might this distinction be important?
-Two broad of mental representations analogical: capture some of the actual characteristics of what they represent analogical representations are like images you might have in your brain, can also be auditory tactile, taste and flavor and texture -symbolic: things that represent something else—don't have any particular relationship to those 'things'; DOG in english we use the symbol of the word to refer to that concept (PERRO spanish HUND german)
Describe the procedure used in the Sudden Insight Zap. How does it illustrate mental set and restructuring?
-We had to weigh an equal number of coins on either side of the scale, the outcome will be either that the sides balanced (the lighter coin wasn't weighed), or that the sides didn't balance (and the lighter coin was weighed) there were two outcomes where you could identify the lighter coin: the sides of three coins balanced: none of these six coins are higher than the coin, so you have narrowed down your search to the two coins you haven't yet weighed. weighing those two will revel the light coin the sides of three coins didn't balance: one of the three that tipped higher is the lighter coin. Weigh two of those three. If one is lighter, it is the lighter coin. but if they balance then the coin you didn't weight must be the lighter one. This illustrates the mental set because we tend to persist with tried and true strategies which can prevent us from having sudden insight. It is the restructuring of a problem ("seeing"it in in a new way) that often lead to it's solution or sudden insight.
What do case studies such as those of Isabelle and Genie suggest about language learning?
-What happens when children don't have opportunities to learn language so early in life? -Isabelle; her mother was deaf and emotionally indifferent, from the time of Isabelle's birth no one spoke to her Although she had no language and her cognitive abilities was below that of a normal 2 year old, she recovered quickly; within a year she learned to speak as well as her peers, showed normal levels of intelligence and started school -Genie: tied to a chair since the age of about 20 months, discovered at 14. Brought to foster care and taught by psychologist and linguists but she never learned to use language "normally. She learned basics but was unable to construct elaborate sentences or use function words like a and the even after years of instruction The difference between these two cases^ tell psychologist that perhaps language is learned more readily when people are young (Genie had reached puberty, Isabelle was only 6) *These cases can also be difficult to interpret because we don't know whether these two children were different to begin with*
Outline the sequence of challenges that infants must overcome to learn language. What are some major developmental milestones in this process?
-a first challenge involves learning both to understand and produce the phonemes of speech, those essential buildings blocks that are combined into words (by age of 1 to 2 month infants can recognize the difference between 'b' and 'p). at this age infants can differentiate between phonemes used in any language even languages not spoken in their home (ex: Japanese babies can hear the difference between the sounds of la and ra a difference that is not heard by Japanese speaking adults) -next stage is babbling (also a major milestone; involves the production of speech sounds by infants) emerges around 6 to 7 months -by 10 months babbling starts to sound more like the household language; -the next challenge for infants is to group perceive phonemes into words; around their first birthday infants show understanding of words (most children have said a first word; begin speaking single word utterances "juice!" -by 1.5 yrs children mastery of individual words takes off, and by age 2 they've mastered enough words that they start putting together two-word utterances . -By age 3, children speech progresses very rapidly and children can say short sentences -by the age of 5, children speak similarly to adults and it is clear that they are mastering the grammatical rules of their language
Describe evidence suggesting that children know facts about language that they almost certainly have not been taught.
-experimenter says: we know cookie monster eats cookies and cakes, ask rat puppet what he thinks. Sammy (who is 3.5 yrs old and can't tie his shoes) can understand these complex sentences and say to the rat "what does cookie monster eat?" he didn't just repeat what was said to him experiments like these indicate an understanding of syntax and grammar from a very young age -no one can teach these things to the child
What cues do infants use to help them learn the meanings of words?
-infants are quite sensitive to what people are paying attention to when they speak; people look at the things they are labeling so infants can track the direction of an adult's eye gaze to narrow the scope of possible word meanings -they also look for cues as to where words and sentences begin/end.
Summarize the evidence that humans have evolved to be able to produce speech.
-one aspect of human language that appears to be shaped by natural selection is the ability to produce speech (vocal sounds are made possible by a structure in the throat call the larynx) -in most mammals the larynx sits high in the throat but in humans it's lower (this lower larynx allows humans to make a much larger range of vocal sounds) downsides: you cannot eat and breath at the same time; Chimpanzees don't have this problem and neither human newborns (allowing them to drink milk without needing to come up for air
Describe several ways that languages can differ?
-one language may lack a word that other languages have or refer to the same ideas in a different way (screwdriver in english translates to "a screw puller" shraubenzieher in German) Languages may also differ in grammatical rules that govern how words are put together (ex: english and mandarin chinese require specific word orders for putting together sentences, whereas Finnish and Russian are less strict) French and Spanish require different pronouns when talking to strangers or superiors versus close acquaintances. Turkish requires speakers to specify whether and event they are describing was witnessed firsthand or was inferred of told to them In english we must change the verbs to indicate whether an event has already happened, is happening, or is about to happen, But Indonesian does not require speakers to mark tense in their verbs
How can definitions and prototypes be used to define categories?
-prototype: a best example or average member of a concept that incorporates most of the features most commonly associated with it—the closer something is to the prototype the more quickly people can identify it with that concept categories are defined in terms of a set of typical or likely features -category members share a family resemblance -membership is defined by comparing the instance to a category PROTOTYPE (some things might be closer some things might be farther)
What things appear to help reduce confirmation bias? What are some intuitively plausible things that do not?
-simply telling people to be objective and unbiased doesn't seem to help -a more effective approach is to give people a concrete strategy to reduce bias by encouraging them to actively imagine and consider the opposite point of view.
What distinguishes well-defined and ill-defined problems? Why might this distinction matter?
???Problems that are well-defined have a clear goal and a clear set of available options for reaching that goal. -Life is complicated by many ill-defined problems with hazy goals and indistinct paths for reaching them. Solving climate crisis or finding a job are problems which have many possible solutions. Adding constraints and assumptions when looking for a job might help define the problem more clearly but it has the downside of hiding some of the best solutions from view.
What does the following statement mean? The world's languages are all complex, regardless of the level of technological complexity of the culture.
??No such thing as primitive language or people for that matter (every language has rules)??
What is affective forecasting? What are the four components of it? Why might accurate affective forecasting be important for our decision making?
Affective Forecasting can be divided into four components: predictions about: -future emotional valence (direction: positive versus negative): are generally accurate -the specific emotions to be experienced: are often less accurate -duration of the emotions: are usually overestimated -intensity of emotions: are usually overestimated might be important in our decision making because it is important to be able to predict how we might feel as a result of our actions. Failure to do so results in impulsive decision making.
Why is the "thinking" that we can describe, "just the tip of the iceberg"?
After many decades of studying cognition, psychologists have learned that the aspects of thinking that people can consciously describe are just the tip of a giant iceberg. Most of the time people actually don't know what they were just inking or at leas not all of it because much of their thinking involves mental activities that take place outside of conscious awareness.
Summarize and compare the positions of Skinner and Chomsky about how children learn language. What is some of the evidence that supports Chomsky's position?
BF Skinner argued that language acquisition is not specialized and involves the same learning principles (association formation, imitation, and reinforcement) Noam Chomsky disagreed with Skinner; argued that children are genetically endowed with specialized learning mechanisms; points out that children learn too fast to be explained by learned associations Evidence for Chomsky: -language acquisition device: an innate mechanism that linguist Noam Chomsky proposed to explain the process of language acquisition in children. He argued that this device is activated by language exposure and guides language develop with little to no explicit teaching from adults -Chomsky also argued that ALL human languages have common features (such as ways of negating ideas 'not' 'no' and of asking questions); said these common features constitute a universal grammar that children understand innately evidence: cases of children who when denied access to a language to learn invented their own. children who are deaf inventing homemade gestural systems "home signs" to communicate -When children who are deaf in Nicaragua were around other children who are deaf in school they invented their own language without the help of adults. As younger childcare joined the language evolved and took on new increasingly complex features
What is base rate neglect? How can it lead to mistaken thinking?
Base rate neglect: when we are presented both stats and anecdotal evidence its the tendency to accept the anecdote over the data. We ignore how often something happens and accept the anecdotes that are right in front of us there are base rates of shark attacks, base rates of robberies, base rates of female highschool basketball players. Neglecting these base rates shows a problem with the representative heuristic which can lead to mistaken thinking. (if it looks like a duck and talks like a duck its a duck, if its close to the prototype we can tend to jump to conclusions) —we tend to forget things can be FALSE positives
What is dual-process theory? What are the advantages/disadvantages of controlled and automatic processing? What factors increase the probability that we will use the automatic system?
Dual-Process Theory: proposed that people have two types of thinking they can use to make judgments and decisions: one that is slower, more effortful, and lead to more thoughtful and rational outcomes, and one that is fairly fast, effortless, and leads to decent outcomes most of the time. -the controlled system: slower more effortful leads to more rational outcomes (such as weight pros and cons of the details in someones dating app profile or imagining intentions behind the photo they chose to present)—people engage this for decisions that really matter and don't involve time pressure -the automatic system: fast and fairy effortless, leads to decent outcomes most of the time (such as skipping past a profile cause you don't like the guys fish)—allows for quick and dirty judgment which people fall back on when tired or overwhelmed or interested in coming to a fast solution.
What are examples of negative effects of confirmation bias in the criminal justice system? In science? In everyday life?
Examples in the criminal justice system: There are many documented cases of how the confirmation bias of police interrogators ( and jurors, judges, eyewitnesses, and forensic experts, can influence their approach to a case) The belief that a suspect is guilty can lead investigators to seek and favor evidence and to avoid or disbelieve evidence of innocence Examples in science: Scientists can favor findings that confirm their hypotheses and discount findings that do not as flukes or flawed. Confirmation bias in science can be exacerbated by the fact that it is easy to publish findings that show confirmatory evidence or statistically significant differences of some kind. Examples in everyday life: can cause frustrating conflict; your belief that your roommate is a slob may mean that you especially notice when she leaves a pile of dirty dishes in the sink and that you fail to acknowledge that she takes out the trash twice a week and dusts the furniture. She in turn may believe you are a sloppy freeloader—considers your failure to EVER take out the trash or dust as clear evidence and ignores how often you are washing her dishes as well as your own.
Why does it make sense that System 2 (controlled) thinking depends on the available capacity of working memory? Describe an experiment that supports this claim.
Experiment: De Neys (2006): WM and System 1 vs 2 reasoning 2 types of syllogisms Syllogisms: a form of logical argument that uses deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion No conflict: Meaning matches validity (first set—no conflict between the meaning and validity) With conflict: meaning conflicts with validity (the meaning didn't reflect validity) -manipulated working memory loads: did it through levels (high, low, and none) -With no conflict syllogisms notion is that for the NO CONFLICT syllogisms if you allow your system 1 thinking to work (No WM) you will get the right answer, so there should be NO EFFECT. -with conflict you should see and effect in WM -memory span was measured and used to divide the 308 participants into 3 groups -manipulated memory load by adding a visuo-spatial task, before they saw the syllogism they were shown an array either like the one on the left or the one on the right (3X3 square grid with 3 dots, had to remember it, one was HIGH: more scattered, one was LOW: dots were next to each other and easier to remember) -Then they had a syllogism task (each participant answered 8 syllogisms): premises: All fruits can be eaten, hamburgers can be eaten, conclusion: Hamburgers are fruits asked to type down the number that reflect decision about syllogism 1. the conclusions follows logically from the premise 2. the conclusion does not follow logically from the premises (should be 2) ^^ -Then they fill in an empty grid as they remember it with the dots Results: there was not a load effect for the NO CONFLICT (you can answer these questions with system 1 or system 2 thinking) for the CONFLICT syllogisms: more correct answers with decreasing WM load -This a replication of the correlational result -Manipulation of memory load increased the internal validity of the conclusion: So system two thinking DOES depend on WM -stress framing and education all alter the frequency of System 2 thinking -correct use of System 2 thinking depends on available WM (example of bounded rational) -Distraction (multitasking interferes with system 2 -WM declines with aging (people who get older have to work hard to use system 2 thinking) -Training in WM? maybe but not a super promising avenue
Identify five levels of language structure. How are these levels organized? What is grammar? How does your grammatical knowledge differ from the "proper" grammar that you learned in school?
Five levels: phoneme, morpheme, word, phrase, sentence -grammar: a system of rules that governs the way that language parts are put together so that people can understand each other; most of your grammatical knowledge was learned implicitly by listening to others speak a languages and practicing speaking it yourself. EX: some regions of the US it is acceptable to use "ain't" in place of "am not" syntax: grammatical rules that govern how words and phrases combine into well-formed sentences ex: adjectives usually go before the nouns that they describe
Consider this Gamble: 10% chance to win $95; 90% chance to lose $5. Now consider this Lottery: $5 for ticket; 10% chance to win $100; 90% chance to win nothing. How are these similar? What principle explains why only about 25% of people offered the gamble will accept it, but over 60% of people offered the chance to play the lottery will?
From the decision making zaps Expected utility theory, the dominant theory of decision making, held that people simply calculate the "expected utility," or value, of the possible choices for any decision they need to make and choose the option that maximizes the desired outcome. Prospect theory predicts that most people will calculate the net psychological effect of the gamble to be negative and will not accept it. **One of the most powerful framing effects involves whether a choice is framed in terms of gains or losses. For example, people prefer lotteries, which frame the prospect in terms of potential gains, to straight-up bets which frame the prospect in terms of how much one might lose. (People prefer lotteries to gambles due to loss aversion)
How can prior experience either help or hinder problem-solving efforts? What factors influence which effects prior experiences have? What is a reasonable strategy to overcome the ill effects of prior experience? How are these concepts related to positive/negative transfer in memory?
How it helps: you can draw upon prior experience to tame your "bed-head" in the morning; using prior experience may also involve drawing an analogy; in one experiment, participants could more quickly solve the inoperable tumor problem if researchers showed them an analogy of general who captured a fortress and avoided detonating bombs—The developed a mental framework (or mental set) for how to solve the problem How it hinders: Occasionally, knowledge and experience make it more difficult to solve a problem; functional fixedness involves focusing on an objects typical function and thus failing to see unusual functions that could solve that problem. Reasonable Strategy to overcome: When prior experience gets in the way, the best best may be to change one's understanding of the problem in a process called restructuring (reorganizing ones understanding of a problem to facilitate a solution) How is this related to positive/negative transfer in memory?: positive transfer occurs when when something we previously learned helps us learn at a later time and negative transfer is when something we learn interferes with our learning at a later time. Both can be seen here in how it helps/hinders problem solving.
What is meant by a problem-solving insight? What leads to insight solutions?
Insight: a sudden conscious change in a person's understanding of some situation or problem—research suggests that insight involves a lot of unconscious cognitive work. Insight works with the memory process: PRIMING. Experiment: Participants saw subliminal hints before they saw an anagram they solved them faster & experienced more feelings of insight. Real-world insight solutions involve work and often comes when one has been working on a problem for some time, steps away (which allows for spreading activation), and then comes back that they have that "AHA!" insight moment.
What is language? Why is it an amazing "technology" for humans?
Language: shared system of symbols: can include spoken written signed words/ gestures—set of rules for how to combine symbols to communicate meaning With language, people transfer knowledge from one mind to another and transmit civilizations accumulated knowledge across generations; language is a tool for collaborative thinking (its flexibility makes it the ultimate technology for collaborative thinking)
What are mental representations?
Most thinking whether conscious or unconscious involves- mental representations: internal mental symbols that stand for some object, event, or state affairs in the world—allow people to think about things even when those things are absent
What is the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one's knowledge and judgments is called? How has this been demonstrated in the lab? What are some more practical examples? What are some possible reasons for this kind of bias?
Overconfidence bias: tendency to overestimate the accuracy of one's knowledge and judgements Demonstrated in the lab: in a college economics class, students were asked to estimate their grade on an upcoming exam at three time points: 48 hours before, right before, and immediately following. In all cases, students overestimate their likely grade on the exam. Students were less likely to be overconfident in estimating if they were older, had a higher GPA, or had prior experience in the subject matter. Practical examples: you may have experienced overconfidence in judging how long it would take to complete an assignment or study for a test. also hindsight bias when you find out the answer you feel like you have known it all along. Possible reasons: usually people can't truly KNOW whether their answers are correct, so in judging their confidence, they have to rely on imperfect information, such as how EASILY the answer came to mind. -another reason for overconfidence is that it has advantages in the social arena. People judge overconfident people more positively than under-confident people.
What is the representativeness heuristic? Illustrate your answer with an example.
Representativeness heuristic: a mental shortcut for judging the likelihood of things in terms of how welly they seem to represent or be prototypical of some category. EX: if we drew a single female college student out of a hate, we'd have nearly 200 to 1 odds that she is sedentary instead of a varsity basketball player. But what if this person was over 6ft, slim, an wearing athletic gear? Now what would be your guess? -this person seems to fit the prototype of a basketball player more than of someone who is sedentary, so you assign her to this basketball category despite the odd being in favor of the opposite
What is meant by a sensitive period for language learning? Summarize the evidence supporting this hypothesis from the acquisition of ASL by deaf children. Summarize the data on second language learning. How does it also support the sensitive period hypothesis?
Sensitive period: an early period in the life of an organism during which is it especially sensitive to and able to learn from specific information in its environment; during this period language acquisition can occur but afterward, acquisition will be limited -If deaf children are exposed to a sign language from birth, their language abilities develop just like abilities of hearing children, simply in a manual rather than oral form: -Researchers have looked closely at how well children master sign language depending on when they first learned it, -One study: adults who had been deaf since birth asked to evaluate sentences in ASL that were more and less grammatical -Although all the adults had used ASL for the same amount of time (at least 12 yrs) they differed in when they had learned it -Results show the earlier in life they learned ASL the more accurate they were at recognizing the correct and incorrect grammar These results support the idea of a sensitive period for learning language -Study with Chinese and Korean immigrant to the US to distinguish between grammatically correct and incorrect sentences; the younger they subjects were when they first came to the US, the better they acquired English Explanations for the sensitive period -humans have specialized ability for language acquisition -another possibility: children learn language better precisely because they more cognitively limited than adults (the less is more hypothesis: languages are learned from the ground up; learners master the smallest components of language first followed by the more complex components) children have no choice but to learn language in this way
Summarize Greene's research using the trolley scenario. What do the results of this research suggest the role that emotion plays in decisions?
Summary: Greene et al.(2001) -Decisions about problems with a moral component vary in their emotional content -While making a decisions, activity in different brain areas reflect Degree of thought (areas associated with Working Memory were more active) Degree of emotional response (areas associated with emotions were more active) -Differences in the degree of emotional response versus thought predict the different responses to the trolley versus doctor scenarios (non-moral problems employed more working memory and moral problems relied more on areas associated with emotions)
Describe and distinguish the whole object and the mutual exclusivity assumptions as they relate to children learning the meanings of words.
The whole object assumption: the tendency of children to assume that a new label refers to a WHOLE object rather than to its parts, properties, or characteristics. children expect objects to have one and only one label the mutual exclusivity assumption: if you know name for something then it doesn't have another name
Characterize the difference between the trial-and-error, heuristic, and algorithmic approaches to problem solving. When might each be appropriate?
Trial and error: trying actions or strategies at random until they find something that works—Edison is said to have this approach in making the lightbulb. Algorithms: step-by-step procedures that guarantee a solution. ex: well known algorithm for solving a maze is to follow a single wall until the exit is found heuristics: a mental short-cut that allows people to efficiently solve problems and make judgements and decisions—automatic system of thinking heuristics are mental shortcuts that are quick, effortless, intuitive and automatic. might be useful when there are time constraints
Why is analogy an inadequate explanation of language acquisition?
When a child hears: I painted a red barn, by analogy the child might produce "I painted a blue barn" or "I painted a barn red". Children who are learning English might say by analogy "I saw a red barn" but they will never say "I saw a barn red". So analogy is not an adequate explanation.
What was the task studied in the Analogical Representation Zap? How were reaction times and errors related to the rotation angle and each other?
You just completed a task that involved manipulating analogical representations of figures. By mentally rotating these representations, you were able to determine whether the two figures were the same or mirror images of each other if it takes us longer to rotate an object 200 degrees than it does to rotate it 100 degrees in real space, it will also take us longer to rotate a mental representation of the same object 200 degrees versus 100 degrees.
What is the affect heuristic? Illustrate your answer with an example. What part of the brain is associated with using affect to make decisions? What can happen when this area is damaged?
affect heuristic: tendency to use the affect (or emotion) we associate with various objects and events in the world to make judgments and decisions. People often apply the affective heuristic even when thinking about events that haven't even happened (imagine enjoying a vacation you will probably feel excited) -such feelings about imagined events guide our decisions Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio argued that these affective actions are essential -carefully studied patients with damage to a part of the brain called the ventromedial frontal cortex -these patients like an ability to associate affective reactions of good or bad with the possible consequences of their action—makes it much more difficult to know how to act
What is the availability heuristic? Illustrate your answer with an example.
availability heuristic: a mental short cut for deciding how frequent or probable something is based on how easily examples come to mind. EX: which do you think causes more deaths in the US each year: lightning or flood? about 85% said flood and they were right can also be wrong: one might assume that homicides are responsible for more deaths than suicide since we see more news stories about murder that suicide.
What is mean by bounded rationality? What are some of the bounding factors?
bounded rationality: idea that rational decision making is constrained by limitations in people's cognitive abilities, available information and time -Bounding factors include: limited attention, limited memory capabilities and limited processing power. We also have limited information and limited time. These limited resources not only influence our willingness to make a decision they also constrain how logical our decisions can be.
What is confirmation bias? How does this contribute to the difficulty people have to change their beliefs?
confirmation bias: the tendency to look for and weigh evidence that confirms preexisting beliefs more strongly than evidence that is inconsistent with those belief. confirmation bias can make it difficult for people to change their beliefs, even when faced with disconfirming evidence, a phenomenon known as —belief perseverance: the tendency for people to resist changing their beliefs even when faced with disconfirming evidence.
If chair is a basic level what would be examples of superordinate and subordinate levels? What about for the basic level concept dog?
if "chair" is basic level, furniture would be superordinate and a rocking chair could be subordinate. If the basic level concept were "dog", animal would be superordindate and german shepard could be subordinate.
What does it mean to say that children are "universal listeners and producers of speech sounds"?
infants seem to start out as universal listeners and producers of speech sounds (they start out being able to recognize, but by the time they reach their first birthday they can hear only speech differences that are relevant in their own language—as has been shown using operant conditioning
Explain the follow quote from Steve Pinker: "What children have to pick up is not the fact that languages have rules, but rather the particular versions of the rules the language they are acquiring has, e.g. whether the ordering of words put the verb before the object or the object before the verb."
kids are really DISCOVERING the structure of the language around them and constructing a language that fits those facts. -this emphasis on rules and the particular EMPHASIS on rules that people in the community are using overegularization errors: a language error made by children that involves extending the rules of word formation. these errors reveal children's understanding of grammar. (children extend rules; ex: adding -ed, so like ran came and ate become ruined comes and eated) eventually children correct these errors, thus mastering not only the rules of their language but also the exceptions
Describe Whorf's linguistic determinism hypothesis. What are some ways that it has been tested? What is the modern understanding of how language and thought are interrelated?
linguistic determinism hypothesis: Whorfian hypothesis; states that different languages impose different ways of understanding the world that can constrain and shape our thinking "language is not merely a reproducing instrument for voicing ideas but rather itself the shaper of ideas, the program and guide for the individual's mental activity" Whorf 1956 -Put to the test by looking at languages across languages that predict differences in thinking: languages differ in how they describe colors and these differences can shape how colors are perceived; if you spoke Russian you would describe green, blue and dark blue as three different colors. -Modern findings suggest a more moderate view: language may not define thinking entirely, but it does guide thinking in ways that suit the cultures we live in
What is loss aversion? How do the effects of loss aversion depend on the reference point that determines what is a gain or a loss?
loss aversion: is the tendency to try and minimize or avoid losses -What counts as a 'loss' or a 'gain' depends on ones reference point. Compared with the worst possible outcome, anything seems like a gain, and compared with the best possible outcome, anything seems like a loss. Framing effects work by changing the chooser's reference point against which gains or losses are judged EX: imagine you have a terminal disease and you life expectancy is one year. Your other option is surgery, for which there is a 40% chance of surviving. But if the surgery is successful you may life another 5 years. Would you choose the surgery? it was found that medical students given this scenario were twice as likely to select the operation if it was described as having a 40% chance of surviving as opposed to a 60% chance of dying.
Discuss how affective responses can underlie moral judgements. Why might this be a problem?
people often apply the affective heuristic even when thinking about events that haven't even happened (imagine enjoying a vacation you will probably feel excited) -such feelings about imagined events guide our decisions One study: when participants evaluated ambiguous moral situations in a room that was mildly stinky, they thought situations were less morally permissible -These findings suggest the potential downside of using affect to guide our thinking, if our affect is easily manipulated, so is our judgement.
If language is innate, why are there so many different languages?
perhaps because the meaning of things can change based on their context? because things in the environment influence language ?
What are morphemes and phonemes? Give examples of each. How are they related to words?
phonemes: the smallest unit of language, such as the individual sounds that makeup human speech; EX: the word DOG is composed of phonemes that correspond to the "d" short "o" and hard "g" sounds. Linguists have identified up to 898 different phonemes in human speech, but no one language uses all of them (english uses about 40). Some languages have phonemes that english speakers don't use and can have a hard time hearing (and vice versa). morphemes: combined phonemes to create meaning; the smallest units of language that carry bits of meaning. many morphemes are words like 'talk' others are parts of words like ones that changes the tense or plurality or -ing.
What is pragmatics?
pragmatics: rules that govern the practical aspects of using language; include rules about how words and phrases can mean different things when said in a certain context or in a certain way. ex: you can use a sarcastic tone of voice to completely change the meaning of the phrase "I have so much time to write this paper"
How do the number of choices available affect our experience and our ability to make a decision?
when people have too many choices it can lead them to make no decision at all -In a now-classic study: grocery store shoppers were offer free samples of jams. The experimenters manipulated whether the free samples contained either six of 24 varieties of jam. People LIKED having more choices but when presented with 24 choices the shoppers were actually less likely to buy
How did Rosch's prototype theory of categories help solve problems that arise when definitions are used to describe categories? What are some problems for the prototype approach?
within categories theres always something that isn't going to fit the typical definition -membership is defined by comparing the instance to a category PROTOTYPE (some things might be closer some things might be farther) -This allows us to deal with problems of categorization because we can compare it to a typical representation of that category to see if some key features fit-- the closer something is to the prototype the easier it is to identify The view assumes that prototypes are pre-stored in memory -prototype as the most typical member of the group -prototype as a kind of AVERAGE of all the group members Two problems with the Prototype view -what's "prototypical" is influenced by culture and context -people have knowledge of not just central tendency but also variability
What is a category hierarchy? How are superordinate, basic level, and subordinate categories identified?
words like 'chair' 'apple' and 'bird' refer to basic-level concepts; broad or abstract enough to include a lot of members (there are more chairs than there are rocking chairs) and have a lot of features in common; they have clearly defined prototypes superordinate concepts are the most abstract and encompass basic-level concepts: 'furniture' 'fruit' and 'animal'; fewer features in common and a looser family resemblance subordinate concepts are more specific concepts (least abstract) within basic-level: "hummingbird, rocking chair, granny smith apple" (a specific kind of 'thing' with distinctive features)
