Psychology Chapter 5: Memory and Development Theories

Unit 10: Cognitive Psychology - History of Psychology

• Cognitive psychology currently dominates academic psychology.
• Interest in cognition increased, with figures like Wundt, Ebbinghaus, Structuralism, Functionalism, and Gestalt all contributing.
• Watson and Skinner's behaviourism rejected cognition as a subject of study.
• Behaviourism predominated in the USA, while mentalistic research developed in Europe.
• Early 20th-century European psychology was fragmented, with key schools emerging, such as the Soviet School and the Geneva School.

Index/Contents

• Introduction
• F. C. Bartlett
• Soviet School: Vygotsky (1896-1934)
• Geneva School: Jean Piaget (1896-1980)
• Early developments in Cognitive Psychology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Information Processing Theory
• Methods of Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Psychology Concepts

• Perception
• Attention
• Human Intelligence
• Language
• Thinking & problem solving
• Memory

1. Introduction

• Cognitive Psychology dominates academic psychology.
• Early interest in cognition (Wundt, Ebbinghaus, etc) and subsequent rejection of cognition as an object of study (Skinner and Watson).
• Behaviourism predominated in the US, while developed mentalistic research emerged in Europe.
• Dispersed and unconnected schools of thought emerged in Europe during the first half of the 20th century.

2. F. C. Bartlett (1886-1969)

• His theory was "Schemas of the Mind."
• He stated that remembering and thinking are reconstructive processes.
• His research focused on real-life situations and memory.
• Published "The Remembrance..." (1932)
• He introduced the concept of schema as an active organisation of past experiences.

3. Soviet School: Vygotsky (1896-1934)

• He formulated the theory of the social origin of intelligence, thought, and language.
• He accepted the study of consciousness but rejected introspection.
• Consciousness does not determine behaviour—social behaviour shapes consciousness.
• Conducted cross-cultural studies to demonstrate the social influence on consciousness.
• His main contribution was about "child development," where he highlighted that higher functions (thinking, language) emerge from interaction with adults and more competent peers.
• Learning makes development possible.
• Language precedes thought in evolutionary terms.

4. Geneve School: Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

• His largest disciplinary project was "The General Theory of Knowledge."
• Cognitive development, according to Piaget, is not dependent on language but is closely related to action.
• Development is an adaptive process where the child modifies their behaviour to better understand the world.
• Assimilation: fitting new information into existing frameworks (schemas).
• Accommodation: adapting existing frameworks to incorporate new information.

4. Geneve School: Jean Piaget (cont.)

• Theory of Cognitive Development

4. Geneve School: Jean Piaget (cont.)

• Stages of Cognitive Development:
• Sensorimotor (birth - 2 years)
• Preoperational (2 - 7 years)
• Concrete operational (7 - 11 years)
• Formal operational (11+)

Piaget & Vygotsky Comparison

• Psychological constructivism (Piaget): learning is individual
• Social constructivism (Vygotsky): learning occurs through participation with others.
• Zone of Proximal Development.
• Scaffolding
• Active learning, exploration, and discovery.

5. Early Development in Cognitive Psychology

• George A. Miller (1920): first psychologist to recognize the importance of information theory in psychology.
• Studied memory and published "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information."
• Proposed the concept of "chunks" for organizing information.

6. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Influenced the development of information processing theory.
• Created by Alan Turing in 1950.
• "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" article.
• Turing test to assess machine intelligence.
• Positions on the Turing test (Weak AI, Strong AI).

7. Information Processing Theory

• Developed from AI
• The passage from AI to IPT is marked by Newell, Shaw, and Simon's 1958 article.
• Human information processing is similar to computer processing (input, processing, output).
• It's a combination of rationalism theory, and methodology behaviourism.

7. Information Processing Theory (cont.)

• Resurgence of the mind-body problem.
• Cognitive science emerged in the 1970s.
• Ulric Neisser's book "Cognition and Reality" (1976).
• Proposed replacing information processing theory with ecological psychology.
• Interest in artificial intelligence, particularly in how the brain functions. Psychobiology, Behavioural genetics emerged as part of cognitive study.

8. Methods of Cognitive Psychology

• Cognitive psychology re-examines the mind as an area of study, incorporating methodological behaviourism.
• Introspection is rejected as a method in cognitive psychology.
• Execution times in experiments
• Computational simulations (models).

9. The Influence of Noam Chomsky

• Criticisms of Skinner's book on verbal behavior.
• Language is complex and cannot be learned through the mechanisms Skinner proposed.
• Chomsky argued for universal grammar that explains language structure, which is different for each language.

10. Development in Psychobiology and Behavioral Genetics

• Psychobiology seeks to explain mental events from biological foundations.
• Figures like Hippocrates and Aristotle.
• Research from Karl Lashley (1890-1958) in psychobiology examined behaviourism.
• Psychobiology expanded as behaviourism lost its influence.
• Donald Hebb and Roger Sperry were authors who further researched the subject.

10. Development in Psychobiology and Behavioral Genetics (cont.)

• Behavioural genetics, a branch of psychobiology, examines genetic influences on cognition and behaviour.
• Related topics are:
  • Ethology
  • Sociobiology- genetic predisposition and cultural creation

References

• Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An Introduction to the History of Psychology. Belmont: Wadsworth.

This quiz explores key concepts from psychology, focusing on theories of memory and cognitive development from scholars like Vygotsky, Piaget, and Miller. Test your knowledge on significant influences on consciousness and the role of language in shaping cognitive processes. Dive into the major distinctions between behaviorist approaches and cognitive theories.