GROUP 1 - THINKING

ABARY, Kent Rafael Santos

CAREL, Angelica Baricawa
DEL PILAR, Ma. Alexa Mae Muñoz
FLORES, Veronica Eunice Trajano
LACNO, Katherine Ann Baliton
REYES, Isabella Ebon
UBALDO, Wilfred Emman Regala

INTRODUCTION
Let’s start this by knowing what it means to think? All of us are thinking all the time and
talking about thinking as well. So, what does it really mean to think?

Thinking, or cognition which is from a Latin word meaning “to know”, can be defined as
mental activity that goes on in the brain when a person is processing
information—organising it, understanding it, and communicating it to others. Thinking
includes memory, but it is much more.

MENTAL IMAGERY
They are representations that stand in for objects or events and have a picturelike quality. It
is one of several tools used in the thought process.

An example of this is how people were asked to answer the number of windows in their
house in a fast manner. The first people to shout out an answer have fewer windows in their
houses than the ones who take longer to respond.

CONCEPTS AND PROTOTYPES - Katherine Lacno

CONCEPTS
One of the major ways our cognition allows us to do that is by forming concepts. They are
ideas that represent a class or category of objects, events, or activities. People use concepts
to think about objects or events without having to think about all the specific examples of the
category.

For example, a person can think about “puppy” without thinking about every kind of puppy
there is in the world, which would take far more effort and time. This ability to think in terms
of concepts allows us to communicate with each other.

Concepts not only contain the important features of the objects or events people want to
think about, but also they allow the identification of new objects and events that may fit the
concept. For example, puppies come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and lengths of fur. Yet most
people have no trouble recognizing a puppy as a puppy, even though they may never before
have seen that particular breed of puppy.

Concepts can have very strict definitions. Concepts defined by specific rules or features are
called formal concepts and are quite rigid. For example, in psychology, there are
double-blind experiments, sleep stages, and conditioned stimuli, to name a few. Each of
these concepts must fit very specific features to be considered true examples.
PROTOTYPES
Prototypes are mental images or pinnacle examples of a certain thing. When someone says
“fruit,” what’s the first image that comes to mind? More than likely, it’s a specific kind of fruit
like a banana, mango or orange.

People tend to look at potential examples of a concept and compare them to the prototype to
see how well they match, which is why it takes most people much longer to think about
olives and tomatoes as fruit because they aren’t sweet, one of the major characteristics of
the prototype of fruit.

People from the different regions may have a different answer. So people who do have very
different experiences with fruit, for instance, will have different prototypes. Culture also
matters in the formation of prototypes. Prototypes develop according to the exposure a
person has to objects in that category.

Concepts and Prototypes speed up our thinking but it can also box up our thinking which
leads to prejudice.

PROBLEM SOLVING AND DECISION MAKING STRATEGIES - Kent Abary

Problem solving occurs when a goal must be reached by thinking and behaving in certain
ways. Problems range from figuring out how to cut a recipe in half to understanding complex
mathematical proofs to deciding what to major in at college.

Problem solving is one aspect of decision making, or identifying, evaluating, and choosing
among several alternatives.

TRIAL AND ERROR (MECHANICAL SOLUTIONS)

Trial and error refers to trying one solution after another until finding one that works.
Mechanical solutions can also involve solving by rote, or a learned set of rules.

For example, if I forgot the PIN of my landbank account, I can try one combination after
another until I find the one that works, if I have only a few such PINs that I normally use.

ALGORITHMS
They are specific, step-by-step procedures for solving certain types of problems. Algorithms
will always result in a correct solution, if there is a correct solution to be found, and you have
enough time to find it.

So if you’re in the grocery store looking for a bottle of mayonnaise, you could use an
algorithm, and methodically check every shelf and aisle in the store.

HEURISTICS - Kent Abary

“rule of thumb”. Heuristics are simple strategies that allow us to solve problems faster,
although more error-prone than algorithms.
So if you’re in the grocery store looking for a bottle of mayonnaise, you could use heuristics
and first search the condiments area in the store.

● REPRESENTATIVE HEURISTIC
It is used for categorizing objects and simply assumes that any object (or person)
that shares characteristics with the members of a particular category is also a
member of that category.

For example, while shopping in a grocery store, someone asks a person wearing a
green shirt if they know where to find cans of sardines. Upon further inspection, the
shopper realizes the person does not work at the store but is simply wearing a shirt
that is the same color that store employees wear.

● AVAILABILITY HEURISTIC
It is based on our estimation of the frequency or likelihood of an event based on how
easy it is to recall relevant information from memory or how easy it is for us to think of
related examples.

During an exam, instead of looking at each question and carefully considering the
answer to that specific question, your mind is going to want to provide the answers
that you ensured were top of mind before the test began regardless of the question.
As a result, you give the wrong answer simply because you have one particular
answer at the top of mind.

● WORKING BACKWARD
A useful heuristic that does work much of the time is to work backward from the goal.

For example, You live in Cavite and have been invited to a debut party at 5 PM on
Saturday in Ermita. Knowing that St. Dominic is traffic any day of the week, you need
to plan your route and time your departure accordingly. If you want to be at the venue
by 4:30 PM, and it takes 2 hours without traffic, what time should you leave your
house? You use the working backwards heuristic to plan the events of your day on a
regular basis, probably without even thinking about it.

● SUBGOALS
it’s better to break a goal down into subgoals, so that as each subgoal is achieved,
the final solution is that much closer.

For example, students typically brainstorm, develop a thesis or main topic, research
the chosen topic, organize their information into an outline, write a rough draft, revise
and edit the rough draft, develop a final draft, organize the references list, and
proofread their work before turning in the project. The large task becomes less
overwhelming when it is broken down into a series of small steps.

INSIGHT
This is when the solution to a problem seems to come suddenly to mind.
In humans, insight often takes the form of an “aha!” moment—the solution seems to come in
a flash. A person may realize that this problem is similar to another one that they already
know how to solve or might see that an object can be used for a different purpose than its
original one.

PROBLEMS WITH PROBLEM SOLVING AND DECISION MAKING - VERONICA FLORES

- solutions to problems are not always apparent

Problems can be caused by three common barriers:

● FUNCTIONAL FIXEDNESS
is a phenomenon that involves thinking about objects only in terms of their typical
uses.

For example, searching for a fork in the house to eat. All the while there are several
objects close at hand that could be used to eat: a spoon, a knife or even a ladle.
pocket. Because the tendency is to think that those objects have different functions,
we sometimes ignore the less obvious possible uses.

● MENTAL SETS
is defined as the tendency for people to persist in using problem-solving patterns that
have worked for them in the past.

For example, You pull on a door handle to open it. The door doesn’t open. You pull
on it a few more times before you try to push, failing to notice the “push” sign on the
door.

● CONFIRMATION BIAS
a tendency to search for evidence that fits your beliefs while ignoring evidence to the
contrary.

An example is how fake news takes advantage of social media by using

sensationalist headlines and making unproven claims. Readers see these untrue
articles, which align with their biased perspectives, and repost or share them, further
spreading the misinformation.

CREATIVITY
solving problems by combining ideas or behavior in new ways. Sometimes a problem
requires coming up with entirely new ways of looking at the problem or unusual, inventive
solutions.

DIFFERENT WAYS OF THINKING

● CONVERGENT THINKING
a problem is seen as having only one answer and all lines of thinking will eventually
lead to (converge on) that single answer by using previous knowledge and logic.

For example, the question “In what ways are a pencil and a pen alike?” can be
answered by listing the features that the two items have in common.
 ● DIVERGENT THINKING
a person starts at one point and comes up with many different, or divergent, ideas or
possibilities based on that point.

For example, if someone were to ask the question, “What is a pencil used for?” the
convergent answer would be “to write.” But if the question is put this way: “How many
different uses can you think of for a pencil?” the answers multiply: “writing, poking
holes, a weight for the tail of a kite, a weapon.”

INTELLIGENCE - Bella

The concept of intelligence has been one of the most contentious across the history of
psychology and continues to be so today. Even defining intelligence can be difficult because
your definition reflects your theory of what it means to be intelligent, and theories of
intelligence differ widely, as we will discuss later. Some theorists have argued that
intelligence doesn’t exist as a real entity, but simply is a label for what intelligence tests
measure. Other Theorists suggest that intelligence should be considered more broadly and
that it involves the ability to learn from experience, think in abstract terms, and deal
effectively with one’s environment.

If you ask a dozen people, you will probably get a dozen different answers. And so, in this
video, we’re going to have a closer view on it. I’m Isabella Reyes, and I’ll be presenting on
Intelligence and its theories.

Psychologists have come up with a workable definition:

They defined Intelligence as the ability to learn from one’s experiences, acquire knowledge,
and use resources effectively in adapting to new situations or solving problems.

Bagaman, tinalakay na natin ang pangkalahatang kahulugan ng itelligence, may mga

ispesipikasyon pa rin itong pagkakaiba, kaya nabuo ang maraming konsepto patungkol rito.
And with that, let's move on to the theories of intelligence.

First is Spearman’s G Factor.

THEORIES OF INTELLIGENCE

1. Spearman’s G Factor

- Introduced by an English Psychologist, Charles Spearman in 1904,

Spearman saw intelligence as two different abilities where he believes that we
have this overall intelligence, referred to as the General Intelligence / g factor
and Specific Intelligence / s factor . To arrive at this theory of G Factor,
Spearman used a technique known as factor analysis.
 - Factor analysis is a procedure through which the correlation of related
variables are evaluated to find an underlying factor that explains this
correlation.

- Spearman concluded that there is a single g-factor which represents an

individual’s general intelligence across multiple abilities, and that a second
factor, s, refers to an individual’s specific ability in one particular area.

- For instance, mahihinuha ng mga researchers na ang mga tao na mayroong

mataas na marka sa mga tanong na sumusukat sa vocabulary ay mayroong
kapasidad na maging mahusay sa mga tanong na related sa reading
comprehension. From that example, the g factor defined was the verbal
intelligence. To follow that is the s intelligence, which is the spatial ability or
the reasoning ability.

We could conclude that:

1. g factor: for general intelligence which is the ability to reason and
solve problems.
2. s factor: for specific intelligence which are the task-specific abilities in
certain areas such as music, business, or art.

- A traditional IQ test would most likely measure g factor, but Spearman

believed that superiority in one type of intelligence predicts superiority overall.

Ok, so that’s that. The second theory is Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

2. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

- This theory of several kinds of intelligence was proposed by Howard Gardner.

- He believed that there is not just one underlying mental capacity or g, but a
variety of intelligences that work in combination.

- He believed that kahit may mga tao na iisa ang tingin sa terms na reason,
logic, and knowledge bilang abilidad, konklusyon niya na may iba’t-ibang
aspeto ng intelligence, at kaugnay nito ang iba pang abilidad.

- Although many people use the terms reason, logic, and knowledge as if they
are the same ability, Gardner believes that they are different aspects of
intelligence, along with several other abilities.

- Nine (9) different types of intelligence:

1. Verbal/linguistic - ability to use language.

- Now, you may know someone who speaks a lot of different
languages and they seem to pick it up very easily. This person
is capable of using words well, both when writing and
 speaking. Moreover, they are typically very good at writing
stories, memorizing information, and reading.

- Their Potential Career Paths are:

● Writer/journalist
● Lawyer
● Teacher

2. Musical - ability to compose or perform music

- People who have strong musical intelligence are good at
thinking in patterns, rhythms, and sounds. They have a strong
appreciation for music and are often good at musical
composition and performance.

- Their Potential Career Paths are:

● Musician
● Composer
● Singer
● Music teacher
● Conductor

3. Logical/mathematical - ability to think and to solve mathematical

problems
- People who are strong in logical-mathematical intelligence are
good at reasoning, recognizing patterns, and logically
analyzing problems. These individuals tend to think
conceptually about numbers, relationships, and patterns.

- Their Potential Career Paths are:

● Scientist
● Mathematician
● Computer programmer
● Engineer
● Accountant

4. Visual/spatial - ability to understand how objects are oriented in

space.
- People who are strong in visual-spatial intelligence are good at
visualizing things. These individuals are often good with
directions as well as maps, charts, videos, and pictures.

- Their Potential Career Paths are:

● Architect
● Artist
● Engineer

5. Movement - ability to control one’s body motions

 - Those who have high bodily-kinesthetic intelligence are said to
be good at body movement, performing actions, and physical
control. People who are strong in this area tend to have
excellent hand-eye coordination and dexterity.

- Their Potential Career Paths are:

● Craftsperson
● Dancer
● Builder
● Surgeon
● Sculptor
● Actor
6. Interpersonal - sensitivity to others and understanding motivation of
others
- Those who have strong interpersonal intelligence are good at
understanding and interacting with other people. These
individuals are skilled at assessing the emotions, motivations,
desires, and intentions of those around them.

- Their Potential Career Paths are:

● Psychologist
● Philosopher
● Counselor
● Salesperson
● Politician

7. Intrapersonal - understanding of one’s emotions and how they guide

actions
- Individuals who are strong in intrapersonal intelligence are
good at being aware of their own emotional states, feelings,
and motivations. They tend to enjoy self-reflection and
analysis, including daydreaming, exploring relationships with
others, and assessing their personal strengths.

- Their Potential Career Paths are:

● Philosopher
● Writer
● Theorist
● Scientist

8. Naturalist - ability to recognize the patterns found in nature

- According to Gardner, individuals who are high in this type of
intelligence are more in tune with nature and are often
interested in nurturing, exploring the environment, and learning
about other species. These individuals are said to be highly
aware of even subtle changes to their environments.
 - Their Potential Career Paths are:
● Biologist
● Conservationist
● Gardener
● Farmer

9. Existentialist - ability to see the “big picture” of the human world by

asking questions about life, death, and the ultimate reality of human
existence.
- Existential intelligence is the ninth type of intelligence
suggested as an addition to Gardner's original theory. He
described existential intelligence as an ability to dwell into
deeper questions about life and existence. People with this
type of intelligence contemplate the "big" questions about
topics such as the meaning of life and how actions can serve
larger goals.

- Their Potential Career Paths are:

● Philosopher
● Pastoral counselor
● Pastor

One of the drawbacks or practical problems of Gardner’s Theory is that it is inconvenient and
difficult to measure some of this thing like; How are we going to truly measure how a person
knows themselves? So, in some ways, Gardener’s test loses some of its application ability
by having so many different domains of intelligence.

3. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory

- This theory was introduced by Robert Sternberg, he believed that there are
three kinds of intelligence; triarchic theory of intelligence (triarchic means
three), this theory includes analytical, creative, and practical intelligence.

1. Analytical intelligence
- refers to the ability to break problems down into component parts, or
analysis, for problem solving. This is the type of intelligence that is
measured by intelligence tests and academic achievement tests, or
“book smarts” as some people like to call it.

2. Creative intelligence
- is the ability to deal with new and different concepts and to come up
with new ways of solving problems.
- A person that can think of new nobel explanations, new ways
to solve problems you’ll probably score high in creative
intelligence.

3. Practical intelligence
 - is best described as “street smarts,” or the ability to use information
to get along in life. People with a high degree of practical intelligence
know how to be tactful, how to manipulate situations to their
advantage, and how to use inside information to increase their odds of
success.

MEASURING INTELLIGENCE - Alexa Del Pilar

This is by some kind of test is a concept that is less than a century old. It began when
educators in France realized that some students needed more help with learning than others
did. They thought that if a way could be found to identify these students more in need, they
could be given a different kind of education than the more capable students.
● Binet’s Mental Ability Test
- Alfred Binet was asked by the French Ministry of Education to design a formal
test of intelligence that would help identify children who were unable to learn
as quickly or as well as others, so that they could be given remedial
education.
- They noticed that the fast learners seemed to give answers to questions that
older children might give, whereas the slow learners gave answers that were
more typical of a younger child. The key element to be tested was child’s
mental age
● Stanford-Binet and IQ
- Lewis Terman (1916), a researcher at Stanford University, adopted German
psychologist William Stern’s method for comparing mental age and
chronological age (number of years since birth).
- It uses a variety of verbal and nonverbal subtests to provide an overall
estimate of intelligence and scores related to five areas of cognition
- Stern’s formula was to divide the mental age (MA) by the chronological age
(CA) and multiply the result by 100 to get rid of any decimal points. The
resulting score is called an intelligence quotient, or IQ. IQ = MA/CA × 100
● The Wechsler Tests
- David Wechsler was the first to devise a series of tests designed for specific
age groups.
- It uses a variety of verbal and performance subtests to provide an overall
score of intelligence and index scores related to four specific cognitive
domains.
- The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV), Wechsler Intelligence Scale
for Children (WISC-IV), and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of
Intelligence (WPPSI-IV) are the three versions of this test, and in the United
States these tests are now used more frequently than the Stanford-Binet.

1. Test Construction: Good Test, Bad Test?

All tests are not equally good tests. Some tests may fail to give the same
results on different occasions for the same person when that person has not
changed—making the test useless. These would be considered unreliable
tests. Reliability of a test refers to the test producing consistent results each
time it is given to the same individual or group of people. Validity is the degree
to which a test actually measures what it’s supposed to measure.
 2. Standardization of Tests
It refers to the process of giving the test to a large group of people that
represents the kind of people for whom the test is designed. One aspect of
standardization is in the establishment of consistent and standard methods of
test administration. All test subjects would take the test under the same
conditions. Another aspect addresses the comparison group whose scores
will be used to compare individual test results. They are chosen randomly
from the population for whom the test is intended and, like all samples, must
be representative of that population.

3. Norms
It is the scores from the standardization group, the standards against which
all others who take the test would be compared. Most tests of intelligence
follow a normal curve, or a distribution in which the scores are the most
frequent around the mean, or average, and become less and less frequent
the further from the mean.

4. IQ Tests and Cultural Bias

The problem with trying to measure intelligence with a test that is based on an
understanding of the world and its resources is that not everyone comes from
the same “world.” People raised in a different culture, or even a different
economic situation, from the one in which the designer of an IQ test is raised
are not likely to perform well on such a test—not to mention the difficulties of
taking a test that is written in an unfamiliar language or dialect.

5. Usefulness of IQ Tests
IQ tests are generally valid for predicting academic success and job
performance. This may be more true for those who score at the higher and
lower ends of the normal curve. The kinds of tests students are given in
school are often similar to intelligence tests, and so people who do well on IQ
tests typically do well on other kinds of academically oriented tests as well.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES - Katherine Lacno

IQ tests can be used to identify individuals who differ significantly from those of average
intelligence.

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY
Intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) is a neurodevelopmental disorder
and is defined in several ways. Intellectual disability occurs in about 1 percent of the
population.
- Criteria:
1. The person exhibits deficits in mental abilities, which is typically associated
with an IQ score approximately two standard deviations below the mean on
the normal curve, such as below 70 on a test with a mean of 100 and
standard deviation of 15.
2. The person’s adaptive behavior (skills that allow people to live independently,
such as being able to work at a job, communicate well with others, and
 grooming skills such as being able to get dressed, eat, and bathe with little or
no help) is severely below a level appropriate for the person’s age.
3. Finally, these limitations must begin in the developmental period.
- Diagnosis: It can vary from mild to profound, individuals with mild intellectual
disability may not be recognized as having deficits in the conceptual domain until
they reach school age where learning difficulties become apparent; as an adult, they
are likely to be fairly concrete thinkers.
- Causes: Unhealthy living conditions can affect brain development.Deficits may also
be attributed to factors resulting in inadequate brain development or other health
risks associated with poverty.
- Environmental factors examples: Toxins such as lead or mercury, s Biological
factors examples: Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, and fragile X syndrome.

GIFTEDNESS
- Criteria: They are those who fall on the upper end of the normal curve, above an IQ
of 130. The term applied to these individuals is gifted, and if their IQ falls above 140
to 145 (less than half of 1 percent of the population), they are often referred to as
highly advanced or geniuses.
- Characteristics: typically grow up to be well-adjusted adults EXCEPT when
“pushed” to achieve at younger and younger ages. Extreme geniuses may
experience social and behavioral adjustment issues as children

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
- The accurate awareness of and ability to manage one’s own emotions to facilitate
thinking and attain specific goals, and the ability to understand what others feel.
- The concept of emotional intelligence was first introduced by Peter Salovey and John
Mayer (1990) and later popularized by Dan Goleman (1995).
- For example, emotional intelligence is not the same as having high self-esteem or
being optimistic. One who is emotionally intelligent possesses self-control of
emotions such as anger, impulsiveness, and anxiety. Empathy, the ability to
understand what others feel, is also a component, as are an awareness of one’s own
emotions, sensitivity, persistence even in the face of frustrations, and the ability to
motivate oneself.

THE NATURE/NURTURE CONTROVERSY REGARDING INTELLIGENCE - CAREL

● TWIN AND ADOPTION STUDIES
- The greater the degree of genetic relatedness, the stronger the correlation is
between the IQ scores of those persons.
- The fact that genetically identical twins show a correlation of 0.86 means that
the environment must play a part in determining some aspects of intelligence
as measured by IQ tests. If heredity alone were responsible, the correlation
between genetically identical twins should be exactly 1.00.
- Researchers have determined that the estimated heritability for intelligence is
about .50 or 50 percent (Plomin & DeFries, 1998; Plomin & Spinath, 2004)
- Genes always interact with environmental factors, and in some cases
extreme environments can modify even very heritable traits, as would happen
 in the case of a severely malnourished child’s growth pattern. Enrichment, on
the other hand, could have improved outcomes. Some observations suggest
IQ scores are steadily increasing over time, from generation to generation, in
modernized countries it is a phenomenon called the Flynn effect.

● THE BELL CURVE AND MISINTERPRETATION OF STATISTICS

- In 1994, Herrnstein and Murray published the controversial book The Bell
Curve, in which they cite large numbers of statistical studies that led them to
make the claim that IQ is largely inherited. These authors go further by also
implying that people from lower economic levels are poor because they are
unintelligent.
- They made several statistical errors and ignored the effects of environment
and culture.
- Stereotype threat is being aware of negative stereotypes that results in an
individual scoring poorly on intelligence tests
- They assumed that intelligence itself is very heavily influenced by genetics,
with a heritability factor of about .80 when in other studies The current
estimate of the heritability of intelligence is about .50 and that Heritability
estimates can only be made truly from a group that was exposed to a similar
environment.
- The Bell Curve has no real scientific evidence for genetic differences in
intelligence between different racial groups. Therefore there is not rea
significant relationship between ethnicity and IQ.

LANGUAGE - WILFRED UBALDO

Language is a system for combining symbols (such as words) so that an infinite number of
meaningful statements can be made for the purpose of communicating with others. It allows
people not only to communicate with one another but also to represent their own internal
mental activity.

THE LEVELS OF LANGUAGE ANALYSIS

The structures of languages all over the world share common characteristics. They consist
of the sounds that exist within a language, word meanings, word order, the rules for making
words into other words, the meanings of sentences and phrases, and the rules for practical
communication with others.

GRAMMAR
- It is the system of rules governing the structure and use of a language.
- Humans have an innate ability to understand and produce language through a device
he calls the language acquisition device, or LAD. He defined the LAD as an innate
“program” that contained a schema for human language.
- Grammar includes phonemes, morphemes, syntax, semantics and pragmatics.
● PHONEMES
- This is the basic units of sound in a language
- Phonemes for different languages are also different, and one of the
biggest problems for people who are trying to learn another language
is the inability to both hear and pronounce the phonemes of that other
language.
 - For example, the a in the word car is a very different phoneme from
the a in the word day, even though it is the same letter of the alphabet.
The difference is in how we say the sound of the a in each word.
Phonemes are more than just the different ways in which we
pronounce single letters, too.
● MORPHEMES
- Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning within a language.
- It is composed of two separate classes called (a) bases (or roots) and
(b) affixes.
- For example, playing consists of two morphemes which are play and
ing.
● SYNTAX
- Syntax is a system of rules for combining words and phrases to form
grammatically correct sentences. Syntax is quite important, as just a
simple mix-up can cause sentences to be completely misunderstood.
- For example, “Johnny kidnapped the boy” has a different meaning
from “Johnny, the kidnapped boy”
● SEMANTICS
- Rules for determining the meaning of words and sentences
- Sentences, for example, can have the same semantic meaning while
having different syntax: “Maika hit the volleyball” and “The volleyball
was hit by Maika”.
● PRAGMATICS
- It has to do with the practical aspects of communicating with others, or
the social “niceties” of language.
- Part of the pragmatics of language includes knowing just what rhythm
and emphasis to use when communicating with others, called
intonation.
- Some languages are highly sensitive to intonation, meaning that
changing the stress or pitch of certain words or syllables of a particular
word can change its meaning entirely.
- For example, adults speak to small children differently than they do to
other adults by using simpler words. Both adults and children use
higher pitched voices and many repeated phrases when talking to
infants; such child-directed speech plays an important role in the
development of language in children.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND THOUGHTS - WILFRED UBALDO

● Does language influence the way people think, and are animals capable of
learning language?
- Two very influential developmental psychologists, Jean Piaget and Lev
Vygotsky, often debated the relationship of language and thought.
- Piaget believed that concepts preceded and aided the development of
language. For example, a child would have to have a concept or mental
schema for “mother” before being able to learn the word “mama.”
- Collective monologue takes place in a group setting where a child speaks
without connection to what another has said.The children take turns speaking,
 but each speaker's contribution to the conversation has little to do with the
content of what other speakers are saying.
- This kind of nonsocial speech was egocentric (from the child’s point of view
only, with no regard for the listener)
- For example: Julie: "I wonder what Tina's eyes are made of?" Julie: "I know
her eyes are made of glass."
- Vygotsky, however, believed almost the opposite. He believed that language
actually helped develop concepts and that language could also help the child
learn to control behaviour—including social behaviour
- Once a child had learned the word “mama,” the vari - ous elements of
“mama-ness”—warm, soft, food, safety, and so on—could come together
around that word.
- Vygotsky also believed that the “egocentric” speech of the preschool child
was actually a way for the child to form thoughts and control actions. This
“private speech” was a way for children to plan their behaviour and organize
actions so that their goals could be obtained.

● Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis

- Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (named for the two theorists who developed it,
Edward Sapir and his student, Benjamin Lee Whorf).
- This hypothesis assumes that the thought processes and concepts within any
culture are determined by the words of the culture (particular language one
speaks influences the way one thinks about reality).
- A commonly cited example of linguistic relativity is the example of how Inuit
Eskimos describe snow. In English, there is only one word for snow, but in the
Inuit language, many words are used to describe snow: “wet snow,” “clinging
snow,” “frosty snow,” and so on.
- Cognitive universalism: theory that some concepts are universal and
influence the development of language.
- For example: In a research they showed pictures of two animals to preschool
children. The pictures were of a flamingo and a bat. The children were told
that the flamingo feeds its baby mashed-up food but the bat feeds its baby
milk. Then they were shown a picture of a blackbird (which looked more like
the bat than the flamingo). Half of the children were told that the blackbird
was a bird, while the other children were not. When asked how the blackbird
fed its baby, the children who had been given the bird label were more likely
to say that it fed its baby mashed-up food than were the children who were
not given the label, indicating that the preschoolers were making inferences
about feeding habits based on category membership rather than perceptual
similarity—the word bird helped the children who were given that label to
place the blackbird in its proper higher level category.
- Language can definitely influence the perception of others as well—“computer
geek” and “software engineer” might be used to describe the same person,
but one phrase is obviously less flattering and the image brought to mind is
different for the two terms.

● Animal Studies in Language

- All animals can communicate, however it varies to dependending on the
animal. Their use of language is still under investigation
- There have been attempts to teach animals (primates and dolphins) how to
use sign language (as animals lack the vocal structure to form spoken words).
- The most successful of these experiments has been with Kanzi, a bonobo
chimpanzee trained to press abstract symbols on a computer keyboard
- Kanzi actually was not the original subject of the study—his mother, Matata,
was the chimp being trained. She did not learn many of the symbols, but
Kanzi watched his mother use the keyboard and appeared to learn how to
use the symbols through that observation. At last count, Kanzi could
understand about 150 spoken English words
- He has managed to correctly follow complex instructions up to the level of a
2-year-old child.