Psych Thought and Emotion Flashcards
Cognition
Internal mental activities that influence external behaviour ; eg. language, logical reasoning
Perception
Organisation and identification of sensory inputs
Information-Processing Model
A computer-like model of cognitive functioning; distinguishes between serial and parallel processing of info (serial: one at a time, parallel: processing multiple inputs at the same time)
Which part of the brain is important for information processing?
Cerebral cortex (which consists of 4 lobes); frontal controls motor and the other 3 lobes control sensory info
Frontal lobe
Motor control, decision making, long-term memory storage; contains Broca’s area (speed PRODUCTION); receives information from the other 3 lobes for further processing
Parietal lobe
Tactile information; also contains somatosensory cortex
Occipital lobe
Visual info
Temporal lobe
auditory and olfactory info; emotion, language, memory FORMATION; contain’s Wernicke’s area (speech COMPREHENSION)
Piaget: assimilation
The “results” of experimentation can be fitted by the child into preexisting “schemas” (mental representations of the world)
Piaget: accommodation
If new info does not fit into any previously held schemas, the child’s schemas are changed in response to the new info
Piaget’s Stage Theory of Cognitive Development (Name 4 Stages)
- Sensorimotor
- Preoperational
- Concrete Operational
- Formal Operational
Sensorimotor
Birth - 2 years
- able to separate oneself from objects
- object permanence
Preoperational
2 - 7 years
- egocentric world
- use language which they think very literally
Concrete Operational
7 - 11 years
- more logical in CONCRETE thinking
- INDUCTIVE reasoning (reason from specific situations to general concepts)
- conservation (skinny glass vs fatter glass)
Formal Operational
11 years +
- logical in ABSTRACT thinking
- DEDUCTIVE reasoning (reason from general concepts to specific situations)
- think theoretically and philosophically
- this stage is known as Kohlberg’s post-conventional moral reasoning (helping others/act morally despite danger or consequences)
Vygotsky Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development (critique of Piaget’s stage theory)
- cognitive development is influenced by environmental factors rather than self-driven (Piaget)
- family and peers play a role
- culture also plays a role (fish tank description differs in Western vs Eastern cultures)
Learning Theory (aka Behaviourist Theory) of Language Development
- language is acquired via environmental reinforcement
- learned through operant conditioning b/c language is a form of behaviour
- reward and punishment system becomes more specific as the child gets older
Nativist Theory of Language Development
- learning language is innate, don’t need others to reinforce it
- children have a “LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE” (a neural cognitive system) that helps them acquire syntactic rules of language
Interactionist Theory of Language Development
- innate and environmental factors play a role in language development
- innate: brain needs to develop to acquire new language
- evntal: need to socialize w/ others to use language
Broca’s Area
- in frontal lobe
- involved in speech PRODUCTION (if this part is impaired then have Broca’s aphasia/expressive aphasia)
Wernicke’s Area
- in temporal lobe
- involved in speech COMPREHENSION (if this part is impaired then have Wernicke’s aphasia/receptive aphasia)
Intelligence
Ability to understand and reason w/ complex ideas, adapt effectively to envt, and learn from experience
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
- intelligence is defined as a single, specific approach
- contains both verbal and performance scale
- high correlates w/ math and verbal skills
- low correlates w/ art and design skills
- BAD AT PREDICTING FUTURE CAREER SUCCESS AND ADVANCEMENT
- culturally bias (minorities score lower than their White counterparts)
Fluid Intelligence
- a type of GENERAL INTELLIGENCE FACTOR (g)
- ability to think logically w/o using previously learned knowledge
- eg. detecting visual patterns
- peaks in young adulthood and then declines
Crystallized Intelligence
- a type of GENERAL INTELLIGENCE FACTOR (g)
- ability to think logically using previously learned knowledge (facts, vocab, etc)
- remains stable throughout adulthood