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Introduction Cognitive Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. The goal of psychology is to explain, predict, modify, and improve lives and the world. It involves the study of how people think, perceive, learn, remember, and make decisions. There are many subfields that focus on different aspects of behavior and cognition such as clinical psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology and more. Cognitive psychology specifically studies mental processes like attention, memory, problem solving, and language.

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739 views29 pages

Introduction Cognitive Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. The goal of psychology is to explain, predict, modify, and improve lives and the world. It involves the study of how people think, perceive, learn, remember, and make decisions. There are many subfields that focus on different aspects of behavior and cognition such as clinical psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology and more. Cognitive psychology specifically studies mental processes like attention, memory, problem solving, and language.

Uploaded by

Hemant Kumar
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is Psychology?

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Psychology attempts to explain, predict, modify, and ultimately improve the lives of people and the world in which they live.

Psychology is a word deriving from ancient Greek roots:

Psyche soul or mind, logia study


Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior.

Major Subfields of Psychology


Subfield
Clinical Psychology Counseling Psychology Developmental Psychology Educational Psychology Experimental Psychology Cognitive Psychology Industrial/ organizational Psychology Psychobiology and evolutionary Psychology Social Psychology

Description
Studies, diagnosis, causes and treatment of mental disorders Assists individuals in dealing with many personal problems Studies how people change physically, cognitively and socially over the entire life span Studies all aspects of educational process Studies all basic psychological processes. Investigating all aspects of cognition-memory, thinking, reasoning, language, decision making, and so on. Studies all aspects of behavior in work setting.

Investigates biological bases of behavior and the role of evolution in human behavior Studies all aspects of social behavior and social thought-how we think about and interact with others.

Overview of Six Contemporary Theoretical Perspective in Psychology


Perspectives and its influential period Behavioral (1913-Present) Principal contributor John B. Watson Ivan Pavlov B. F. Skinner Sigmund Freud Carl Jung Alfred Adler Carl Rogers Abraham Maslow Jean Piaget Noam Chomsky Herbert Simon Subject matter Effects of environment on the overt behavior of humans and animals Unconscious determinants of behavior Basic Premise Only observable events (S-R) can be studied scientifically Unconscious motives and experiences in early childhood govern personality and mental disorders Human are free, rational beings with the potential for personal growth, and they are fundamentally different from animals Human behavior can't be fully understood without examining how people acquire, store and process information An organisms functioning can be explained in terms of bodily structures and biochemical processes that underlie behavior Behavior patterns have evolved to solve adaptive problems; natural selection favors behavior that enhance reproductive success

Psychoanalytic (1900Present)

Humanistic(1950s-Present)

Unique aspects experience

of

human

Cognitive (1950s-Present)

Thoughts, Mental processes

Biological (1950s-Present)

James Olds Roger Sperry David Hubbel Torsten Wiesel David Buss Martin Daly Margo Wilson Leda Cosmides John Tobby

Physiological bases of behavior in humans and animals

Evolutionary (1980sPresent)

Evolutionary bases of behavior in humans and animals

Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Some Questions of Interest


What is cognitive psychology? How did psychology develop as a science? How did cognitive psychology develop from psychology? How have other disciplines contributed to the development of theory and research in cognitive psychology? What methods do cognitive psychologists use to study how people think?

Cognitive Psychology Is
The study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think about information.
Memory Problem Solving Decision Making

Attention

Reasoning

Perception

Language

Philosophical Antecedents
Rationalist
Acquire knowledge through thinking and logical analysis Plato (428-348 B.C.), Ren Descartes (15961650)

Empiricist
Acquire knowledge via empirical evidence Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), John Locke (1632-1704)

Rationalism (Descartes)

Empiricism (Locke)

Synthesis: Both have a role (Kant)

Psychological Antecedents: The Two Fathers of Psychology?

Structuralism
What are the elementary contents (structures) of the human mind? Introspection

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)

Functionalism
How and why does the mind work?
William James(18421910)

Structuralism (Wundt)

Functionalism (James)

Synthesis: Associationism (Ebbinghaus & Thorndike)

Psychological Antecedents Associationism


How can events or ideas become associated in the mind? (Ebbinghaus & Thorndike)

Behaviorism
What is the relation between behavior and environment?(Pavlov)

Edward Lee Thorndike (18741949)

Associationism (Thorndike)

Behaviorism (Pavlov)

Synthesis:

Radical behaviorism (Watson & Skinner)

Behaviorism dominated until.

Less radical behaviorist cognitive map a thought! (Tolman)

Synthesis:
Cognitions should play an active role in psychology (Gestalt, Bandura)

Emergence of Cognitive Psychology


Early Role of Psychobiology

Lashley emphasized that the brain actively processes information Hebb targeted cells as center of learning Chomskys review of Skinners verbal behavior: reductio ad absurdum

Emergence of Cognitive Psychology


Add a Dash of Technology

End of 1950s: development of computers Turing test and artificial intelligence A cognitive revolution occurred and increased interest in the study of mental processes (cognitions)

Goals of Research
Data gathering Data analysis Theory development Hypothesis formation Hypothesis testing Application to real world

Research Methods
Controlled experiments Psychobiological research Self reports Case studies Naturalistic observation Computer simulations and artificial intelligence

In an Experiment
Manipulate the independent variable
Create experimental group Create control group Randomly assign participants

Measure the dependent variable


Same for all groups

Control all other variables

Typical Independent Variables


Characteristics of the situation Presence vs. absence of a stimulus Characteristics of the task Reading vs. listening to words for comprehension Characteristics of participants Age differences

Typical Dependent Variables


Percent correct/error rate Accuracy of mental processing Reaction time (milliseconds) Speed of mental processing

Correlational Studies
Cannot infer causation Nature of relationship
Positive correlation Negative correlation

Strength of relationship
Determined by size of r

Psychobiological Studies
Postmortem studies
Examine cortex of dyslexics after death

Brain-damaged individuals and their deficits


Study amnesiacs with hippocampus damage

Monitor a participant doing a cognitive task


Measure brain activity while a participant is reciting a poem

Other Methods
Self-reports An individuals own account of cognitive processes Verbal protocol, diary study Case studies In-depth studies of individuals Genie, Phineas Gage Naturalistic observation
Studies of cognitive performance in everyday situations outside of the lab Monitor decision-making of pilots during flights

Computers in Research
Computer simulations of artificial intelligence
Recreate human processes using computers

Fundamental Ideas
Data can only be fully explained with theories, and theories are insufficient without data thus creating the cycle of science Theory

Data

Fundamental Ideas
Cognition is typically adaptive, but errors made can be informative Example: Spoonerisms A lack of pies (A pack of lies) Its roaring with pain (Its pouring with rain) Errors can be used to infer how speech production occurs

Fundamental Ideas
Cognitive processes interact with each other and with noncognitive processes Emotions may affect decisions Memory depend on perceptual processes Learning better when motivated to learn

Fundamental Ideas
Many different scientific methods are used to study cognition Basic research often leads to important applications, and applied research often contributes to a more basic understanding of cognition

Key Issues and Fields within Cognitive Psychology


Nature Vs. Nurture Rationalism Vs. Empiricism Structures Vs. Processes Validity of causal inferences Vs. Ecological validity Applied Vs. Basic research Biological Vs. Behavioral methods

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