Psychology Chapter 8

Question 1

What is Cognitive Psychology?

Answer 1

researchers in this field seek to explain behaviour by investigating mental processes and structures that cannot be observed directly ( attention, learning, problem solving, memory, language, etc. )

Question 2

Modern Cognitive Psychology (consists of two fields)

Answer 2

Cognitive Neuroscience–> The research involves a number of techniques, including neuropsychological analyses of patients with brain damage and mental disorders, computational modelling, function neuro-imaging, and experiments on the relation between brain development and cognition in human infants and other vertebrate species.

Cognitive psychology also involves theoretical work involving computer simulation of the brain/mind.

Question 3

What is cognition?

Answer 3

all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used.

It is concerned with these processes even when they operate in the absence of relevant stimulation, as in images and hallucinations.

(textbook) refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge.

Question 4

What is thinking?

Answer 4

manipulating information (forming concepts, solving problems, making decisions)

Question 5

Brain vs. Mind (mind and matter– Descartes)

Answer 5

“The mind is to the brain as the program is to the hardware

Brain: the physical organ– composed of neurones (100 billion neurones with 100 trillion connections)

mind:
* the element or complex of elements in an individual that : feels , perceives, thinkings, wills and especially reasons.

• the conscious mental events and capabilities in an organism
• the organized conscious and unconscious adaptive mental activity of an organism

Question 6

How does the brain work?

Answer 6

Serial vs. Parallel processing

• Serial Processing: a series of steps in the “program”– where each step has to be resolved in order for the program to move on to the next step.
• Parallel processing: multiple steps can be processed at the same time – a network of processors that are interconnected (therefore can communicate with each other )
  • similarly, an interconnected network of neurones (i.e. a Neural Net)

Question 7

Serial Process

Answer 7

a series of steps in the “program”– where each step has to be resolved in order for the program to move on to the next step

Question 8

Parallel processing: Neural Network

Answer 8

• multiple steps can be processed at the same time– a networks of processors that are interconnected (therefor can communicate with each other)
  * similarly, an interconnected network of neurones (i.e. a Neural net)

A Neural Network

• Multiple lines of processing can occur simultaneously
• Various lines of processing can communicate (excitatory or inhibitory) with other lines of processing

Question 9

Alan Turing (1936)

Answer 9

proposed a hypothetical machine (a Turing machine ) that would follow an algorithm and be able to simulate the logic of any computer that could be constructing (including the brain).

Question 10

What is an algorithm?

Answer 10

a finite set of well-defined instructions for accomplishing some task (computers use them to solve problems)

Question 11

The Church-Turing Thesis (Often referred to just Church’s Thesis)

Answer 11

Anything that can be given a precise enough characterization as a set of steps can be simulated on a digital computer.

Question 12

Searle’s Chinesese Room Argument

Answer 12

• Searle (1980)– the Chinese Room Argument
  * he chose Chinese because he did not understand any of the Chinese language
  * Essentially, an elaborate Turing machine

Question 13

The nature and function of concepts

Answer 13

they are manipulated information by the process of thinking

• mental categories
• functional for simplifying and organizing the world around us
• Adaptive for survival (facilitates quick responding)
• Semantic memory (recall of information is semantic– organized by concepts– more efficient)
• guide behaviour (our concepts influence the way we perceive an interpret the world around us – thus, determining how we will respond and interact)

Question 14

Cognitive Style– how does it affect our thinking

Answer 14

• A person’s preferred method of performing cognitive tasks. People differ in the way they perverse information and how they organize information for both present and future use.
  
  • a dimensions of cognitive style that have been well investigated is field dependence and field independence
    • field-dependence and field-indpendence are consistent traits; that is , people use these systoles regardless of the situation and they use them consistently throughout their life span.

Question 15

Field independent people

Answer 15

tend to perceive objects or situations from an internal base– independent of the environment in which the information is presented.

Example

• see the trees, not the forest
• field-independent people prefer impersonal situations and require large amounts of interpersonal space. They prefer solitude, are individualistic, never feel like embracing the whole world, value cognitive pursuits over humanitarian pursuits, and are more concerned with ideas then with people.

Question 16

Field-dependent people

Answer 16

rely heavily on environment cues to analyze stimuli

For example

• they see the forest, not the trees
• Field-dependent people are especially alert to social cues and they prefer the emotional and physical closeness with others. They are social, gregarious, like being with others, want to help others, know many people, and are know to many people.

Question 17

How do we engage in problem solving?

Answer 17

• The use of concepts is central to our ability to solve problems
  
  • Thus, the way war think about, and frame, the world around us influences how we approach an interact with the world
  • We can think about stable individual differences in the way we frame and approach the world– personality differences in how we approach problems in our environment

Question 18

Problem Solving Strategies (Types)

Answer 18

Sorrento and Short (18986) Theory of Uncertainty Orientation
* Uncertainty Oriented People

  * have a need to know and to find out new things about the self and the world around the. In situations that involve uncertainty, they are motivated to resolve this uncertainty.     * Certainty Oriented People
  * typically avoid situations that make uncertainty client. Prefer situations where there is nothing new to be found out about the self or the world. Desire to maintain clarity and gravitate toward certain.

Question 19

Is problem solving unique to humans?

Answer 19

• Kohler (1920’s) studied chimps ability to use tools to solve problems
  * chimps are capable of using tools, as well as making tools. Engaging in elaborate problem solving techniques.
  • Prior to Kohler’s work, it was believed the only humans had the capacity to use and make tools
  • Kohler demonstrated that chimps could make and use tools. This ability was also noted by Jane Goodall in her observations of chimpanzees in the child.
    *

Question 20

How do we make decisions?

Answer 20

• Decision making involves evaluating alternatives and making choices among them
  • Generally people use established rules to draw conclusions
  • Biases and flawed heuristics can interfere with good decision making

Question 21

Biases that can cause problems in decision making

Answer 21

confirmation Bias

Belief perseverance

overconfidence bias

Hindsight bias

The availability heuristic

The representativeness heuristic

Question 22

Confirmation Bias

Answer 22

is the tendency to search for and use information that support ideas rather than refutes them

Question 23

Belief perseverance

Answer 23

is the tendency to hold on to a belief in the face of contradictory evidence

Question 24

Overconfidence bias

Answer 24

is the tendency of people to have more confidence in judgments and decisions than is appropriate based on probability or past experiences

Question 25

Hindsight Bias

Answer 25

is the tendency of people after an event has occurred, to believe that they accurately predicted the event

Question 26

The availability heuristic

Answer 26

which can produce flawed think, involves making a judgment about the probability of an event based on how readily previous example come to mind - this is biased thinking to to the fact that the vividness (or emotional impact) of previous occurrences can impact our recall (thus, making emotional events seem more common than they really are)

Question 27

The representativeness heuristic

Answer 27

holds that people sometimes make a faulty decision based on how well something matches a prototype rather than its relevance to a particular situation

Question 28

What is the nature and function of language?

Answer 28

Language is a form of communication, whether spoke, written, or signed, that is based on a system of symbols.

Language consists of symbols that convey meaning, plus rules for combing those symbols, that can be used to generate an infinite variety of messages.

Language is symbolic, semantic (meaningful), generative (can be combined to create an infinite number of messages), and it is structured (these messages need to be structured in a certain way to make sense.

Question 29

Why is language so important?

Answer 29

Language plays a fundament role in human behaviour. It determines how we can interact with one another, convey how we feel and all sorts of other good stuff.

Question 30

The Structure of Language

Answer 30

Human languages have a hierarchical structure. Basic sounds are combined into units with meaning, which are combined into worlds. Words are combined into phrases, which are combined into sentences.

• Phonemes
• Morphemes and Semantics
• Syntax

Question 31

Phonemes

Answer 31

• phonemes are the smallest speech units in a language that can be distinguished perceptually.

  * the English language is composed of about 40 
  * a letter in the alphabet ca represent more than one phonemes if it has more than one pronunciation. 

  • At the base of the language hierarchy

Question 32

Morphemes

Answer 32

• Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning n a language.

* there are approximately 50,000 English morphemes, which include root words as well as prefixes and suffixes

Question 33

Semantics

Answer 33

• is the area of language concerned with understanding the meaning of words and word combinations
  * learning about semantics entails learning about the infinite variety of objects and actions that words refer to.

Question 34

Syntax

Answer 34

• is a system of rules that specify how words can be arranged into sentences
  * rules of syntax underlie all language use

Question 35

How do acquire language?

Answer 35

Through exposure to external environments (parents, siblings) and we begin to pick it up through a process.

Question 36

Milestones of Language

Answer 36

Months
* 1-5

  * reflexive communication: vocalizes randomly, coos, laughs, cries, engages in vocal play, discriminates language from no language sounds    * 6-18 
  * Babbling: Verbalizes in response to the speech of others; responses increasingly approximate human speech patterns    * 10-13
  * first words: uses words, typically to refer to objects    * 12-18
  * one-word sentence stage: vocabulary grows slowly; uses nouns primarily; over extensions begin     * 18-24
  * Vocabulary spurt: Fast mapping facilitates rapid acquisition of new words.

Years

• 2
  
  • two-word sentence stage: Uses telegraphic speech; uses more pronouns and verbs
• 2.5
  
  • three-word sentence stage: modifies speech to take listener into account; over regularizations begin
• 3
  
  • uses complete simple active sentence structure; uses sentences to tell stories that are understood by others; uses plurals
• 3.5
  
  • Expanded grammatical forms: Expresses concepts with words; uses four-word sentences
• 4
  
  • uses five-word sentences
• 5
  
  • well-developed and complex syntax: uses more complex syntax; uses more complex forms to tell stories
• 6
  
  • Displays metalinguistic awareness (the ability to reflect on the use of language)

Question 37

What is babbling?

Answer 37

a wide variety of sounds that correspond to phonemes and , eventually, many repetitive consonant-vowel combinations (lalala). Eventually, becomes complex and increasingly resembles the language spoken by their parents

Question 38

How does babbling work for those who are hearing impaired?

Answer 38

They use manual babbling (moving their arms and hands a lot)

Question 39

What kind of errors to they make?

Answer 39

Overextension, under-extensions, over-regularizations.

Question 40

ovverextensions

Answer 40

occurs when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a wider set of objects, or actions than it is meant to (ball for all objects round)

Question 41

under-extensions

Answer 41

occurs when a child incorrectly uses a word to describe a narrower set of objects or actions than it is meant to. (use of word doll to refer to a single favourite doll)

Question 42

over-regularizations

Answer 42

occur when grammatical rules are incorrectly generalized to irregular cases where they do not apply.

Question 43

telegraphic speech

Answer 43

consists mainly of content words; articles, prepositions, and other less critical words are omitted.

Question 44

What is the effect of learning more than on language?

Answer 44

(1) the experience of becoming bilingual can enhance the learning of another language. (2) Potential cognitive benefits of bilingualism. (3) Bilingualism is associated with higher levels of controlled processing on tasks that require control of attention. (4) Bilingualism may help attenuate age-related losses in certain aspects of cognition. (5) Early bilingual expose has positive effects on the brain (overall) (6) Education of minority children exclusively in the majority language may undermine both self-esteem and heritage language proficiency (making them feel outcast in both areas), exposure to the heritage language in an education setting can serve to reverse these effects.

Question 45

what influences the want to learn a second language?

Answer 45

(1) starting younger is easier (2) acculturation–> the degree to which a person is socially and psychologically integrated into a new culture (3)leaning relates to the learners motivation and attitude toward the other group that uses the language to be learned.

Question 46

How do animals communicate?

Answer 46

Some can be trained to understand semi-complex sentences, however they cannot verbally communicate back.

Question 47

Can they use language?

Answer 47

They can use sign language and signals

Question 48

What is the evolutionary perspective on language?

Answer 48

humans’ special talent for language is a species-specific trait that is the product of natural selection. Language evolved as device to build and maintain social coalitions in increasing larger groups.

Question 49

What are the theories of language acquisition?

Answer 49

behaviourist theories, nativist theories, interactionist theories

Question 50

What is the relation between culture, language and thought?

Answer 50

different languages lead people to view the world differently . this is called linguistic relativity

Question 51

behaviourist theories

Answer 51

– Language learned through imitation and reinforcement (i.e. conditioning)
– Problem:
• Children create novel words and sentences
• They overgeneralize language rules – an indication that they are learning the language rules instead of merely imitating language

Question 52

nativist theories

Answer 52

Children have an innate ability to learn language
– A built-in Language Acquisition Device (not an actual device! – just an innate ability)
– An innate sensitivity to the “phonemes” of language and to language rules (syntax)

Question 53

interactionist theories

Answer 53

– Combine both approaches
– Children are biologically prepared to learn language and they also imitate and respond to reinforcement from parents

Question 54

linguisitc relativity

Answer 54

the hypothesis that one’s language determines the nature of one’s thoughts