Language-Our spoken, written, or gestured works and the way we combine them to communicate meaning-Made up of units of sound, units of meaning, and structure-Animals communicate but they don’t have language: No grammar=no semantics/syntaxoGrammar: A system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate with and understand others (includes semantics and syntax)Semantics: the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences in a given language (e.g., adding –ed to laugh means it happened in the past). Also, the study of meaningSyntax: the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language (e.g., adjective-noun relationship: black cat; gato negro)Language Development- Acquiring Language-Babbling StageoBeginning at 3-4 monthsoThe stage of speech development in which the infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language-One word stageoFrom about 1-2oThe stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in single words-Two word stage: o2+ years oldoTelegraphic Speech: early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram- “go car”- using mostly nouns and omitting verbsoAfter 2+ language rapidly develops into complete sentencesHow is Language Learned?-SkinneroInsisted verbal behavior is the result of operant learning – no diff. than learning to tie your shoes,rat learning to press a bar. oConsequence-based behavior oModeling (imitate the words and syntax of others)oReinforcement (reward success with smiles, hugs, etc. when child says something correct)-Problems with SkinneroWe have extreme flexibility in our speech that has not necessarily been reinforced in our past. oIt’s also a matter of learning rules for how we can be flexible oThe extreme pace with which we learn language is not consistent with a operant conditioning. -ChomskyoInborn universal grammaroHuman brains are “prewired” to readily learn the specific grammar of whatever language we hear.o“Language acquisition device” – grammar switches in the brain are turned on as children experience their language.Linguistic Determinism-Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think-To a large extent, thinking is language based. Like when alone we talk to ourselves. But we also think in imagesAnimals and Language-Gestured Communication: Animals show communication through gestures, as do humans. It is possible that vocal speech developed from gestures over evolutionary time-ASL: More often than not, animals are signing for things that they want (not just chatting)-Criticism:oApes gain their limited vocabularies with great difficulty unlike children who develop vocabularies at amazing ratesoChimpanzees can make signs to get rewards, just as pigeons peck at the keys to get rewardsoChimpanzees use signs meaningfully but lack syntaxoPresented with ambiguous information people tend to see what they want to seeMade up of units of sound, units of meaning, and structure-Cognition: mental activities associated with thinking knowing, remembering and communicating-Cognitive Psychologists studyoConcept formationoProblem solvingoDecision makingoJudgment formation-Concept: mental grouping of objects, events, ideas, or people (distinguishing between blocks and circles)-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)Problem Solving-Trial and error: try a bunch of things and see what works and what doesn’t-Algorithm: step-by-step, methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem. Contrasts with the usually speedier but also more error prone use of Heuristics, a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; mental short cut-Insight: sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem (ah-ha! Moment)Obstacles to Problem Solving-Confirmation Bias: tendency to search for info that confirms one’s pre-conceptions (e.g. person on a jury may seek info supporting impressions of defendant’s guilt despite subsequent evidence to the contrary.-Fixation: inability to approach a problem forms a new perspective. -Functional Fixedness: tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functionsoImpediment to problem solving (e.g. not realizing that a coin can be used as a screwdriver). Making Decisions and Forming Judgments-Heuristics: Simple thinking strategies that allow us to make judgments and solve problems more easily. Mental short-cut. These are the more common strategy used-Overconfidence: tendency to be more confident than correct-Framing: the way an issue is posed; how an issue is framed can significantly affect decisions and