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8/ THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
To access the resource listed, click on the hot linked title or press CTRL + click
To return to the Table of Contents, click on click on ▲ Return to Table of Contents
MODULE 8.1: The Organization of Knowledge

 Lecture Guide: The Organization of Knowledge (p. 429)
 Resources Available (p. 434)
MODULE 8.2: Problem Solving, Judgment, and Decision Making
 Lecture Guide: Problem Solving, Judgment, and Decision Making (p.
435)
MODULE 8.3: Language and Communication
 Lecture Guide: Language and Decision Making (p. 444)
WORK THE SCIENTIFIC LITERACY MODEL
 MyPsychLab Video Series (p. 454)
 Work the Model Discussion topic and Writing Assignment with rubric
(p. 454)
FULL CHAPTER RESOURCES

 Lecture Launchers and Discussion Topics (p. 459)
 Classroom Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises (p. 472)
 Handout Masters (p. 484)
 APS Readings from the Association of Psychological Science (p. 489)
 Forty Studies that Changed Psychology (p. 490)
 Web Resources (p. 491)
 Video Resources (p. 492)
 Multimedia Resources (p. 495)
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Canada Inc.

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Chapter 8: Thought and Language
LECTURE GUIDE
I. MODULE 8.1: THE ORGANIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE (Text p. 315)

▲ Return to Table of Contents
Learning Objectives
 Know the key terminology associated with concepts and categories.
o See bold, italicized terms below.
 Understand theories of how people organize their knowledge about the world.
o First, certain objects and events are more likely to be associated in clusters. The priming
effect demonstrates this phenomenon. For example, hearing the word “fruit” makes it
more likely that you will think of “apple” than “table. More specifically, we organize our
knowledge about the world through networks consisting of categories with varying levels
of specificity. We usually think in terms of basic level categories, but under some
circumstances we can either be more or less specific.
 Understand how experience and culture can shape the way we organize our knowledge.
o There are a number of examples of how culture influences the way we categorize object.
For example, people from North American (and Westerners in general) tend to focus on
an individual, or focal objects in a scene, whereas people from Japan tend to focus on
how objects are interrelated.
 Apply your knowledge to identify prototypical examples.
o Students should be able to identify prototypical objects of common categories as well as
those created spontaneously.
 Analyze the claim that the language we speak determines how we think.
o Researchers have shown that language can influence the way we think at some level, but
it cannot entirely shape how we perceive the world. For example, people can categorize
colors even if they do not have specific words for them.
Concepts and Categories
1.) Cognition would not be possible without concepts and categories.
Concept (p. 315) is the mental representation of an object, event, or idea.
2.) Concepts are rarely independent.

i.) We do not have one concept for chair, table, etc.
a.) Instead, each concept can be divided into smaller groups with more precise labels
(e.g., wicker chair or dinner table).
b.) However, all of these items can be lumped into a single label, furniture.
3.) We form such groups through the process of categorization.
Categories (p. 315) clusters of interrelated concepts.
Classical Categories: Definitions and Rules

Classical Categorization (p. 315) this theory claims that objects or events are categorized
according to a certain set of rules or by a specific set of frames.
1.) Definitions are a great way of explaining how people categorize items.
i.) Knowing the definition of a triangle, we are able to identify triangles mixed in with other
shapes (figure 8.1).

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IRM for Krause/Corts/Smith/Dolderman, An Introduction to Psychological Science
2.) However, classical categorization doesn’t fully explain how we categorize, such graded membership
(Table 8.1).
Graded Membership (p. 315) the observation that some concepts appear to make better category
members than others.
i.) For example, researchers flashed sentences on a screen to which participants responded “yes”
or “no.”
a.) One sentence was, “A sparrow is a bird.”
b.) Another sentence was, “A penguin is a bird.”
ii.) Almost always, participants said yes faster about the sparrow being a bird.
a.) This goes against a classical, rule-based categorization system because both are birds.
b.) These results suggest that we have “best examples” for each category.
Prototypes: Categorization by Comparison

1.) The likely image that comes to mind at the suggestion to imagine a bird is what psychologists call a
prototype (figure 8.2).
Prototypes (p. 316) are mental representations of an average category member.
i.) Prototypes allow for classification by resemblance.

a.) For example, if you come upon a new creature in the woods and it has wings and flies,
you would likely categorize it as a bird.
ii.) Rules or definitions are not used; instead similarities in overall shape and function.
2.) The main advantage of prototypes is that they help explain why some category members make better
examples than others.
i.) For example, ostriches are birds just as much as blue jays, but they do not resemble the rest of
the family as well.
3.) We are likely to rely on rules (classical categorization) when there are complications and resemblances
(prototypes) when there are a few major distinctions between items.
i.) For example, a bat looks like a bird, but it gives birth because it is a mammal.
Networks and Hierarchies

1.) The connections among ideas can be represented in a network diagram (figure 8.3).
Semantic Network (p. 316) is an interconnected set of nodes (or concepts) and the links that join
them to form a category.
i.) Nodes are circles that represent concepts.

ii.) Links connect nodes together to represent the structure of a category as well as the
relationships among different categories.
a.) When concepts are closer together in the network diagram, we are quicker to identify
them as true.
b.) For example, “A robin is a bird” vs. “A robin is an animal.”
2.) These networks are organized in a hierarchy, moving from general to very specific.
i.) The basic level category consists of:
a.) The terms used most often in conversation.

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b.) The easiest to pronounce.

c.) Prototypes.
d.) The level at which most thinking occurs.
Working the Scientific Literacy Model: Categories and the Brain

1)What do we know about categories in the brain?
i) individuals can lose the ability to name items from specific categories
a) category specific visual agnosia (see Figure 8.4)
ii) suggests that different categories are organized based on sensory and functional features
iii) early attempts to explain the pattern suggested that we organize living and nonliving things
separately
2) How can science explain how categories are organized in the brain?
i) the living/non-living distinction does not hold up to scientific research
a) patients have disruptions within categories
ii) so many categories, how could each have its own brain region?
iii) research seem to indicate that experiences may shape how we categorize information
3) Can we critically evaluate this information?

i) although the case studies are curious, there is no definitive evidence that living and nonliving
items are stored separately, however some brain image studies suggest that different categories are stored
independently from one another in a healthy human brain.
4)Why is this relevant?

1) Knowing the map of the brain can have obvious implications for medical treatments
Categorization and Experience

1) our ability to form categories is based on experience
i) new stimuli are instinctively grouped with ones we have knowledge about
2) this is true for children and adults
3) sometimes previous experience can be problematic
i) medical students may be biased to diagnose a patient based on recent experience with a
disorder
ii) medical students more likely to base diagnoses on pictures they saw of skin conditions that
rules they knew about diagnosing
iii) expert physicians were not susceptible to this bias
Culture and Categories
1.) How we categorize objects depends greatly on what we have learned about these objects from others
in our culture.
i.) For example, researchers asked individuals from traditional villages to identify a variety of
plants and animals there were extremely relevant to their diet, medicine, and safety.
a.) These individuals referred to plants and animals at a more specific level than US
college students would.
ii.) Culture also influences how objects in our world relate to one another.
2.) Cultural differences in how people think and categorize items has led to the idea of linguistic
relativity.

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Linguistic Relativity (or the Whorfian Hypothesis) (p. 321) the theory that the language we
encounter and use determines how we understand the world.
3.) Benjamin Whorf introduced linguistic relativity as a result of an experience he encountered inspecting
a fire.
i.) Whorf was a chemist, who investigated fires for an insurance company.
ii.) In his spare time he became an accomplished linguist.
iii.) He was investigating a fire that started because an employee through a cigarette butt by a
gasoline barrel labeled “empty.”
a.) The employee took empty to mean there was nothing in the barrel and so didn’t think
it was a fire hazard.
b.) However empty meant there was not a useable amount of gas in it, making it a fire
hazard.
4.) To support the Whorfian hypothesis, evidence would have to show that people from different cultures
not only speak differently about the same categories, but think, remember, and behave differently
regarding those categories.
i.) For example, the English language has several color names (e.g., black, green, blue red, etc.).
a.) There are also a variety of words to describe blends of these colors (e.g., blue-green or
sky-blue).
ii.) The Dani people of New Guinea have one word for blue-green, and no words to distinguish
what English speakers consider prototypically blue or prototypically green.
5.) However, the results are mixed as to whether such language differences affect the way individuals
categorize and remember colors.
i.) For example, when English speakers shop for paint they divide the blues into one pile and the
greens into another.
ii.) The Dani included both colors into one blue-green category.
iii.) However, when both groups were asked to use a verbal distractor (producing irrelevant
speech), it prevented them from using the color terms for the sorting task and there were no cultural
differences.
Biopsychosocial Perspectives: Cultural and Categorical Thinking

1.) Objects might be categorized differently by culture.
i.) For example, cows are sometimes referred to as “livestock” or “food animals” in the US.
ii.) Whereas neither category would apply in India where cows are viewed as sacred.
2.) How objects relate to each other can also differ greatly by culture.
i.) Americans tend to focus on an object, whereas Japanese people tend to view objects in relation
to their surroundings.
ii.) For example, researchers asked American and Japanese college students to take a picture of
someone from any angle, perspective, etc. they wanted (figure 8.5a).
a.) American students were more likely to take close-ups, whereas Japanese students
included surrounding objects.
iii.) American students are also more likely to group cows and chickens together (because both
are animals), whereas Japanese students are more likely to group cows and grass (because that’s what
they eat) (figure 8.5b).
3.) There is also a difference in brain functioning between cultures when viewing and categorizing objects
(figure 8.6).

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i.) For example, when Americans view a picture of an animal against a backdrop of trees and
grass, brain regions involved in processing both objects and background become active.
ii.) Whereas only the brain regions involved with background processes become action in East
Asians.
Myths in Mind: How Many Words for Snow?

1.) Early in the 19th century, anthropologist Franz Boas observed that the Inuit Eskimos had many
different words for snow.
i.) For example, aput means snow that is on the ground and gana means falling snow.
2.) This story was repeated and often exaggerated upon with claims that Inuit people had dozens of words
for different types of snow.
i.) It was thought that the Inuit perceived snow differently in comparison to those who are not
near snow year round.
ii.) Scholars used this example to argue that language determines how people categorize the
world.
3.) However, the reality is that the Inuit categorize snow the same way a person from the rest of Canada
does.
i.) For example, people in Alberta can tell the difference between snow on the ground and falling
snow, as well as sticky snow, drifting snow, yellow snow, and so on.
a.) In this case, the linguistic relativity hypothesis is incorrect.
b.) The difference in vocabulary for snow does not lead to differences in perception.
RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR MODULE 8.1
Lecture Launchers
 Perception of Phonemes (adapted from Larkin, 2004)
 Talk That Talk, Baby
 The Influence of Language on Thought
 Eye-Tongue Coordination
 Nonverbal Gestures
 Who Talks More: Men or Women?
Classroom Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises

 Context and Speech Perception
 Exploring Bilingualism
 Is Reading Automatic? A Survey
 Mondegreens! (based on Melucci, 2005)
 The McGurk Effect

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II. MODULE 8.2: PROBLEM SOLVING, JUDGMENT, AND DECISION MAKING (Text p.
325)
Learning Objectives
 Know the key terminology of problem solving and decision making.
 Understand the characteristics that problems have in common.
o All problems have initial states and goal states. We use operators to achieve goal states.
Also, many problems include subgoals. Problems can range from well-defined to ill-
defined.
 Understand how obstacles to problem solving are often self-imposed.
o Many obstacles arise from the individual’s mental set, which occurs when a person
focuses on only one know solution and does not consider alternatives. Similarly,
functional fixedness can arise when an individual does not consider alternative used for
familiar objects.
 Apply your knowledge to determine if you tend to be a maximizer or a satisficer.
o Students should be able to rate their (dis)agreement with a number of statements, average
their score, and reflect on their score as to whether they are more of a maximizer or
satisficer.
 Analyze whether human thought is primarily logical or intuitive.
o This module provides ample evidence that humans are not always logical. Heuristics are
helpful decision-making and problem-solving tools, but they do not follow logical
principles. Even so, the abundance of heuristics does not mean that humans are never
logical; instead, they simply point to the limits of our rationality.
Defining and Solving Problems
1.) Despite how different problems may seem, they all share some key components.
Problem Solving (p. 325) means accomplishing a goal when the solution or the path to the
solution is not clear.
Problem-Solving Strategies and Techniques

1.) There appears to be two basic strategies we use to solve problems.
i.) One is more objective, logical, and slower.
a.) For example, listing and pros and cons of dating someone.
Algorithms (p. 325) are problem-solving strategies based on a series of rules.
ii.) The other is more subjective, intuitive, and quicker.

a.) For example, envisioning what it would be like to date the person.
Heuristics (p. 325) problem solving-strategies that stem from prior experiences and provide an
educated guess as to what is the most likely solution.
2.) For example, think about how you might play the children’s word-game known as hangman (figure
8.7).
i.) The goal state is to spell the word.
ii.) In the initial state, you have none of the letters or other clues to guide you.
iii.) Your obstacles are to overcome blanks without guessing the wrong letters.

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iv.) Using an algorithm, you could pick A, B, C, D, etc.

a.) But you would probably lose.
v.) Using another algorithm, you could determine which letters are most commonly used and
guess those.
a.) According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the most common letter is E followed by
A, R, and I.
iv.) Using a heuristic, you might discover the last letter is G and guess the next-to-last letter is N
because you know many words ending in –ing.
3.) Most problems can be solved with either algorithms or heuristics, or a combination of both.
Cognitive Obstacles
1.) Some of the simplest (and maybe most frustrating) forms of cognitive obstacles are self-imposed.
i.) Sometimes we have trouble “thinking outside of the box.”
2.) A great example of this is the nine-dot problem (figure 8.8).

i.) The goal is to connect all nine dots using only four straight lines and without lifting your pen
off the paper.
ii.) Most people impose limitations on where the lines can go, even though those limits are not
part of the rules.
a.) People assume the dots mark the boundaries that they must stay in, but solving the
problem requires to go outside the boundaries (figure 8.9).
3.) Routine solutions can be helpful, but they can also impose cognitive barriers.
Mental Set (p. 326) is a cognitive obstacle that occurs when an individual attempts to apply a
routine solution to what is actually a new type of problem.
i.) A mental set can also occur when an individual applies a routine solution when a much easier
solution is possible
3.) Another obstacle is when we can only think of one function for an operator.
Functional Fixedness (p. 326) occurs when an individual identifies a potential operator, but can
think of only its most obvious function.
i.) For example, imagine you are asked to tie two strings together that are hanging from the
ceiling (figure 8.11; answer figure 8.13).
a.) However, once you grab one string you cannot let go of it and you cannot reach the
second string. There is a table next to you with a pair of pliers, a piece of paper, and a ball of cotton.
b.) Many people don’t think of using the pliers as a weight on a string to get it to swing
into reach because that’s not a normal use for pliers.
Judgment and Decision Making
Representativeness and Availability

1.) We often misjudge probabilities and frequencies.
i.) For example,
Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She

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majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned

with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated
in antinuclear demonstrations. Which is more likely?
a. Linda is a bank teller.
b. Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist
movement.
ii.) In one study, more than 80% of students chose B, even though A is more likely.
iii.) This is because the world has a certain number of bank tellers (A), which is the base rate.
a.) Among this group, there will be a certain number who are also feminists (figure 8.12).
b.) The conjunction fallacy reflects the mistaken belief that finding a specific member in
two overlapping categories is more likely than finding any number of one of the larger, general
categories.
2.) The conjunction fallacy demonstrates the use of the representativeness heuristic.
Representativeness Heuristic (p. 327) making judgments of likelihood based on how well an
example represents a specific category.
i.) In the bank teller example, there are no descriptors of a bank teller, but there are for social
activism, which could represent a feminist.
a.) Therefore, the common judgment of B is based on representativeness.
3.) Another heuristic we use to make judgments involves examples that are readily available, giving us
the impression they happen frequently.
Availability Heuristic (p. 328) entails estimating the frequency of an event based on how easily
examples of it come to mind.
i.) For example, researchers asked volunteers which was more frequent in the English language:
a.) Words that begin with the letter K
b.) Words that have K as the third letter
ii.) Most chose A, even though the correct answer is B.
a.) However, it’s easier to recall words that start with K.
4.) Although heuristics can lead us to make inaccurate judgments, they also help us to make quick and
correct judgments.
i.) For example, the same participants were asked which was more common in the English
language:
a.) Words that begin with the letter K
b.) Words that begin with the letter T
ii.) Most subjects choose the correct answer, B.
5.) Real world examples of availability examples abound; we overestimate the risks of each event because
they easily come to mind.
i.) For example, police brutality, shark attacks, kidnapping, and terrorist attacks.
Anchoring Effects
1.) Some heuristics are based on how problems are presented.
i.) For example, judgments can be influenced by wording, the variety of multiple-choice options,
and frames of reference.

508
Anchoring Effect (p. 329) occurs when an individual attempts to solve a problem involving
numbers and uses previous knowledge to keep (i.e., anchor) the response within a limited range.
2.) In one study, participants were asked to think aloud when answering, “When was George Washington
elected president?”
i.) Most thoughts included, “The US declared independence from England in 1776, and it
probably took a few years to elect a president, so Washington was elected in….1779.”
a.) In this case, the Declaration of Independence in 1776 serves as the anchor for
Washington’s election.
3.) Anchors are more effective when generated by the individual making the judgments, but they can also
have effects when introduced by the experimenter.
i.) For example, researchers asked the same question to two groups, using a different anchor:
a.) What percentage of African nations belongs to the United Nations? Is it greater than
or less than 10% ? What do you think the exact percentage is?
b.) What percentage of African nations belongs to the United Nations? Is it greater than
or less than 65% ? What do you think the exact percentage is?
ii.) Those in group A estimated the number to be about 25%, where those in group B guessed
around 45%.
Framing Effects
1) how a question is worded affects decisions
i) for example choices of options will vary depending on if a question is framed in terms of
saving lives or framed in terms of people dying even when the probability of death in each case is the
same
a)people favour options that involve saving over options that mention dying (se Figure
8.14)
Belief Perseverance (p. 331) occurs when an individual believes he or she has the solution to the problem
or the correct answer for a question, and accepts only evidence that will confirm those beliefs.
2) For example, you and several friends sit down to play poker with an old deck of cards.
i.) The first dealer counts the deck and gets 51 cards (short), but on the second count he gets 52
and begins to deal.
a.) The dealer exhibited belief perseverance by ignoring the first count of 51 counts and
accepting the 52 card count because this was the correct amount needed.
Confirmation Bias (p. 331) occurs when an individual searches for only evidence that will
confirm his or her beliefs instead of evidence that might disconfirm them.
3) Confirmation bias involves the search for a particular type of evidence, whereas belief perseverance
involves errors in the way of evaluating evidence that already exists.
i.) In the case of the dealer, he only sought out confirmatory evidence.
4) Confirmation bias and belief perseverance can act together to dramatically influence a person’s beliefs,
especially in relation to complex, emotionally charge areas (e.g., politics).
i.) We tend to treat evidence in ways that minimize negative or uncomfortable feelings while
maximizing positive feelings.
ii.) One study examined the brain regions and self-reported feelings involved in interpreting
information about presidential candidates during the campaigns.

509
a.) Participants were all deeply committed to either the Republican or Democratic
candidate, and they all encountered information that was threatening toward each candidate.
b.) Participants had strong emotional reactions to threatening information about their own
candidate, but not to the alternative candidate or a neutral person (e.g., TV news anchor) (figure 8.15).
c.) Brain scans showed that when the treat was directed at the participant’s candidate,
brain areas associated with ignoring or suppressing information were more active, whereas very few of
the typical detached, logical areas were activated.
Working the Scientific Literacy Model: Maximizing and Satisficing in Complex Decisions
1.) The advantage of living in a technologically advanced, democratic society includes the ability to make
so many decisions for ourselves.
i.) The downside is that there are usually too many choices to consider them all.
ii.) This results in two types of consumers:
a.) Satisficers are those who seek to make decisions that are “good enough.”
b.) Maximizers are those who attempt to evaluate every option for every choice until they
find the perfect fit.
2.) What do we know about maximizing and satisficing?

i.) Given the time and effort put in seeking out the best option, many believe the maximizer
would be the most satisfied shopper, but this is often not the case.
a.) Paradox of choice: the observation that more choices can lead to less satisfaction.
ii.) In one study, researchers questioned recent college graduates about their job search process.
a.) Maximizers averaged 20% higher salaries, but were less happy about their jobs than
satisficers.
3.) How can scientists explain maximizing the satisficing?

i.) Scientists have participants read vignettes that include a trade-off between number of choices
and effort.
a.) For example,
Your cleaning supplies (e.g., laundry detergent, rags, carpet cleaner, dish soap, toilet
paper, glass cleaner) are runninglow. You have the option of going to the nearest grocery
store (5 minutes away), which offers 4 alternatives for each of the items you need, or you
can drive to the grand cleaning superstore (25 minutes away), which offers 25 different
alternatives for each of the items (for approximately the same price). Which store would
you go to?
b.) Maximizers are much more likely to spend the extra time and effort to have more
choices.
ii.) Another study told students they could sample only one piece of chocolate from either an
array of 6 pieces or 30 pieces
a.) Maximizers are happier when they can only chose from 6 pieces and satisficers are
happier when they chose from 30 pieces (Table 8.2).
4.) Can we critically evaluate this information?

i.) One reason for the dissatisfaction of maximizers might be because they invest more so they
expect more from the outcome.
a.) For example, if a maximizer and a satisficer both buy a digital camera for $75, the
maximizer will feel like s/he overpaid because of the extra time and effort put in to have the same
product.
ii.) However, it is important to note this is only correlational research.

510
a.) People cannot be made maximizers or satisficers; they either already are or not.
b.) Therefore, we cannot say what causes what; it could be that maximizers tend to be
less satisfied, which leads to maximizing behaviour.
5.) Why is this relevant?
i.) Maximizing and satisficing behaviours can also be applied to taking a multiple choice exam.
a.) Do you select the first reasonable choice or do you compare them to one another
before making your choice?
b.) Once you make your choice, do you stick with it, believing it is good (satisficer) or
are you willing to change your answer to make the best possible choice (maximizing)?
ii.) Maximizing on tests appears to be the more effective choice.
a.) One study of 1,500 individual examinations showed that when people changed they
answers, they improved their score 51% of the time and hurt their score 25% of the time.
PSYCH @ Decision Making and Neuromarketing

1) early research suggested that marketers may be able to figure out a way to trigger the ‘buy button’ in
the human brain
2) does not turn out to be true
3) neuromarketers can use brain imaging to predict whether purchasers will like packaging and other
aspects of a product

Lecture Launchers
 Do You Mentally “Hear” Yourself Reading?
 Problem Solving in Infants (from Malley-Morrison & Yap, 2001)
 Intuition
 Don’t Believe Everything You Read…Except This
 Functional Fixedness
 Hormones and Thinking Skills
 Fallacies in Reasoning
 Top-Down Processing of Language (inspired by Warren & Warren, 1970)
 Linguistic Determinism, Linguistic Relativity, or Neither?
 Learning a Concept
 Mental Imagery
 Problem Representation
 Breaking Sets in Problem Solving
 Availability Heuristics
 Demonstrating Cognitive Biases
 Mental Sets in Everyday Life
Web Resources
 The Role of Language in Intelligence: http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/rolelang.htm
 Anagram Server: www.wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html
Video Clips in MyPsychLab (ClassPrep)

 Deductive Reasoning (1:02)
 Artificial Intelligence (2:07)

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III. MODULE 8.3: LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION (Text p. 336)

▲ Return to Chapter 8: Table of Content
Learning Objectives
 Know the key terminology from the study of language.
 Understand how language is structured.
o Sentences are broken down into words that are arranged according to grammatical rules
(syntax). The relationship between words and their meaning is referred to as semantics.
Words can be broken down into morphemes, the smallest meaningful units of speech, and
phonemes, the smallest sound units that make up speech.
 Understand how genes and the brain are involved in language use.
o Studies of the KE family show that the FOXP2 gene is involved in our ability to speak.
However, mutation to this gene does not necessarily impair people’s ability to think.
Thus the FOXP2 gene seems to be important for just one of many aspects of human
language. Multiple brain areas are involved in language—two particularly important
ones are Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas.
 Apply your knowledge to distinguish between units of language such as phonemes and
morphemes.
o Students should be able to identify phonemes and morphemes from a list as well as
whether any can count as both.
 Analyze whether species other than humans are able to use language.
o Nonhuman species certainly seem capable of acquiring certain aspects of human
language. Studies with apes have shown that they can learn and use some of the ASK
signs or, in the case of Kanzi, use an artificial language system involving arbitrary
symbols (lexigrams). Critics have pointed out that many differences between human and
nonhuman use of language remain.
What Is Language?
Properties of Language
1.) There are a few basic features of language that make it unique from animal communication.
i.) We use it to communicate about objects and events that are not in the present time and place.
ii.) We use language to imagine things that are happening on another planet, things that are
happening inside of atoms, etc.
iii.) We can tell a friend we’re going to order a pizza later tonight and she will not think it’s
already there.
a.) If we told our dog we were going to give it a treat later tonight, it would here “blar
blar blar TREAT blar” and expect a treat right away.
2.) Languages can produce entirely new meanings.

i.) You alone can produce a sentence that has never been uttered before in the history of
humankind.
a.) As long as you use English words and grammar, others who know the language
should be able to understand it.
ii.) In contrast, dog commands and most other animal signals stand alone.
a.) Pairing them together does not produce new meanings.
b.) Although dogs appear to understand many different words, they do not appear to
understand their relationships to other words when put into sentences.

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3.) Language is also unique because it is passed down naturally from parents to children.
i.) Generation of honeybees will do the same dances, but this is more of a biological process (not
because elder bees showed them).
ii.) Your dog may respond to a number of commands, but it will not train its puppies to sit, stay,
or roll over.
4) Just about the whole cortex is involved with language.

i.) Reading requires visual areas.
ii.) Listening involves auditory areas.
iii.) The memories that provide ideas and the words to talk about them are distributed throughout
the cortex.
5) The most unique and complex aspects of language are based in the left hemisphere (for most) in the
regions known as Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area (Module 3.3).
i.) Damage to these areas results in aphasias.
Aphasias (p. 337) are language disorders caused by damage to the brain structures that support
using and understanding language.
6) Located toward the middle, back portion of the temporal lobe, is Wernicke’s area.
Wernicke’s Area (p. 337) the area of the brain most associated with finding the meaning of
words.
i.) Damage to this area results in Wernicke’s aphasia: a language disorder in which a person has
difficulty understanding the words he or she hears.
a.) This problem involves semantics rather than syntax because the person can talk, but
the word choices make no sense.
b.) For example, a conversation with someone with Wernicke’s aphasia might look like:
Examiner: Do you like it here in Kansas City?
Person with aphasia: Yes, I am.
Examiner: I’d like to have you tell me something about your problem.
Person with aphasia: Yes, I, ugh, cannot hill all of my way. I cannot talk all of the things
I do, and part of the part I can go alright, but I cannot tell from the other people. I usually most of my
things. I know what can I talk and know what they are, but I cannot always come back even though I
know they should be in, and I know should something eely I should know what I’m doing …
ii.) Those who recover from this disorder report being able to hear someone speaking, but that
they couldn’t understand it—they couldn’t even understand their own speech.
7) Broca’s area appears adjacent to a strip of the brain known as the motor cortex that helps us control
body movements (figure 8.16).
i.) This area helps physically produce speech, but also in syntax and processing musical notes.
Broca’s Area (p. 337) is a frontal lobe structure that controls our ability to articulate speech
sounds that compose words.
ii.) A person with damage to this area will most likely be diagnosed with Broca’s aphasia.
a.) An individual can still speak, but it is very difficult and consists of limited single
words filled with pauses. Even gesturing with speech can be affected.
b.) A conversation with someone with Broca’s aphasia might look like:

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Examiner: Tell me, what did you do before you retired?

Person with aphasia: Uh, uh, uh, pub, par, partender, no.
Examiner: Carpenter?
Person with aphasia: (Nodding to signal yes) Carpenter, tuh, tuh, twenty year.
iii.) Individuals with Broca’s aphasia can understand questions and come up with answers, but
just has trouble speaking.
a.) He had trouble saying “carpenter” and he missed the morpheme S from “twenty year.”
Language (p. 338) is a form of communication that involves the use of spoken, written, or
gestural symbols that are combined in a rule-based form.
Phonemes and Morphemes: The Basic Ingredients of Language

1.) The psychologists’ cooking analogy: We all start with the same basic language ingredients, but they
can be mixed together in an unlimited number of ways.
Phonemes (p. 339) are the most basic of units of speech sounds.
2.) Individual phonemes typically do not have any meaning by themselves.

i.) You cannot tell someone to T to get them to stop.
ii.) For example, the phoneme associated with the letter T is found at the end of pot or the
beginning of stop.
a.) Depending on the letters around T, you will have to move your tongue, lips, and vocal
cords slightly, which produces different sounds (but still a T sound).
b.) For example, try saying stop, stash, stink, and stoke.
Morphemes (p. 339) are the smallest meaningful units of a language.
3.) Morphemes can be simple words, suffixes, or prefixes.

i.) The word pig is a morpheme; it cannot be broken down into smaller units of meaning.
ii.) Morphemes can be combined following the rules of the language.
a.) For example, you can describe a person a person as piggish by combining the
morphemes pig and ish.
iii.) Our ability to combine units of sound into an infinite number of meanings (productivity)
differentiates language from other forms of communication.
4.) Lastly, there are words that make up language.
Semantics (p. 339) is the study of how people come to understand the meaning from words.
i.) Humans appear to have a knack for this kind of interpretation.

a.) We know tens of thousands of words and can understand the meaning of new words
based on their morphemes.
Syntax: The Language Recipe

Syntax (p. 340) is the rules for combining words and morphemes into meaningful phrases and
sentences.
1.) Children master the syntax of their native language before they leave elementary school.
i.) They can string together morphemes and words.
ii.) They can tell the difference between well-formed and ill-formed sentences.
iii.) Despite mastering the rules at such an early age, most speakers cannot tell you what the rules
are.

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2.) The most basic units of syntax are nouns and verbs.
i.) They are all that is required to construct a well-formed sentence (e.g., Unicorns eat).
a.) However, such sentences are limited, so we build phrases out of nouns and verbs
(figure 8.17).
3.) For example, we can change statements into questions by moving specific words.
i.) a. A unicorn is in the garden .
b. IS a unicorn ______ in the garden ?
ii.) However, this does not work in all cases:
a.) a. A unicorn that is eating a flower is in the garden .
b. IS a unicorn that ______ eating a flower is in the garden?
iii.) We must follow a set of rules (syntax) to determine word order.
Pragmatics: The Finishing Touches

1.) Keeping with the cooking analogy, syntax is the recipe for language, whereas pragmatics is the icing
on the cake.
i.) Syntax takes place in your brain, whereas pragmatics focuses on the speaker’s behaviours and
the social situation.
Pragmatics (p. 340) is the study of nonlinguistic elements of language use.
2.) Pragmatics is guided by the cooperative principle: pragmatic rules apply to conversation, so entering
into a conversation is essentially agreeing to cooperate.
i.) For example, the second man in the conversation is not fully cooperating:
A man walks up to another man, who happens to be
standing next to a dog. The first man asks, “Sir, does your
dog bite?” The second man replies, “No.” But then the
dog barks and nips the first man on his fingers. “Ouch!
I thought you said your dog does not bite!” the first man
complains. To which the second man replies, “I did. But
that’s not my dog.”
3.) Pragmatics reminds us that sometimes what is said is not as important as how it is said (table 8.3).
i.) For example, your friend did not eat 50 pounds of cheeseburgers and you wouldn’t call her a
liar for saying it because you know she meant she just at a lot.
The Development of Language
1) Infants distinguish phonemes from their own language by about 8 to 10 months

2) infants then learn to parse speech
3) Children also show a rapid growth in vocabulary thought to be due to a certain process.
Fast Mapping (p. 342) the ability to map words onto concepts or objects after only a single
exposure.
i.) The fact that children learn language differently than adults has led psychologists to use the
term language acquisition when referring to children vs. language learning.
a.) The study of language acquisition in children all over the world has shown that
children (regardless of language) develop language capability in stages (table 8.4).

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Production of Spoken Language

1) Early psychologists believed that language was learned through imitationing sounds and being
reinforced for pronouncing and using words correctly.
i.) However, learning through imitation and reinforcement is only one component of language
development.
a.) For example, children produce phrases that include incorrect grammar or word forms
that adults do not use.
b.) Children learn irregular verbs and pluralizations on a word-by-word basis. They will
use ran and geese correctly until they learn the –ed and –s morphemes and then they’ll start saying runned
(vs. ran) and gooses (vs. geese).
c.) Children often ignore their parents’ attempts to correct their over-generalized rules of
language.
ii.) In addition, if only reinforcement were at play, adults would be able to learn language as
easily as children.
Sensitive Period for Language

1.) When families move to another country, the children pick up the new language rather quickly whereas
the parents have difficulty with pronunciation and grammar.
i.) Many schools in the US postpone teaching a second language to students because they fear it
might interfere with mastery of the first.
a.) However, research shows learning two languages simultaneously during childhood
advantageous.
2.) Most psychologists believe children pick up language so much easier than adults because there is a
sensitive period for language.
i.) This is a time during childhood in which children’s brains are primed to develop language
skills.
a.) Children can absorb language almost effortlessly, but this ability fades starting the
seventh year.
b.) Children who receive cochlear implants before the age of two develop speech better
than those who receive implants after age four.
ii.) Cross cultural research shows that sign language also has a sensitive period.
a.) Children can pick up sign language rather quickly, whereas deaf adults who learn to
sign later in life will never be as fluent.
The Bilingual Brain

1) there are benefits to being bilingual but there are also costs
i) costs include slower word naming as adults
2) benefits include a stronger ability to control attention
3) may have health benefits
i) may have more connections in the brain and a better back up system if something goes wrong
Genes, Evolution, and Language
Working the Scientific Literacy Model: Genes and Language

1.) What do we know about genes and language?
i.) Many scientists believe the evidence is overwhelming that language is a unique feature of the
human species that evolved to solve problems related to survival and reproduction.
ii.) Language adds greater efficiency to thought, allows transmission of information without
requiring direct experience (with potential dangers), and facilitates social needs and desires.

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iii.) As with most complex behaviours, there are likely a number of genes involved with
language.
a.) However, there appears to be one gene of particular importance.
2.) Which scientific evidence supports a genetic basis of language?

i.) All humans carry the gene FOXP2.
a.) The physical and chemical processes of this gene codes for are related to language.
ii.) The KE family has a mutated copy of this gene, so those in this family have great difficulty
putting thoughts into words (figure 8.18).
a.) They have no problems performing tasks, so they are still able to think.
iii.) Brain scans were taken of KE family members who inherited the mutated gene and those who
did not (figure 8.20).
a.) They were asked to generate words themselves and to repeat the words back to
experimenters.
b.) Those with a normal gene showed typical activity in the Broca’s area in the left
hemisphere.
c.) Those with the mutated gene had no activity in Broca’s area, that the activity in the
brain was unusual for that type of task.
3.) Can we critically evaluate this evidence?

i.) Although studies such as these show the importance of the FOXP2 gene in language, it is not
unique to humans (like language is).
ii.) Mice have a version very similar in molecular structure.
iii.) The molecular structure and activity of the FOXP2 gene in songbirds (unlike-non-songbirds)
is similar to that in humans.
4.) Why is this relevant?

i.) This research helps us to further understand the links between genes and language.
ii.) Someday other individuals genes will be found that have direct links to language function.
Can Animals Use Language?

1.) Formal studies of language learning in nonhuman species gained momentum in the mid-1950s when
psychologists attempted to teach spoken English to a chimpanzee named Viki.
i.) Viki was cross-fostered by humans.
ii.) However, after many years of trying, she was only able to whisper about four words.
Cross-Fostered (p. 346) raised as a member of a family that was not of the same species.
2.) In the 1960s, researchers attempted to teach chimpanzees American Sign Language (ASL).
i.) It was thought that the lack of language in Viki’s case was not due to brain ability, but
limitations in the vocal tract and tongue.
ii.) The first chimpanzee, Washoe, was immersed in an environment rich with ASL, with
everyone signing instead of speaking.
a.) By two years old, Washoe acquired 35 signs through imitation and direct guidance of
how to move her hands.
b.) Eventually, she learned around 200 signs.
c.) She was also able to generalize signs from one context to another. For example, she
learned the word “open” using certain doors and cupboards and later signed open for other doors,
cupboards, as well as her soda bottle.

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3.) Researchers taught a bonobo named Kanzi an artificial language using symbols that represented
complex ideas and phrases (lexigrams).
i.) He learned about 350 symbols through training.
ii.) However, he learned his first symbols by watching researchers attempting to teach his mother
how to use the language.
iii.) He also seems to recognize about 3,000 spoken words.
iv.) His trainers believe his skills constitute language.
a.) He can understand symbols and at least some syntax.
b.) He acquired symbols simply be being around others who use them.
c.) He produced symbols without specific training or reinforcement.
4.) Psychologists have worked with other large-brained animals to see if they can acquire language.
i.) Dolphin trainers use gestures to refer to specific objects and directions (e.g., right and left).
a.) For example, “put the ball on the left into the basket on the right.”
b.) The question is whether these animals associate a single gesture with a reward or if
they understand the use of gestures as symbols.
5.) Although these animals appear to be able to communicate effectively, debate continues about whether
these animals are using language.
i.) Researchers working with language-trained apes point out some key differences between
species:
a.) Apes communicate with only symbols, not with the phrase-based syntax used by
humans.
b.) There is little evidence showing that apes pass their language skills to other apes.
c.) Productivity—creating new words (gestures) and using existing gestures to name new
objects or events—is rare, it is occurs at all.
d.) Some of the researchers become very engaged in the lives of the animals and talk
about them as friends and family, which may interfere with the objectivity of the data.
Lecture Launchers
 Learning to Read: Eye Movements and Developmental Dyslexia
 Stroop Task
 Non-Sexist Language
 Channels of Communication
 Do Animals Have Language? A Survey
Web Resources
 Speed Reading Test Online: www.readingsoft.com/
 Language Learning: www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/linguistics/learn.jsp
 Do Apes Use Language?—The Why Files: www.whyfiles.org/058language/ape_talk.html
 Primate Use of Language: www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/language.htm
Video Clips in MyPsychLab (ClassPrep)
 Early Language Development (2:10)
 Language Learning (1:53)
 Teaching in a Bilingual Classroom (2:46)
 Stimulating Language Development (0:20)

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WORK THE SCIENTIFIC LITERACY MODEL
Text p. 350
 MYPSYCHLAB: Video Series
Cognition and Language episode from the MyPsychLab Video series offers 5-7 minute
segments covering the most recent research, science, and applications and utilizing the most
up-to-date film and animation technology. Multiple-choice and short-answer questions are
provided for student assignments.
Episode 10: Cognition and Language
1. The Big Picture: I Am, Therefore I Think
2. The Basics: The Mind is What the Brain Does
3. Special Topics: Mental Imagery: In the Mind’s Eye
4. Thinking Like a Psychologist: Multilingualism: When More is Better
5. In the Real World Application: A Crash Course In Problem Solving
6. What’s In It For Me?: Making Choices
Format
The MyPsychLab video series was designed with flexibility in mind, available in MyPsychLab. Each
half-hour episode in the MyPsychLab video series is made up of several five-minute clips which can be
viewed separately or together:
• The Big Picture introduces the topic of the episode and draws in the viewer.
• The Basics uses the power of video to present foundational topics, especially those that students find
difficult to understand.
• Special Topics dives deeper into high-interest and often cutting-edge topics, showing research in
action.
• Thinking Like a Psychologist models critical thinking and explores research methods.
• In the Real World focuses on applications of psychological research.
• What’s In It for Me? These clips show students the relevance of psychological research to their lives.
Text p. 350
 ASSIGNMENT: Work the Model
After students read the chapter and view the video (available in MyPsychLab and at
www.youtube.com/workthemodel) assign the discussion topic found in the “Why is this
relevant?” section as a classroom discussion or as a short-answer writing assignment through
MyPsychLab.
Discussion Question or Writing prompt:

Maria’s method of studying worked effectively throughout high school until she took her first foreign
language course. In this course, her grades were much lower than usual. How might mental set have
played a role in Maria’s academic problem?
Rubric for Writing Assignment:
Trait 1 Rubric: Development of Ideas

Specific Trait
Response Priorities
Complete for all multi-part prompts
Top Description uses “mental set” term correctly and within the context of the example.
Priority
Second Concepts accurately described without using context of the example.
Priority

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Score Point Description of Student Response

Response correctly describes “mental set” correctly and within the context of the
example of her performance in a foreign language course:
• There is a tendency to approach situations in a certain way because that
4 method has worked in the past
o There was some past behaviour that led to the formation of a mental
set and that the current behaviour is contradicting or counter to past
behaviour,
• Maria’s previous way of studying worked in her classes (past behaviour =
previous study habits) and that led to her forming a mental set that those
particular study habits are the only way to approach a course.
• But those old ways are now in conflict with her current foreign language
course and she will need to make changes to how she approaches studying.
Response describes most aspects about the concept of “mental set” within the context
of the example of her performance in a foreign language course:
behaviour,
Response describes some aspects about the concept of “mental set” within the context
of the example of her performance in a foreign language course:
behaviour,
Response fails to describes “mental set” correctly and within the context of the
example of her performance in a foreign language course:
• There is no mention of a tendency to approach situations in a certain way
1 because that method has worked in the past
• There is no mention that Maria’s previous way of studying worked in her
classes and that led to her forming a mental set that those particular study
habits are the only way to approach a course. Or that she needs to change her
approach to studying.

520
Trait 2 Rubric: Organization

Specify Trait
Organization is clear and helps the reader understand the respondent’s point of view.
Transitions connect concepts and guide the reader. Contains an effective introduction
4 and conclusion.
Organization helps the reader understand the respondent’s point of view. Transitions
connect some concepts. Contains an appropriate introduction and conclusion.
3
A lack of organization interferes with the reader’s understanding of the respondent’s

point of view. Response has few transitions that would help the reader follow the
2 essay. Either the introduction or the conclusion or both are ineffective.
A lack of organization profoundly interferes with the reader’s understanding of the

respondent’s point of view. Response lacks transitions that would help the reader
1 follow the essay. Both the introduction and the conclusion are absent or ineffective.
Trait 3 Rubric: Conventions

Specific Trait
Response does not contain a significant number of errors in grammar, spelling,

punctuation, or word choice. Errors do not interfere with the reader’s understanding.
4 Response demonstrates variety in sentence structure. Demonstrates sophistication and
skill with a wide variety of conventions.
Response contains a significant but not excessive number of errors in grammar,

spelling, punctuation, or word choice. Most errors do not interfere with the reader’s
3 understanding. Response demonstrates some variety in sentence structure.
Demonstrates control over basic but not complex conventions.
Response contains a substantial number of errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or

word choice. Many errors interfere with the reader’s understanding. Response
2 demonstrates little to no variety in sentence structure. Demonstrates minimal control
over basic conventions.

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Response contains a large number of errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, or word

choice. Many errors interfere with the reader’s understanding. Response demonstrates
1 little to no variety in sentence structure. Demonstrates a lack of control over basic
conventions.
Trait 4 Rubric: Voice

Specific Trait
The writing has an individual, engaging voice with a compelling tone. There is a sense
of a personality behind the written words. Words are precise and natural; there may be
4 figurative language used appropriately. Sentences are graceful and clear with a natural
rhythm and variety that demonstrate fluency. Awareness of audience is evident.
The writing has a clear but uncomplicated voice. The writing is relatively fluent, but
overall it may lack spontaneity and vitality. Word choice is appropriate and
3 functional; figurative language may be limited to clichés. Sentences may occasionally
be awkward or repetitious but demonstrate some variety in structure. There are few
surprising or unexpected moments. Some awareness of audience is evident.
The writing may have an artificial or uneven tone. Word choice may be simple and
limited, or overly jargonistic, reflecting text written to impress. There may be little
2 evidence the writer is engaged in the topic; the text lacks liveliness. Sentences may be
choppy, rambling, or repetitive in a way that limits fluency. There may be little or no
audience awareness.
The writing may lack voice or use a tone inappropriate for the audience. Word choices
are vague, inappropriate, or incorrect. Sentences may be limited in variety or be
1 comprised of awkward fragments or run-ons which produce a halting voice. No
commitment to audience and/or topic is evident.
Trait 5 Rubric: Focus & Coherence

Specific Trait
Response persuasively justifies its conclusions through logic, examples, and
illustrative language. References to theories, concepts, etc. effectively demonstrate a
strong command of psychology.
4

522
Response justifies its conclusions through some combination of logic, examples, and
illustrative language. References to theories, concepts, etc. effectively demonstrate a
good command of psychology.
3
Response provides some justification for its conclusions. Some combination of logic,
examples, and illustrative language are present but are inconsistent or somewhat
ineffective. References to theories, concepts, etc. effectively demonstrate only a partial
2 understanding of psychology.
Response provides no significant justification for its conclusions. Logic, examples, and
illustrative language are absent, inconsistent, and/or ineffective. References to theories,
concepts, etc. effectively demonstrate no more than a weak grasp of psychology.
1

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▼ LECTURE LAUNCHERS AND DISCUSSION TOPICS
 Perception of Phonemes (adapted from Larkin, 2004)

 Talk That Talk, Baby
 The Influence of Language on Thought
 Eye-Tongue Coordination
 Nonverbal Gestures
 Who Talks More: Men or Women?
 Do You Mentally “Hear Yourself Reading?
 Learning to Read: Eye Movements and Developmental Dyslexia
 Problem Solving in Infants (from Malley-Morrison & Yap, 2001)
 Intuition
 Don’t Believe Everything You Read…Except This
 Functional Fixedness
 Hormones and Thinking Skills
 Fallacies in Reasoning
Lecture/Discussion: Perception of Phonemes (adapted from Larkin, 2004)
Lisker and Abramson (1970) conducted a classic study comparing the ability of participants to perceive
these two phonemes using computer-generated sounds. The purpose of the study was to determine
whether perception of the phoneme was related more to the detection of the puffing sound (generated
from the lungs) or voice-onset time. Using a computer program, they could alter the voice-onset time of
the phoneme ah, so that on some trials voice-onset was short and on others it was longer. Their results
revealed that participants always perceived the phoneme as ba when voice-onset time was short and pa
when voice-onset time was long. They concluded that speech discrimination occurred through detection
of timing differences of voice onset by the auditory system. For this lecture enhancer, ask students to
produce two phonemes: da and ta. Although both sound nearly the same, da requires no build up of air in
the lungs, whereas ta does. Because a puff of air is built up for ta, the voice-onset time (i.e., the time
between the initial sound and vibration of the vocal cords) is a little longer. This extremely subtle
distinction is what our auditory systems use to distinguish these two phonemes.
▼ Return to List of Lecture Launchers and Discussion Topics

Lecture/Discussion: Talk That Talk, Baby
“Does baby want to play with the beads?! Do yoooooouuuu want to play with the beeeeeaaaaads? Yes
you doooooo!! Yes you doooooooo, don’t yooouuuuuuuuu?!!” The high-pitched, drawn-out baby talk that
new babies seem to find mesmerizing and new parents seem to find necessary may have a deeper
significance than previously suspected. That semi-annoying tendency to repeatedly accentuate vowel
sounds may serve an important function in language development, and may have a universal component.
Patricia Kuhl, a neuroscientist at the University of Washington, studied mothers in Sweden, Russia, and
Seattle as they talked to their infants. Swedish, Russian, and English have substantially different vowel
systems, yet the vowel sounds that are common to each language—”ee,” “ah,” and “oo”—were the same
sounds that were unintentionally accentuated in the mothers’ speech. These parents did not accentuate all
sounds or raise the pitch of all words, as might someone pretending to speak “baby talk.” Rather, acoustic
profiles of some 2,363 words across all three groups revealed that just these important vowels were

524
exaggerated, and, according to Kuhl, for good reason. By providing an infant with unambiguous examples
of what vowel sounds belong together, the task of language acquisition is presumably made that much
easier. To a 5-month-old learning to enunciate vowel sounds this can be an important boost.
Some intriguing unanswered questions remain, however. First, although Kuhl and her associates have
demonstrated the type of input given to these infants, it’s not known what babies do with this information
or how and when learning takes place. If an adult did not exaggerate vowel sounds, for example, it’s not
clear whether there would be a negative effect on an infant’s learning or simply no effect at all. Second,
the universality of this effect suggests a biological basis for knowing how to talk to an infant. “Ee,” “ah,”
and “oo” are in fact sounds common to all human languages. Why they are spontaneously stressed under
certain circumstances hints at an important adaptive tendency.
Neergaard, L. (1997, August 1). Baby talk contributes to an infant’s learning. Austin American-
Statesman, A19.

Lecture/Discussion: The Influence of Language on Thought

In George Orwell’s chilling novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, a totalitarian government tries to narrow thought
by shrinking language. The result, called Newspeak, is supposed to wipe out “thoughtcrime” by
obliterating the words needed to commit it. “We’re destroying words—scores of them, hundreds of them,
every day,” boasts a worder in the ironically named Ministry of Truth. “We’re cutting the language down
to the bone.” Words also get new meanings: War is peace, love is hate. (Lest anyone think Orwell’s
projections were pure fantasy, in recent years leaders in our own government have called lying “mis-
speaking,” the wartime killing of civilians “collateral damage,” the accidental killing of American
soldiers by their own side “friendly fire,” nuclear missiles “peacekeepers,” and tax increases “revenue
enhancement.”)
Was Orwell right? Does language provide a mental straitjacket for thought? Can we think only what we
can say? Or does language merely express ideas and perceptions that would exist anyway?
The leading spokesperson for the notion that language shapes thought was Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897–
1941), an insurance inspector by profession and a linguist and anthropologist by inclination. His theory of
linguistic relativity held that (1) language molds habits of both cognition and perception and (2) different
languages point speakers toward different views of reality. Whorf sometimes seemed to believe that
language determines thought in an absolute way. He once wrote, “We dissect nature along lines laid down
by our native languages” (Whorf, 1956). But usually he took the more moderate position that language
has a powerful influence on cognition.
Whorf’s evidence was linguistic and cultural. For example, he noted that English has only one word for
snow, but Eskimos (now called the Inuit) have different words for falling snow, slushy snow, powdered
snow, and so forth. On the other hand, the Hopi have a single noun that refers to all flying things and
beings, with the exception of birds. This word can be used for aphids, airplanes, and aviators. Thus the
Inuit presumably would notice differences in snow that people in other cultures would not, and Hopis
might see similarities between insects and aviators that others would miss. Since Whorf’s time, other
writers have added examples of their own. Chinese, for instance, has at least nineteen words for silk, but
(in keeping with the reticence of the Chinese about discussing sexual matters) it has no common word for
either foreplay or orgasm, making it something of a challenge to do sex surveys in China (Kristof, 1991)!
In English, much has been written about how the very word foreplay limits sexual imagination. Why are
all activities other than intercourse merely “fore” play?

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Whorf felt that grammar had an even greater influence on thought than did separate words. He argued, for
example, that grammar affects how we think of time. English verbs, he noted, force people to emphasize
when an action took place; you can’t talk about seeing Joan without saying whether you saw her, see her
now, or will see her. But Hopi verbs do not require these distinctions. Instead, they allow a speaker to
convey whether he or she experienced the action personally, observed it, heard about it, or inferred it.
Further, English speakers refer to time as a thing that can be saved, squandered, or spent, or as something
that can be measured; we say time is short, long, or great.
The linguistic differences pointed out by Whorf and others have fascinated students and teachers for
generations. Clearly culture and language are intertwined: English is full of sports metaphors (“I scored
some points with my boss,” “She plays hardball in negotiations”), whereas French is rich in food
metaphors (un navet, “a turnip,” means a bad film, and C’est la fin des haricots! “This is the last of the
stringbeans,” is equivalent to “It’s the last straw”) (Halpern, 1991). But does language shape thought, or
does it merely reflect cultural concerns? Critics note that it is easy enough to describe in English what the
various Inuit words for snow mean or how Hopis conceive of time, despite linguistic differences. Within a
culture, when a need to express some unlabeled phenomenon arises, speakers easily manufacture new
words. Like the Inuit, English-speaking skiers need to talk about several kinds of snow, so they speak of
powder, corn, and boilerplate (ice).
Linguistic evidence alone cannot prove that language determines, or even influences thought. Do the Inuit
perceive snow differently from people who have fewer words for it? Do Hopis experience time differently
because of their grammar? We cannot know, unless linguistic evidence is supplemented by psychological
evidence, and unfortunately, the few psychological studies that have been done have been inconclusive,
mainly because of difficulties in studying this question.
Yet the theory of linguistic relativity, which has sometimes seemed deader than a dinosaur, keeps
springing back to life. Within a language, it is easier to process some words and grammatical
constructions than others; it is reasonable to assume, then, that it is easier to think certain thoughts in one
language than another, because of the words and grammatical constructions the languages require (Hunt
& Agnoli, 1991). Further, recent research suggests that languages may, at the very least, influence the
acquisition of specific mental skills, by guiding attention in particular directions.
For example, Irene Miura and her colleagues (Miura et al., 1988; Miura & Okamoto, 1989) argue that
linguistic differences can help explain why Asian children tend to outperform English-speaking children
on tests of numerical ability. In many Asian languages, names of numbers reflect a base-10 system: the
label for 12 is “ten-two,” the label for 22 is “two ten(s)-two,” and so forth. These names may help
children understand numbers and simple arithmetic. In a study of Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and
English-speaking American first-graders, Miura and her associates (1988) had children stack blocks to
represent five different quantities. White blocks stood for single units and blue blocks for tens units. Each
child had two chances to show the numbers. Most of the Asian children could express all five numbers in
more than one way, for example, 12 as either 12 white blocks or 1 blue block and 2 white ones. But only
13 percent of the American children could do the same; most simply used a collection of white blocks.
Further, on their first try most of the Asian children used patterns corresponding to written numbers, for
example, 2 tens and 8 ones for 28. But only 8 percent of the American children did so. Of course, these
results do not prove that linguistic differences are responsible for the differences in math achievement. It
is interesting, though, that bilingual Asian-American students tend to score higher in math achievement
than do those who speak only English (Moore & Stanley, 1986).
Finally, language affects social perceptions (Henley, 1989). In the previous sentence, you read the name
of a psychologist. Would you be at all surprised to learn it was Nancy Henley? Feminists have long
observed that in much of our writing, humanity is male and women are outsiders, the “second sex.” This

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is why they have long objected to the use of men or mankind to refer to humanity, and he to refer to any
person, sex unspecified.
Language, then, can influence thinking, reasoning, and social stereotypes. It allows us to manipulate
symbols rather than objects. It directs our attention. It allows us to create detailed plans for the future. But
the degree to which linguistic differences between cultures result in different ways of thinking and
perceiving remains an open question.

Lecture/Discussion: Eye-Tongue Coordination
“Put the apple on the towel in the box.” The ambiguity inherent in this sentence can lead to great
confusion. Should the apple that’s currently on the towel go in the box? Should the towel lying near the
apple first go in the box, followed by the apple on top of it? Or should the apple be placed on the towel in
the box, rather than on the plate that’s in the box?
Until recently, most views of speech comprehension emphasized the decoding of grammar, followed by a
search for contextual clues that might aid in following a command. The grammar in this example
illustrates that sometimes that can be a tall order. A recent study, however, suggests that visual cues
irrelevant to grammar play a prominent early role in influencing message comprehension. A combination
of visual and linguistic information helps us to better understand what others tell us.
A research team led by Michael K. Tanenhaus at the University of Rochester tracked the eye movements
of volunteers while they listened to a variety of messages. These simple commands asked them to
manipulate objects that were visible in the laboratory. The researchers found that people look at targets as
soon as they hear words that distinguish the target from other items. As an example, when asked to “touch
the starred yellow square” participants took about a quarter-second to look at the correct target (that lay
among other unstarred blocks) after hearing the word “starred.” However, if the items included two
starred yellow blocks, participants looked at the target after hearing the word “square.”
But where does the apple go? When presented with either an ambiguous phrase (“Put the apple on the
towel in the box”) or an unambiguous one (“Put the apple that’s on the towel in the box”) participants’
eye movements differed. As they heard a particular command, participants viewed either a display with
an apple set on a towel, another towel without an apple, a box, and a pencil; or a similar arrangement in
which the pencil was replaced by an additional apple on a napkin. When faced with only one apple, the
ambiguous phrase led participants to glance at the towel after hearing “towel,” showing their inclination
that the apple should be placed there, then both placed in the box. Those participants given the
unambiguous phrase, however, never glanced at the towel. When the two-apple arrangement was
presented, however, both ambiguous and unambiguous instructions produced the same patterns of eye
movements. Participants looked from one apple to the other upon hearing the word “apple,” then looked
at the appropriate apple upon hearing the word “towel,” and made no further eye movements until hearing
the word “box.” An apple on a towel in a box illustrates the coordination that takes place between vision
and hearing in speech comprehension. But if the apple stays in the box it doesn’t do much for the hearing-
hunger connection.
Bower, B. (1995). Understanding speech: I see what you mean. Science News, 147, 373.
Reprinted from Alan Swinkels (2003). Instructor’s resource manual for Psychology by S. Kassin.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall

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Lecture/Discussion: Nonverbal Gestures
The study of nonverbal gestures and their meaning has received extensive research attention in
psychology, sociology, and communication. Through basic research we know a great deal about what
gestures convey, how they are culturally variable, and how they act as cues to emotional and other
internal states of a communicator. Roger Axtell, former international business executive and now
professional speaker and author, has cataloged a variety of gestures and their appropriate uses in
cultures around the world. His collection of examples shows clearly that an intended message may not
always be communicated successfully. Some common miscommunicated meanings include:
• The “two-fingered salute.” In most of the contemporary world flashing the index and middle
finger in a “V” shape, palm outward, signifies “victory” or “peace” (depending on the vintage of
the communicator). However, in England, Australia, and several other countries, a simple turn of
the wrist (flashing the sign with the palm toward the communicator) changes this gesture to a
highly insulting one: a two-fingered version of our “one-fingered salute.”
• “The fig.” Brazilians clench their fists with a thumb jutting between the index and middle fingers
to signal good luck and help in warding off evil spirits. In Greece and Turkey, however, this same
gesture is quite insulting, whereas in Holland and Tunisia it has sexual connotations.
• “Hook ‘em Horns.” Texans, especially Austinites, know that an outstretched index and pinky
finger signal a cheer for the University of Texas Longhorns to do well on the playing field. This
same gesture signals a curse in Africa, a good luck sign in Brazil, and an Italian chide that the
recipient is being cuckolded.
• Signaling that someone is “crazy” can take on a variety of forms. In Germany it is done by
rotating the forefingers back and forth around one’s temples. Italians send the same message by
tapping their hands to their foreheads. To complicate matters, in Holland a forefinger to the
temple means “intelligent” whereas a forefinger to the forehead signals “crazy.” The common
North American gesture of a circular motion around the temple actually signals “There’s a phone
call” among Argentineans.
• “Nice job!” Flashing a “thumbs up” to a friend usually signals that the person has done well or
that the communicator wishes good luck. In Australia, however, it is considered the equivalent of
the “two-fingered salute” discussed above, whereas in Japan it signals “five,” in Germany it
indicates “one,” and in Bangladesh it is considered obscene.
• “Pointing” is accomplished in North America and Europe by using the index finger. In Malaysia
the thumb is preferred, whereas in Japan and China an open hand is used.
• The “hand sweep.” Moving one’s hand and arm across a table in a sweeping motion signals
“someone is stealing” in Latin American countries. In Peru, this same gesture means “pay me.”
• Extending the palm of the hand toward someone might be a way of saying “no more” or “no
thanks.” In Greece, however, it is an extremely insulting gesture mimicking shoving dirt (and
other brown matter) into someone’s face.
Axtell, R. E. (1991). Gestures: The do’s and taboos of body language around the world.
New York: Wiley.
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1969). The repertoire of nonverbal behaviour: Categories,
origins, usage, and coding. Semiotica, 1, 49–98.
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1972). Hand movements. Journal of Communication, 22, 353–
374.

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Lecture/Discussion: Who Talks More: Men or Women?
Women talk a lot more than men, right? A long-standing stereotype of the socially gifted, talkative
woman is contrasted with the stereotypical male: somewhat guarded, less social, and less talkative. Do
experimental data bear these stereotypes out? In 2006, Louann Brizendine, founder and director of the
University of California, San Francisco’s Women’s Mood and Hormone Clinic, published The Female
Brain. In it was a claim that women speak an average of 20,000 words per day, nearly three times the
mere 7,000 spoken by men. This seemingly sensational claim was immediately questioned by James
Pennebaker, a psychologist at University of Texas, Austin. In a series of studies (prior to the publishing of
Brizendine’s controversial book) at schools in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, researchers used an
electronically activated recorder to record samples of male and female students’ talking for 17 hours per
day. From the samples of 396 students (210 females and 186 males) it was estimated that women and men
speak roughly the same number of words per day. Women were found to speak an average of 16,215
words per day whereas men speak 15,669. This result does not even approach statistical significance, and
calls into question Brizendine’s claim. Moreover, Pennebaker’s findings indicate that the stereotypes of
the talkative woman / reserved man are simply psychomythology. A discussion of these findings will
nicely illustrate how sound psychological experimentation can lead to the truth. Additionally, most
students hold these stereotypes, and this discussion should elucidate the power of stereotypes—some
students who, even when faced with strong scientific evidence to the contrary, will maintain their views.

Lecture/Discussion: Do You Mentally “Hear” Yourself Reading?
The idea of subvocal speech, where thought is mediated via moving the vocal tract below hearing level,
was an idea posited by behaviourist John Watson. Although the idea that all thought is predicated on
mastery of language raises some issues, many (if not most) people report that they “mentally hear” the
words that they read while reading to themselves. Ask students if they hear (or listen to) themselves while
reading—many may not realize that they do. A discussion of how language can lead to producing
thoughts and reasoning can flow from this question.

Lecture/Discussion: Learning to Read: Eye Movements and Developmental Dyslexia
As noted in the text, many cognitive (e.g., symbolism, meaning, recognition) skills require fine-tuning in
order for a person to learn how to read. Another skill that often goes unappreciated in the development of
reading is proper and accurate eye movements. Reading text involves a series of quick, jutting eye
movements called saccades, with intervening fixations. We are not usually aware of these movements, but
if you’ve ever watched someone’s eyes while they are reading, the saccadic “jumping” of the eyes is quite
conspicuous. In order to read effectively, a person’s eye movements must be precisely controlled. As with
most other facets of development, some variability is apparent among children in developing this skill,
and some people actually never appear to attain the high-performance eye movement control necessary
for good reading ability. This developmental deficiency is thought by some researchers to manifest as
dyslexia, a selective impairment of reading and spelling abilities without a deficit in general intelligence.
Indeed, through careful reading and eye movement experiments involving dyslexics and normal controls,

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the voluntary component of saccade control was demonstrated to differentiate dyslexics from controls
(e.g., Bednarek et al., 2006; Ram-Tsur et al., 2006). The result of this slight imperfection in eye
movement timing is that information from the text is not in register with eye-movement mediated visual
input. To approximate the difficulty encountered by a person with dyslexia while reading, have students
rotate their book (or other reading material) 90 degrees (clockwise or counterclockwise is fine). This way,
students will have to read from either up to down, or vice versa (not the usual left-to-right). The most
noticeable change in reading performance is a decrease in reading speed.

Lecture/Discussion: Problem Solving in Infants (from Malley-Morrison & Yap, 2001)
How early in the human life span can we see evidence of problem-solving ability? Are babies capable of
performing any cognitive tasks prior to developing language? How would we test for these kinds of
abilities? McCarty, Clifton, and Collard (1999) describe several techniques that researchers have used to
assess problem-solving in infants and toddlers, like pulling a cloth to get a string, then pulling the string
to get a toy, or selecting an appropriate tool from among many to rake in a desired toy.
McCarty and colleagues developed a task that evaluated young children’s problem-solving strategies—a
test of guiding a spoon into the mouth. Participants were 9, 14, and 19 months old. The idea was to test to
see whether a subject could properly grasp and orient a spoon such that s(he) could guide it into the
mouth. A spoon (which had food on it) was placed in front of the child, and its orientation varied
randomly for each trial. The most efficient way for infants to get the food on the spoon to their mouths
was through their using a radial grip with the preferred hand on the handle of the spoon, with their thumb
toward the bowl of the spoon. To achieve this grip, the infants would have to make accommodations to
the changing orientation of the spoon.
The McCarty team also presented children with items that had no clear goal or no obviously correct way
of being held (e.g., a toy animal attached to a handle). They reasoned that comparing the children’s
grasping strategies for these items with their grasping strategies for the spoon should reveal whether
children reach in a particular manner toward items with a handle regardless of what the item is and how it
may be used.
The main finding in the study was that the children consistently placed the bowl of the spoon in the
mouth, indicating that the spoon was used in a purposeful way, whereas for the toys the children did not
take any particular course of action. The 9-month-olds tended to reach with their preferred hand in the
overhand orientation, which sometimes led to an awkward grip on the spoon. They immediately placed
the spoon in the mouth, which meant that the handle ended up in the mouth on trials when the spoon was
oriented such that the food was on the same side as their preferred hand. Although the 14-month-olds also
tended to reach with their preferred hand in the overhand orientation, they made corrections, if necessary,
before transporting the spoon to the mouth so that they only placed the bowl of the spoon in the mouth
and never the handle. Rather than always reaching with their preferred hand, the 19-month-olds tended to
alternate hands in coordination with the spoon’s orientation, reaching with their handle-side hand in the
overhand orientation to achieve a radial grip. The authors concluded that recognizing the orientation of
the spoon and reaching to achieve a radial grip involves a problem-solving strategy that is a precursor of
reasoning and thinking about problems, and also that their research documents the evolution of the ability
to plan ahead during the second year of life.


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Lecture/Discussion: Intuition
Psychologists have long been interested in understanding reasoning, problem solving, and decision
making. But the other, “softer” side of this cognitive coin is the study of intuition; how we develop a “gut
feeling” or “sense” about a judgment, situation, or another person. Far from relying on an aching bunion
or creaky joint to understand intuition, scientists have recently put the notion to the test.
Antonio Damasio and his colleagues at the University of Iowa College of Medicine studied 6 people who
had damage to the ventromedial sector of the prefrontal cortex and 10 people who did not. This area of
the brain is responsible for storing information about emotional experiences and is also involved in
decision making. Armed with $2,000 in fake money, the participants were presented with four decks of
cards and were told they could turn over cards from any deck during the course of a game. Unbeknownst
to the participants, two decks were rigged to produce lower immediate rewards but a higher overall
payoff, whereas the other two decks yielded short-term, large payoffs but at the price of greater total
losses. Participants flipped cards at will while being monitored for GSR as an indicator of nonconscious
(or conscious) anxiety. After the first 20 rounds the research team questioned the participants, and did so
again after each subsequent 10 rounds, in order to determine when the participants became conscious of
the best strategy to win.
Those participants without brain damage began to show signs of anxiety before picking cards from the
losing decks, and began to avoid those decks, although consciously they were not yet aware that they
were losers. By the 80th round 7 of the 10 normal participants consciously knew to avoid the losing
decks, and although the remaining 3 did not reach that insight, they nonetheless continued to make
advantageous choices. The 6 brain damaged participants, however, continued to pick from the losing
decks, never expressed a hunch that something was amiss, and never showed signs of anxiety. In short,
the intuition or unconscious knowledge that arose in the normal subjects was absent in the impaired
group; there never arose a “sense” or “feeling” of what was going on.
One study digs deeper to the roots of intuition. A team of researchers led by David Skuse, a psychiatrist at
the Institute of Child Development of University College in London, found evidence suggesting intuition
is an inherited trait passed from fathers to their daughters. Skuse and his colleagues defined intuition in
terms of social skills, such as the ability to decode nonverbal communication or recognize socially
appropriate behaviour. Although the research team has not identified a gene (or genes) responsible for
these abilities, their patterns of evidence suggest a specific chain of inheritance. The parents of 88 girls
with Turner’s syndrome (characterized by a single X chromosome) were asked to rate their daughters on
various measures of social intelligence, such as awareness of other’s feelings, skill at following
instructions, or awareness of offending others. The researchers next determined whether each girl’s single
X chromosome had come from her father or mother. The results revealed that those girls who had
inherited the mother’s chromosome scored worse on the measures of “intuition” than did those receiving
the X from their fathers.
Parents of normal boys and girls were also asked the same questions. The boys, compared to the normal
girls, scored lower on the measures of social intuition: Like all boys, they also received their X
chromosome from their mothers. Furthermore, the researchers also compared the responses of the
Turner’s syndrome girls with those of normal boys and girls on a battery of neuropsychological measures.
Turner’s syndrome girls who received their X chromosome from their mothers scored worse on tests that
required extensive planning or the inhibition of urges; normal boys also scored worse on the inhibition
measures (but not the planning tasks).

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Brown, D. (June 12, 1997). Women inherit intuition from dads, researchers say. Austin
American-Statesman, A1, A6.
Stein, R. (March 9, 1997). Intuition affects sensible choices, researchers find. Austin
American-Statesman, A25.

Lecture/Discussion: Don’t Believe Everything You Read…Except This
People sometimes believe in things they ought not to, such as flat Earths, cheese moons, or their own
invulnerability. But forming and clinging to misbegotten beliefs may itself be a consequence of some
fundamental cognitive processes, such as how information gets encoded in memory or what happens
to a disrupted attentional system.
Dan Gilbert, of Harvard University, has been exploring the problem of “believing what isn’t so” for
several years. In explaining the process by which such belief takes place he invokes the thinking of Rene
Descartes and Baruch Spinoza, both of whom wrote quite a bit about how information is perceived and
stored in a mental system. Descartes argued that information is first comprehended, and then in a
subsequent step, a truth value is assigned to it: We decide to accept or reject the information as being true.
This would suggest, of course, that we can easily entertain ideas (indefinitely, perhaps...putting them up
in a mental guest room, so to speak) without necessarily putting stock in them. If comprehension
(understanding) of information and endorsement (acceptance or rejection) are two distinct steps, humans
should be able to hold an idea without believing it.
Spinoza adopted a different position on the nature of belief, arguing that comprehension and acceptance
of information are accomplished in a single initial step, only later to be followed by certification or
rejection of the information. This view holds that the very act of receiving information entails assigning a
belief to it [“this information is true” (or false, as the case might be)], which only later can be
substantiated or “unbelieved,” as might be called for. Quite unlike Descartes, then, Spinoza argued that
ideas could not be entertained, “beliefless,” in a cognitive system, but rather are believed upon first being
received into the cognitive system.
How to disentangle these competing predictions? Notice that both, if allowed to run their course, would
lead to the same outcome: The acceptance or rejection of information as being true. The difference lies in
when the belief is assigned, either in a Spinozan first step or in a Cartesian second step. Gilbert reasoned,
then, that disrupting a belief system in action would be the only way to tell which system (Spinozan or
Cartesian) was at work. If Descartes was correct, disrupting the system between steps should have no
effect on cognition: We would be left holding a collection of ideas that had not yet been assigned truth
values. If Spinoza was correct, however, disruption should produce a very pronounced tendency: We
should be left believing information to be true (since it was automatically tagged with a truth valued upon
entering the cognitive system) when in some cases it is not.
To test these ideas, Gilbert and his colleagues asked research participants in one of several experiments to
learn some (fictitious) Hopi language terms. Participants saw a Hopi/English word-pairing flash on a
computer screen (such as “A monishna is a star,” “A rirg is a valley,” or “A neseti is a bee”), which was
followed by a brief pause, and then followed by one of three outcomes: The word “True” (signaling that
the preceding pairing was accurate), the word “False” (indicating that the preceding pairing was
incorrect), or a blank screen. Note that Descartes and Spinoza are still neck-and-neck at this point. Either
account of belief would argue that participants could take in the information (untouched, as Descartes
would have it, or believed as true, as Spinoza would have it) and then correct it based on the True or False

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cue later given (which would mean assigning a belief in the Cartesian system, or revising/substantiating
an existing belief in the Spinozan system). However, the researchers asked participants to do one
additional task. On some trials participants were asked to press a button if they heard a particular tone.
This additional task served to tax their available cognitive resources, making it more difficult to perform
the correction step of integrating the true/false cues with the prior information. These participants,
however, provided an answer to the riddle of belief. When later polled they showed a particular pattern of
errors; namely, they were left believing propositions that should have been revised (i.e., those tagged as
“False”) as being true. Given the controls of the experiment, the only way to account for this outcome is
that the information must have been encoded as true upon first being read (just as Spinoza argued).
Because these resource-depleted subjects were disrupted from performing Spinoza’s second task
(certifying or, in these cases, rejecting the previously-believed information), they were left believing what
they ought not to.
The implications of this research are startling. For example, as Dan Wegner and his colleagues have
shown, it may help explain the workings of innuendo. When presented with information that may or may
not be correct, our Spinozan belief system compels us to endorse that information upon comprehension. If
our cognitive resources are later disrupted we may be unable to correct our initial comprehension.
Similarly, this research may help explain why belief perseverance takes place. If the stage of correcting
initial information is subject to disruption, we may be left clinging to beliefs even in the face of clearly
disconfirming evidence. Finally, these results fly in the face of what your parents always told you. Far
from “not believing everything you read,” it seems that we can’t escape that fate.
Gilbert, D. T. (1993). The assent of man: Mental representation and the control of belief.
In D. M. Wegner & J. W. Pennebaker (Eds.), Handbook of mental control (pp. 57–87).
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Gilbert, D. T. (1991). How mental systems believe. American Psychologist, 46, 107–119.
Gilbert, D. T., Krull, D. S., & Malone, P. S. (1990). Unbelieving the unbelievable: Some
problems in the rejection of false information. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 59, 601–613.
Ross, L., Lepper, M. R., & Hubbard, M. (1975). Perseverance in self-perception and social
perception: Biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 880–892.
Wegner, D. M., Wenzlaff, R., Kerker, R. M., & Beattie, A. E. (1981). Incrimination through
innuendo: Can media questions become public answers? Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 40, 822–832.

Lecture/Discussion: Functional Fixedness
To demonstrate functional fixedness, gather a number of household items, such as an egg carton, film
container, baby food jar, nail, paper clip, baking cup, empty toilet paper roll, piece of string, paper napkin,
clothes pin, safety pin, Band-aid, and cotton ball. You may wish to have several of each item depending
on how many students are in your class.
Arrange the class in small groups and have each group choose several items. Their task is to brainstorm as
many new uses for their items as possible in the time allowed. For four or five items, allow 10 to 15
minutes. Have each group report their results to the class.

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The following discussion should allow you to reinforce ideas about the nature of creativity and the
meaning of functional fixedness. If a person suggests using a baby food jar to store small items such as
buttons, this is still fixating on the function of the jar as a container. A more creative suggestion would be
to break the jar and use a piece for cutting, or to draw around it to make a circle.

Lecture/Discussion: Hormones and Thinking Skills
Uriel Halbreich, UB professor of psychiatry and gynecology and obstetrics, and an expert in
psychopharmacology, hormonal disorders and behaviour, has reported that the performance of
postmenopausal women on certain tests measuring the ability to integrate several cognitive functions
improved significantly after a course of estrogen-replacement therapy (ERT).
It was found that low levels of estrogen may impair some cognitive functions, while
estrogen-replacement therapy may help improve certain thinking and biological brain processes, and also
may play a role in elevating mood, results of studies involving postmenopausal women conducted by
researchers at UB have shown.
Post-menopausal women and women of child-bearing age were given a wide variety of tests that measure
different areas of cognitive functions according to Halbreich. The women were then given estrogen for 60
days, and there appeared to be a significant improvement. This increase in cognitive ability was correlated
with the plasma levels of estrogen. The results indicated that integrative abilities, reaction times and
short-term verbal memory of many of the postmenopausal women improved after estrogen therapy.
Halbreich believes that estrogen may help maintain some functions that typically decline with age or
menopause.

Lecture/Discussion: Fallacies in Reasoning
We often have lapses in critical thinking as we speak and write. A fallacy is a belief or argument that rests
on invalid or false inference, that is logically unsound. Fallacies are often used unintentionally, but they
are also used intentionally when an effort is being made to deceive or mislead the listener or reader.
1. “If you know about BMW, you either own one or you want one.”
What’s wrong with this statement? It is an example of the fallacy called false alternatives. It is also called
dualistic or black-and-white thinking and bifurcation. The fallacy occurs when it is presumed that a
classification is exclusive or exhaustive. It often takes the form of overlooking alternatives that exist
between two polar opposites.
Here is another example of false alternatives written by an educator who was suggesting that children
should begin public school at the age of four and that high school should end after the eleventh year:
“Twelfth grade has become a bore for able students and a holding tank for the rest.”
2. “I asked my doctor why my mouth was so dry and he told me that it was because my saliva glands are
not producing enough saliva.”

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What do you think of the doctor’s diagnosis? This is an example of the fallacy of begging the question,
or circularity. The fallacy occurs when the solution to a problem is a restatement of the problem, or, an
argument for a proposition is equivalent to the proposition, such as “He throws tantrums all the time
because he has a terrible temper.” Diagnoses of mental disorders are sometimes considered to beg the
question: “Why is he so nervous and agitated?” “He has generalized anxiety disorder.” “What does that
mean?” “It means that he has anxiety and apprehension.”
Here is another example that may seem ridiculous, but when things such as this occur in the context of
speech or writing, they often sound all right, maybe even impressive: “Bodies fall because they have a
downward tendency.”
3. “He is an innocent man. He was tried before a jury of his peers and the prosecution was unable to
prove him guilty.”
Is the assumption of innocence justified? This is an example of the fallacy called appeal to ignorance.
This fallacy occurs when it is argued that because we cannot prove a proposition to be true, it must be
false; or if we cannot prove a proposition to be false, it must be true.
Here is another example: “There has never been any scandal about this candidate for president. Therefore,
he must be an honest, moral person.”
4. “If you don’t pick up your clothes before you go to bed at night, pretty soon you’ll be knee-deep in
dirty clothes.”
Is that the way it is? This is an example of the fallacy called slippery slope; certain applications of it have
been called the domino theory. The argument is that if the first in a possible series of steps or events
occurs, the other steps or events are inevitable.
Here is an example from a letter to the editor of a metropolitan newspaper. The writer was responding to
an article discussing the morality of euthanasia in the case of a person with an advanced case of multiple
sclerosis: “If we allow this to happen, where do we stop? Who would decide at what point someone
should die? Do we give them poison the moment they know they have multiple sclerosis or cancer, before
they have any suffering?”
5. “TV can’t be harmful for children because it occupies their attention for hours and keeps them off the
streets.”
Is this argument against the idea that TV can be harmful for children convincing? It is an example of the
fallacy called irrelevant reason. This fallacy occurs when the argument given to support a proposition has
little or no relevance to the proposition.
Here is another example: “Conservationists have suggested that we could conserve fuel by increasing the
tax on gasoline. But more taxes, whether they’re paid by the oil companies or passed on to the consumer
at the pump, will not produce one more barrel of oil.”
6. “I don’t see how she can get elected. No one I know is going to vote for her.”
What’s wrong with this argument? This is the fallacy called hasty generalization. It occurs when an
isolated or exceptional case is used as the basis for a general conclusion. In more statistical language, it is
making a conclusion about a population based on information obtained from a sample that is biased or too

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small. It is an error of inductive reasoning—going from the particular to the general when it is not
justified by the evidence.
Another example is attributed to the brother of a former president of the United States: “I never read a
book by a woman because I never met a woman who had sense enough to write a book.” (Either he hasn’t
met very many women, in which case the sample is too small, or the ones he has met are a biased sample.
Of course, there is the possibility that he is a devout sexist.)
7. “If socialized medicine will result in better and lower-cost healthcare, shouldn’t the same logic be
applied to automobiles? Wouldn’t nationalization of the auto industry produce better and lower-cost
cars? And if we nationalized auto mechanics, wouldn’t we get better and less-expensive repairs?”
These words were spoken in rebuttal after Senator Kennedy had called for national health insurance in a
speech at a meeting of the United Auto Workers. Does the speaker’s argument make sense? It represents
the fallacy called questionable analogy. In questionable analogy an attempt is made to make two
situations seem more similar than they actually are.
Another example is from a state senator who was using the crucifixion as a rationale for capital
punishment:
“Where would Christianity be if Jesus got 8 to 15 years with time off for good behaviour?”


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▼ CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES, DEMONSTRATIONS, AND EXERCISES
 Context and Speech Perception

 Non-Sexist Language
 Channels of Communication
 Do Animals Have Language? A Survey
 Exploring Bilingualism
 Is Reading Automatic? A Survey
 Mondegreens! (based on Melucci, 2005)
 The McGurk Effect
 Top-Down Processing of Language (inspired by Warren & Warren, 1970)
 Linguistic Determinism, Linguistic Relativity, or Neither?
 Stroop Task
 Learning a Concept
 Mental Imagery
 Problem Representation
 Breaking Sets in Problem Solving
 Availability Heuristics
 Demonstrating Cognitive Biases
 Mental Sets in Everyday Life
Activity: Context and Speech Perception
Margaret Matlin points out that human speech perception is quite flexible: We are active listeners who,
instead of receiving speech sounds, use context as a cue to help figure out a word or a sound. One
implication of this flexibility is phonemic restoration, in which people regularly (and without awareness)
fill in missing sounds using context as a cue. Apparently, our skill at reconstructing missing sounds (e.g.,
hearing the word peel in the sentence, “The _eel was on the orange”) has evolved because we are
accustomed to having phonemes occasionally masked by extraneous noises, such as coughs, whispers,
pages turning, etc. Interestingly, it is our ability to perceive words on the basis of context that also allows
us to ignore sloppy mispronunciations. To demonstrate this in class, practice reading the following
sentences until you can read them smoothly. Then, read them aloud to your class, asking students to
identify which sound/word in each sentence was incorrect.
1. In all the gunfusion, the mystery man escaped from the mansion.
2. When I was working pizily in the library, the fire alarm rang out.
3. The messemger ran up to the professor and handed her a proclamation.
4. It has been zuggested that students be required to preregister.
5. The president reacted vavorably to all of the committee’s suggestions.
Your students, if consistent with research by Cole, should not notice mispronunciations when they occur
in the context of a sentence (although Cole’s subjects were able to distinguish syllables such as gun and
con when the isolated syllables were presented). Matlin notes that our tolerance of sloppy speech may
cause us to overlook startling pronunciation mistakes made by children, as in the case of the child who
sang the following words to a famous Christmas carol, “O come all ye hateful: Joy, Phil, and their
trumpet.”
Matlin, M. W. (1994). Cognition (3rd ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace.

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▼ Return to complete list of Classroom Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises

Activity: Non-Sexist Language
The generic use of man and other masculine pronouns excludes women in our language and also
contributes to gender stereotyping. As a thought-provoking assignment, have your students try to generate
gender neutral alternatives for the words in Handout Master 8.1 (suggested alternatives are given
below). This exercise should not only spark a lively discussion of the importance of gender neutral
language, but should also provide students with plausible alternatives that they will then (hopefully)
incorporate into their own speech. You might also consider assigning Janet Hyde’s excellent article
referenced below.
Some suggested gender neutral alternatives:
1. business people
2. businesswoman
3. cave dwellers, cave people
4. chair, head, president, leader, moderator, coordinator
5. student
6. representatives, members of Congress, Congress people
7. craftsperson, artisan, craft worker
8. delivery clerk, courier, deliverer
9. ancestors, forebears
10. supervisor, boss, leader, foreperson, head juror
11. laypeople
12. mail carrier, postal worker
13. the human species, humans, humanity, humankind, human beings, people
14. handmade, hand-built, human-made, synthetic, manufactured, constructed
15. personnel, staff, human resources, labor, people power
16. meter reader, meter attendant
17. police officer
18. repairer, repair person
19. salesclerk, salesperson, sales rep (or representative)
20. trash collector
Hyde, J. S. (1984). Children’s understanding of sexist language. Developmental Psychology, 20, 697–
706.
Swinkels, A., Giuliano, T. A., & Dickson, A. J. (2001). Her inclusion in mankind: A review of
research on sexist language. Unpublished manuscript.
Adapted from Miller, C., & Swift, K. (1988). The handbook of nonsexist writing (2nd ed.). New
York: Harper & Row.

Activity: Channels of Communication

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Nonverbal behaviour is often taken for granted, probably because it occurs so effortlessly in our
interactions that we fail to notice it. It provides such a valuable aspect of communication, however, that it
is definitely noticed when it is missing. You can illustrate the importance of nonverbal behaviour to your
students with a simple demonstration.
Start by drawing a simple dichotomy between verbal channels of communication and nonverbal channels.
The verbal channel is easy; it is the words used, or perhaps a transcript of them. Ask your students to list
the nonverbal channels of communication as you write them on the blackboard. The first response will
usually be a generic “body language,” but tell them to be more specific; body language is a catch-all term
incorporating many nonverbal channels. In short order you should find that students list facial
expressions, eye contact, vocal cues (mainly tone of voice), and gestures, and with a little prodding they
will add touch, interpersonal distance, speech dysfluencies, posture, gait, or appearance (such as hair or
clothing style) as ways of communicating nonverbally. Seeing the board fill up with one verbal means of
communication and 5 to 8 nonverbal channels will illustrate clearly the importance of nonverbal
behaviour.
After generating these ways of communicating, illustrate what kind of information each adds to a
message. This will take some acting on your part, but it is easy to master with a little practice. Start by
saying a very emphatic message (“I’m absolutely thrilled to be here today!”) while keeping all other
channels of communication constant. In other words, hold your body perfectly still (arms at your side),
keep a neutral facial expression, and say the words in a monotone. It should be clear that although the
verbal channel is quite enthusiastic, the nonverbal channels belie the impact of the message. Next repeat
the message, adding the appropriate vocal inflections and tone cues, but keeping all other channels
constant. Add a happy facial expression in the next iteration, and finally repeat the gushing message with
inflection, a happy face, and a broad sweep of your arms. Your students will get the idea that words
actually “say” very little; most of this message is carried by other channels.
A variation on this idea is suggested by Richmond and McCroskey, focusing on the vocal channel. You
can demonstrate this yourself or by enlisting the help of 4 or 5 students willing to ham it up in front of the
class. Consider the following phrases: “Gee, thanks,” “This turned out to be a fine day,” “I just love it
when you do that,” “Way to go, dude,” “I would like nothing better,” “Wow, this is fun,” “Wonderful,”
“That’s my favorite,” “Truly awesome,” “Real nice,” “This stinks,” and “Rhonda’s a real winner, isn’t
she?” Ask your students to say each phrase using a variety of vocal styles, and have the class comment on
the change in meaning that results. In each case the most obvious difference will come from the use of
sarcasm, where the vocal inflection runs opposite to the verbal content. But many of these phrases (as
well as others you might generate that are more specific to your university or to your class) can carry
other meanings as well. For example, “Real nice” can convey sarcasm, sincerity, or sexuality depending
on how it is delivered. Like the facial expression demonstration described earlier, these are fun and easy
ways to introduce the topic of nonverbal behaviour.
Richmond, V. P., & McCroskey, J. C. (1995). Nonverbal behaviour in interpersonal relations

(3rd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Activity: Do Animals Have Language? A Survey
A fairly large number of people believe that animals have language abilities. Most scientific data on the
point, however, indicate that animals communicate, but do not use a complicated system of symbols and

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syntax to convey ideas. The following three questions can be used by students as an informal survey of
people (including fellow students, parents, etc.) regarding the issue of animal language:
1) Do you believe that animals have language?

a. If so, what specific species?
2) Why or why not?
3) Why do you think humans have such well-developed language abilities?
Students can potentially learn a great deal by teaching those that they survey (presumably there will be
many people who may not grasp the vast difference between animal communication and human
language). Additionally, the answers to #3 may be interesting, enlightening, and even humorous.

Activity: Exploring Bilingualism
Although many educators believe that bilingual children should be taught in English and in their native
language (both to preserve their culture and because it has cognitive benefits), other educators and
members of Congress are pushing to assimilate non-native speakers into U.S. culture by placing them in
classes where only English is taught. Because much of the negativity and confusion about this issue may
stem from a general fear and dislike for the unknown, your students might gain a fresh perspective on this
controversial issue by considering what it’s like to be bilingual or multilingual. For this assignment, ask
your students to write a short paper that explores the experiences of being bilingual or multilingual;
Margaret Matlin (1994) suggests several excellent questions that can be used as the cornerstone for such
an essay. If any of your students are bilingual or multilingual, they can answer some of these questions
themselves. Otherwise, students should identify someone they know fairly well who they would feel
comfortable asking about their experiences. Questions to be addressed include:
1. How old were you when you were first exposed to your second language?
2. How did you acquire this second language (e.g., Did you have formal lessons? Were you taught
by a parent?)
3. When you began to learn the second language, did you find yourself becoming less fluent in your
native language? What kinds of problems did you experience? Can you give examples?
4. What do you think are the advantages of being bilingual? For example, do you think you have
any insight into the nature of language that a monolingual person might not have?
5. When you are with another bilingual person who speaks your native language, do you find
yourself switching back and forth between the two languages? Are there situations in which you
are especially likely to switch from one language to the other?
6. If you had something embarrassing or secret to divulge, in which language would you discuss it?
7. Are there any topics or kinds of conversation for which you prefer one language over the other?
For example, are there aspects of your education or job that, because they were derived from
American terminology (e.g., psychological concepts), are harder to discuss in your native
language? Is it difficult to express American cultural concepts in your native language?
8. Do you feel that the North American culture discourages bilinguals from using their first
language?


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Activity: Is Reading Automatic? A Survey
The sentences presented contain words that are spelled identically, but have different pronunciations and
meanings (these kinds of words are called homographs). This leads to potentially ambiguous reading of
the sentences! However, most readers of English are extremely adept at reading the sentences, probably
due to the context in which the words are used. In any case, students can use these 12 sentences as a sort
of survey to be conducted on their fellow students. The idea is to have the subjects read each sentence
aloud and determine whether any errors (even pauses could be interpreted as errors) occur. Each sentence
should be presented individually, so as not to allow subject to “preread” the sentences. Additionally,
subjects should attempt to read a sentence immediately after being presented with it. Total errors made
should be tallied. If the homographs were indeed completely ambiguous, then we would expect errors in
pronunciation for every sentence (a total of 12 errors). Most subjects will probably not exhibit this kind of
error rate! A list of all homographs in the English language can be found at this website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_homographs
1. The bandage was wound around the wound.

2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
6. I did not object to the object.
7. They were too close to the door to close it.
8. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
9. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
10. After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
11. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
12. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

Activity: Mondegreens! (based on Melucci, 2005)
The term mondegreen was coined by newspaper columnist Sylvia Wright in a 1954 article. As a child,
young Sylvia had listened to a folk song that included the lines “They had slain the Earl of Moray/And
Lady Mondegreen.” As is customary with misheard lyrics, she didn't realize her mistake for years. The
song was not about the tragic fate of Lady Mondegreen, but rather, the continuing plight of the good Earl:
“They had slain the Earl of Moray/And laid him on the green.” Nowadays, we all probably (unknowingly
perhaps) have many, many mondegreens of our own. Listed here are several common mondegreens
(compiled by Gavin Edwards in his 1995 book, “Scuze Me While I Kiss This Guy…and other misheard
lyrics”). Although this activity/demonstration may seem like a cheap way to get laughs, it actually has a
critical thinking psychology angle: How much is language perception dependent on bottom-up (i.e., from
auditory receptors “upward”) processing, and how much on top-down (cognitive control, filling in words
or meanings after the fact)? Mondegreens provide evidence of a threshold for top-down filling-in
processes that apparently (although not always) tend to make sense of a given lyric. Often mondegreens
occur when unfamiliar words or phrases are sung (e.g., the Creedence Clearwater Revival song “Bad
Moon Rising” contains the lyric, “there’s a bad moon on the rise”—very often misheard as “there’s a
bathroom on the right”). Of course, the argument for bottom-up processing is a strong one as well. Often,
mondegreens occur when a singer simply doesn’t annunciate a given lyric very well, or perhaps the lyric

541
is masked by a prominent, distorted guitar. In other words, the auditory input is definitely skewed a bit in
these cases. If you can get recordings of some of the following examples and play them in class (with the
actual and misheard lyrics presented), students should really get a kick out of it … and possibly learn
something.
There’s a bathroom on the right. Bald-headed woman.

Actual lyric: There’s a bad moon on the rise Actual lyric: More than a woman.
(Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Bad Moon (Bee Gees)
Rising”)
Good-bye yellow brick road
Are you going to starve an old friend? There's a dark cloud inside of the house.
Actual lyric: Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Actual lyric: So goodbye yellow brick road
(Simon & Garfunkel) Where the dogs of society howl.
(Elton John)
Baking carrot biscuits or Tape it to a biscuit
Actual lyric: Taking care of business. I was so mad!
(Bachman-Turner Overdrive, "Takin Care of Actual lyric: I'm a soul man.
Business") (Blues Brothers)
Big ole Jed had a light on. I'll never leave your pizza burning.
Actual lyric: Big old jet airliner. Actual lyric: I'll never be your beast of burden.
(Steve Miller Band) (Rolling Stones)
Carryin' beans, now we're sharin' the same jeans. I'm 264 (“two sixty-four”) my shirt, 264 my shirt,
Actual lyric: Caribbean Queen, now we're sharing 264.
the same dreams. Actual lyric: I'm too sexy for my shirt too sexy for
(Billy Ocean) my shirt.
(Right Said Fred, "I'm Too Sexy")
Climb every mountain.
I'm just a squirrel.
Actual lyric: I'm every woman.
Actual lyric: I'm just a girl.
(Whitney Houston)
(No Doubt)
Dirty deeds and the thunder chiefs.
I've got a new pair of shoes.
Actual lyric: Dirty deeds and they're done dirt
Actual lyric: I've got a new attitude.
cheap.
(Patti LaBelle)
(AC/DC)
Michelle, Ma Belle,
Do a little dance, make a little rum, Italian Ice!
Sunday Monkey Play No Piano Song, No Piano
Italian Ice!
Song.
Actual lyric: Do a little dance, make a little love,
Actual lyric: Michelle, ma belle,
get down tonight, get down tonight.
Sont des mots qui vont tres bien ensemble, tres bien
(KC & The Sunshine Band, "Do a Little Dance")
ensemble.
(The Beatles)
Do the lucky lady.
Actual lyric: Dude looks like a lady.

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(Aerosmith)
Donuts make my brown eyes blue. Red, red wine, steak, lobster meat.
Actual lyric: Don't it make my brown eyes blue. Actual lyric: Red, red wine, stay close to me.
(Crystal Gale) (UB-40)
Goin' to the Jack-O-Lantern, gonna get married. 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy.
Actual lyric: Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna Actual lyric: 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky.
get married. (Jimi Hendrix)
(Dixie Cups, "Chapel of Love")
She's got a chicken to ride.
Hold me closer, Tony Danza. Actual lyric: She's got a ticket to ride.
Count the head lice on the highway. (Beatles)
Actual lyric: Hold me closer, tiny dancer.
(Elton John, "Tiny Dancer") She's got electric boobs, a mohair too.
Actual lyric: She's got electric boots, a mohair suit.
I shot the Sheriff, but I didn't shoot him dead you (Elton John, "Benny and the Jets")
see.
Actual lyric: I shot the Sheriff, but I didn't shoot the Wrapped up like a douche.
deputy. Actual lyric: Revved up like a deuce.
(Eric Clapton) (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band)

Activity: The McGurk Effect
The “McGurk effect” was first described by Harry McGurk and John MacDonald in “Hearing lips and
seeing voices,” Nature 264, 746–748 (1976). In this classic work, McGurk and MacDonald describe how
speech acquisition involves not only auditory but visual information as well. While assembling laboratory
stimuli for testing language perception in infants, they discovered that if the phoneme ba was paired with
the visual stimulus (lip and mouth shape) ga, subjects perceived the phoneme da! This effect was shown
to be true for infants and adults.
Ask students to first watch the speaker and ask them if they hear the phoneme “da” (most will). Then,
play the video again, only this time ask students to look away. They will probably report hearing the
phoneme “ba.” What is actually being played in the video is the phoneme “ba” paired with the lip / mouth
movements for “ga”! This demonstration will illustrate the idea that language acquisition involves the
integration of auditory and visual information.

Activity: Top-Down Processing of Language (inspired by Warren & Warren, 1970)
This in-class demonstration is meant to demonstrate that speech perception is largely a top-down process;
that is, the brain “fills in” gaps in incoming information in order to make sense of speech. The following
sentences are missing the full phonetic information for the subject word. The sentences should be spoken
out loud in class, preferably with some kind of distracting sound present (some music will do just fine).

543
The task for the student is to reproduce the sentence that you have just spoken. You should turn your back
so that students won’t see your lips while you speak. Students should fill in the missing phoneme with
one that makes sense, given the context of the sentence. For some sentences, students may swear that you
actually said the missing phoneme. These kinds of incidents are strongly supportive of top-down
processing and the influence of contextual meaning.
1. It was found that the “eel” was on the axle. (wheel)
2. It was found that the “eel” was on the shoe. (heel)
3. It was found that the “eel” was on the orange. (peel)
4. It was found that the “eel” was on the table. (meal)
5. I don’t know how you “eel” about it, but I’m rather upset. (feel)

Activity: Linguistic Determinism, Linguistic Relativity, or Neither?
1-page response essay: The well-known researcher in artificial intelligence, Walter Fritz, has a view of
the relationship between language and thought that can be summarized by this statement, “We certainly
don't think in words. For if we did, we would have to learn everything we know, our lifelong experience,
anew when learning another language! I read a lot in English, Spanish and German: books, articles, e-
mails. Often, when I try to think of where I got specific information from, I discover that I don’t even
know in which language I read it.” (from ebook “Intelligent Systems and Their Societies”:
www.intelligent-systems.com.ar/intsyst/index.htm).
Have students evaluate this statement critically using evidence presented in the book on linguistic
determinism and / or linguistic relativity.

Activity: Stroop Task
As stated in the text, reading is automatic. Therefore, attributes of the text other than the word itself are
largely ignored when reading. This selectivity is apparent when performing the Stroop task. Go to
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/ready.html for an interactive example of Stroop task stimuli—
if you do not have the ability to go online in your classroom, you can either print color copies from this
site or assign the website as an Out-of-Class assignment in preparation for class. Enlist one or two student
volunteers. If you are using the hard copy version, be sure to have a timekeeping device handy. The
website will automatically calculate time. The student’s task is to first go through the list of words,
simply reading them all as fast as s(he) can. Be sure to make a note of the elapsed time. Then, ask the
student to go through the list a second time, naming the color of each word (not the word itself). This is
usually considerably more difficult than the first task, and should manifest as an elapsed time increase
(plus quite a few errors!).

Activity: Learning a Concept
Objective: To demonstrate concept learning

Materials: 3 x 5 index cards

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Procedure: Draw one square and one triangle on each index card. The figures should vary in size
(large/small), color (green/red), and position (up/down). The fourth concept is, of course, shape. Select
one student to learn the concept you have chosen but not revealed from the four possibilities. Give the
student feedback after each card as to whether his or her response was correct. For instance, you have
selected size as the relevant concept. If the student selects a large, blue triangle on the card, tell the
student the choice is wrong (since you secretly selected small). See how many cards it takes the student to
discover the relevant concept. You may want to repeat this exercise using a different concept for at least
two other students.
Conclusion: Discuss how concept formation is an important but often difficult task.

Activity: Mental Imagery
The textbook notes that images (i.e., mental representations of a sensory experience) play an important
role in thinking and cognition; that is, we commonly visualize things in order to think about and solve
problems. Margaret Matlin suggests two simple demonstrations that illustrate how certain attributes of
mental images (such as their size and shape) influence our ability to make judgments.
Imagery and size. Read the following questions aloud to your students:
Scenario I: Imagine an elephant standing next to a rabbit. Now, answer this question: Does a rabbit
have a beak?
Scenario II: Imagine a fly standing next to a rabbit. Now, answer this question: Does a rabbit have an
eyebrow?
Next, ask your students to tell you whether the rabbit was the largest in Scenario I or II. Which scenario
seemed to have more detail in the area they were examining for the beak or the eyebrow, I or II?
According to Matlin, research by Stephen Kosslyn suggests that the size of an image is an important
factor in determining how fast we can make judgments about it. Indeed, across several studies people
made faster judgments when relying on a larger mental image (such as the rabbit next to the fly) than
when using a smaller mental image (such as the rabbit next to an elephant). Did your students’
experiences mirror this result?
Imagery and shape. For this problem students will need to imagine two standard (non-digital) clocks.
Explain that you will present them with two specific times, and that for each pair of times they should
compare their mental clocks and decide which clock has the smaller angle between the hour hand and the
minute hand. Give students the following times:
1. 3:20 and 7:25

2. 4:10 and 9:23
3. 2:45 and 1:05
4. 3:15 and 5:30
Did some sets seem to take longer than others? If your students took longer with sets 1 and 4 than with 2
and 3, your results are consistent with Allan Paivio’s research, which showed that decision time is related
to the size of the difference between angles. That is, it is much harder (and thus, takes longer) to make a
decision between angles that are nearly equal (e.g., 3:20 and 7:25) than it is to make a decision between
angles that are quite different (e.g., 4:10 and 9:23).

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Activity: Problem Representation
Challenge your students by presenting them with the hospital room problem (taken from Matlin, 1994).
Handout Master 8.2 contains the details of the problem, which can be projected onto an overhead or
photocopied and distributed to students. After students have had a reasonable amount of time to solve the
problem, have them discuss their representation of it as well as its correct answer. (Answer: Ms.
Anderson has mononucleosis and is in Room 104.)


Activity: Breaking Sets in Problem Solving
Objective: To demonstrate how psychological set (e.g., stating the problem) can interfere with the
generation of solutions to problems
Materials: See Handout Master 8.3
Procedure: Ask students to think about a problem; the problem may be a corporate problem (e.g., crime
or pollution) or a personal problem (e.g., poor grades). Using the handout, each student should reword or
describe the problem in several different ways. This may open some doors in terms of solutions. Next,
students should develop at least two solutions to the problem.

Activity: Availability Heuristics
Objective: To demonstrate the potential shortcoming of availability heuristics

Materials: See Handout Master 8.4
Procedure: When people judge the relative frequency of objects or events, they are often influenced by
the relative availability or accessibility of such events in their own memories. Distribute the handout and
ask the students to indicate their answers to the questions. Their estimates are influenced by the
availability heuristic if they indicate that the number of words beginning with r or k is greater than the
number of words with those letters appearing third. This is because first letters are more useful cues than
third letters for referencing and accessing items in one’s personal word collection. It is easier to generate
(i.e., make available) words that begin with the letters. Actually, words with those letters appearing third
are far more numerous. Similarly, their estimate of the number of women faculty on campus should be
positively correlated with the number of female professors they have actually had.


546
Activity: Demonstrating Cognitive Biases
Cognitive biases are often difficult for students to grasp. The following simple demonstrations will help
students recognize such biases in their own thinking.
1. The availability heuristic is the tendency to judge the frequency of some event as a function of how
available specific instances of that event are in memory.
A geographer named Thomas Saarinen provides an interesting variation on the availability heuristic by
asking students to draw their “mental maps” of the world. Saarinen asks students to take a pencil and a
piece of paper and spend half an hour sketching a map of the world. He finds that there are two consistent
patterns in the resulting maps. Students greatly enlarge the size of Europe and reduce the size of Africa.
Saarinen finds that this occurs regardless of the country of origin of the students. This undoubtedly
reflects the relative prominence of Europe and the relative obscurity of Africa in the Western view of
history. That which we know more about is seen as physically larger, and that which we know little of is
diminished in size.
This is an easy phenomenon to demonstrate. Before a discussion of cognitive biases, ask students to
spend half an hour outside of class drawing a map of the world. Make sure they know that they may not
“cheat” by looking at maps, globes, or atlases. It may help to reassure students that you will not grade
their maps, and that they may submit them anonymously. Have students turn in the maps at least one class
prior to your discussion of the topic, so that you have time to review and summarize the results of the
demonstration. See if your students exhibit the same biases that Saarinen reports; you might make
overheads of some of the better examples you receive. You might use this demonstration to highlight the
influence of culture on cognition, a topic that psychologists are only recently beginning to investigate.
2. The confirmation bias is the tendency to look for information that confirms one’s belief.
There are many easy ways to demonstrate the confirmation bias. The standard approach is to write a
series of three numbers, such as 5, 7, and 9 on the board. Tell students that there is a rule to which these
numbers conform, and it is their job to determine what the rule is. To solve the problem, students may
give you any sequence of three numbers and you will tell them whether it conforms to the rule. Record
their sequences and your responses on the board or transparency. When they feel confident that they have
guessed the rule, they should raise their hands and offer their solution.
The rule for the above sequence is simply “any three ascending numbers,” but students will develop many
more complicated possibilities. The confirmation bias will be demonstrated by the nature of the sequences
that students offer to test their guesses. If a student believes that the rule is “three successive odd
numbers,” he or she might ask whether “9, 11, 13” conforms to the rule. Additional sequences that they
suggest will probably conform to the same rule. But these are confirming instances of their rule, and
therefore provide little information. It is much more informative to provide a sequence that they believe is
wrong, such as “2, 3, 4,” and discover that it is, in fact, consistent with the rule, thereby allowing them to
reject an incorrect guess.
3. The hindsight bias is the tendency to overestimate one’s ability to have predicted an event once the
outcome is known.
To demonstrate this bias, ask students to predict the outcome of an upcoming event (Academy Awards,
elections, World Series, etc.). Next to their predictions, ask students to rank their degree of confidence in
the prediction on a scale from 1 (“Just a guess, I’m not at all sure.”) to 5 (“I’m very sure!”). Collect the

547
papers, and return them after the outcome of the event. Ask students to reflect on their reactions. Do they
feel that “they knew it all along” even though their confidence ratings before the event indicate
otherwise?
Monastersky, R. (1992). The warped world of mental maps. Science News, 142, 222–223.

Activity: Mental Sets in Everyday Life
Luchins’ water jar problem and the alphabetical number puzzle are ways to demonstrate how mental sets
can create barriers to effective problem solving. After students have been introduced to the notion of
mental sets (from the text, lecture, and exercises such as those given in the next section), you might ask
them to write a short paper in which they identify instances of mental sets in everyday life. As one
example, students could consider the problem of making the adjustment from high school to college. How
might a mental set (i.e., the tendency to approach or respond to a problem in a particular way) learned in
high school interfere with the successful solution of problems later on in college? Students should specify
how strategies that at one time were adaptive or successful could eventually become undesirable or
maladaptive. Traditional-age college students should have plenty of experience with mental sets related to
academic strategies, social life, living away from home, financial responsibilities, and so on. If your
students are older, they might consider mental sets related to major life changes (e.g., marriage, divorce,
death of a loved one), career changes, or other situations requiring adjustment on their part. An added
benefit of this assignment is that—in addition to better understanding the notion of mental sets—your
students might also gain valuable insight into their own problem solving strategies and skills.
Adapted from Zechmeister, E. B., & Johnson, J. E. (1992). Critical thinking: A functional approach.
Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.


548
▼ HANDOUT MASTERS FOR CHAPTER 8: LANGUAGE, THINKING, AND INTELLIGENCE
 Handout Master 8.1 Using Non-Sexist Language

 Handout Master 8.2 The Hospital Room Problem
 Handout Master 8.3 Breaking Sets in Problem Solving
 Handout Master 8.4 Availability Heuristics

549
Handout Master 8.1

Using Non-Sexist Language
Instructions: For each of the following words or phrases below, try to generate at least one alternative
word or phrase that is gender neutral. For example, firefighter is an appropriate gender neutral alternative
for fireman, and anchor is a suitable substitute for anchorman.
1. businessman ___________________________
2. career girl ____________________________
3. cavemen ___________________________
4. chairman, chairwoman ___________________________
5. coed (as in, “three beautiful coeds”) ___________________________
6. congressmen ___________________________
7. craftsman ___________________________
8. deliveryman ___________________________
9. forefathers ___________________________
10. forelady, foreman ___________________________
11. laymen ___________________________
12. mailman ___________________________
13. man, mankind (as in the human species) ___________________________
14. man-made ___________________________
15. manpower ___________________________
16. meter maid ___________________________
17. policeman, policewoman ___________________________
18. repairman ___________________________
19. salesman, saleswoman ___________________________
20. trashman ___________________________
Adapted from Miller, C., & Swift, K. (1988). The handbook of nonsexist writing (2nd ed.). New York:
Harper & Row.
► Return to Activity: Non-Sexist Language

▼ Return to List of Handout Masters

550
Handout Master 8.2

The Hospital Room Problem
Instructions: Use the following information to answer the question posed below.
Five people are in a hospital. Each one has only one disease, and each has a different disease. Each one
occupies a separate room; room numbers are 101–105.
1. The person with asthma is in Room 101.
2. Ms. Jones has heart disease.
3. Ms. Green is in Room 105.
4. Ms. Smith has tuberculosis.
5. The woman with mononucleosis is in Room 104.
6. Ms. Thomas is in Room 101.
7. One of the patients, other than Ms. Anderson, has gall bladder disease.
Question: What disease does Ms. Anderson have and in what room is she?
Source: Matlin, M. W. (1994). Cognition (3rd ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall
► Return to Activity: Problem Representation


551
Handout Master 8.3

Breaking Sets in Problem Solving
Think of a problem. Describe it concisely, then list four alternative ways to describe the difficulty.
Initial statement of the problem:
Alternate 1:
Alternate 2:
Alternate 3:
Alternate 4:
Describe the problem from the point of view of other parties involved:
Describe two solutions to this problem, indicating how these solutions are influenced by the particular
statement of the problem you have chosen:
► Return to Activity: Breaking Sets in Problem Solving


552
Handout Master 8.4

Availability Heuristics
Heuristics
1. In the English language, are there more words beginning with the letter r or more words with the
letter r appearing as the third letter?
First position
Third position
2. In the English language, are there more words beginning with the letter k or more words with the
letter k appearing as the third letter?
First position
Third position
3. What percentage of the faculty at this university are women?
________ %
4. How many of your courses have been taught by female professors?
________ courses
► Return to Activity: Availability Heuristics


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▼ APS: READINGS FROM THE ASSOCIATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Current Directions in Introductory Psychology, Second Edition (0-13-714350-8)

Edited by Abigail A. Baird, with Michele M. Tugade and Heather B. Veague
This new and exciting American Psychological Reader includes timely, cutting-edge articles, giving
readers a real-world perspective from a reliable source Current Directions in Psychological Science
journal. This reader includes over 20 articles that have been carefully selected and taken from the very
accessible Current Directions in Psychological Science journal. Articles discuss today’s most current and
pressing issues in introductory psychology and are broken down into these main sections: Scientific
Thinking; Nature/Nurture; Consciousness; Individual Differences; and Applications.
Nasir Naqvi, Baba Shiv, and Antoine Bechara

The Role of Emotion in Decision Making: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective (Vol. 15, No. 5, 2006,
pp. 260–264) p. 56 of the APS reader
Decision making often occurs in the face of uncertainty about whether one’s choices will lead to benefit
or harm. The somatic-marker hypothesis is a neurobiological theory of how decisions are made in the face
of uncertain outcome. This theory holds that such decisions are aided by emotions, in the form of bodily
states, that are elicited during the deliberation of future consequences and that mark different options for
behaviour as being advantageous or disadvantageous. This process involves an interplay between neural
systems that elicit emotional/ bodily states and neural systems that map these emotional/ bodily states.

554
▼ FORTY STUDIES THAT CHANGED PSYCHOLOGY
Forty Studies that Changed Psychology: Explorations into the History of Psychological Research, 6/e
(013603599X)
By Roger Hock
This unique book closes the gap between psychology textbooks and the research that made them possible
by offering a first-hand glimpse into 40 of the most famous studies in the history of the field, and
subsequent studies that expanded upon each study’s influence. Readers are able to grasp the process and
excitement of scientific discovery as they experience an insider’s look at the studies that continue today to
be cited most frequently, stirred up the most controversy when they were first published, sparked the most
subsequent related research, opened new fields of psychological exploration, and changed most
dramatically our knowledge of human behaviour.
Studies examined in Intelligence and Cognition:
Maps in Your Mind

Tolman, E. C. (1948). Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological Review, 55, 189–208.

555
▼ WEB RESOURCES
Language
Language Learning: www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/linguistics/learn.jsp

A National Science Foundation site on language learning in children and adults provides interesting
information on theory, critical periods for language acquisition, and a section on why we need to further
study language.
Do Apes Use Language?—The Why Files: www.whyfiles.org/058language/ape_talk.html

Interesting article on the topic.
Primate Use of Language

www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/language.htm
Very nice review of studies of language acquisition in primates by Lauren Kosseff, of Tufts University.
Language and Thought

The Role of Language in Intelligence: http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/rolelang.htm
A link to an interesting essay by Daniel Dennett on the link between language and thought.
Reading
Speed Reading Test Online: www.readingsoft.com/
Students should get a kick out of this Web site, given that the text exposes the fact that evidence for the
effectiveness of speed reading is basically nonexistent.
Thinking and Reasoning
Anagram Server: www.wordsmith.org/anagram/index.html

Find anagrams for any word.

556
▼ VIDEO RESOURCES
MyPsychLab Video Series

Episode 10: Cognition and Language
7. The Big Picture: I Am, Therefore I Think
8. The Basics: The Mind is What the Brain Does
9. Special Topics: Mental Imagery: In the Mind’s Eye
10. Thinking Like a Psychologist: Multilingualism: When More is Better
11. In the Real World Application: A Crash Course In Problem Solving
12. What’s In It For Me?: Making Choices
This video series offers instructors and students the most current and cutting edge introductory
psychology video content available anywhere. These exclusive videos take the viewer into today’s
research laboratories, inside the body and brain through breathtaking animations, and out into the street
for real-world applications. Guided by the Design, Development and Review team, a diverse group of
introductory psychology professors, this comprehensive new series features 17 half-hour episodes
organized around the major topics of the introductory psychology course syllabus. For maximum
flexibility, each 30-minute episode features several brief clips that bring psychology to life.
FEATURES
Format
The MyPsychLab video series was designed with flexibility in mind. Each half-hour episode in the
MyPsychLab video series is made up of several five-minute clips which can be viewed separately or
together:
• The Big Picture introduces the topic of the episode and draws in the viewer.
• The Basics uses the power of video to present foundational topics, especially those that students find
difficult to understand.
• Special Topics dives deeper into high-interest and often cutting-edge topics, showing research in
action.
• Thinking Like a Psychologist models critical thinking and explores research methods.
• In the Real World focuses on applications of psychological research.
• What’s In It for Me? These clips show students the relevance of psychological research to their lives.
Flexible Delivery
Students can access the videos anytime within MyPsychLab, and each clip is accompanied by enriching
self-assessment quizzes. Instructors can access the videos for classroom presentation in MyPsychLab or
on DVD (0205035817).
Other Pearson Psychology Video Collections:

I. Introductory Psychology Teaching Films Boxed Set ISBN (0131754327)
Offering you an easy to use multi-DVD set of videos, more than 100 short video clips of 5–15
minutes in length from many of the most popular video sources for Psychology content, such as
ABC News; the Films for the Humanities series; PBS; and more!
II. NEW Pearson Education Teaching Films Introductory Psychology: Instructor’s Library
2-Disk DVD Annual Edition (ISBN 0205652808)
Annual updates of the most popular video sources for Psychology content, such as ABC News;
the Films for the Humanities series; PBS; and more in 5–15 minute clips on an easy to use DVD!

557
III. Lecture Launcher Video for Introductory Psychology (ISBN 013048640X)

This 60-minute videotape includes twenty-five segments covering all of the major topics in
introductory psychology. All of the segments have been selected from videotapes in the Films for
Humanities & Sciences collection. The segments are intended to provide brief illustrations of
concepts, and to serve as a starting point for classroom discussions.
Also FILMS FOR HUMANITIES AND SCIENCES VIDEO LIBRARY (www.films.com)

Qualified adopters can select videos on various topics in psychology from the extensive library of
Films for the Humanities and Sciences. Contact your local sales representative for a list of videos
and ISBN’s.
Other video series are available, ask your Pearson sales representative for more details.
VIDEO CLIPS AVAILABLE FOR CHAPTER 8 Language, Thinking, and Reasoning:

 Early Language Development (2:10)
 Language Learning (1:53)
 Teaching in a Bilingual Classroom (2:46)
 Stimulating Language Development (0:20)
 Deductive Reasoning (1:02)
 Artificial Intelligence (2:07)
VIDEO CLIP DESCRIPTIONS:
▼ From Introductory Psychology Teaching Films Boxed Set ISBN (0131754327) (6 clips):
Early Language Development

Source: Films for Humanities & Sciences
Video: Intellectual Development: The First Five Years
Run Time: 2:10
Description: This segment covers the early stages of language development. The focus of the clip
is on word learning. In addition, the relationship between birth order and language development is
explained. Sometimes the youngest child in the family learns to talk late because older siblings do
all the talking.
Uses: Use this segment to introduce language development. Students will enjoy learning about
the relationship between language development and birth order.
Language Learning
Source: ScienCentral
Run Time: 1:53
Discussion: This video provides new evidence that thoughts may come before language in a
child’s developing brain. Research shows that babies may be able to form thoughts before they
have learned enough language to express their thoughts.
Uses: This clip can stimulate a discussion regarding language development in children. How
babies communicate their needs before they have developed a language can also be part of this
discussion.

558
▼ From: Pearson Education Teaching Films Introductory Psychology: Instructor’s Library 2-Disk
DVD Annual Edition (ISBN 0205652808) (7 clips):
Teaching in a Bilingual Classroom

Source: Pearson Education
Run Time: 2:46
Discussion: This video provides insight into teaching and learning in a multi-cultural classroom.
Uses: This clip can stimulate a discussion regarding multi-cultural classrooms. How does a multi-
cultural setting influence what teachers are discussing and how students are learning—what are
the benefits? The challenges?
Stimulating Language Development

Run Time: 0:20
Discussion: This video provides insight into how to encourage language development in young
children
Uses: This clip can stimulate a discussion regarding parents and care-givers’ roles in encouraging
language development in young children.
Deductive Reasoning
Run Time: 1:02
Discussion: This video clip provides an interview with a child and the formation of deductive
reasoning
Uses: This clip can stimulate a discussion regarding the development and timeline for the
formation of deductive reasoning in children.
Artificial Intelligence
Run Time: 2:07
Discussion: This clip looks at the development of an “intelligent” computer HAL which can
speak and understand.
Uses: This clip can stimulate a discussion regarding the implications of a computer which can
speak and understand.

559
▼ MULTIMEDIA RESOURCES
On-line Resources: MyPsychLab www.mypsychlab.com
See/Hear/Learn/Explore More Icons integrated in the text lead to web-based expansions on topics,
allowing instructors and students access to extra information, videos, podcasts, and simulations. The in-
text icons are not exhaustive—there are many more resources available to instructors and students on-line
at www.MyPsychLab.com.
What Is MyPsychLab? MyPsychLab is a learning and assessment tool that enables instructors to assess
student performance and adapt course content. Students benefit from the ability to test themselves on key
content, track their progress, and utilize individually tailored study plan. In addition to the activities
students can access in their customized study plans, instructors are provided with extra lecture notes,
video clips, and activities that reflect the content areas their class is still struggling with. Instructors can
bring these resources to class, or easily post on-line for students to access.
Instructors and students have been using MyPsychLab for over 10 years. To date, over 600,000 students
have used MyPsychLab. During that time, three white papers on the efficacy of MyPsychLab were
published. Both the white papers and user feedback show compelling results: MyPsychLab helps students
succeed and improve their test scores. One of the key ways MyPsychLab improves student outcomes is
by providing continuous assessment as part of the learning process. Over the years, both instructor and
student feedback have guided numerous improvements, making MyPsychLab even more flexible and
effective.
Pearson is committed to helping instructors and students succeed with MyPsychLab. To that end, we offer
a Psychology Faculty Advisor Program designed to provide peer to-peer support for new users of
MyPsychLab. Experienced Faculty Advisors help instructors understand how MyPsychLab can improve
student performance. To learn more about the Faculty Advisor Program, please contact your local Pearson
representative. In addition to the eText and complete audio files, the MyPsychLab video series,
MyPsychLab offers these valuable and unique tools:
MyPsychLab assessment questions: Over 3,000 questions, distinct from the test bank, but designed to
help instructors easily assign additional quizzes and tests, all that can be graded automatically and loaded
into an instructor’s grade book.
MyPsychLab study plan: Students have access to a personalized study plan, based on Bloom’s
Taxonomy, arranges content from less complex thinking–like remembering and understanding–to more
complex critical thinking–like applying and analyzing. This layered approach promotes better critical-
thinking skills, and helps students succeed in the course and beyond.
Experiments Tool – On-line experiments help students understand scientific principles and practice
through active learning – fifty experiments, inventories, and surveys are available through MyPsychLab.
APA assessments: A unique bank of assessment items allows instructors to assess student progress
against the American Psychological Association’s Learning Goals and Outcomes. These assessments
have been keyed to the APA’s latest progressive Learning Outcomes (basic, developing, advanced).
ClassPrep available in MyPsychLab. Finding, sorting, organizing, and presenting your instructor
resources is faster and easier than ever before with ClassPrep. This fully searchable database contains
hundreds and hundreds of our best teacher resources, such as lecture launchers and discussion topics, in-

560
class and out-of-class activities and assignments, handouts, as well as video clips, photos, illustrations,
charts, graphs, and animations. Instructors can search or browse by topic, and it is easy to sort your results
by type, such as photo, document, or animation. You can create personalized folders to organize and store
what you like, or you can download resources. You can also upload your own content and present directly
from ClassPrep, or make it available on-line directly to your students.
MyPsychLab Highlights for Chapter 8: Language, Thinking, and Intelligence
Experiments Tool to promote active learning

Experiment: Mental Rotation
Experiment: Depth of Processing
Experiment: Selective Attention
Survey: What is Creativity?
Audio File of the Chapter

A helpful study tool for students—they can listen to a complete audio file of the chapter. Suggest they
listen while they read, or use the audio file as a review of key material.

561
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Roman politics
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Roman politics
Author: Frank Frost Abbott
Release date: May 13, 2022 [eBook #68064]
Language: English
Original publication: United States: Marshall Jones Company, 1923
Credits: Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading

Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from
images generously made available by The Internet
Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMAN

POLITICS ***
Our Debt to Greece and Rome
EDITORS
George Depue Hadzsits, Ph.D.

University of Pennsylvania
David Moore Robinson, Ph.D., LL.D.

The Johns Hopkins University
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE “OUR DEBT TO
GREECE AND ROME FUND,” WHOSE
GENEROSITY HAS MADE POSSIBLE THE
LIBRARY
Our Debt to Greece and Rome

Philadelphia
Dr. Astley P. C. Ashhurst
John C. Bell
Henry H. Bonnell
Jasper Yeates Brinton
John Cadwalader
Miss Clara Comegys
Miss Mary E. Converse
Arthur G. Dickson
William M. Elkins
William P. Gest
John Gribbel
Samuel F. Houston
John Story Jenks
Alba B. Johnson
Miss Nina Lea
George McFadden
Mrs. John Markoe
Jules E. Mastbaum
J. Vaughan Merrick
Effingham B. Morris
William R. Murphy
John S. Newbold
S. Davis Page (memorial)
Owen J. Roberts
Joseph G. Rosengarten
John B. Stetson, Jr.
Dr. J. William White (memorial)
The Philadelphia Society for the Promotion of Liberal Studies.
Boston
Oric Bates (memorial)
Frederick P. Fish
William Amory Gardner
Joseph Clark Hoppin
Chicago
Herbert W. Wolff
Cincinnati
Charles Phelps Taft
Detroit
John W. Anderson
Dexter M. Ferry, Jr.
New York
John Jay Chapman
Willard V. King
Thomas W. Lamont
Elihu Root
Mortimer L. Schiff
William Sloane
And one contributor, who has asked to have his name withheld:
Maecenas atavis edite regibus, O et praesidium et dulce decus
meum.
Washington
The Greek Embassy at Washington, for the Greek Government.

ROMAN POLITICS
BY
FRANK FROST ABBOTT
Kennedy Professor of Latin Language and Literature
Princeton University
MARSHALL JONES COMPANY

BOSTON · MASSACHUSETTS
COPYRIGHT · 1923 · BY MARSHALL JONES COMPANY
All rights reserved
Printed May, 1923
THE PLIMPTON PRESS · NORWOOD · MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
Contributors to the Fund ii
I. The Roman System of Government
1. Pre-Augustan 3
2. Post-Augustan 31
II. Roman Politics and Modern Politics
1. Rome and the Church of Rome 47
2. The Individual and the State 51
3. On Constitutions 67
4. The Legislative and Executive Branches of
74
Government
i. Resemblances between Ancient and Modern 74
ii. Differences between Ancient and Modern 80
5. The Judiciary 95
6. Conception of Citizenship 103
i. In Times of Peace 103
ii. In Times of War 106
7. Taxation and Finance 108
8. Imperialism 115
Some Political and Social Problems Common
III. 138
to the Romans and to Modern Peoples
1. The Color and the Labor Questions 139
2. Voting and Elections 140
3. The Political Boss 144
4. The Recall 147
5. Pensions, Bonuses, and Militarism 149
6. Cases of Paternalism 152
7. Growth of Cities 160
IV. Some Final Reflections 164
Notes 171
Bibliography 175
ROMAN POLITICS
I. THE ROMAN SYSTEM OF

GOVERNMENT
1. Pre-Augustan
Roman political history has an unusual meaning and value for us,
because the Romans had to face so many of the problems which
confront us today, and their experience ran through such a wide
range. Few peoples can boast of an unbroken history of a thousand
years, and perhaps none has tried so many different forms of
government. The early monarchy gives way to an oligarchy, to be
displaced in turn by a democracy. The dual government of the prince
and the senate which follows develops into the empire, and the
emperor in time becomes the autocratic monarch. In this period of a
thousand years from the seventh century before our era to the fourth
century after it, we may see in the practical experiences of the
Roman people the points of strength and of weakness in an
aristocracy, a plutocracy, a parliamentary government, a democratic
empire, and an autocracy. We may also trace in the history of Rome
the development of a city-state into a world-wide empire. In its early
days the territory of Rome covered scarcely a hundred square miles.
Then followed one after another the conquest of Central Italy, of the
whole peninsula, of the Western Mediterranean, of the Greek Orient,
and of Western Europe and the region of the Danube, until Roman
rule extended from the Sahara to the Rhine, from the Tigris and the
Euphrates to the Atlantic. This tremendous territorial expansion,
which brought within the limits of the State people of diverse races,
colors, and religions, called for a constant recasting and
readjustment of political forms and methods, and the solution of
countless new political problems. In almost all of our colonies or
dependencies today, in the Philippines, in Asia, and in Africa we
have to deal only with peoples less advanced in civilization than we
are, but the Romans had not only to civilize and govern the stubborn
tribes of Gaul and Spain, but also to make their authority respected
in the Greek East, among peoples who could boast of a civilization
far higher and older than their own. That a city-state with the old and
narrow local social and political traditions which Rome had could
adapt herself to the government of a world-empire composed of such
diverse elements as made up the Roman Empire is one of the
marvels of history, and a study of the methods which she followed
can not fail to throw light on political questions which we have to
meet today. The range of social and economic conditions through
which Rome went is equally wide. The Romans come on the stage
of history as a primitive pastoral people with strongholds on the hills.
In course of time they build cities all over the world whose beauty
and magnificence have perhaps never been equalled. Their
government had to keep pace with these social and economic
changes, and consequently had to adapt itself to almost every
conceivable state of society.
In spite of all these facts one may be inclined to raise the question
whether our civilization can have much in common with one so far
removed from it in point of time, and whether the study of such an
ancient society will have more than an intellectual or historical
interest for us. This would be true perhaps if we were studying the
political system of almost any other people of antiquity. It is hard for
us to understand or sympathize with the social or political ideas of
the Egyptians, the Assyrians, or the Persians. Perhaps it is not easy
to find much even in the political experiences of the Greeks which
will be of practical service to us. But with the Romans it is different. If
an immigrant from ancient Rome of the first century before our era
should disembark in New York tomorrow, he would need less training
in understanding our political machinery than many of our
contemporary immigrants do, because the Anglo-Saxon and the
Roman show the same characteristics in their political life. Both
peoples are opportunists. Both peoples are inclined to meet a new
situation by making as little change as possible in the old machinery.
Both have a great deal of practical common sense, and no high
regard for formal logic or consistency. The Romans had the
institution of slavery, and we have developed a complex industrial
system through the application of steam and electricity, and steam
and electricity have changed the external aspects of our lives. But
these differences have not affected deeply the political thinking of
the two peoples. We have little in common with any other peoples of
antiquity. We have still less with those of the Middle Ages. The ideals
of chivalry, of feudalism, of the medieval church, and the
submergence of the individual in society, are altogether foreign to
our way of thinking. Perhaps it is the incomprehensible nature of
these fifteen hundred years of medieval civilization that separate our
times from those of the Romans which has prevented us from
recognizing our political kinship to the Romans. From this
resemblance between Roman civilization and our own, and between
the Roman character and our own, it does not necessarily follow that
their system of government was closely akin to ours, or that we have
inherited many political institutions directly from them. It would,
however, naturally mean that many of their political problems would
be like ours, and that their method of approaching them would be
similar to ours. In some cases they solved these problems with more
or less success; in others, they failed. The legacy which they have
handed down to us, then, is the practical demonstration in their
political life of the merits of certain forms of government and of
certain methods of dealing with political and social questions, and
the weakness of others. The points of resemblance between the
ancient and the modern, and the large extent of our direct and
indirect inheritance will be defined later.
The natural political entity in antiquity was the city, with a small
outlying territory about it. This state of things the Romans clearly
recognized in fixing the status of conquered territory in Italy and
across the sea. Thus, after the conquest of Sicily, Rome made her
arrangements for ruling the island, not with a government
representing all Sicily, but with the sixty-eight individual cities and
towns of the island, and the citizens of Syracuse or of Agrigentum
derived such rights as they had, not from the fact that they were
Sicilians, but from their residence in the one or the other of these two
cities.[1] This political system, based on the independent life of a
small community, is familiar enough to us in the history of such
Italian cities as Venice, Florence, and Siena in the Middle Ages, and
preëminently in the story of Geneva under Calvin. In fact the political
institution of antiquity which has had the longest life and which has
enjoyed an unbroken history up to our own day is that of the city-
state. Hundreds of inscriptions from various parts of the world show
us the form of government which these municipalities had in Roman
times. The control of affairs rested in the hands of an executive, of a
small assembly of chosen men, and of the whole body of citizens.
The comparative strength of these three elements differed in
different cities, and varied from period to period in the history of each
city. This was the government which we find in the city of Rome in
early days. Continuity was given to it by the senate, or assembly of
elders of the resident clans, who, on the death of the king, appointed
one of their number to choose the king’s successor, whose
assumption of office was dependent on the approval of the senate
and the people.
Through an aristocratic revolution the kingdom was overthrown,
and the king gave place to two annually elected magistrates, called
later consuls, who had the right of veto on each other’s actions. The
consuls were chosen from the ranks of the patricians, or ruling
families, and at the end of a year became patricians again. They
must therefore have been largely governed in their action by class
prejudice. Consequently the position of the classes which lacked
political privileges became intolerable. Another element in the
situation aggravated the difficulty. Being located in the centre of Italy
and on a navigable river, and being far enough from the mouth of the
river to be safe from pirates, Rome grew rapidly, and the coming of a
large number of immigrants to the city had a profound effect on its
political history. The newcomers did not enjoy the same civil and
political rights as the members of the original clans, and they were at
an economic and social disadvantage.
The constitutional history of Rome for several centuries centres
about the struggle of these people and of the other members of the
lower classes to remove the limitations which were put on their rights
in these four respects. The natural method of guarding the civil rights
of the commons against the arbitrary action of the patrician consul
was to limit his powers by law. But the Romans did not adopt this
method. They chose class representatives, called tribunes, who
were authorized to intervene in person when a plebeian was being
treated unjustly and prevent the chief magistrate from carrying out
his purpose. It is characteristic of the Roman, as we shall see in
other cases, to take this concrete, personal way of bringing about a
constitutional reform. The plebeians were at a disadvantage also,
because they were kept ignorant of legal procedure and could not
maintain their rights before a magistrate. The details of the law, or
the accepted custom, were known only to the patrician priests and
were handed down by word of mouth from one generation to
another. About the middle of the fifth century, after a long struggle,
this law was codified and was engraved on twelve bronze tablets,
and the tablets were hung up in the Forum where they might be read
by any one. These Twelve Tables[2] were regarded by the Romans
as the basis of their civil liberty, and may well be placed by the side
of the Mosaic Code, the laws of Hammurabi, the Gortynian Code,
and Magna Charta. As we shall see later, they contained no
formulation of general rights, but stated clearly and minutely the
procedure to be followed in civil and criminal actions. If we may
accept tradition, both these battles with the patricians were won by
the very modern method of Direct Action.
This conquest of civil rights brought the plebeians a larger
measure of political rights than they had enjoyed before. It was
necessary for them now to organize a popular assembly of their own,
in order to elect the tribunes; the tribune became their political
leader, and within the next century, under his leadership, the
plebeians forced the patricians to admit them to the consulship, and
in consequence to the other important magistracies.
In early days the patricians had formed not only a close
corporation politically, but also a social caste. Sons of patricians who
married plebeian women lost the patriciate, and all the social,
political, and religious privileges which went with it. By the Canuleian
law in the fifth century the right to intermarry without loss of
privileges was guaranteed. Henceforth the state tended to become a
unit, and not two separate communities, and in the future when the
interests of the two classes were in conflict prominent patricians
were often led by kinship to support the plebeian cause at critical
moments.
The fourth point about which the struggles in the early period
centred was the land question. It was the age-old battle between the
great landowner on the one hand and the peasant proprietor, the
tenant, and the free laborer on the other. As Rome came into
possession of new territory in central Italy by conquest or otherwise,
the great landed proprietors managed to get most of it from the state
at a nominal rental. The constant wars in which Rome was engaged
during her early history called both rich and poor to the front, but the
rich man’s slaves and dependents kept his land under cultivation,
while the peasant’s holdings, left without anyone to till them, steadily
deteriorated. The peasant found it hard, too, to compete with the
great landowner who farmed on a large scale and used slave labor,
while the free laborer was crushed in competition with the slave. A
solution of these difficulties was sought in the Licinian laws of the
fourth century and in later legislation. But this legislation did not
reach the root of the trouble, and the land question came up in one
form or the other for many generations to plague the Romans. The
Licinian laws, perhaps supplemented by later legislation, limited the
number of acres of state land to be occupied by an individual,
stipulated that interest already paid on debts should be deducted
from the principal, and fixed the proportional number of free laborers
and slaves to be employed on an estate. The first and second
provisions were intended to protect the peasant proprietor and to
prevent the growth of large estates at his expense. If these three
measures could have accomplished their purpose, that drift from the
country to the city which ultimately wrecked the Roman Empire, and
which is one of the dangerous tendencies today, might never have
taken place.
The rapid growth of Rome and her conquest of adjacent territory
not only brought to the surface the economic questions which we
have just been discussing, but also necessitated an increase in the
number of magistrates to manage the larger population and to meet
the more complex conditions which had arisen. In the early
Republican period the only important officials with positive powers
were the two consuls. They presided over the meetings of the senate
and of the assemblies which were made up of the whole people, and
they were the chief executives and the judicial and financial officials
of the community. They supervised the conquered districts of Italy,
represented the city in its dealings with foreign states, and
commanded the army. These manifold duties, and in particular the
absence of the consuls from the city in carrying on war, made it
necessary to relieve them of some of their civil functions. The first
step taken in this direction was to increase the importance of a minor
police official, the aedile. To this official was assigned the duty of
keeping order in public places, of supervising commercial
transactions, and later, as a natural development of these two
functions, of taking charge of the public games and of providing a
supply of grain for the city. The financial duties of the consul were
turned over to the censor. First and foremost, of course, among
these, were the collection of taxes and the expenditure of public
moneys. In order that he might draw up a correct list of taxable
property, the censor required every citizen to appear before him
every five years and make a statement concerning his property, his
business, and the main facts of his life. Consequently the censors
not only knew the financial status of every Roman, but were also
familiar with his occupation and his moral standing in the community.
Now the value of a citizen’s vote in the principal popular assembly
depended on the amount of property which he held, and certain
occupations were regarded as beneath the dignity of a senator or
likely to interfere with the disinterested performance of his duty. In
later times, too, inclusion in the new social order of the knighthood
depended on the possession of a certain amount of property. It was
natural therefore that the censors, having all the necessary
information before them, should assume responsibility for assigning
citizens to their proper places in the centuriate assembly, and for
revising every five years the lists of senators and knights. This
attempt to supervise the morals of the community is one of the most
interesting experiments in government which the Romans ever
made. It reached certain social evils, like extravagance and
cowardice, of which the courts could not readily take cognizance,
and the penalties imposed, of loss of voting importance in the
assembly or of exclusion from the list of senators or knights, were
severe. It may well indicate a gradual growth of wealth in the
community and a threatened disappearance of the simple life and
the simple virtues of the olden time. What the censors tried to do
was to maintain the moral and social standards of earlier days. While
the censor’s office flourished, deviations from those standards were
not defined by law, but were determined by officials, from whose
decisions there was no appeal. Perhaps no official in Roman history
enjoyed such absolute power within the limits fixed by the penalties
which could be imposed.[3] The institution played an important rôle
for many decades, but towards the close of the second century
before our era, the population had become so large that an
examination of the business and the life of every citizen became
impossible. One of the objects which the Romans had tried to
accomplish by the establishment of the censorship, they attempted
later to attain by the passage of sumptuary laws.
The growth of Rome and the consequent increase of public
business led the Romans to take his judicial functions from the
consul in 367, just as they had previously relieved him of police
duties and of financial business. Henceforth a new magistrate, the
praetor, took his place in the courts. To no other institution in the
Roman political system does the modern world owe so much as it
owes to the praetor’s office. At first there was only one incumbent of
the office, and since his duties confined him to the city he was called
the urban praetor. A hundred years later when a second praetor was
added, to deal with cases in which one party or both parties to the
case were foreigners, the new official was styled the peregrine
praetor and in his courts the principles of the law of nations were
developed. Sulla ultimately raised the number of praetors to eight.
With the institution of the praetor’s office our modern court system of

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MODULE 8.1: The Organization of Knowledge

FULL CHAPTER RESOURCES

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I. MODULE 8.1: THE ORGANIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE (Text p. 315)

Concepts and Categories

1.) Cognition would not be possible without concepts and categories.

Concept (p. 315) is the mental representation of an object, event, or idea.

2.) Concepts are rarely independent.

3.) We form such groups through the process of categorization.

Categories (p. 315) clusters of interrelated concepts.

Classical Categories: Definitions and Rules

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Prototypes: Categorization by Comparison

Prototypes (p. 316) are mental representations of an average category member.

i.) Prototypes allow for classification by resemblance.

Networks and Hierarchies

i.) Nodes are circles that represent concepts.

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b.) The easiest to pronounce.

Working the Scientific Literacy Model: Categories and the Brain

3) Can we critically evaluate this information?

4)Why is this relevant?

Categorization and Experience

Culture and Categories

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Biopsychosocial Perspectives: Cultural and Categorical Thinking

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Myths in Mind: How Many Words for Snow?

RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR MODULE 8.1

Classroom Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises

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Defining and Solving Problems

Problem-Solving Strategies and Techniques

Algorithms (p. 325) are problem-solving strategies based on a series of rules.

ii.) The other is more subjective, intuitive, and quicker.

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iv.) Using an algorithm, you could pick A, B, C, D, etc.

2.) A great example of this is the nine-dot problem (figure 8.8).

Judgment and Decision Making

Representativeness and Availability

Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She

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majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned

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2.) What do we know about maximizing and satisficing?

3.) How can scientists explain maximizing the satisficing?

4.) Can we critically evaluate this information?

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