Are Americans losing their capacity to think rationally?

Question

Some researchers think that language & thinking are closely related & that the ability to construct complex sentences is directly related to the individual’s capability to formulate complex thoughts & vice versa. These researchers note that Americans are reducing their communication to the simple present tense in the indicative mood, rather than using conjunctions. For example, take the sentence: “I asked him if he could go.” This sentence is now often expressed: “I asked him - could he go?”

A more complicated example: “They expressed doubt as to whether or not they could accomplish this task.” Now more commonly expressed as: “They said they had doubts about – could they accomplish this task.”


What is happening here? One theory is that less intelligent people are setting the tone & that more intelligent people are being brought down to the lower level – a process described as a reduction to the lowest common denominator. Are Americans thereby losing the capacity to think?

Answer 1

Well I do agree somewhat with your theory. Americans (& other western countries) are simplifying their language more & more and the intelligence level does seem to be simoultaniusly going down. I am finding it getting to to point where it is hard to understand what many of my customers are even talking about when they email me a question regarding my product. Their sentence structure & spelling is horrid and often in the "r i kewl" vein,and these are adults. I make no claims of being educated myself but even I can do better than that. It is rather Orwellian ie 1984 where the population was purposly dumbed down by the government by eliminating more & more words, thereby making it impossible for the people to even think of concepts like freedom.

Answer 2

While I agree Americans (and truthfully, all humans) are losing their ability to think rationally; I don't consider it an aftereffect of simplifying the language.

Both are caused by the same thing, laziness. Though it could probably be reworded as body energy conservationism. However, as long as the thought gets across what is the difference of how it is said. As long as the words are available it doesn't matter if we don't use them that much (as long as they are still usable they are part of the vocabulary). Now I do see a problem with dropping words out of our vocabulary.

In the book 1984, the government maintained control in large part because they were removing words from the overall vocabulary of the populace. Their eventual goal (and one they had pretty much attained by the time the book was set in) was to remove enough words to where humans were incapable of thinking certain thoughts; because they didn't have the words to express them. That humans wouldn't be able to come up either with the word revolution or the words to explain why the should start one.
And I do believe we should avoid that.

But as long as the words are available, what's the difference if when we speak we drop out a few words like if, or whether or not once in a while.

Answer 3

No one can diminish their capacity to actually think. It is merely the manner in which they think that changes. Many consider when someone uses big words and complex sentences that they are smart. And there is some linkage between that and formulating complex thoughts and the such. However just because the language is changing doesnt mean that they way people think is changing.
Language is like a painting. Add more color, it looks better. So if i were to say the boy flexed the muscles in his lower extremeties so that it would propel him forward. It would be a fancy way to say, the boy ran. Thus it would mean the same but would give different views about the speaker.
Maybe we are simply streamlining our language along with our ways of life. Maybe we are becomming more efficient by shortening our language instead of using it slowly and complexly.
Our way of thinking is changing, as it always has been however just because we think differently doesnt mean we are actually becomming less smart or losing our ablility to think.

Answer 4

The phrase, "no child left behind" is recent, however, the sentiment is not. This sentiment now pervades education at all levels in many countries, not just the US. It has become unfashionable, if not politically incorrect, to recognize that some will race way ahead of the crowd and others will not even recognize that there has been a race. The end result is that both the average and the talented are held back waiting for those who should have been left behind.

The principle of "no child left behind" is not applied to sports. If it did, college football would be very sad.

Answer 5

I think there are various reasons why our language has suffered but I do not think it can be totally based on the intelligence of the average American citizen. The great influx of other nationalities into our country in the past ten years could have some bearing on it. These languages affect our speech patterns. Also, let us figure in the tremendous stress that everyone is under to be supermoms and superdads and still manage to live in this perfect world (so we think) I sometimes think people just chop off sentences in order to get through them faster. In turn, we do not speak properly and therefore cannot write effectively either. As the mother of four children, ages 16-6, I see vey little grammar or English homework coming home as compared to math and the sciences You could speculate on this forever. I think we are the product of our environment, short and sweet!

Answer 6

Americans are being taught at the earliest stages of education to settle for mediocrity. For example, I have a daughter in third grade who is struggling with math right now that she should have learned last year. Do you know why? It is because the teacher was lazy and set the pace based on the students who were least capable of performing. I was only able to find this out because at a recent parent teacher conference I was handed a progress report and told by my daughter's math teacher that she was doing great even though she was getting a D. When I asked how that was possible the teacher tried to brush me off, but when I insisted she finally fessed up to me that all of the students were behind because they didn't learn what they should have last year. The issue is not that Americans are loosing their ability to think. They are being taught by society not to desire to think.

Answer 7

I find that simple communication is the most effective - and that long, complex, run-on sentences are indications of muddled thinking. In the Army, we use what we call a "clarity index," which matches sentence length and numbers of syllables to determine readability of texts.

The King James version of the Bible is written at the fifth grade level of comprehension, by the way. Check out Shakespeare, and measure the mechanics of his writing. Brevity aids in clarity. "Brevity is the soul of wit," the famous bard once said.

Often, more complicated communications are not wise at all, but misleading, obfuscating, confusing. Passive voice is more wordy, and less clear. "It was done by Bob," versus "Bob did it." See?

I think, by the way, after having lived there for almost four years - that Europeans are losing the capacity for rational thought. But I would not argue that by their language mechanics. Let's decipher the meanings they convey - and analyze those.

Answer 8

IF this is true, it is mainly caused by watching T.V. It is not wholesome to watch more than an hr. or 2 of T.V. a week, otherwise T.V. will warp one's brain. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn PhD. has proven this !!! T.V. steals away one's Cognitive abilities. Causes poor comunication skills, poor memory, inattentiveness, lack of focus, impatience, anger, irritations, delutional thinking. And one needs to choose very wisely what they watch for the 1-2 hrs a week as well, or else that amount of T.V. time is a useless !

Time spent more wisely in reading, & on the internet, educating oneself is a Much better alternative. I only allow myself a half hour a day at the very most, on yahoo answers to try and give helpful advice to others and to learn from yahoo answers! Time spent educating oneself or through college is a better choice than T.V. !!

Time spend with one's girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse, children, with other human beings in wholeosme communication, (not destructive unwholesome communication) is a better choice.

Happy Holidays, enjoy your time with family and friends, This is what the holidays are all about!!

Answer 9

Tough query however fascinating... i might as a substitute lose my reminiscence. the potential to suppose makes it possible for you to detect for the second problem irrespective of the emotions. I do not wish to reside with simply reminiscences its like a film that performs time and again, well factor if its a completely happy reminiscence however what if the dangerous ones are saved -- appears like being punished every day :-)

Answer 10

I agree that the less intelligent are setting the tone. It is very difficult to explain something to someone with sub-intelligence when you speak as an educated person. So, we have to go down to their level in order to communicate.