1: Historical Context Flashcards
Who was Plato and what was his theory?
ancient Greek philosopher & student of Socrates
- theory of “forms”
- > we do not perceive the real world, but only an image of the real world
- > knowledge structures exist in the mind
- > these structures reflect specific representations from the physical world
- coding and process not considered
Who was Aristotle and what was his theory?
more active (process) view of mind
- > mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa)
- > experience is important (not innate) -through learning
- > knowledge is based on associations of sensations, images, & ideas
- > knowledge can transform / influence perceptions and learning
What is empiricism?
philosophical position that observation-derived data is the basis for all science
What is structuralism?
Study of the structure of consciousness
Who was Wundt?
- structuralism
- psychology as the study of “conscious process and immediate experience”
- “sensation, perception, attention”
- established “cognitive psychology” as its own science
- empirical approach
- Introspection technique (report immediate conscious experiences)
Who was Titchner?
- one of the 1’st North American labs
- followed Wundt’s empirical approach
- “structuralism”: introspect on elements of mind’s structure
- tried to avoid “stimulus error” (must describe mental experience not the physical stimulus)
What are the problems with introspection?
– the “boss” validated the results
» Wundt & Titchener decided which observations were correct
– cannot introspect on many mental processes & structures
What is functionalism?
Study the functions of consciousness, not its structure
Who was James?
– functionalism
– early “experimental” lab in N.A. (Harvard)
– engaged more in philosophy (thought) than experimentation
– how does mind function & adapt
– memory: structure/process
» immediate (active) memory (STM: aware)
» hidden (passive) memory (LTM)
– attentional limits
What is associationism?
Study of knowledge as learned associations
Who was Ebbinghaus?
– learn through association (like Aristotle)
– nonsense syllables (CVC -consonant vowel consonant)
» no meanings, therefore, reduce extraneous confounds (instead of memorizing lists of words which have meaning and can affect learning and memory)
– isolated factors affecting learning & memory
» learning rates / curves
» factors that impact forgetting
What is verbal learning?
– Study of learning of verbal material
– beyond CVCs
– meanings and associations among stimuli are important
• existing memory associations can affect learning (dog-cat, desk-chair)
What is behaviourism?
– Study of observable quantifiable behaviour
– the dominant movement in North America from 1910 to 1960
– experience viewed as the primary factor in learning, knowledge, behaviour
– no interest in “hidden” internal mental processes or structures
– S-R approach
» observable stimuli & responses
» mental concepts not observable, therefore not to be studied
– John Watson, B.F. Skinner
What is the Gestalt approach?
– Wertheimer, Kohler
– laws of perceptual organization
» top-down influences on perception
» whole is greater than sum of the parts (when we perceive things, we don’t look at every single detail but we still know the whole picture)
Who was Donald Hebb?
– Hebb linked perception (Gestalt), learning (Behaviourism) and physiology into a single conceptual framework
– focus on internal mental processes & thought
» attention, imagery, conceptual
– neuropsychological theory
» assemblies of neurons formed through associations
» assembles represent perception, actions, thoughts
