Test Yourself

Question 1

How would you describe the mind?

Answer 1

• The mind creates and controls mental functions such as perception , attention , memory, emotions, language, deciding, thinking and reasoning
• The mind is a system that creates representations of the world so that we can act within it to achieve our goals

Question 2

Why could we say that Donders and Ebbinghaus were cognitive psychologists, even though in the 19th century there was no field called cognitive psychology?

Answer 2

• 1800s huge belief not studying the mind
• Cognitive psychology term is not coined until 1967

Question 3

Describe the rise of behaviourism and how this has affected research on the mind?

Answer 3

• Watson wanted to see observable behaviour, not consciousness (which would involve unobservable processes such as thinking, emotions and reasoning e.g analytic introspection), is the main topic of study.
• The only thing he cared about was how pairing one stimulus with another stimulus affected behaviour.
• Operant, classical conditiong

Question 4

What is meant by “the information-processing approach” and how is this relevant for cognitive psychology?

Answer 4

• Information processing approach inspired by the recent development of computers around the 1950s
• The approach to psychology, developed beginning in the 1950s, in which the mind is described as processing information through a sequence of stages.
• an approach that traces sequences of mental operations involved in cognition.
• e.g Broadbent model showing filter model of attention

Question 5

Why are models important in cognitive psychology? What are structural and process models and how do they relate to each other?

Answer 5

• Models are representations of structures or processes that help us visualize or explain the structure or process.
• Structural models are representations of a physical structure. A model can mimic the appearance of an object, as a model car or aeroplane represents the appearance of a real car or aeroplane.
• Process models represent the processes that are involved in cognitive mechanisms, with boxes usually representing specific processes and arrows indicating connections between processes. Broadbent’s filter model of attention (see Figure 1.10b) is an example of a process model

Question 6

Describe four different everyday situations for which it is important to understand how we process information and come to certain decisions.