Cognitive Psychology PSY 112 Midterms PDF

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY COGNITIVE Philosophical Antecedents Two Approaches to understanding the PSYCHOLOGY...

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY COGNITIVE Philosophical Antecedents Two Approaches to understanding the PSYCHOLOGY human mind -is the study of how people perceive, learn, Philosophy remember and think about information - seeks to understand the general nature of -perception, attention, memory, problem- many aspects of the world, in part through solving, decision-making, reasoning, language introspection, the examination of inner ideas -Perceive various shapes, remember and forget and experiences (from intro-, “inward, within,” others, how they learn language and -spect, “look”) o A cognitive psychologist might study Physiology how people perceive various shapes, -seeks a scientific study of life-sustaining why they remember some facts but functions in living matter, primarily through forget others, or how they learn empirical (observation-based) methods. language. o Why do objects look farther away on Rationalist foggy days than they really are? -Acquire knowledge through thinking and o Why do many people remember a logical analysis particular experience, yet they forget the names of people whom they have Empiricist known for many years? -Acquire knowledge via empirical evidence Dialectic Two Greek philosophers who have profoundly -is a developmental process where ideas evolve affected modern thinking in psychology and over time through a pattern of transformation many other fields. 1. Plato (a rationalist) A thesis is proposed. 2. Aristotle (An Empiricist) -A thesis is a statement of belief. An antithesis emerges. -An antithesis is a statement that counters a previous statement of belief. Rationalist A synthesis integrates the viewpoints. -believes that the route to knowledge is through -A synthesis integrates the most credible thinking and logical analysis features of each of two (or more) views. COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Rene Descartes (1596-1650) o The noumenal world -dualism between a material consists of things we body and immaterial mind or seem compelled to soul believe in, but which we -mechanistic explanations for can never know. the body’s functions Psychological Antecedents Pineal Gland Psychology as science -It can be described spatially -It is not too transient to observe/measure -It can be manipulated experimentally -It can be described mathematically Two fathers of psychology Structuralism Empiricist o What are the elementary contents -believes that we acquire knowledge via (structures) of the human mind? empirical evidence (through experience and observation) Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) -would design experiments and conduct studies -German Psychologist in which they could observe the behavior and -Introspection processes of interest to them. o seeks to understand the structure John Locke (1632-1704) (configuration of elements) of the mind -An English philosopher who and its perceptions by analyzing those theorized that the perceptions into their constituent human mind was a tabula components (affection, attention, rasa at birth, and that all memory, sensation, etc.) human knowledge comes through experience Example: The perception of a flower o Structuralists would analyze this Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) perception in terms of its constituent -Two domains of reality: noumenal and colors, geometric forms, size relations, phenomenal and so on. o The phenomenal world is the world we are aware of; In terms of the human mind o structuralists sought to deconstruct the mind into its elementary components COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY o they were also interested in how those LAW OF EFFECT elementary components work together o Thorndike’s assertion that when certain to create the mind stimulus-response are followed by pleasure, they are strengthened, while Functionalism responses followed by annoyance or o How and why does the mind work? pain tend to be “stamped out.” o Focus on the processes of thought rather than on its contents. o Seeks to understand what people do and why they do it. William James (1842–1910) -Principles of Psychology (1890/1970) -A Harvard professor who established the first psychology laboratory in America -Philosophy of pragmatism (1890) Pragmatism o includes those who claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works Associationism satisfactorily, that the meaning of a -examines how elements of the mind, like events proposition is to be found in the or ideas, can become associated with one practical consequences of accepting it, another in the mind to result in a form of and that unpractical ideas are to be learning. rejected. -it may result from: o Contiguity – associating things that Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949) tend to occur together at about the -An American comparative same time psychologist who studied o Similarity – associating things with with James. similar features or properties -Studies the trial-and-error o Contrast – associating things that show learning and formulation of polarities, such as hot/cold, light/dark, the law of effect, and his day/night studies with Woodworth on the transfer of training. COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) o We cannot fully understand behavior -studied how people learn and remember when we only break phenomena down material through rehearsal, the conscious into smaller parts. repetition of material to be learned o Gestalt Psychology – Cognitions should play an active role in psychology (Wertheimer, Kohler) Emergence of Cognitive Psychology In the early 1950s (“cognitive revolution”) Cognitivism Behaviorism -is the belief that much of human behavior can be understood in terms of how people think. What is the relation between behavior and environment? 1950s: Development of computers Turing (1950) Proponents of Behaviorism -(“Turing test”) a computer program would be John Watson (1878–1958) judged as successful to the extent that its output -The “father” of radical behaviorism was indistinguishable, by humans, from the -He believed that psychologists should output of humans (Cummins & Cummins, 2000). concentrate only on the study of observable behavior 1956: Artificial intelligence B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) Artificial intelligence (AI) -believed that almost all forms of human -is the attempt by humans to construct systems behavior, not just learning, could be explained by that show intelligence and, particularly, the behavior emitted in reaction to the environment intelligent processing of information (Merriam- -operant conditioning Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2003). In the early 1960s The Whole Is More Than the -developments in psychobiology, linguistics, Sum of Its Parts: Gestalt anthropology, and artificial intelligence, and reactions against behaviorism by many Psychology mainstream psychologists, converged to create o We best understand psychological an atmosphere ripe for revolution. phenomena when we view them as organized, structured wholes. COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 1970s: Concept of modularity of Mind of a system take over the functions of other parts Jerry Fodor (1973) (concept of the modularity of that have been damaged. mind) -the mind has distinct modules, or special- Alan Turing (1912-1954) purpose systems, to deal with linguistic and, -Founder of computer science, mathematician, possibly, other kinds of information. philosopher -Broke German Enigma code in WWII Modularity -Openly gay in 1950s -implies that the processes that are used in one -Arrested and convicted domain of processing, such as the linguistic -Likely committed suicide as a result (Fodor, 1973) or the perceptual domain (Marr, 1982), operate independently of processes in Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852) other domains. -Daughter of the poet, Byron -Gifted mathematician Psychobiology -wrote first computer program – calculated sequence of Bernoulli numbers Karl Spencer Lashley (1890–1959) -The Lovelace Objection -considered the brain to be an active, dynamic o Machines can only do what we know organizer of behavior. how to order them to do -sought to understand how the macro- organization of the human brain made possible such complex, planned activities as musical performance, game playing, and using language. -“His monograph Brain Mechanisms and Intelligence (1929) contained two significant principles: Mass action -certain types of learning are mediated by the cerebral cortex (the convoluted outer layer of COGNITION AND the cerebrum) as a whole, contrary to the view that every psychological function is localized at INTELLIGENCE a specific place on the cortex. Equipotentiality Intelligence -associated chiefly with sensory systems such -is the capacity to learn from experience, using as vision, relates to the finding that some parts metacognitive processes to enhance learning, COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY and the ability to adapt to the surrounding environment. -Intelligence involves: o the capacity to learn from experience In the middle stratum are fluid ability and o the ability to adapt to the surrounding crystallized ability. environment. Fluid ability -is speed and accuracy of abstract reasoning, Three Cognitive Models of especially for novel problems (Cattell, 1971). Intelligence Carroll: Three-Stratum Model of Crystallized ability -is accumulated knowledge and vocabulary Intelligence (Cattell, 1971). -intelligence comprises a hierarchy of cognitive abilities comprising three strata (Carroll, 1993) Carroll includes several other abilities in the middle stratum: o learning and memory processes o visual perception o auditory perception o facile production of ideas (similar to verbal fluency) o speed (which includes both sheer speed Stratum III of response and speed of accurate -is just a single general intelligence (sometimes responding). called g). Gardner: Theory of Multiple Stratum II Intelligences -includes various broad abilities Howard Gardner -intelligence comprises multiple independent Stratum I constructs, not just a single, unitary construct -includes many narrow, specific abilities COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY structure of a piece of music Bodily-kinesthetic Used in dancing, intelligence playing basketball, running a mile, or throwing a javelin Interpersonal Used in relating to intelligence other people, such as when we try to understand another Gardner’s Eight Intelligences person’s behavior, motives, or Emotions Type of Intelligence Tasks Reflecting This Intrapersonal Used in Type of Intelligence intelligence understanding Linguistic Used in reading a ourselves—the basis intelligence book; writing a paper, for understanding a novel, or a poem; who we are, what and understanding makes us tick, and spoken words how we can change Logical- Used in solving math ourselves, given our mathematical problems, in existing constraints intelligence balancing a on our abilities and checkbook, in solving our interests a mathematical Naturalist Used in proof, and in logical intelligence understanding reasoning patterns in nature Spatial intelligence Used in getting from one place to another, in reading a map, Robert Sternberg: The Triarchic Theory and in packing of Intelligence suitcases in the trunk of a car so that they all fit into a compact space Musical intelligence Used in singing a song, composing a sonata, playing a trumpet, or even appreciating the COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Creative abilities Correlational Studies -are used to generate novel ideas. -Cannot infer causation -Nature of relationship Analytical abilities o Positive correlation -ascertain whether your ideas (and those of o Negative correlation others) are good ones. -Strength of relationship o Determined by size of “r” Practical abilities - are used to implement the ideas and persuade Example: Correlational Study others of their value. An examination of the relationship between confidence and accuracy of Research Methods eyewitnesses What do you think the relationship is? Controlled Laboratory Experiments Positive? Negative? Strong? Weak? -Obtain samples of performance at a particular It is not a strong positive correlation! time and place Many studies indicate that high confidence does -Manipulate the independent variable not mean high accuracy o The “cause” -Measure the dependent variable Psychobiological Research o The “effect” -investigators study the relationship between -Control all other variables cognitive performance and cerebral events and o Prevent confounds structures. -Study animal brains and human brains, using Typical Independent Variables postmortem studies and various -Characteristics of the situation psychobiological measures or imaging o Presence vs. absence of a stimulus techniques -Characteristics of the task o Reading vs. listening to words for comprehension These techniques generally fall into three -Characteristics of participants categories: o Age differences Postmortem studies -Examine cortex of dyslexics after death Typical Dependent Variables -Percent correct/error rate Brain-damaged individuals and their deficits o Accuracy of mental processing -Study amnesiacs with hippocampus damage -Reaction time (milliseconds) o Speed of mental processing Monitor a participant doing a cognitive task -Measure brain activity while a participant is reciting a poem COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Self-Reports (Verbal Protocols, Self- psychology can be fully understood only in the context of an explanatory theory, Rating, Diaries) and theories are empty without -Obtain participants’ reports of own cognition in empirical data. progress or as recollected 2. Cognition is generally adaptive, but -An individual’s own account of cognitive not in all specific instances. processes 3. Cognitive processes -Verbal protocol, diary study interact with each other and with Case Studies noncognitive -Engage in intensive study of single individuals, processes. drawing general conclusions about behavior 4. Cognition needs to be -In-depth studies of individuals studied through a Genie, Phineas Gage, H.M. variety of scientific methods. Naturalistic observation 5. All basic research in -Observe real-life situations, as in classrooms, cognitive psychology may lead to work settings, or homes applications, and all applied research may lead to basic understandings. Computer simulations and artificial intelligence Key Themes in Cognitive Simulations Psychology -Attempt to make computers simulate human cognitive performance on various tasks Nature versus nurture -researchers program computers to imitate a Thesis/Antithesis: given human function or process. -which is more influential in human cognition— nature or nurture? AI -Attempt to make computers demonstrate Synthesis: intelligent cognitive performance, regardless of -We can explore how covariations and whether the process resembles human interactions in the environment (e.g., an cognitive processing impoverished environment) adversely affect someone whose genes otherwise might have led to success in a variety of tasks. Basic Ideas in Cognitive Psychology 1. Empirical data and theories are both important—data in cognitive COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Rationalism versus empiricism Validity of causal inferences versus Thesis/Antithesis: ecological validity -How should we discover the truth about Thesis/Antithesis: ourselves and about the world around us? -Should we study cognition by using highly controlled experiments that increase the Synthesis: probability of valid inferences regarding -We can combine theory with empirical causality? methods to learn the most we can about -Or should we use more naturalistic techniques, cognitive phenomena. which increase the likelihood of obtaining ecologically valid findings but possibly at the Structures versus processes expense of experimental control? Thesis/Antithesis: -Should we study the structures (contents, Synthesis: attributes, and products) of the human mind? -We can combine a variety of methods, -Or should we focus on the processes of human including laboratory methods and more thinking? naturalistic ones, so as to converge on findings that hold up, regardless of the method of study. Synthesis: -We can explore how mental processes operate Applied versus basic research on mental structures. Thesis/Antithesis: -Should we conduct research into fundamental Domain generality versus domain cognitive processes? specificity -Or should we study ways in which to help people use cognition effectively in practical Thesis/Antithesis: situations? -Are the processes we observe limited to single domains, or are they general across a variety of Synthesis: domains? -We can combine the two kinds of research -Do observations in one domain apply also to all dialectically so that basic research leads to domains, or do they apply only to the specific applied research, which leads to further basic domains observed? research, and so on. Synthesis: -We can explore which processes might be Biological versus behavioral methods domain-general and which might be domain- Thesis/Antithesis: specific. -Should we study the brain and its functioning directly, perhaps even scanning the brain while people are performing cognitive tasks? COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PSY 112 – Midterms Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY -Or should we study people’s behavior in cognitive tasks, looking at measures such as percent correct and reaction time? Synthesis: -We can try to synthesize biological and behavioral methods so that we understand cognitive phenomena at multiple levels of analysis.