Lecture 1 Flashcards
cognition is
Studying the act of thinking (the mind) and how it affects our behaviors
the birth of cognition psychology was when
1950/60s
Thinking about thinking goes back to where
Ancient Greece
Thinking about thinking goes back to Ancient Greece ¤ They studied what
how human personality and characteristics
were linked to mental processes
who are the Main players in the philosophy
Plato and Aristotle
who was Plato (428 BCE)
First early philosopher to consider the human
mind
What did plato think?
We use logic to understand the world ¤ The world is a ‘reflection of our reality’
what was the school of thought plato identified with
Rationalism
what is Rationalism
Knowledge comes from observation but is also a priori
¤ There is an innate nature of our minds
who came up with the term ‘psyche’
we have this thing that lets us think
what did Aristotle (384 BCE) do
Combined philosophical and scientific approaches to thinking
what was aristotle’s school of thought
Empiricism
what is Empiricism
All knowledge comes from experience and observation
according to empiricism/aristotle, the basis of thought is what
The basis of thought is forming associations based on observations
ALL knowledge comes from experience
Key debates between these philosophers are what
¤Rationalism vs. empiricism
¤ Innate vs. acquired abilities
¤ Nature versus nurture
what are the two main theories of psychology in the past
rationalism and empiricism
what was rationalism’s inflect in cognitive psychology
Influence on theory development
what was empiricism’s inflect in cognitive psychology
Influence on the experimental method
what does Indian Buddhism say about cognition
rejects the notion of a permanent self and suggests to study cognitive events that lead to experience
when did structuralism start
started in late 1800
who is associated with structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt & Edward Titchener
what is structuralism
Focused on identifying the basic building blocks of the conscious
experience with analytic/experimental introspection
Emphasized systematic, controlled observation for understanding
the structure of the mind
who is Wilhelm Wundt
Founded the first formal laboratory for psychological research in 1879
what was Wilhelm Wundt’s goal
To identify the simplest essential units of mind/consciousness, like the periodic table for chemistry
what was a main question Wilhelm Wundt asked
Asked WHAT is the mind made of using introspection
what is Introspection
experimental or structured self-observation
Look carefully inward to report sensations and
experiences
what is Introspection based on
Based on the idea that we have an active mind that we can pay attention to
who was a big fan of Wundt
Edward Titchener
what did Edward Titchener translate
Translated Wilhelm Wundt’s Physiological Psychology from
German into English
who Established experimental study of psychology in the States
Edward Titchener
what method did Edward Titchener do
Used Wundt’s method of introspection but was more strict with this method
what was Edward Titchener interested in
Only interested in what ‘is’:
¤ The immediate mental experience and not the
purpose of it
what did Edward Titchener conclude
All things (sensations, memories) can be broken down into elements ¤ Emphasized associations and how mental elements combined to form complex thoughts
what are the main points of Structuralism
¤ Systematic, controlled observation
¤ Focused on understanding the structure of the mind, and higher cognitive
processes.
what is a criticism of structuralism
¤ A criticism was that the experimental methods used to study the structure of the mind were too subjective (not asking the right questions)
when did Functionalism happen
late 1800
what was the focus of Functionalism
focused on WHY the mind works
what are the main points of functionalism
Functionalism focused on WHY the mind works
¤ Not interested in breaking down mental states to basic elements
¤ Mental states, including consciousness, are developed based on the way the mind works and how these functions are adaptive
who is associated with functionalism
William James
how was William James pragmatic
¤ Opposed searching for mental elements
¤ Took a practical approach to studying cognition (why do we have these processes)
what did James believe
¤ Consciousness is personal and cannot be broken down into parts
¤ Consciousness is constantly changing. We never have the exact same idea twice
¤ One needs to take an eclectic methodological approach to study the usefulness of knowledge
¤ Promoted experimentation
what is The contribution of functionalism to Cognitive Psychology
An emphasis on the functions, applications and experimentations
what is the problem with functionalism
Some thought that the true goal of psychology should focus on human behavior … what we can see
what is behaviourism
Shifted from a focus on the mind to behavior
¤ Control is with the outside environment
¤ We should only focus on what is observable ¤ Did not consider intervening mental processes
(cognition/unseen mental processes don’t matter, just look at behaviour)
what kind of research did behaviourism do
Shifted from human to animal research to be more rigorous
¤ Since the interest is only in overt behavior, this is fine!
who is associated with behaviourism
Skinner and John Watson
explain Skinner and operant conditioning
¤ Behavior is contingent on a schedule of rewards and punishments (reinforcements) ¤ One alters behavior through reinforcement
¤ Operant conditioning experiments show that we ‘operate’ according to such a reinforcement schedule
(we change out behaviour based on the situation/reinforcement but we do not notice it)
what is the contribution of behaviourism to psychology
The contribution to cognitive psychology: An emphasis on rigorous experimentation
what are the Problems with behaviorism
¤ Failed to account for many aspects of complex human behavior
¤ Assumed that learning was the same for all individuals (relatively the same across species)
what are the Limitations of behaviorism
does not explain language learning
¤ Behaviorism view: Language is learned through operant conditioning
¤ We learn to say what we are rewarded for
¤ Problem! Operant conditioning can’t explain how children use language and
create new phrases
¤ Children will pluralize objects by adding an ‘s’ even if they have never seen/hear the word (mices)
¤ We need to refer to mental processes to explain this behavior!
who is Ulric Neisser and why is he important
¤ Revolutionized how we study the mind
¤ The birth of Cognitive Psychology
¤ Internal mental processes matter AND can be studied and measured
¤ We can use our minds to study the mind
how is the cognitive revolution different from behaviourism
¤ Accepted that there are internal mental states Unlike behaviorism
did The cognitive revolution use scientific method
¤ Accepted a strong scientific method of inquiry to study these states ¤ Thanks to behaviorism!
¤ Also borrowed from other fields
what are the reasons that cognitive psychology came to be
¤ Other reasons the ‘revolution’ occurred
¤ There was a rise of technology
¤ The birth of computer science
¤ Helped form the analogy between human mind and computer
¤ Supported the view of the mind as a processor of information
what is the Main aim of the cognitive revolution
¤ Understanding cognition involves breaking ‘thinking’ down into abstract information processing steps
¤ Like a computer is a set of programs ¤ Like a cake recipe is a set of steps
¤ With this view, the goal of the cognitive revolution is to understand the mental processes happening at each stage of thought
what are the main schools of thought for psychology (cognitive)
structuralism, functionalism, behaviourism, cognition
