Language, Thinking, and Problem Solving
Reserved for Hudson & Holland Scholars
Chien-Jer Charles Lin
East Asian Languages & Cultures
Language is a quintessential aspect of human life. How we think and act to a great extent relies on the language we use. This course introduces the cognitive processes underlying human language and uses the empirical evidence in psychology of language as the basis for developing strategies for learning and communication. Students who are interested in how language works in the mind and how to use linguistic knowledge to achieve better thinking and problem-solving skills will find this course useful.
Language is the most important means of communication for human beings of any culture. This course explores how language works in the mind, focusing on the interrelation between language and thinking and its implications for college life. Through this course, students will learn to use language as a window to understanding their own thinking, potential pitfalls and biases, and what leads to more effective communication and problem-solving skills. The topics of this course will include: representing and retrieving lexical information, linguistic categorization, linguistic construction of feelings and emotions, conceptualization of time and space, the workings of memory and illusions in language, contextualization and framing, arrangement of information in (logical) communication, typology of grammars, and the effect of foreign language and multilingualism on decision making. The goal of this course is to use evidence from the psychology of language to develop better communication and problem-solving skills for your exciting college life.
This course is eligible for honors credit through Hutton Honors College.
Catalog Information: COLL-S 105 FRESHMAN SEMINAR IN N&M