Developmental psychology.pdf

202 Learning and Information Processing
This box symbolizes human mental functions, best expressed collectively as
cognition. The term cognition means knowledge or understanding, but more broadly
it refers to all the processes by which we know about the world, especially perception,
memory, and thinking. We have considered perception previously, and we shall study
memory in the next chapter. Hence, we now turn to thinking. Here we are concerned
with thought processes, not the structure of the brain, which also has been examined
earlier.
Specifically, the black-box problem focuses our attention on four related topics:
the use of concepts, the acquisition of language, problem solving, and creativity.
We employ this analogy throughout this chapter, though the context changes from one
topic to the next.
Animals can form concepts, and therefore we begin with the black box of animals.
Human infants pose the next black-box problem, for they can form concepts and
also acquire language. Computers, in turn, can form concepts, use language, and solve
complex problems. Finally, adult human beings demonstrate all of these processes plus
creativity. The black box of human adults created the computer in the first place, taught
the child, and studied animals. Ah, the complexity of adult mental life. We then conclude
this chapter with the enduring question of language learning.
ACQUISITION OF CONCEPTS
Thinking is based on concepts, and concepts are developed by thinking. The formation
and use of concepts is a logical starting point for our study of cognition.
Forming Concepts
A concept is a general idea formed from experience, and it refers to a class of events
considered equivalent in some way. The word no is a concept, for it refers to all events
that are prohibited or negative in some way. The word mother is a concept; it refers
to all women who have given birth to a baby, regardless of other characteristics.
A concept can also refer to equivalence in relationships. The word more is a
concept, for all things described in this way are greater than the things with which
they are compared. The word lighter also involves a comparison, and here the relationship
concerns brightness or weight. Concepts involve many qualities and characteristics;
most words in a complex language represent concepts of one sort or another.
Without concepts we could still have labels, such as names and comparable
symbols, but we would have to treat every object as a completely separate event. Meeting
a strange animal, we would have to examine it to see if it had fur, ate bananas, and
so forth. Having the concept chimpanzee allows us to identify this animal quickly and
to assume that it has the characteristics shared by other members of that class. But
how about chimpanzees? Can they form concepts?
Concepts in Animals In the 1960s, Beatrice and Allen Gardner, attempting to teach
language to a chimpanzee, decided to use American Sign Language, in which gestures
are used instead of words. During four years of work with a female chimpanzee named
Washoe, these gestures were taught through modeling, operant conditioning, and direct
manipulation of the hands. Whenever Washoe responded with something like one of
the gestures, she was immediately rewarded, usually by tickling, an experience she
obviously enjoyed.
Once Washoe brought her hands together at the tickled region in a pattern
crudely resembling the gesture for more. The experimenters decided that further tickling
would be a good way to teach her the sign for more, and she was tickled again.
When Washoe made still another such gesture, even more tickling occurred. Closer
approximations were required before each tickling, and gradually an acceptable sign