Cognitive Psychology Flashcards
Definition: Cognition
-Cognitive psychology studies how the brain learns
-Psychologists believe in and consider mental states, such as beliefs, motivations and desires
-Used to treat people with mental disorders or neurological disorders
Who and when, performed “The Bobo the Clown” Experiment?
In this classical experiment Bandura performed “The Bobo the Clown” experiment in the 1960’s
What was Bandura’s focus when doing this experiment?
His focus was to determine if human behaviour was learned through social imitation and copying rather than inherited through genetics
Imitation “is an advanced behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another’s behavior
Why did Bandura pick Bobo to do this experiement?
Bandura felt that children would copy an adult role model’s behavioiur
He wanted to show how using aggressive and non-aggressive actors, that children imitate and learn from the behaviour of a trusted adult
What is Cognitive Psychology?
Study of how the brain learns and processes information
People are what learners? Explain your answer.
People are active learners- always willing to seek/find information. They accept what they already know and continue to learn more to gain knowledge/achieve new insights
What were the 3 observations Bandura had from the first “test”?
- Children who initially saw the adult punching the doll, often copied the behaviour
- Boys were 3 times more likely to do copy the behaviour
- Boys showed the behaviour twice as often, if they observed a man do it compared to boys who observed a female actor. Girls were also more influenced by same-sex actors.
What happened when Bandura shared his idea for this experiements?
When Bandura shared his idea, many scholars discouraged him and said learning was always the outcome of both practical and traditional training
What were the things Bandura conclude?
- He concluded that children imitate others regardless of where they have see the behaviour
- Seeing others being rewarded does not necessarily motivate us to copy their behaviour
What did the last result show for the last “test”?
The last results showed that it did not make much of a difference to the children whether the aggressor was praised or not.
How do we learn? Social learning theory
- Learning through Observation: According to Social Learning Theory, people can learn by observing the behavior of others, without direct experience. For example, we learn how to act, think, or feel by watching others, such as parents, peers, or media figures.
- Influence of Reinforcement and Motivation: Behavior is more likely to be repeated if it is reinforced, either by rewards (positive reinforcement) or by avoiding negative outcomes (negative reinforcement)
