Thought, Creativity & Language
Thought
A concept is an abstract or general idea inferred or derived from specific instances. Concepts can
be used to group or classify objects or events.
Concept formation theories:
Exemplar Model - The concept is formed based on the essential characteristics of the real thing.
Prototype theory - The concept is formed on a mental image which is based on the average
characteristics of a thing. A prototype is a standard or typical example of something. Note: to identify
a new object, you match it to one of your already formed prototypes. This theory is widely accepted &
has replaced the exemplar model.
The functions of concepts:
to organize information by grouping things into categories to better organize & store information
in memory
to avoid relearning - Concepts can be used to classify & categorize things, you can easily classify
new things without having to relearn what that thing is.
Different ways of thinking in problem-solving:
Algorithms - a precise rule (or set of rules) specifying how to solve some problem.
Heuristics - A rule of thumb, simplification, or educated guess that reduces or limits the search for
solutions in domains that are difficult and poorly understood. Unlike algorithms, heuristics do not
guarantee optimal, or even feasible, solutions and are often used with no theoretical guarantee. Note:
the availability heuristic says that we often rely on information that is easy to retrieve & overlook
the good stuff.
Artificial intelligence - use machine imitations of human thinking to solve problems.
Three strategies for solving problems:
By changing one's 1. mental set from a functional fixedness. The use of insight.
Using an 2. analogy a process of reasoning whereby two entities that share some similarities are
assumed to share many others.
By forming 3. subgoals - solve the parts in order, then solve the whole problem.
* Creativity
Creativity is the ability to imagine or invent something new. Creativity is not the ability to create
out of nothing, but the ability to generate new ideas by combining, changing, or reapplying existing
ideas. Some creative ideas are astonishing and brilliant, while others are just simple, good, practical
ideas that no one seems to have thought of yet.
Creative people work hard and continually to improve ideas and solutions, by making gradual
alterations and refinements to their works. Contrary to the mythology surrounding creativity, very,
very few works of creative excellence are produced with a single stroke of brilliance or in a frenzy
of rapid activity.
Characteristics of the Creative Person:
- curious
- seeks problems
- enjoys challenge
- optimistic
- able to suspend judgment
- comfortable with imagination
- sees problems as opportunities
- sees problems as interesting
- problems are emotionally acceptable
- challenges assumptions
- doesn't give up easily: perseveres, works hard
Three approaches to defining creativity:
1. Psychometric approach: uses objective problem-solving tasks to measure creativity,
focuses on the distinction between two kinds of thinking - Convergent thinking - one solution,
Divergent thinking - many solutions (creative).
2. Case study approach:analyzes creative persons in great depth and thus provides insight
into their development, personality, motivation, & problems
3. Cognitive approach: tries to build a bridge between the objective measures of the psychometric
approach and the subjective descriptions provided by case studies. The cognitive approach identifies
& measures cognitive mechanisms that are used during creative thinking.
* Creative people generally have high IQs but among people with high IQs, IQ is not a predictor
of creativity.
* Savants (10% of autistics) have unusual mental abilities.
Creative people have:
focus
exhibit flexible cognition
an independent personality
high motivation
* Language
Language - the cognitive processes involved in producing and understanding linguistic communication.
A word is the spoken sign of a conception or an idea; an articulate or vocal sound, or a combination of
articulate and vocal sounds, uttered by the human voice, and by custom expressing an idea or ideas; a
single component part of human speech or language; a constituent part of a sentence; a term.
Grammar - The art of speaking or writing with correctness or according to established usage.
Four rules of language:
Phonology - the study of the sound system of a given language and the analysis and classification of its
phonemes. A phoneme is one of a small set of speech sounds that are distinguished by the speakers of a
particular language. They are the basic sounds of consonants & vowels.
Morphology - the study of the structure and form of words in language including inflection, derivation, and
the formation of compound. A morpheme is a meaningful linguistic unit consisting of a word, such as man,
or a word element, such as -ed in walked, that cannot be divided into smaller meaningful parts.
Syntax (grammar) - the study of the rules whereby words or other elements of sentence structure are
combined to form grammatical sentences.
Semantics - specifies the meaning of words or phrases when they appear in various sentences or contexts.
Noam Chomsky believes that "When we learn a language, we are able to formulate & understand all sorts of
sentences that we have never heard before. What we know, therefore, must be something deeper a grammar
that makes and infinite variety of sentences possible. The capacity to master grammatical structures is innate; it is
genetically determined, a product of the evolutionary process, just as the organic structures of our bodies are".
Chomsky's Concepts:
- Mental grammar: allows us to combine nouns, verbs, & objects in an endless variety of meaningful sentences
- Innate brain program: makes learning the general rules of grammar relatively easy
Acquiring Language
Four Stages in acquiring language:
1. Babbling - one syllable sounds (begins at about 6 months of age)
2. Single words and parentese/motherese (begins at about 1 year of age)
3. Two-word combinations (begins at about 2 years of age)
4. Sentences (begins at about 3 to 4 years of age)
Common problems with language: telegraphic speech ( prepositions like in and out are omitted) & overgeneralization
(too strict adherence to the rules of grammar).
Innate language factors: genetically programmed physiological & neurological features that facilitate our making
speech sounds & acquiring language skills.
Innate physiological factors: special adapted vocal apparatus (larynx and pharynx) that allows us to make sounds
and form words
Innate neurological features: left hemisphere of the brain is prewired to acquire and use language, whether spoken
or signed
Innate developmental factors: there is a critical language period from infancy to adolescence when language is
easiest to learn. Language is more difficult to learn anytime after adolescence
Reason, Thought, & Language
Two kinds of reasoning:
1. Deductive reasoning - Deductive reasoning works from the more general to the more specific.
2. Inductive reasoning - moves from specific observations to broader generalizations and theories.
* The theory of linguistic relativity states that the differences among languages result in similar difference in how people
think & perceive the world. There is little support for this theory.
* Reasoning (thinking, as in problem solution) may fail because of our personal bias, experience, or language use.
Language involves;
learning abstract symbols.
express thoughts using those symbols.
learning complex rules of grammar.
generating an endless number of meaningful sentences.
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Topics in Psychology
Robert C. Gates