18 Flashcards
What does cognitive psychology explore?
How people in their relationships with the world like to be active, explore, manipulate, control, create and accomplish things
What does cognition mean?
Process of knowing
Mental functions
In cognition, 2 categories of representation can be identified. Name them.
1) EPISODIC 📺 memory (visual & auditory images)
2) SEMANTIC 🗣 memory (abstract reps the meaning of things eg. Language comprehention)
Alzheimers has been known to impact which memory?
Semantic
By impairing ability to name objects + pictures
What are “personal constructs”?
People’s criteria, hypothesis or “filters”
Is cognition or “the process of knowing” an element of personality?
No, cognitive theorists believe it IS THE ENTIRE personality.
All cognitive theorists subscribe to 5 main assumptions. Name them.
1) understand HOW INFO is processed
2) continuous PROCESS OF DECISION MAKING
3) people are ACTIVE GATHERERS OF INFO
4) human behaviour is INTRINSICALLY GOAL DIRECTED
5) cognitive SCHEMAS used to make sense
Which view from classical behaviourists do the cognitive movement reject?
That people react passively
What is the Freudian meaning of “transference”?
How people transfer their mental representations or other social constructs from memory of significant others to define themselves and their relationship with new people
Under self-construct in cognitive perspectives, what is meant with “core roles”?
When the “self”
is subordinate to constructs
that concern essential interactions
with other people
The roles people assume on the basis of how they think others perceive their core constructs
What are “core constructs”?
Those constructs
that are so basic to a person’s functioning that they can only be changed
with serious consequences for the rest of the construct system
What are “peripheral constructs”?
They are opposed to core constructs
Have less relevance to a person’s sense of self
What is cognitive dissonance?
Occurs when 1 cognitive element implies the opposite of another cognitive element
Explain “Equity Theory”.
Individuals compares
their perceived input to output ratio with that of others.
This perception of equity
impacts on motivation + employee behaviour.
Different cultures have different views in equity
Kelly identified 3 constructs that are not readily available to awareness. Name them.
1) PREVERBAL constructs
(Diff to identify - formed before person
acquires language)
2) SUBMERGED constructs
(Personal construct less available to awareness
due to intolerable implications to individual)
3) SUSPENDED constructs
(Similar to repression but remembers what is structured and forgets what is unstructured - rather than remembering what is pleasant and forgetting what is unpleasant)
Name 2 defence mechanisms Prescott Lecky defined.
IDENTIFICATION
the attempt to unify the self-concept
with the views of others
by assimilating + imitating the opinion of others
RESISTANCE
the response to counter reorganisation of constructs.
Kelly’s theory of the structure of personality is based on ….
The assumption of
constructive alternativism
Mischel, a cognitive theorist described the person in 5 person variables. Name them.
1) Construction Competencies
What does a person know / skills
2) Encoding Strategies
Eg. Maths class boring to one but scary to another
3) Expectancies
What will happen in given situation
4) Goals and Subjective values
Influence thereof on outcome
5) Self-control Systems + Plans
Own Standards to regulate own behaviour
What are “meaning structures” in cognition?
Explains why people perceive the same situation differently
McReynolds called basic concept units ….. and not constructs.
Percepts
Human personality consists of 2 processes. What are they?
1) OBTAINING + RECEIVING percepts
2) ASSIMILATING + INTEGRATING them
What is perceptualisation?
The combined process of
obtaining and receiving percepts
+
assimilating and intergrating them
What is an inconsistency within construct systems known as?
Cognitive dissonance
Miller formulated a theory of cognition based on 2 major concepts. Name them.
IMAGES - all organised knowledge about yourself + your world
PLAN - hierarchy process that controls order of operations
Plans are normally tested against an ……
Image and executed
Piaget named the basic structures of the mind ……
Schemata (schemas)
Form a framework into which incoming info fit
Who was the first theorists, born in SA to recognise the importance of interpersonal relationships in maintaining maladaptive behaviour?
Lazarus
Lazarus developed a set of clinical strategies called ….
Multimodal Behaviour Therapy
also
BASIC-ID
B - behaviour A - affect S - sensation I - imagery (eg. memory) C - cognition I - interpersonal relationships D - drugs (neurological+biochemical factors)
Kelly’s personal constructs is also known as ….
Templates of reality
Kelly proposed 3 constructs as part of Personal-Construct theory. Name them.
1) PRE-EMPTIVE : rigid / fundamental beliefs
2) CONSTELLATORY : more flexible thinking
3) PROPOSITIONAL : allowing to change opinion
What 2 characteristics did Kelly identify in terms of constructs?
Tight or loose
Tight - clear + unambiguous predictions
Loose - varying predictions
What is the “fundamental postulate” about?
People’s need to anticipate events
Predictions are made by forming personal constructs.
What are “corollaries”?
The process by which
personal constructs are formed.
Explain the CONSTRUCTION corollary.
Points to similarities in repeated events
Explain the INDIVIDUALITY corollary.
Points to individual differences in interpreting events.
Eg. Friendly by 1 person may be seen as minipulative by another
Explain the ORGANISATION corollary.
points to the
relationship amongst constructs.
Important constructs are known as “superordinate”
Less important constructs are known as “subordinate”
Eg. Stereotyping (WE are good, intelligent THEY are bad, dumb)
Explain the DICHOTOMY corollary.
Bipolar / dichotomous
Opposite poles
Eg. Short and tall
Emergent / similarity poles
Implicit / contrast poles
Explain the CHOICE corollary.
Freedom of choice
Great possibility for extension and elaboration
Explain the RANGE corollary.
A construct is convenient for the anticipation of a finite range of events only.
Also no construct can be useful for everything
Explain the EXPERIENCE corollary.
Exposure to new experiences
Explain the MODULATION corollary.
Points to the adaptation to new experiences.
A permeable construct is open to an increased range eg. changing view on smoking.
Explain the FRAGMENTATION corollary.
Competition amongst constructs.
We can be inconsistent in our ways of thinking and doing.
Explain the COMMONALITY corollary.
Points out the similarities amongst people in interpreting events
Explain the SOCIALITY corollary.
It explains interpersonal relationships
The way we relate to other people or understand where they are coming from.
What does the “optimal relationship” involve?
A mutual understanding of another’s views of life
According to Kelly, how are constructs formed?
Through people’s
personal history or life experiences
To understand how people interprets the world Kelly developed the Rep test. What does it stand for and how does it work?
Rep test - Role Construct Repertory
A person reveal constructs by comparing and contrasting 3 significant people in their life.
Which method is used the obtain change in an organisation eg. job analysis, selection and placement?
Repertory Grid Methods
Eg. shadowmatch
What do Cognitive Complexity refer to?
Ability to
perceive differences
between oneself and others
Why is “cognitive complexity” the more desirable cognitive style?
It enables a person to predict a greater variety of situations.
In cognitive theories, what is seen to be the “engine of performance” ?
Knowledge
In cognitive theories, what is seen to be the “energy of performance”?
Motivation
All motivation derives from ….
a drive to increase personal self-efficacy
According to Kelly, what is creativity?
The ability to think loosely
and then tighten the constructs
The level of routine or repetitiveness of work affect their ….
Cognitive flexibility
Through which theory did Fiedler and Garcia prove that competent managers formulated more effective strategies and communicated them better than those who were less competent.
Cognitive Resource Theory
Which assessment method has been found to be a better predictor of the success of black, disadvantaged students?
Cognitive Modifiability
What should employers do to address the inequilities of SA’s past?
There should be more emphisis on potential rather than skills.
Well adjusted individuals test their personal constructs against reality in logic ways, confirm or discount the predictive accuracy. What is this process known as!
The C-P-C cycle.
C - circimspection
P - pre-emption
C - control / choice
A well-functioning individual is defined by 4 characteristics. Name them.
1) willing to EVALUATE
2) able to DISCARD their constructs
3) desire to EXTENT construct systems
4) have a number of ROLES and able to perform well in all
What is provoked by psychological maladjustment and the inability to predict future events.
Anxiety
Which corollary might explain why people might persist with bad behaviour?
The choice corollary.
When unable to predict the outcome the “safer” more “familliar” route might be chosen because that outcome is better predicted.
……. is the result of 2 incompatible plan, neither of which can be abandoned?
Anxiety
When does Guilt occur?
When one departs from one’s sense of identity
In emotions, what is a Threat?
Occurs by apparent widespread changes in core constructs.
Can also be seen as causing an identity crisis
What has recent research found in terms of the 2way relationship between anxiety and cognitive processes?
Anxiety influence
thinking + the interpretative process
But
cognition can also moderate anxiety
In emotions, explain hostility.
The attempt to hold on to invalid constructs in the face of contradiction or invalidating evidence.
With which emotion do Festinger resemble with cognitive dissonance?
Hostility
Explain aggession as an emotion.
It is deliberate placement of oneself in situations that calls for decisions.
Lecky later extended Kelly’s list of emotions by adding Love and Pleasure. Explain.
Love - feelings towatds someone who strongly supports one’s idea of self.
Pleasure - found when new experience is mastered
Define “catastrophising”.
The error of
overstating consequences
or
defining an anticipated event as catastrophic.
In terms of cognitive biases and emotional regulation, what has been identified as one of the core features in depression?
Sustained Negative Effect
Bias and deficits in cognition
affect the ability to regulate
emotions and moods
Ellis developed a theory of RET. what is it about?
RET - rational emotive therapy
It states that emotions and cognitions are intricately interrelated.
His ABC theory underlies the RET
A - activation event (see spider)
B - belief system (all spiders are dangerous)
C - consequence (anxiety attack)
Consideer Ellis’ ABC theory. How is most major theories of personality relevant in this?
Most major theories concentrate either on the A (activation) or C (consequence) but rarely the B (belief system)
What strong evidence did Mathews and MacLeod found in connection with depression and memory?
Sufferers tend to recall negative memories more often than positive memories.
Automatic negative interpretation of events and ambiguous stimuli has also been proven
