Introduction to Cognitive Psychology PDF

PREPARED BY: AFRIANNNECAMISO,RPm,MSPsy (c) (INSTRUCTOR)  Cognitive psychology is the study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think about information. A cognitive psychologist might study how people perceive various shapes, why they remember some facts but forget...

PREPARED BY: AFRIANNNECAMISO,RPm,MSPsy (c) (INSTRUCTOR)  Cognitive psychology is the study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think about information. A cognitive psychologist might study how people perceive various shapes, why they remember some facts but forget others, or how they learn language.  Philosophy seeks to understand the general nature of many aspects of the world, in part through introspection, the examination of inner ideas and experiences. Physiology seeks a scientific study of life-sustaining functions in living matter, primarily through empirical methods.  He was a rationalist who believed that the route to knowledge is through thinking and logical analysis. A rationalist does not need any experiments to develop new knowledge. Instead, he/she would appeal to reason as a source of knowledge or justification.  He was an empiricist who believed that we acquire knowledge through empirical evidence--- experience and observation. An empiricist would design experiments and conduct observations in order to explore how the human mind works.  It is only in recent times that psychology emerged as a new and independent field of study. It developed in a dialectical way. Future approaches might integrate the best features of past approaches or reject some or even most of those characteristics.  It was the first major school of thought in psychology that seeks to understand the structure of the mind and its perception by analyzing those perceptions into their constituent components. Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920) was a German psychologist whose ideas contributed to the development of structuralism.  Wundt is often viewed as the founder of structuralism in psychology. He used a variety of methods in his research including introspection--- a process that involves looking inward to examine one’s own thoughts and emotions. The introduction of introspection as an experimental method was an important change in the field because the main emphasis in the study of the mind shifted from a rationalist approach to the empiricist approach of trying to observe behavior in order to draw conclusions about the subject of study.  Challenges with the method of introspection: 1. People may not always be able to say exactly what goes through their mind or may not be able to put it into adequate words; 2. what they say may not be accurate; 3. the fact that people are asked to pay attention to their thoughts or to speak out loud while they are working on a task may itself alter the process that are going on.  Edward Titchener (1867 – 1927) was an American student of Wundt. He is sometimes viewed as the first full-fledged structuralist who certainly helped bring structuralism to the United States. His experiments relied solely on the use of introspection, exploring psychology from the vantage point of the experiencing individual.  Functionalism seeks to understand what people do and why they do it. Functionalists held that the key to understanding the human mind and behavior was to study the processes of how and why the mind work as it does, rather than to study the structural contents and elements of the mind.  William James (1842 – 1910) was a physician, philosopher, and brother of author Henry James. He was regarded by many cognitive psychologists as among the greatest psychologists ever. His chief functional contribution to the field of psychology was his book “Principles of Psychology” (1890/1970).  John Dewey (1859 – 1952) was another early pragmatist who profoundly influenced contemporary thinking in cognitive psychology. He is remembered primarily for his pragmatic approach to thinking and schooling.  Associationism examines how elements of the mind, like events or ideas, can become associated with one another in the mind to result in a form of learning. Associations may result from contiguity (associating things that tend to occur together at about the same time), similarity (associating things with similar features or properties) or contrast (associating things that show polarities).  In the late 1800s, associationist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850 – 1909) was the first experimenter to apply associationist principles systematically. Through his self observations, he studied how people learn and remember material through rehearsal, the conscious repetition of material to be learned.  Edward Lee Thorndike (1874 – 1949) was another influential associationist who held that the role of “satisfaction” is the key to forming associations. He termed this principle the law of effect (1905): A stimulus will tend to produce a certain response over time if an organism is rewarded for that response.  Behaviorism focuses only on the relation between observable behavior and environmental events or stimuli. In Russia, Nobel Prize-winning physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936) studied involuntary learning behavior of this sort.  He began with the observation that dogs salivated in response to the sight of the lab technician who fed them. This response occurred before the dogs even saw whether the technician had food. According to him, this response indicated a form of learning (classically conditioned learning), over which the dogs had no conscious control.  Behaviorism may be considered an extreme version of associationism as it focuses entirely on the association between the environment and an observable behavior. John Watson (1878 – 1958), who is known as the “father” of radical behaviorism, believed that psychologists should concentrate only on the study of observable behavior.  He dismissed thinking as nothing more than subvocalized speech. Behaviorism also differed from previous movements in psychology by shifting the emphasis of experimental research from human to animal participants. Historically, much behaviorist work has been conducted (and still is) with laboratory animals. One problem with using nonhuman animals, however, is determining whether the research can be generalized to humans.  B.F. Skinner (1904 – 1990), a radical behaviorist, believed that virtually all forms of human behavior, not just learning could be explained by behavior emitted in reaction to the environment. He rejected mental mechanisms. Instead, he believed that operant conditioning--- involving the strengthening or weakening of behavior, contingent on the presence or absence of reinforcement or punishments--- could explain all forms of human behavior.  Criticisms of Behaviorism  Behaviorism did not account as well as for complex mental activities such as language learning and problem solving.  More than understanding people’s behavior, some psychologists wanted to know what went on inside the head.  It often proved easier to use the techniques of behaviorism in studying nonhuman animals than in studying human ones.  Behaviorists Daring to Peek into the Black Box  Some psychologists rejected radical behaviorism as they were curious about the contents of the mysterious black box.  Behaviorists regarded the mind as a black box that is best understood in terms of its input and output, but whose processes cannot be accurately described because they are not observable.  Edward Tolman (1886 – 1959) thought that understanding behavior required taking into account the purpose of, and the plan for, the behavior.  Tolman believed that all behavior is directed toward a goal. He is sometimes viewed as a forefather of modern cognitive psychology.  Albert Bandura (1977b) noted that learning appears to result not merely from direct rewards for behavior, but it can also be social, resulting from observations of the rewards and punishments given to others.  This view emphasizes how we observe and model our own behavior after the behavior of others. We learn by example. EDWARD TOLMAN ALBERT BANDURA  Gestalt psychology states that we best understand psychological phenomena when we view them as organized, structured wholes. According to this view, we cannot fully understand behavior when we only break phenomena into smaller parts. The saying that “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” aptly sums up the Gestalt perspective. MAX WERTHEIMER KURT KOFFKA 1880 – 1943 1886 – 1941 WOLFGANG KOHLER 1887 – 1967  In the early 1950s, a movement called the “cognitive revolution” took place in response to behaviorism. Cognitivism is a belief that much of human behavior can be understood in terms of how people think. It rejects the notion that psychologists should avoid studying mental processes because they are unobservable.  Karl Spencer Lashley (1890 – 1958) was one of Watson’s students who confidently challenged the behaviorist view that the human brain is a passive organ merely responding to environmental contingencies outside the individual.  Instead, Lashley considered the brain to be an active, dynamic organizer of behavior. Donald Hebb (1949) proposed the concept of cell assemblies as the basis for learning in the brain. Cell assemblies are coordinated neural structures that develop through frequent stimulation. They develop overtime as the ability of one neuron to stimulate firing in a connected neuron increases.  By the end of the 1950s, some psychologists were intrigued by the exciting notion that machines could be programmed to demonstrate the intelligent processing of information. Alan Turing (1912 – 1954) suggested that soon it would be hard to distinguish the communication of machines from that of humans.  Turing test – a test by which a computer program would be judged as successful to the extent that its output was indistinguishable, by humans, from the output of humans.  By 1956 a new phrase had entered our vocabulary. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the attempt by humans to construct systems that show intelligence and, particularly, the intelligent processing of information. However, experts underestimated how difficult it would be to develop a computer that can think like a human being.  Many of the early cognitive psychologists became interested in cognitive psychology through applied problems. During World War II, many cognitive psychologists, consulted with the military in solving practical problems of aviation and other fields that arose out of warfare against enemy forces. Information theory, which sought to understand people’s behavior in terms of how they process the kinds of bits of information processed by computer, also grew out of problems in engineering and informatics.  Applied cognitive psychology also had great use in advertising. John Watson became an extremely successful executive in advertising firm after he left Johns Hopkins University of being a professor. By the early 1960s, developments in psychobiology, linguistics, anthropology, and artificial intelligence, as well as the reactions against behaviorism by many mainstream psychologists, converged to create an atmosphere ripe for revolution.  By the 1970s, cognitive psychology was recognized widely as a major field of psychological study with a distinctive set of research methods. Jerry Fodor (1973) popularized the concept of the modularity of mind. He argued that the mind has distinct modules, or special-purpose systems, to deal with linguistic and, possibly, other kinds of information. The idea of the mind as modular goes back to phrenologist Franz-Joseph Gall, who believed that the pattern of bumps and swells on the skull was directly associated with one’s pattern of cognitive skills.  Intelligence is the capacity to learn from experience, using metacognitive processes to enhance learning, and the ability to adapt to the surrounding environment. People who are more intelligent tend to be superior in processes such as divided and selective attention, working memory, reasoning, problem solving, decision making, and concept formation.  Based on a recent article, researchers identified approximately 70 different definitions of intelligence. Cognitive psychologists emphasize the importance of metacognition or people’s understanding and control of their own thinking processes. Contemporary experts also more heavily emphasized the role of culture--- what is considered intelligent in one culture may be considered stupid in another culture. Definitions of intelligence also frequently take on assessment- oriented focus. 1. Carroll: Three-Stratum Model of Intelligence - According to this model, intelligence comprises a hierarchy of cognitive abilities comprising three strata: Stratum I: narrow, specific abilities (spelling ability, speed of reasoning) Stratum II: various broad abilities (fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, short-term memory, long- term storage and retrieval, information-processing speed) Stratum III: single general intelligence (sometimes called g) - Among the strata, the middle stratum is the most interesting as it neither too narrow nor too all-encompassing. - Fluid ability – speed and accuracy of abstract reasoning, especially for novel problems. - Crystallized ability – accumulated knowledge and vocabulary. - Carroll also includes several other abilities in the middle stratum such as learning and memory processes, visual perception, auditory perception, facile production of ideas, and speed. 2. Gardner: Theory of Multiple Intelligences - According to Gardner, intelligence comprises multiple independent constructs, not just a single, unitary construct. - This theory distinguishes nine distinct intelligences that are relatively independent of each other. a. Verbal-linguistic – the ability to think in words and to use language to express and appreciate complex meanings. b. Logical-mathematical – the ability to calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out complete mathematical operations. c. Visual-spatial – the ability to think in three dimensions. Core capacities include mental imagery, spatial reasoning, image manipulation, graphic and artistic skills, and an active imagination. d. Musical – the capacity to distinguish pitch, rhythm, timbre, and tone. It enables us to recognize, create, reproduce, and reflect on music. e. Kinesthetic – the capacity to manipulate objects and use a variety of physical skills. This intelligence also involves a sense of timing and the perfection of skills through mind-body union. f. Interpersonal – the ability to understand and interact effectively with others. It involves effective verbal and nonverbal communication, the ability to note distinctions among others, sensitivity to the moods and temperaments of others, and the ability to entertain multiple perspectives. g. Intrapersonal – the capacity to understand oneself and one’s thoughts and feelings, and to use such knowledge in planning and directioning one’s life. h. Naturalistic – designates the human ability to discriminate among living things as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world. This ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers; it continues to be central in such roles as botanist or chef. i. Existential – sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why we die, and how did we get here.  TYPE OF TASKS REFLECTING THIS TYPE OF INTELLIGENCE INTELLIGENCE VERBAL-LINGUISTIC Used in reading a book, writing a paper, a novel, or a poem; and understanding spoken words LOGICAL- Used in solving math problems, in MATHEMATICAL balancing a checkbook, in solving a mathematical proof, and in logical reasoning VISUAL-SPATIAL Used in getting from one place to another, in reading a map, and in packing suitcases in the trunk of a car so that they all fit into a compact space  TYPE OF TASKS REFLECTING THIS TYPE OF INTELLIGENCE INTELLIGENCE MUSICAL Used in singing a song, composing a sonata, playing a trumpet, or even appreciating the structure of a piece of music BODILY-KINESTHETIC Used in dancing, playing basketball, running a mile, or throwing a javelin INTERPERSONAL Used in relating to other people, such as when we try to understand another person’s behavior, motives, or emotions  TYPE OF TASKS REFLECTING THIS TYPE OF INTELLIGENCE INTELLIGENCE INTRAPERSONAL Used in understanding ourselves--- the basis for understanding who we are, what makes us tick, and how we can change ourselves, given our existing constraints on our abilities and our interests NATURALISTIC Used in understanding patterns in nature EXISTENTIAL Used in understanding life’s existence - Gardner does not entirely dismiss the use of psychometric tests. But the base of evidence he used does not rely on the factor analysis of various psychometric tests alone. His view of the mind is modular--- different abilities can be isolated as emanating from distinct portions or modules of the brain. - Thus, a major task of existing and future research on intelligence is to isolate the portions of the brain responsible for each of the intelligences. 3. Sternberg: The Triarchic Theory of Intelligence - Robert Sternberg tends to emphasize the extent to which various aspects of intelligence work together in his triarchic theory of human intelligence. - According to this theory, intelligence comprises three aspects: Creative abilities are used to generate novel ideas. Analytical abilities ascertain whether your ideas (and those of others) are good ones. Practical abilities are used to implement the ideas and persuade others of their value. - According to the triarchic theory of human intelligence, cognition is at the center of intelligence. - Information processing in cognition can be viewed in terms of three different kinds of components: metacomponents, performance components, knowledge-acquisition components. - The components are highly interdependent. - Teaching students to use all of their analytic, creative, and practical abilities has resulted in improved school achievement for every student, whatever their ability pattern. Data gathering Data analysis Theory development Hypothesis formulation Hypothesis testing Application  In controlled experimental designs, an experimenter will usually conduct research in a laboratory setting. The experimenter controls as many aspects of the experimental situation as possible.  Independent variables – aspects of investigation that are individually manipulated, or carefully regulated, by the experimenter, while other aspects of the investigation are held constant. Dependent variables – are outcome responses, the values of which depend on how one or more independent variables influence or affect the participants in the experiment. Control variables – irrelevant variables that are held constant. Confounding variables – are a type of irrelevant variable that has been left uncontrolled in a study.  Experimenters must use a representative and random sample of the population of interest in implementing the experimental method. Also, participants must be randomly assigned to the treatment and control conditions.  Many different dependent variables are used in cognitive- psychological research. Percent correct and reaction time are two common variables. In cognitive-psychological research, though the dependent variables may be quite diverse, they often involve various outcome measures of accuracy, of response times, or of both. On one hand, characteristics of the situation or task may be manipulated through random assignment of participants to either the treatment or the control group. However, characteristics of the participant are not easily manipulated experimentally.  Correlations are usually expressed through a correlation coefficient known as Pearson’s r--- a number that can range from -1.00 (negative correlation) to 0 (no correlation) to 1.00 (positive correlation). Correlational studies are often the method of choice when researchers do not want to deceive their subjects by using manipulations in an experiment or when they are interested in factors that cannot be manipulated ethically. Findings of statistical relationships are highly informative. Therefore, their value should not be underrated.  Through this research, investigators study the relationship between cognitive performance and cerebral events and structures.  There are various specific techniques used in psychobiological research which fall into three categories: 1) techniques for studying an individual’s brain postmortem, relating the individual’s cognitive function prior to death to observable features of the brain; 2) techniques for studying images showing structures of or activities in the brain of an individual who is known to have a particular cognitive deficit; 3) techniques for obtaining information about cerebral processes during the normal performance of a cognitive activity.  Postmortem studies offered some of the first insights into how specific lesions (areas of injury in the brain) may be associated with particular cognitive deficits. Recent technological developments also increasingly enable researchers to study individuals with known cognitive deficits in vivo (while the individual is alive).  Psychobiological researchers also study normal cognitive functioning by studying cerebral activity in animal participants. Researchers often use animals for experiments involving neurosurgical procedures that cannot be performed on humans because such procedures would be difficult, unethical or impractical. For some kinds of cognitive activity, the available technology permits researchers to study the dynamic cerebral activity of normal human participants during cognitive processing.  Self-reports – an individual’s own account of cognitive processes. Case studies – in-depth studies of individuals. Naturalistic observation – detailed, studies of cognitive performance in everyday situations and nonlaboratory contexts.  Though experimental research is most useful for testing hypothesis, research based on self-reports, case studies, and naturalistic observation is often particularly useful for the formulation of hypotheses. In very specific circumstances, these methods may provide the only way to gather information. Traumatic brain injury cannot be manipulated in humans in the laboratory. Therefore, case studies are the only way to gather information. THE CASE OF PHINEAS GAGE He was a railroad worker In 1848, he had a large metal spike driven through his frontal lobes in a freak accident Surprisingly, he survived His behavior and mental processes were drastically changed by the accident  The reliability of data based on self-reports depends on the honesty of the participants. A participant may intentionally or unintentionally misreport information about his or her cognitive processes. In studying complex cognitive processes, such as problem solving or decision making, researchers often use a verbal protocol--- the participants describe aloud all their thoughts and ideas during the performance of a given cognitive task. Case studies and naturalistic observations may be used to complement findings from laboratory experiments.  Digital computers played a fundamental role in the emergence of the study of cognitive psychology. Indirect influence: through models of human cognition based on models of how computers process information.  Direct influence: through computer simulations and artificial intelligence. In computer simulations, researchers program computers to imitate a given human function or process. Some researchers have attempted to create computer models of the entire cognitive architecture of the human mind. Sometimes the distinction between simulation and artificial intelligence is blurred. METHOD CONTROLLED LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS DESCRIPTION OF Obtain samples of performance at a METHOD particular time and place Easy to administer, score and do statistical STRENGTHS analyses High probability of drawing valid causal inferences Difficulty in generalizing results beyond a WEAKNESSES specific place, time, and task setting Discrepancies between behavior in real life and in the laboratory METHOD PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH DESCRIPTION OF Study animal brains and human brains, using METHOD postmortem studies and various psychobiological measures or imaging techniques “Hard” evidence of cognitive functions STRENGTHS through physiological activity Alternative view of cognitive processes Possibility to develop treatments for cognitive deficits. Limited accessibility for most researchers WEAKNESSES Small samples Decreased generalizability when abnormal brains or animal brains are investigated METHOD SELF-REPORTS (VERBAL PROTOCOLS, SELF- RATING, DIARIES DESCRIPTION OF Obtain participants’ reports of own cognition METHOD in progress or as recollected Access to introspective insights from STRENGTHS participants’ point of view Inability to report on processes occurring WEAKNESSES outside conscious awareness Verbal protocols (self-ratings): May influence cognitive process being reported Recollections: Discrepancies between actual cognition and recollected cognitive processes and products METHOD CASE STUDIES DESCRIPTION OF Engage in intensive study of single individuals, METHOD drawing general conclusion about behavior Access to detailed information about STRENGTHS individuals, including historical and current contexts May lead to specialized applications for special groups (prodigies, persons with brain damage) Applicability to other persons WEAKNESSES Limited generalizability due to small sample size and nonrepresentativeness of sample METHOD NATURALISTIC OBSERVATIONS DESCRIPTION OF Observe real-life situations, as in classrooms, METHOD work settings, or homes Access to rich contextual information STRENGTHS Lack of experimental control WEAKNESSES Possible influence on behavior due to presence of observer METHOD COMPUTER SIMULATION AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DESCRIPTION OF Simulations: Attempt to make computers METHOD simulate human cognitive performance on various tasks AI: Attempt to make computers demonstrate intelligent cognitive performance, regardless of whether the process resembles human cognitive processing Exploration of possibilities for modeling STRENGTHS cognitive processes Allows clear hypothesis testing Wide range of practical applications METHOD COMPUTER SIMULATION AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DESCRIPTION OF Simulations: Attempt to make computers METHOD simulate human cognitive performance on various tasks AI: Attempt to make computers demonstrate intelligent cognitive performance, regardless of whether the process resembles human cognitive processing Limitations imposed by the hardware and WEAKNESSES the software Simulations may imperfectly model that way that the human brain thinks  Cognitive science – cross- disciplinary field that uses ideas and methods from cognitive psychology, psychobiology, artificial intelligence, philosophy, linguistics, and anthropology. Cognitive scientists use these ideas and methods to focus on the study of how humans acquire and use knowledge.  Cognitive psychologists also profit from collaborations with other kinds of psychologists. There are also close exchange and collaboration with a number of other related fields 1. Empirical data and theories are both important--- data in cognitive psychology can be fully understood only in the context of an exploratory theory, and theories are empty without empirical data. 2. Cognition is generally adaptive, but not in all specific instances. 3. Cognitive processes interact with each other and with noncognitive processes. 4. Cognition needs to be studied through a variety of scientific methods. 5. All basic research in cognitive psychology may lead to applications, and all applied research may lead to basic understandings. ACTIVITIES/ASSESSMENT: 1. Describe the major historical schools of psychological thought leading up to the development of cognitive psychology. 2. Describe some of the ways in which philosophy, linguistics, and artificial intelligence have contributed to the development of cognitive psychology.