Grant Clay Period 3 10/11/08 AP Psychology Outline Chapter 8: Language & Thought Red – Definition Blue - Important Points Green - Important People & Contributions. Cognition – Mental Processes; Thinking. Language: Turning Thoughts into Words. Language – Consists of Symbols that Convey Meaning, Rules for Combining those Symbols that can generate Messages. Language is Symbolic, Generative, and Structured. The Structure of Language.

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Language has a Hierarchal Structure. Phonemes – Smallest Speech Units in a Language that can be Distinguished Perceptually. About 100 Different Phonemes/Sounds. Morphemes – Smallest Units of Meaning in a Language.

Root Words, Pre-Fixes, and Suffixes. Semantics – Concerned with Understanding the Meaning of Words and Word Combinations. Definition and Connotation/Implications.

Syntax – System of Rules that Specify How Words can be Arranged into Sentences. Sentence must have both Noun Phrase and Verb Phrase. Language Development. 1-3 Months Old = Learning Phonemes/Sounds. 4-8 Months Old = Learning Morphemes/Words. 8 Months Old = Learning Semantics/Meanings. Using Words.

Fast Mapping – The Process by which Children Map a Word onto an Underlying Concept After only 1 Week of Exposure. OverExtension – When a Child Incorrectly uses a Word to Describe a Wider Set of Objects or Actions than it is Meant To. UnderExtension – When a Child Incorrectly uses a Word to Describe a Narrower Set of Objects or Actions than it is Meant To. Combining Words. 2 Years Old = Forming Sentences. Telegraphic Speech – Consists Mainly of Content Words; Less Critical Words are Omitted.

Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) – The Average Length of Children Spoken Statements. (Measured in Morphemes/Words.

OverRegularizations – When Grammatical Rules are Incorrectly Generalized to Irregular Cases where they Do Not Apply. Refining Language Skills.

Metalinguistic Awareness – The Ability to Reflect on the Use of Language. Appreciate Irony and Sarcasm. Bilingualism: Learning more than 1 Language. Bilingualism – Learning 2 Languages that use Different Speech Sounds, Vocabulary, and Grammar. Learning 2 Languages at Once does not Slow Down Language Development.

Bilingualism allows you to think Deeper, but not as Fast. Age and Acculturation help Learn 2 Languages Better. Acculturation – The Degree to which a Person is Socially and Psychologically Integrated into a New Culture. Can Animals Develop Language?.

Chimpanzees can Communicate with Humans through Language Boards if Trained. Kanzi is a Chimpanzee that can Communicate through a Sound Board. Raises Idea that all Animals not only Communicate, but have Language. Behaviorist Theory = B.F. Skinner – Children Learn Through Conditioning and Imitation.

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(Nurture.). Nativist Theory – Noam Chomsky – Children Learn the Rules of Language, not Specific Responses. Language Acquisition Device (LAD) – An Innate Mechanism or Process that Facilitates the Learning of Language. Children are Biologically Equipped to Learn Language.

Interactionist Theory – Biology and Experience both Influence the Formation of Experience. (Nature & Nurture.). Culture, Language, and Thought. Linguistic Relativity – Benjamin Lee Whorf - The Hypothesis that One’s Language Determines the Nature of One’s Thought. Language Can Determine how you Think. Problem Solving.

Problem Solving – Active Efforts to Discover what must be Done to Achieve a Goal that is not Readily Attainable. 3 Types of Problems: Inducing Structure, Arrangement, and Transformation.

Functional Fixedness – The Tendency to Perceive an Item only in Terms of its most Common Use. Mental Set – When People Persist in Using Problem-Solving Strategies that have Worked in the Past. Insight – When People Suddenly Discover the Correct Solution to a Problem after Struggling with it for Awhile. Approaches to Problem Solving. Problem Space – Set of Possible Pathways to a Solution Considered by the Problem Solver.

Trial and Error – Trying Possible Solutions and Discarding those that are In Error until one Works. Algorithm – A Methodical, Step-by-Step Procedure for Trying all Possible Alternatives in Searching for a Solution to a Problem. Heuristic – A Guiding Principle/ “Rule of Thumb” Used in Solving Problems or Making Decisions.

Subgoals – Forming Subgoals helps with Intermediate Steps toward a Solution. Working Backwards – Start at End Solution and Work Backwards. Search For Analogies – Finding Similarities between 2 Problems help in the Finding of Solutions. Change Representation of Problem – Change the Way you Envision the problem.

Culture, Cognitive Style, and Problem Solving. Field Dependence-Interdependence – Individuals Tendency to Rely on External Versus Internal Frames of Reference when Orienting Themselves in Space. Field Dependent – Rely upon External Reference to make a Decision.

Field Independent – Rely upon Internal Cognition to Break something into individual parts to Make a Decision. Easterners see Wholes (Holistic), Westerners see Parts (Analytic). Decision Making. Decision Making – Evaluating Alternatives and Making Choices Among Them. Theory of Bounded Rationality – People Tend to Use Simple Strategies in Decision Making that Focus on only a Few Facets of Available Options and Often Result in “Irrational” Decisions that are Less than Optimal. Making Choices. Making Choices are based upon Preferences.

Additive Strategy – List Attributes, then Rate Desirability. Elimination Strategy – List Attributes, Then Eliminate based on Preferences. Taking Chances: Risky Decisions. Risky Decision Making – Making Decisions under Conditions of Uncertainty.

Expected Value – Calculate the Probability and Returns of Taking a Risk then Evaluate. Subjective Utility – Making a Risky Decision that is Worth it to the Individual. Like Paying for Insurance makes you feel Safer. Heuristics in Judging Probabilities. Availability Heuristic – Basing the Estimated Probability of an Event on the Ease with which Relevant Instances come to Mind.

Representative Heuristic – Basing the Estimated Probability of an Event on How Similar it is to the Typical Prototype of that Event. Conjunction Fallacy – When People Estimate that the Odds of Two Uncertain Events Happening Together are Greater than the Odds of Either Event Happening Alone. Gives Rise to Stereotypes. Alternate Outcomes Effect – Occurs when People’s Belief about Whether an Outcome will Occur Changes Depending on how Alternative Outcomes are Distributed, Even though the Summed Probability of the Alternative Outcomes is Held Constant. Evolutionary Flaws in Human Decision Making.

Throughout Evolution, Human Decision-Making has developed Errors in Rational Thinking Processes. Fast & Frugal Heuristics. Gerd Gigrenzer.

Human Reasoning Largely relies upon not knowing all the Information/Factors. Recognition Heuristic – If 1 of 2 Alternatives is Recognized and the Other is Not, Infer that the Recognized Alternative has the Higher Value.

By: Cindy Nebel A couple weeks ago, we provided. Today, we would like to provide our own overview of behaviorism and how it can be used in the classroom to promote learning. While often used as tools for classroom management, behaviorist principles can be broadly applied to change behaviors. Given that our goal is to encourage the use of better study strategies, any mechanism that can change behavior is worth considering. Please note that I am not a historian.

Nor am I a behaviorist. This is meant to be a brief overview to demonstrate how these principles can be applied without going into too much detail. The History of Behaviorism Around the turn of the 20th century, introspection was the dominant field of study in psychology. Introspection involved rigorous methodology aimed at examining the contents of consciousness. Under tightly controlled experimental conditions, subjects observed and carefully recorded their current awareness. Unfortunately, the results of such experiments were very difficult to replicate and many psychologists were disillusioned.

Meanwhile, a certain Russian physiologist serendipitously discovered that his dogs could learn to anticipate elements of his experimental design. He was interested in the salivation reflex, but over time the dogs were salivating before they received any food.

This discovery was later termed 'classical conditioning' (more below). In 1911, psychologist John Watson took key elements of observation and experimental rigor, but wrote a seminal paper, Psychology as the Behaviorist View It. In this manifesto, he explained that in order for psychology to be taken seriously as a science, the focus needed to turn toward objective, observable behaviors. Psychologists would then be able to determine exact cause and effect and measure behavior with precise calculations. So began a new movement - behaviorism. Behaviorist Techniques Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning In classical conditioning, you start with an automatic reflex.

For Pavlov, this was his dogs salivating when they tasted food. Then you pair that with a meaningless stimulus.

Pavlov used a bell in one of his conditions. So every time dogs got the food, they also heard a bell. Over time, the dogs anticipated the food and started salivating to a delicious sounding bell. This happens all the time in your life, too.

Marketers love classical conditioning. Take, for example, this advertisement. Naturally, a scantily clad woman leads to a response that includes, for example, pupil dilation and sweating palms (regardless of gender or sexuality).

We have an automatic response. Over time we see that woman paired with a pretty neutral hamburger such that a month later, when we see a Hardees logo, we have an automatic response and think, 'Wow, that burger looks really good!' Operant Conditioning Classical conditioning is fairly limited when it comes to shaping behavior, primarily because an automatic response must already exist. BF Skinner (a radical behavorist, famous for his assertion that there is no such thing as free will) pioneered research on a different form of learning - operant conditioning. In operant conditioning, the organism behaves in order to elicit a reward (reinforcement) or stops behaving to avoid a punishment. There are four different possible consequences to behavior in operant conditioning. The behavior can be rewarded (causing it to be repeated) or punished (making it less likely to be repeated).

We can either give something to the organism (called 'positive' because we are adding a stimulus) or we can take something away (called 'negative' because we are subtracting a stimulus). Thus, our four consequences are positive and negative reinforcement and positive and negative punishment. Here are some examples: Let's say I want to increase the frequency that my teenage daughter cleans her room. This means I need a reinforcement. I can give her something she likes (e.g. Cash, more screen time) each time she cleans her room - positive reinforcement. I could also take something away that she doesn't like (e.g.

Doing dishes) - negative reinforcement. Let's say I want to decrease the frequency that she says swear words. This means I need a punishment. I can give her something she doesn't like (e.g. Shame, soap in her mouth) - positive punishment.

I could instead take away something she does like (e.g. Her phone) - negative punishment. Behaviorism in the Classroom It's easy to see how operant conditioning can be used for classroom management. There are many behaviors that need to be shaped (an operant term!) in order to have an orderly classroom. There are indeed some classroom behaviors that I need to shape in order to enhance learning. For example, students could receive negative punishment for having their phones out.

This might mean that they do not receive their daily attendance points. Research indicates that cell phones pull attention (1), so we can use operant conditioning to increase attention and learning. However, this type of behavioral management is not the main take away here. Instead, I want to talk about increasing the use of good study strategies. You have seen our. Maybe you've even directly. Unfortunately, for many reasons, even when shown evidence that the new strategies are better (2).

In order to encourage the use of good study strategies, students need to see the direct consequence of using them. One way to do this is to give them practice using their own strategies and then require them to study some small bit of material using the new strategy you are teaching. The immediate and direct feedback that shows a higher grade is a positive reinforcement. You can also provide positive reinforcement in class. You can use praise or extra credit for students who demonstrate that they are using the new strategies to try and shape their behavior. One key is that the consequence should come fairly quickly after the behavior, which is what makes this such a challenge.

Students who use spacing, for example, do a lot of work for a long time before receiving a reinforcement. Students who cram the night before and manage to pass the exam receive a more immediate positive reinforcement, making them more likely to engage in that behavior again.