Language, thought and communication

• Sensorimotor stage:

  • Babies discover what their bodies can do, including making sounds
  • Babies learn to copy sounds they hear from others
• Pre-operational stage:

  • Children are egocentric and focus on themselves
  • They use language to voice internal thoughts rather than to communicate with others
• Concrete operational stage:

  • Ability to use language has developed significantly
  • Children use language to talk about actual concrete things
• Formal operational stage:

  • Children can use language to talk about abstract, theoretical ideas
• Piaget believed that all children move through these stages

  • Some individuals may not reach the formal operational stage
• Criticisms of Piaget's theory that undermine its validity:
• Piaget based his theory on observing his own children, which may have led to natural behavior but also introduced bias
• Lack of objectivity due to personal biases affecting Piaget's judgement on his observations
• Piaget recorded his observations on his own, which could have been more reliable if done by another researcher for inter-observer reliability
• Small sample size and reliance on observing his own children means findings cannot be generalized to all children
• The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was developed by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf
• Also known as the concept of Linguistic Relativity
• This theory states that our thoughts and behaviors are affected and formed by the language we speak
• Cultures with different languages and vocabulary will have very different ways of thinking and understanding things
• As part of their theory, Sapir-Whorf suggested that language may:

  • Lead us to focus on certain ways of seeing and understanding things
  • Make some ways of thinking easier and more likely than others
  • Lead to a memory bias whereby the ability to recall or retrieve certain information is increased or decreased
• Sapir-Whorf provided evidence for their hypothesis by studying indigenous

  languages. Whorf compared Native American languages with English and used the

  Hopi’s as an example due to their use of different words for “time” and the

  Eskimo’s large number of words for “snow”.
• The theory suggests that the language we speak influences how we focus, see and

  understand things. For example, even within the same language, there are cultural

  and generational differences in the way words are understood. Take a phone or

  camera, they are now very different compared to the previous generations and

  this will ultimately affect how people think about them.
• The Sapir-Whorf theory also suggests that through being familiar with recent

  meanings of words as they evolve, this will likely affect how people make

  connections as to their meanings. For example, if you were tasked with writing a

  description for the words “orange” and “cloud”, you may write about them being

  more than just a fruit and a cloud in the sky. You may refer to the fact that Orange

  is a mobile phone company and “cloud” also refers to a form of storage for data.
• Evaluating Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

  • Sapir and Whorf’s hypothesis has been criticised and some of their methods have been

  deemed unreliable, for example, Eskimo’s have approximately the same number of words for

  snow as people who speak English. Whorf also never met anyone from the Hopi tribe

  himself.

  • Books and other forms of written literature can be translated into completely different

  languages without them losing their meaning to readers.

  • People who may grow up without a language, or those that lose the ability to speak such as

  stroke victims, are still able to think.
• The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that the language we speak can influence the way we perceive and think about the world
• It argues that language can lead us to focus on certain ways of seeing things, making some ways of thinking more likely than others
• Some languages, like Tarahumara Native American language, do not distinguish between colour variations such as blue and green
• Tarahumara Native Americans have one word for both blue and green
• English speakers perceived bigger differences between shades of blues and green compared to Tarahumara speakers
• The Russian language has different words for lighter and darker blues
• Russian speakers were found to be more likely than English speakers to recognize differences between two shades of blue
• The Sapir-Whorf theory suggests that our ability to recall certain information is affected by the language we speak
• Researchers studied how English and Spanish speakers described intended and accidental actions
• Participants were asked about scenarios like someone accidentally bumping and knocking over a vase
• When the action was intended, all participants correctly identified the person responsible
• When the action was accidental, English speakers were able to identify the person correctly more often than Spanish speakers
• English speakers had better recall of who was involved in accidental actions than Spanish speakers when tested on recalling intended actions
• Animals use vocalisation as a form of communication with sound
• Birds sing, insects chirp, while animals like lions or cats may growl
• Messages conveyed through vocalisation by animals are similar to human communication, such as expressing interest in a mate, showing alarm, or signaling the need to back off
• Research into animal communication has found similarities between non-verbal communication in humans and animals
• In primates, similarities include:

  • Using facial expressions to convey emotion
  • Using body posture to show dominance or submission
  • Using touch for bonding and reassurance
• Survival

  Animals use communication in a number of ways to aid in their survival.

  For example, animals may call to their young should they wander away, use alarm calls to

  warn others of the presence of a predator or use threat signals such as showing their

  teeth, making themselves look bigger and growling, to warn others to back away.
• Reproduction

  Animals communicate to aid in reproduction and do so not necessarily through sound but

  actions and displays.

  For example, some animals use colour displays (such as peacocks and their colourful tails)

  to attract a mate and ensure reproduction. Other animals may also use colours to frighten

  or warn off predators.
• Bees communicate where to find food using dance-like movements