Chapter 1: The Science of the Mind Flashcards
What is cognition?
Describes how we acquire, store, transform, and use our knowledge
What is cognitive psychology?
Can refer to cognition
Can refer to cognitive approach
Emphasizes mental processes and knowledge
Why is it important to study cognitive psych
What we know, think, and remember deal with cognition
Influences other areas of psychology
Influences interdisciplinary areas
Who is patient H.M.?
Patient who had epilepsy underwent surgery. His hippocampus and amygdala were removed. Epilepsy was controlled however he couldn’t form new memories.
Who are Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener?
Wundt developed the first laboratory and Titchener was his student. They developed the concept introspection
What is introspection?
The process of which one looks within itself and records the contents of one’s own mental life
What were the problems with introspection
Thoughts are not directly observable
Impossible to test objectively
Emergence of Behaviorism
Focused on observable behaviors
Uncovered principles of how behavior changes in response to stimuli like rewards and punishments
What were the problems with behaviorism?
Stimulus-response accounts are not enough
Behavior has a “mental” cause
What is the Cognitive Revolution?
States that the science of psychology should be studied in order to understand behavior (1950’s-1960’s)
What is the transcendental method and who invented it?
The transcendental method is when an investigator observes the consequences of a process and tries to figure out the actual process.
Who is Ulric Neisser?
Known as the “father of cognitive psychology” and had an influence on the cognitive revolution
Edward Tolman and his contributions
He argued that learning also involved the acquisition of new knowledge
Demonstrated that learning could occur without changes in behavior using rats in a maze
Noam Chomsky and his contributions
He argued that language is creativity and not understood by behavior and rewards
What is Gestalt psychology?
A European concept where mental processes and behaviors can’t be understood without considering the “whole”
