exam ch5

Question 1

is human language unique?

Answer 1

yes. because animals can just parts of human language (sounds, sign gesures - NO COMPOSITIONALITY)

-highly erferential (past present and future; useful for complex ideas)
-highly compositional (illimited combinations)

+purposes: for animals is getting others to do smth, for humans is highly cooperative
+richness: different languages, slangs, dialects, in between languages…
!language in itself is an adaptive mechanism!

Question 2

Q2. reason evolution of language, functions and effects

Answer 2

main reason evolution of language is survival in a natural and social context. natural survival required food, HUNTING HYPOTHESIS (language x coordination of people) - here language= adaptive solution to COORDINATE

in a social context we keep on mind that humans (as well as every other primate) is a deeply social animal: tehy live in group to protect themselves and facilitate access to resources. these social relationship s are based on TRUST and CAPACITY OF UNDERSTANDING OTHERS. in this context we consider language to be “social grooming” in the sense that it eolved to facilitate bonding and build trust (we can trust people but we can’t trust everyone). effects of this phenomenon: control, police & manipulate reputation + learning

Here expansion on how much people are social animals

Question 3

dialects, pidgins, creole and slang

Answer 3

slang and dialects give a sense of belonging to the group (coalition computation model, group selection).
slang is a very informal language of a subgroup (communicates ingroup outgroup behaviour, similar to parochial cooperation)
!slang as deviant! =change =difference hence upsets the harmony of older people +evolves really quickly
++doenst depedn on collectivistic7individualistic cultures: exists in both (california youth rebels abd japanese rogals)

pidgin & creole are in between languages (between dialects and formal languages).

pidgin is the first generation using a language where two native languages meet up - used to communicate differentness to dominant cultures (usually turns to negative stereotypes)

creole is the evolution of a puidgin with a syntax and a grammar

Question 4

Q4. why people crave celebrity gossips

Answer 4

• gossip as social grooming (bonding, especially when negative gossip - negativity bias)
  -parasocial relationship 8we treat them as friends: we look up their stuff, even tho it’s not reciprocal INPUT MISMATCH)
  -social learning (cultutal models - prestige bias theory)
  -social comparison (coalition psychology)
  -social glue (when groups of friends dont overlap so you cant gossip ab acquainatnces)

Question 5

Q5.5 storyselling as output mismatch

Answer 5

storytelling=storyselling
we love stories (one more story before bed) and on social media storytelling is pretty easy to do; marketeers learned that and now use stories to sell products.
output mismatch stands where stories, instread of entertaining now drive comercial goals.

shift from i-thou to i-it communication: transactional devices to sell prods, ideologies and ideas.

storytelling is to bring us closer, not to make you change. people who want to have an influence on u are supposed to be close relationships (intrinsic reward from inetrtpersonal relationships) , not i-it relations