PSY241 Language & Thought II

PSY241Language & Thought II Tom Stafford t.stafford@shef.ac.uk

Possible relations • Language communicates thinking (Pinker) • Language shapes thinking (Whorf) • Language scaffolds thinking (Vygotsky)

Strong Whorfianism is wrong But language is fundamental to cognition

Language Affects ThoughtvsThe Particular Language We Speak Affects Our Thoughts

Language Scaffolds Cognition Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

Language vs Non-Language Users

NSL and numerosity Two handed, iconic Flaherty & Senghas (2011)

NSL number signs post-1990 One handed, quicker, small, more abstract Flaherty & Senghas (2011)

Participants

Task • ‘Ephemeral tasks’ • Tap-tap • Requires a count list

Results

ToM in deaf and hearing infants • 17 – 28 month year old infants • All parents hearing • Infants deaf and hearing Meristo, M., Morgan, G., Geraci, A., Iozzi, L., Hjelmquist, E., Surian, L., & Siegal, M. (2012). Belief attribution in deaf and hearing infants. Developmental Science, 15(5), 633–640.

ToM in deaf and hearing infants

Orality and Literacy

Luria (1979) • Luria asked one illiterate to name the 'odd one out' from "a hammer, a saw, a log and a hatchet" and was told "If one has to go, I'd throw out the hatchet, it does the same job as the saw“ • Situational > Abstract reasoning

Luria (1979) • Q “In the far north, where there is snow, all bears are white. NorayaZembla is in the far north and there is always snow there. What colours are the bears there?“ • A "I don't know, go and look“ • A "I've seen black bears, every locality has its own animals". • Q “Define ‘a tree’” • A "Why should I? Everybody knows what a tree is".

Implicature That which is suggested by an utterance though neither expressed nor strictly implied E.g. • “Please close the window” • “Can you close the window?” • “Is it cold in here?” Davis, 2010

Hume: you cannot see causation “power and necessity... are... qualities of perceptions, not of objects”

Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She studied philosophy at University. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in anti-war demonstrations. Which is more likely? 1. Linda is a bank teller. 2. Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement. Tversky & Kahneman (1983)

Metaphor & Lakoff’s Frames Lakoff, 2004

The ‘Asian Disease Problem’ • Imagine that you are the Mayor of a city that is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume the exact scientific estimate of the consequences of the programs are as follows. Tversky & Kahneman (1981)

Thibodeau & Boroditsky (2011) Expt 1: “Crime is a {wild beast preying on/virus infecting} the city of Addison. The crime rate in the once peaceful city has steadily increased over the past three years. In fact, these days it seems that crime is {lurking in/plaguing} every neighborhood. In 2004, 46,177 crimes were reported compared to more than 55,000 reported in 2007. The rise in violent crime is particularly alarming. In 2004, there were 330 murders in the city, in 2007, there were over 500.”

Response coding 1. REFORM = “diagnose/treat/inoculate” (e.g. fix the economy, improve education, provide healthcare) 2. PUNISH = “capture/enforce/punish” (e.g. calling in the National Guard, instituting harsher penalties, building more jails)

Implications • Metaphor is more than an “ornamental flourish” • More powerful influence on judgement that political affiliation or gender (in Thibodeau & Boroditsky, 2011) • Guides information seeking (expt 4) • Influence ‘invisible’

How Language Affects Cognition • We find effects of language on ‘higher cognition’ – ie not directly perceptual or memory for single items, but on complex reasoning • Language scaffolds cognition

THE END Questions? t.stafford@shef.ac.uk

PSY241 Language & Thought II