Introduction to cognitive psychology Flashcards
Cognition
The ability to perceive and react, process and understand, store and retrieve information.
All aspects of knowing
Cognitive psychology
Study of the mind (which is not directly observable)
How does behaviourism differ from cognitive psychology?
Behaviourism focuses on empiricism (all behaviour is learned from the environment)
Behaviourism - at birth mind is ‘tabula rasa’ (blank slate)
Behaviourism - utilises associationism
Behaviourism - only measure what could be observed (behaviour)
Cognitive - Investigates abstract concepts like the mind
Laws of association
Laws to explain association to then allow us to predict and control behaviour
Learning on the basis of contiguity
Learning on the basis of frequency
Learning on the basis of contiguity
The co-occurrence of things in space and time
Stimulus and response occur in same place and time
Learning on the basis of frequency
Things (associations) often occur together
Both the stimulus and the response have to be repeated.
Law of effect
Reinforcement - Animals learn responses to things that are rewarded. Animals drop responses to things which are punished.
Used in classical (Pavlov) and operant (Skinner) conditioning
Mechanical explanation for adaptibility of behaviour (Thorndike)
The laws of learning
Law of effect - reinforcement
Law of exercise - repetition
Law of exercise
To strengthen an associative bond, you need to repeat a given situation being followed by a particular response.
Repetition (Rote learning)
Schedules of reinforcement
What responses have been rewarded and how often
different schedules have different effects (stronger/weaker associations)
Arguments against behaviourism
Denial of free will
Takes away an aspect of what it means to be human (we are nothing more then a deterministic system)
Constructivism
Opposition to behaviourism
Humans construct their own understanding of the world around them through a mixture of their experiences and how they reflect on those experiences
Animal cognition and Tolman’s theory
Tolman believed behaviour is ‘goal oriented’
Placed an emphasis on molar achievements (the goal) rather then molecular movements (S-R links)
Latent learning
Learning through exposure with no rewards or punishments
Tolman’s maze studies
Rats left to wander around maze with no reward, after few days a reward was introduced, rats who wandered for longer were faster to find correct path to food.
Supports latent learning
Rats drew an inference on cognitive maps they had made of the spatial lay out of the maze.
Cognitive maps
cognitive constructs to help code, store, and use spatial information.
Abstract entities that cannot be directly observed but can be used to make testable predictions.
Focus of Behaviourism
The effects of causes on outcomes
Does not concern with intervening variables
Focus of cognitive
Heavier focus on intervening variables like psychological states and traits and their impact on behaviour manifestations
Cognitive view of language
Chomsky, ability to learn natural languages is cognitive rather then behaviourist (as suggested by Skinner)
Predisposed to learn languages
Poverty of stimulus argument
Mixture of performance (sound) and competence (acquiring language rules)
Poverty of stimulus argument
Children are not exposed to enough perfect language for stimulus - response links to occur. Only exposed to finite amount in a ‘noisy’ environment.
Grammar explained through cognitive lens
system of rules for producing sentences
We have a language acquisition device
Predisposed to acquire (not learn) ANY language
Generative grammar
Generative grammar
Using rules to generate new sentences
a way of decomposing language to form rules
Key events (examples) in cognitive psychology
Newell and Simon - General Problem Solver (GPS)
Neisser - First textbook of cognitive psychology
Independent modules (modular theory)
Processes are split up and filtered through specific areas/sections known as modules
Useful for coming up with theories and making predictions
Can try and pinpoint ‘errors’
