How Language
Connects to Thought
In one sense it is totally
obvious that language influences thought. Otherwise we would not use it at all.
When one person yells “FIRE!” in a crowded room, all of those who hear him
rapidly walk, run, or otherwise proceed to the nearest exit. In this case,
lan-guage influenced the listeners to think, There’s a fire; fire is dangerous; I’d better get out ofhere FAST. Language
use also influences our thought in other ways. It is a convenientway of coding,
or chunking, information, with important consequences for memory. The way
information is framed when we talk or write can also influence our decisions,
so that a patient is more likely to choose a medical treatment if she is told
it has a 50% chance of success than if she is told it has a 50% chance of failure
. Finally, language can influence our attitudes , a fact well known to
advertisers and propagandists: Eat
crunchy Pritos! Remember Pearl Harbor!
In all these examples, the choice
of words and sentences affects our thinking. Of course, language is not the
only way to influence thought and action. Observing the flames is at least as
powerful a motivator to flee as is hearing the cry FIRE! Still, lan-guage is an enormously effective conveyer of
information, emotions, and attitudes. This much ought to be obvious. Why would
we ever listen to a lecture or read a poem or a newspaper if we did not believe
that language was a means of getting useful or aesthet-ically pleasing
information? But when we speak of language differences influencing thought, it
is in quite a different sense from this. In this latter case, we are asking
whether the very forms and contents that a language can express change the
nature of perception and cognition for its speakers.
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