Chapter 1: Introduction

Question 1

What are six concepts involved in cognition?

Answer 1

Perception
Attention
Memory
Problem solving
Reasoning
Decision making

Question 2

What is meant by “reverse engineering the mind?”

Answer 2

Starting from behaviour and making inferences about the workings of the mind.

Question 3

Why is introspection a flawed method of studying cognition?

Answer 3

Personal insight does not reveal all cognitive functions, therefore our insights into our own cognition may be limited

Question 4

What are five reasons why “common sense” is a poor method of studying cognition?

Answer 4

Inconsistent
Post-hoc
Small number of observations
Not predictive
Can be conflicting

Question 5

What does the scientific method seek to find?

Answer 5

Empirical answers, tangible data

Question 6

What are qualities of observations under the scientific method?

Answer 6

Systematic and repeatable

Question 7

What are the three main components of the scientific method?

Answer 7

Facts (data)
Theory
Hypotheses

Question 8

What is one problem that can arise when generating a hypothesis?

Answer 8

Confounding variables

Question 9

What are three problems that can arise when designing a study?

Answer 9

Not having a representative sample
Not enough participants
Bias

Question 10

What are three possible issues when completing analyses?

Answer 10

Type l and Type ll errors, false positives
P-hacking
HARKing

Question 11

What is p-hacking?

Answer 11

Running many statistical analyses and presenting only the ones that produce significant results

Question 12

What is HARKing?

Answer 12

Hypothesis after results are known

Question 13

What are four attributes of a good theory?

Answer 13

Predicts
Fits the data
Parsimonious (most simple)
No confounds

Question 14

Most direct way to test a hypothesis about a cause-effect relationship between variables

Answer 14

Experimental studies

Question 15

Why is ecological validity important to experimental studies?

Answer 15

Sometimes insights drawn from well-designed and well-conducted laboratory experiments still do not fit well with the real world

Question 16

Relationship between variables studied without controlling one or the other

Answer 16

Correlational studies

Question 17

What are the two major dependent variables for cognitive studies?

Answer 17

Speed of response (reaction time)
Accuracy

Question 18

Which psychologist believed mental responses cannot be measured directly but can be inferred from the participant’s behavior?

Answer 18

Donders (1868)

Question 19

Which psychologist was a key supporter of analytic introspection?

Answer 19

Wundt (1897)

Question 20

Which psychologist proposed behaviorism?

Answer 20

Watson

Question 21

What are the defining characteristics of the Watson’s behaviorism?

Answer 21

Eliminate the mind as a topic of study
Instead, study directly observable behaviour

Question 22

Which psychologist was interested in determining the relationship between stimuli and responding?

Answer 22

Skinner (1950s)

Question 23

Behavior is strengthened by positive or negative reinforcers

Answer 23

Operant conditioning

Question 24

Which psychologist argued that children learn language due to an inborn biological program?

Answer 24

Chomsky (1959)

Question 25

Which psychologist provided evidence for cognitive maps?

Answer 25

Tolman

Question 26

How did the cognitive revolution incorporate both Behaviourist and other psychological perspectives?

Answer 26

Measure observable behavior (legacy of Behaviourism) Consider what this behavior says about how the mind works (i.e., make careful inferences) Accept introspection under certain circumstances

Question 27

A way to study the mind created from insights associated with the digital computer

Answer 27

Information processing approach

Question 28

The branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of the mind.

Answer 28

Cognitive psychology

Question 29

What are two key examples of early experimental research on the mind?

Answer 29

Donders' (simple versus choice reaction time) and Ebbinghaus' (forgetting curve for nonsense syllables)

Question 30

Explain Donders' simple vs choice reaction time experiment.

Answer 30

1. Measured simple reaction time by recording how quickly participants could push a button when they saw a light go on 2. Measured choice reaction time by recording how quickly participants could push a button associated with the side (left or right) on which the light turned on

Question 31

Explain the steps in Donders' reaction time experiment.

Answer 31

Presenting the stimulus, mental response, behavioural response

Question 32

Explain Ebbinghaus' memory experiment.

Answer 32

Determined how long it took to a learn a list of nonsensical syllables, and then how long it took to relearn said list.

Question 33

What was Ebbinghaus' key finding with respect to the memory experiment?

Answer 33

The decrease in savings (remembering) with increasing delays indicates that forgetting occurs rapidly over the first two days but more slowly afterwards.

Question 34

The operation of the mind cannot be observed directly...

Answer 34

Its operation must be inferred from what we can measure.

Question 35

What was the dominant theoretical approach and method of Wundt's laboratory?

Answer 35

Structuralism, analytic introspection

Question 36

What did James use as the basis of his textbook Principles of Psychology?

Answer 36

Observations of his own mind

Question 37

What was behaviouralism's central tenet?

Answer 37

Psychology was properly studied by measuring observable behaviour, invisible mental processes were not valid topics

Question 38

What was Edward Tolman's contribution to behaviourism?

Answer 38

Studied cognitive processes (internal)

Question 39

Describe the 1950s cognitive revolution

Answer 39

Decline of behaviourism, reemergence of the study of the mind

Question 40

Which four events inspired the cognitive revolution?

Answer 40

1. Chomsky's critique of Skinner' book 2. Introduction of the digital computer 3. Cherry's attention experiments and Broadbent's introduction of attention flow diagrams 4. Interdisciplinary conferences at Dartmouth and MIT

Question 41

What were four major developments in the study of the mind past the 60s?

Answer 41

1. Development of more-sophisticated models 2. Research focusing on the physiological basis of cognition 3. Concerns with cognition in the real world 4. The role of knowledge in cognition