The Psychology of Language

David Ludden is professor of psychology at Georgia Gwinnett College near Atlanta. He earned his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Iowa in 2002. Although a psycholinguist by training, he has also had a secondary interest in the history of psychology from early in his career. His first faculty position after graduation was at a small liberal arts college where he was responsible for teaching half of the psychology curriculum. This experience greatly expanded his appreciation for the enormous diversity of viewpoints within the field of psychology. In 2014, he moved to Georgia Gwinnett College, where his main teaching responsibility is the capstone History and Systems of Psychology course, which thus provided the impetus for writing this book. A History of Modern Psychology is his second book, and it was preceded by The Psychology of Language in 2016, also published by SAGE. David Ludden lives in the greater Atlanta area with his wife and intellectual companion of thirty years, Yawen Ludden, who is a musicologist. She fills his life with great music, wonderful food, and an inimitable joie de vivre.

Chapter 1: Animal Communication and Human Language Section 1.1: Animal Communication Systems Section 1.2: Human Language Section 1.3: Evolution of Language Section 1.4: Living Fossils Chapter 2: The Science of Language Section 2.1: Scientific Method Section 2.2: Experiment Design Section 2.3: Behavioral Techniques Section 2.4: Language and the Brain Chapter 3: Speech Perception Section 3.1: Auditory Perception Section 3.2: The Speech Stream Section 3.3: The Development of Speech Perception Section 3.4: Theories of Speech Perception Chapter 4: Speech Production Section 4.1: The Vocal Tract and the Production of Speech Section 4.2: Speech Areas of the Brain Section 4.3: Models of Speech Production Section 4.4: Development of Speech Production Chapter 5: Words Section 5.1: Anatomy of a Word Section 5.2: How Words Are Learned Section 5.3: How Words Are Stored Section 5.4: How Words Are Retrieved Chapter 6: Sentences Section 6.1: Sentence Structure Section 6.2: Comprehending Sentences Section 6.3: Producing Sentences Section 6.4: Learning Syntactic Structure Chapter 7: Discourse Section 7.1: Conversation Section 7.2: Narrative and Reference Section 7.3: Anaphora and Inference Section 7.4: Development of Discourse Abilities Chapter 8: Reading and Writing Section 8.1: Writing Systems Section 8.2: Cognitive Processes in Reading Section 8.3: Development of Reading Skills Section 8.4: Cognitive Processes in Writing Chapter 9: Bilingualism Section 9.1: The Bilingual Experience Section 9.2: Organization of the Bilingual Mind Section 9.3: Cognitive Benefits of Bilingualism Section 9.4: Second Language Acquisition Chapter 10: Signed Language Section 10.1: Sign Language Communities Section 10.2: Characteristics of Signed Languages Section 10.3: Language Acquisition in Deaf Children Section 10.4: Deaf Culture Chapter 11: Language Development Across the Lifespan Section 11.1: Infancy Section 11.2: The Preschool Years Section 11.3: The School-Age Years Section 11.4: Adulthood and Aging Chapter 12: Language, Culture, and Thought Section 12.1: Words and Thought Section 12.2: Grammar and Thought Section 12.3: Figurative Language Section 12.4: Taboo Language Chapter 13: Language and Technology Section 13.1 Cell Phones Section 13.2: Texting Section 13.3: Natural Language Processing Section 13.4: Artificial Intelligence