Introduction

Question 1

Plato

Answer 1

Rationalism: knowledge is obtained via thinking and logical analysis

Question 2

Aristotle

Answer 2

Empiricism: knowledge is acquired through experience and observation

Question 3

Descartes

Answer 3

• Rationalist
• “I think therefore l am”
• Cartesian dualism: the mind and body are distinct entities that interact in humans

Question 4

John Locke

Answer 4

• empiricist
• believed everyone was a “blank slate” at birth; we know nothing and acquire knowledge through empirical observation

Question 5

Kant

Answer 5

• synthesized the views of Descartes and Locke
• believed that both empiricism and rationalism contributed to understanding

Question 6

Structuralism

Answer 6

• analyze conscious processes (complex thoughts) into their basic elements
• analyze how these elements are connected (laws of connection)

Question 7

Wilhelm Wundt (structuralist)

Answer 7

• introspection: analyzing one’s own conscious experience into sensations, images, and affections
• cons: introspection failed (low reliability and validity)

Question 8

Functionalism

Answer 8

• determine the adaptive significance of thought processes
• how and why the mind works
• study relationships between stimuli and responses

Question 9

Associationism

Answer 9

• goal is to determine how events / ideas become associated (contiguity, frequency, similarity, contrast)
• understand how association produces learning

Question 10

Donders

Answer 10

• Task A (simple RT): detecting a stimulus and making a single motor response
  (RTA = stimulus detection + motor response)
• task B (choice RT): detection and discrimination as well as a choice between two behavioral responses
  (RTB = stimulus detection + stimulus discrimination + response selection + motor response)
• task C (go/no-go RT): detect a stimulus and discriminate whether it is the correct stimulus to produce a response
  (RTC = stimulus defection + stimulus discrimination + motor response)

RT for stimulus discrimination + stimulus selection = RTB - RTA
RT for stimulus discrimination = RTC - RTA
RT for response selection = RTB - RTC

Question 11

Ebbinghaus

Answer 11

• Used 3-letter nonsense syllables to measure memory (removes familiarity effect)
• forgetting was rapid at first but became more gradual (retention curve; how much retained over time)
  Cons: it’s hard to remember nonsense

Question 12

Psychoanalysis

Answer 12

• Psychological understandings of psychopathologies
• apply psychotherapeutic treatment
• Sigmund Freud: focused on the unconscious (different levels of awareness) through introspection, dream analysis, hypnosis
  → cons: unscientific, unfalsifiable, not based on experimental evidence

Question 13

Behaviourism

Answer 13

• Describe and quantity observable behaviours; how they are learned tuna modified by the environment
• Watson: shifted study of mind to study of behaviour, saw the mind as a “black box” (unknown)
• Skinner: we are shaped by our environment, not by free will
  Cons: criticized for ignoring mental processes

Question 14

Gestalt approach

Answer 14

• Holistic approach that emphasized consciousness
• described how the whole is different than the sum of its parts
• Wertheimer: formed Gestalt psychology (form, configuration, how things come together)
  Cons: described but did not explain consciousness

Question 15

Theory

Answer 15

• set of related principles that simplify and organize some aspect of the world (helps to describe, explain, predict and control behaviour / mental processes)
• typically represented as verbal statements

Question 16

Model

Answer 16

• Representation of a specific phenomenon that predicts and simulates empirical data
• usually uses an analogy or metaphor for a psychological process
• often represented as a mathematics expression or computer program
• descriptive but may not be explanatory

Question 17

The scientific method

Answer 17

1. Make observations, describe phenomenon
2. Develop an explanation (theory or model)
3. Generate a hypothesis
4. Design research study
5. Collect relevant information
6. Analyze data and compare to hypothesis
7. Peer reviews and report findings

Question 18

Cognitive science

Answer 18

1. Computational theory (what is the system doing)
2. Representation and algorithm (how is the problem symbolized)
3. Hardware implementation (what physical components carry out these operations)

Cognitive psychology exclusively focuses on the second level (representation and algorithm)

Question 19

Artificial intelligence

Answer 19

• Computational programs can serve as potential theoretical models in cognitive psychology
• share common interests that may lead to greater reciprocal understanding
• integration of AI into everyday life (understand human-ai teaming)

Question 20

Cognitive processes are:

Answer 20

1. Interactive
2. Efficient and generally accurate
3. Better handles positive information
4. Are interelated
5. Rely on two-processes
6. Can be unconscious