This chapter breaks up how we communicate, think, and reason into different sections; it then provides insight on how each of these are connected to one another. The first section is about how language was created and how we learn language. It also provides information on different types of communication, such as, non-verbal and nonhuman (or animal) communication. The second section talks about how we think and if we think in words or not. It also talks about how we recognize written word. The third section connects thinking and reasoning. It explains mental processes like decision-making and problem solving.
When I was skimming through each section I found the 'Thinking' section most interesting. It revolved around the relationship between language and thought. The main question was: "do we think in words?", and if so, "does one need to be mastered in language before one can speak?" Linguistic Determinism is a view that claims: all thought is represented verbally and that, as a result, our language defines our thinking. Psychologists didn't know how to go about studying this, but found that Helen Keller had once written: (before she learning language) "I did now know that I am. I lived in a world that was a no-world... I did not know that I knew aught [anything] or that I lived or acted or desired. I had neither will nor intellect." From this finding psychologists believed linguistic determinism to be true. In a later experiment, a certain anesthesiologist chose to be paralyzed except for sensory muscles. After the study had taken place he found that he could recall and remember everything that had happened, therefore, disproving the theory that was must speak to think. I found this section quite interesting because I had never given much thought to how communication and our thoughts have such a deep connection.
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