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GCSE Psychology Revision

Language, Thought & Communication

How language and thought relate, verbal and non-verbal communication, and animal communication.

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Language, Thought & Communication is a core part of GCSE Psychology. Revise the key concepts and common mistakes below, then lock them in with the free games.

Key concepts

Sapir-Whorf hypothesisThe language we speak shapes the way we think; strong version claims language determines thought.
Piaget's viewThought develops first, language follows; children must understand a concept before naming it.
Vygotsky's viewLanguage and thought develop separately until age 2, then merge; inner speech guides thinking.
Carmichael (1932)Showed labels given to ambiguous figures altered how participants later reproduced them, supporting Whorf.
Animal communicationVon Frisch's bee waggle dance signals the direction and distance of food out of sight (displacement), but unlike human language it is fixed and lacks creativity.
Linguistic relativityWeaker Whorf claim that language influences but does not determine cognitive categories like colour.

What your exam board covers

Where Language, Thought & Communication sits in each exam board's specification. Tap a board to see what it lists.

AQALanguage, thought and communicationSpec 8182

Part of: Paper 2 — Social context and behaviour

Source: AQA GCSE Psychology (8182) specification — Subject content, accessed 23 June 2026.

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More GCSE Psychology topics

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