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PSY270 > Intro, Themes, And Methods > Flashcards

Intro, Themes, And Methods Flashcards

1
Q

What was Wilhem Wundt’s approach to psychology?

A

Structuralism

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2
Q

Who is Wilhelm Wundt?

A
  • “first” psychologist
  • investigated the elements of immediate experience via analytic introspection
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3
Q

What is structuralism?

A

an approach in psychology that seeks to understand the structure of the mind by analyzing conscious experience and breaking it down into its basic elements through introspection.

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4
Q

What is introspection?

A

A technique employed by the structuralists to study the mind by training people to examine their own conscious experiences.

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5
Q

What are some of the first ideas developed by Wilhelm Wundt?

A
  • experimentation
  • attention
  • memory
  • language
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6
Q

Who was Titchener?

A

Wilhelm Wundt’s student who translated Wundt’s ideas incorrectly

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7
Q

Who was William James?

A
  • father of American psychology
  • concerned with prediction and control through direct observation
  • Wrote “the principles of psychology”
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8
Q

What was William James’ approach to psychology?

A

functionalism

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9
Q

What is functionalism?

A

the study of the purpose of thought rather than it’s elements

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10
Q

What are the key principles of the scientific method?

A
  • empiricism (observe the thing we’re studying)
  • determinism (assumption that everything has a cause)
  • testability (able to design and test theory)
  • parsimony (assume the simplest explanation)
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11
Q

What is behaviorism?

A

study publicly observable functions of the mind

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12
Q

Who is Ivan Pavlov?

A

physiologist best known for his research on classical conditioning

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13
Q

What is classical conditioning?

A

a learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus, leading to a conditioned response

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14
Q

Who was John Watson?

A
  • thought behavior can be learned rather than being born with it
  • concerned with behavior as a series of stimuli and responses
  • thought brain processes were unimportant (mystery box)
  • animals can be a good substitute for studying human behaviour
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15
Q

Who was B.F. Skinner?

A
  • developed operant conditioning
  • conditioned rats to engage in behaviors based on reinforcement or punishment
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16
Q

Who is E.C. Tolman?

A
  • believed behaviour is not just the result of cause and effect
  • learning can be latent (no reward or punishment)
  • rats created a mental map, when being able to explore the maze before
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17
Q

Who is Noam Chomsky?

A
  • Criticized behaviorism’s inability to explain language acquisition
  • Argued for the existence of innate structures in the brain that facilitate language learning, challenging the behaviorist view that language is learned solely through conditioning
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18
Q

What was Noam Chomsky’s approach to psychology?

A

Cognitive Revolution

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19
Q

What is cognitive revolution?

A

the mind could be understood as a computational system

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20
Q

Who is Alan Turing?

A

Proposed the concept of the Turing Machine, influencing cognitive psychology
- Suggested that the mind functions similarly to a computer, processing information through algorithms

21
Q

What is a computer?

A

a machine that uses a function to produce an output based on an input

22
Q

What is an algorithm?

A

set of operations that produced the input/output mapping function

23
Q

What is a transistor?

A

control whether or not a current flows through parts of the system (similar to our neurons)

24
Q

Who is Newell and Simon?

A
  • first to design a “non-war” computer program
  • logic theorist was the first “thinking machine” (out preformed humans)
25
Q

Who was Neisser?

A
  • coined the term Cognitive Psychology (also name of his book) - heavily relied on ideas from computer science
  • Psychologists could propose models to explain unobservable mental functions, make predictions, and test them using computers
26
Q

What historical shift did the rise of computers in the 1950s signify in psychology?

A

The rise of computers marked a shift away from behaviorism, which focused solely on observable behaviors. Cognitive psychology began to explore internal mental processes, which computers helped to conceptualize and model.

27
Q

How did computers influence the understanding of cognition?

A

Computers provided a framework to understand cognition as a form of computation, where sensory input is processed to produce behavioral output. This perspective allowed researchers to conceptualize mental processes in terms of algorithms and functions.

28
Q

What is representationalism in cognitive psychology?

A

refers to the idea that the mind creates mental representations of the external world, allowing individuals to think about, manipulate, and respond to their environment without direct interaction, similar to how computers operate.

29
Q

What are the themes in cognitive psychology?

A
  • representationalism
  • computation
  • the biological perspective
  • embodied cognition
30
Q

How do algorithms relate to cognitive psychology?

A

Just as computers use algorithms to process data, cognitive psychologists explore the algorithms that the brain might use to process information, transforming sensory inputs into behavioral outputs.

31
Q

How has artificial intelligence contributed to cognitive psychology?

A

The development of AI has enabled researchers to simulate cognitive processes, providing insights into how the brain functions and learns, paralleling human cognitive abilities.

32
Q

What future directions are anticipated in cognitive psychology due to advances in machine learning?

A

Advances in machine learning, where computers learn from data rather than being explicitly programmed, hold promise for further understanding human cognition and developing more sophisticated cognitive models.

33
Q

What is computation?

A
  • The mind is viewed as an information processor, akin to a computer.
  • Cognitive processes can be understood in terms of input, storage, manipulation, and output of information.
34
Q

What is the biological perspective?

A
  • Emphasizes the connection between cognitive processes and biological functions of the brain.
  • Information is represented as patterns of neural activity, similar to how computers process information.
35
Q

What is embodied cognition?

A
  • Suggests that cognition is deeply rooted in the interactions between the body and the environment.
  • Proposes that our physical experiences and sensory perceptions influence our mental processes.
36
Q

What is meant by the term aboutness?

A

idea that thoughts, perceptions, and mental images are not just random occurrences in the mind; rather, they have a specific referent or meaning that corresponds to objects, events, or concepts in the external environment.

37
Q

What is a symbol system in the context of cognitive psychology?

A

A symbol system is a representational and computational framework where symbols are manipulated according to rules. It is used to represent thoughts and cognitive processes.

38
Q

Who were the first theorists to suggest that the mind operates as a symbol system?

A

Newell and Simon

39
Q

What are some examples of how symbol systems are applied in cognitive psychology?

A

Symbol systems are applied in various models that explain how the mind receives input, represents and manipulates it, and produces observable outputs, such as in attention models and memory processes.

40
Q

What are the most common types of research methods?

A
  • case studies
  • correlational studies
  • experiments
  • computer simulations
41
Q

What is an independent variable?

A

variable that is manipulated by the experimenter to observe its effect on the dependent variable

42
Q

What is the dependent variable?

A

The outcome variable that is measured in an experiment

43
Q

What are the most frequently used response measures in cognitive psychology?

A

accuracy and reaction time

44
Q

What does accuracy measure?

A

-assesses whether a participant’s response is accurate

45
Q

What does reaction time measure?

A

measures the duration it takes for a participant to respond to a stimulus

46
Q

What are confounding variables?

A

Variables that are not controlled for in an experiment, which can affect the dependent variable and lead to erroneous conclusions about the relationship between the IV and DV.

47
Q

What is a quasi-experiment?

A

A type of experimental design where random assignment to conditions is not possible. This may occur in natural settings or when ethical considerations prevent manipulation.

48
Q
A

PSY270 (9 decks)

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