Cognition, Language & Intelligence

This is Unit Seven of Psychology, Part One: concepts, language, and problems. The unit starts with what thinking actually operates on. Not facts — categories. A concept groups things that share features, and it is represented by its best example rather than by a definition, which turns out to matter later. Then language, built up in layers from the smallest sound that changes a meaning to the whole vocabulary a person has. And an error children make that is actually evidence of learning — applying a grammatical rule to a word that is an exception to it. They could not do that without having extracted the rule. The second half is problem solving, and there is an error entry in it worth arriving prepared for. Heuristics are usually taught as biases and failures. This course calls that a mistake. They are efficient strategies with predictable costs, which is a completely different thing. And the part ends on four biases, each of which does the same thing — substitutes a question you can answer for the harder question you were actually asked. By the end you will be able to do five things. One: say what a schema does, and how the two responses to new information differ. Two: name the building blocks of language. Three: say what separates an algorithm from a heuristic. Four: name the two obstacles that come from prior success. Five: name three biases and what each substitutes.

Four entries on what thinking works with. Categories, not individual things — and the way a category is represented is worth noticing now, because a bias at the end of this part depends entirely on it.

The subject.

Psych 0731 Cognition

The set of mental activities by which information is acquired, organised and used. Three verbs, and the middle one is what this unit is mostly about.

The unit of thought.

Psych 0733 Concept

A mental category grouping objects, events or ideas that share features. Thinking happens over categories rather than over individual things.

How it is held.

Psych 0735 Prototype

The best example of a concept, against which candidate members are compared. A category is represented by an exemplar rather than by a definition — which is fast, and it is why atypical members get misjudged.

Two origins.

Psych 0737 Natural and Artificial Concepts

Natural concepts formed through direct experience; artificial ones defined by a specific set of rules. One has fuzzy edges by construction and the other does not.

Four entries on organised knowledge and what happens when something new arrives. There are exactly two options — fit it into what you have, or change what you have — and which one occurs is the difference between learning and not.

The framework.

Psych 0739 Schema

An organised framework of knowledge about a concept, guiding expectation and interpretation. It shapes what you notice before you notice anything.

The first response.

Psych 0741 Assimilation

Fitting new information into an existing schema without changing the schema. Cheap, and it is what happens most of the time.

The second.

Psych 0742 Accommodation

Changing an existing schema, or forming a new one, to fit information that does not fit. Expensive, and it is the one that constitutes actually learning something new.

For sequences.

Psych 0744 Script

A schema for a sequence of events, specifying what happens in what order. It is why an unfamiliar procedure is disorienting in a way an unfamiliar object is not.

Six entries building language in layers. The bottom layer is a sound that changes a meaning — not any sound, only the ones that make a difference. And every layer above it is a different kind of rule about combining.

The definition.

Psych 0746 Language

A system of symbols combined by rules to communicate meaning. Symbols and rules — the second half is what makes it generative.

The smallest sound.

Psych 0748 Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound that distinguishes meaning in a language. Which sounds count differs by language, so this is not a fact about acoustics.

The smallest meaning.

Psych 0750 Morpheme

The smallest unit of language that carries meaning. Often smaller than a word, which is what makes the distinction from the previous entry necessary.

The combining rules.

Psych 0752 Syntax

The rules governing how words combine into acceptable sentences. Acceptable, not meaningful — the two come apart, which is the point of the next entry.

The meaning.

Psych 0753 Semantics

The meaning carried by words and by the sentences built from them. A sentence can be syntactically perfect and semantically empty.

And the inventory.

Psych 0755 Lexicon

The complete set of words a language or a speaker has available. A property of a person as well as of a language, which is why the word is used both ways.

Four entries on how language arrives. A predictable sequence, then an error that is evidence of learning rather than of failure — and then a claim about whether the language you speak shapes how you think.

The sequence.

Psych 0757 Language Milestones

Cooing, babbling, single words, two-word phrases, full sentences. Predictable enough that departures from it are diagnostic.

The revealing error.

Psych 0759 Overgeneralization

A child applying a grammatical rule to words that are exceptions to it. The child was never taught the rule and never heard those forms — so producing them proves the rule was extracted.

The window.

Psych 0761 The Critical Period for Language

First-language acquisition must occur within a developmental window to reach full fluency. A hypothesis about timing rather than about capacity.

And a claim.

Psych 0763 Linguistic Relativity

The position that the language a person speaks influences how they think about the world. Stated as a position, which is the right treatment for a contested claim.

Four entries, and the error entry at the end is the one to carry forward. Heuristics get taught as failures of reasoning. This course refuses that framing — they are efficient strategies whose costs are predictable, which makes them a tool rather than a defect.

The problem.

Psych 0765 Problem Solving

Moving from a current state to a goal state when the path is not immediately available. The last clause is what makes it a problem rather than a task.

The guaranteed method.

Psych 0767 Algorithm

A step-by-step procedure guaranteeing a solution if one exists. The guarantee is the whole value, and it is often paid for in time.

The fast method.

Psych 0768 Heuristic

A mental shortcut producing a solution quickly without guaranteeing it is correct. Speed bought with certainty — an explicit trade.

And the error.

Psych 0769 The "Heuristics Are Just Guesses" Error

Treating heuristics as failures of reasoning rather than as efficient strategies with predictable costs. Predictable is the operative word — a known cost can be planned around, and a defect cannot.

Three entries, and they are ordered by how much structure each brings. Try things. Start from the answer. Or repeatedly measure the gap between where you are and where you want to be, and close it — which is the one worked through as a procedure.

The first.

Psych 0771 Trial and Error

Attempting options in turn until one works. No structure at all, and it is sometimes the correct choice when the space is small.

The second.

Psych 0773 Working Backwards

Starting from the goal state and reasoning toward the current one. Useful when the goal is well specified and the start is not.

Watch one problem get reduced.

Psych 0775 Means-End Analysis

Repeatedly identifying the difference between the current and goal states and reducing it. The most structured of the three, and it works on problems where neither end is fully specified.

Two entries, and they share a cause. Both obstacles come from something having worked before — an object having had a purpose, or a strategy having succeeded. Experience is what produces them.

The object.

Psych 0777 Functional Fixedness

Being unable to see an object as usable for anything other than its customary purpose. Knowing what something is for makes it harder to see what else it could do.

The strategy.

Psych 0779 Mental Set

Approaching a problem with a strategy that worked previously, even when a simpler one is available. Expertise produces this, which is why it is not a novice's mistake.

Four entries, and there is one pattern underneath all of them. Each replaces a question that is hard to answer with one that is easy — and the answer to the easy question gets reported as though it were the answer to the hard one.

The first number.

Psych 0781 Anchoring Bias

Relying too heavily on the first piece of information encountered when making an estimate. The first number becomes the reference point, whether or not it is relevant.

How easily it comes.

Psych 0783 The Availability Heuristic

Judging the likelihood of an event by how easily examples come to mind. Ease of recall substituting for frequency — which works, until something is memorable for reasons unrelated to how often it happens.

How much it resembles.

Psych 0785 The Representativeness Heuristic

Judging category membership by resemblance to the category's prototype. Which is the prototype from Topic One doing exactly the job it is built for, and producing an error while doing it.

And the description.

Psych 0787 Framing

How a choice is described influencing which option is selected, with the outcomes held constant. Held constant is the whole finding — nothing about the options changed except the wording.

Five things you can now do, and Part Two takes up intelligence. You can say what a schema does and how the two responses differ — assimilation fits new information in without changing the framework, and accommodation changes the framework, which is the one that is actually learning. You can name language's building blocks from the smallest distinguishing sound, through the smallest unit of meaning, to syntax, semantics, and the lexicon. You can say what separates an algorithm from a heuristic — a guarantee paid for in time against speed paid for in certainty — and that heuristics are efficient strategies with predictable costs rather than failures. You can name the two obstacles produced by prior success: an object seen only in its usual role, and a strategy applied because it worked before. And you can name the biases and what each substitutes — a first number for a reference point, ease of recall for frequency, resemblance for probability, and wording for content.