Psychology 2134A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Puzzle Video Game, Chaise, Categorical Perception
15 Apr 2016
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Can we study language independently of other mental abilities. Vygotsky (1934): famous developmental psychologist: language helps children"s cognitive development thanks to a voice inside their head . Chomsky (1958): language and thought are completely different. Whorf: engineer at mit, worked at a fire insurance company: investigating fires, noticed that people take the meaning of empty gasoline drums too literally word empty makes people think differently than the word full. Came to the conclusion that people"s thoughts are heavily influenced by language. Developed (with sapir) a theory of the relationship between language and thought. People can only perceive and categorize the world according to the structures offered by their language. Strong theory: if you can"t verbalize a thought, you can"t think about it. No way this is strictly true: thinking/learning in pre-verbal infants, deaf non-signers, animal studies. Weaker hypothesis: the language people speak influences the way they perceive and think about the world.
