cognitive psychology

• Cognitive psychology is the study of how people perceive, learn, remember, and think about information
• Cognitive psychologists study how people perceive, learn, remember, and think, but they also focus on emotion and motivation
• Cognition


  All forms of knowing and awareness, such as perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, and problem solving
• Affect


  Subjective aspect of an emotion that accompanies an action at a given time
• Conation


  The proactive part of motivation that connects knowledge, affect, drives, desires, and instincts to behavior
• Schools of Thought in Psychology

  • Structuralism
  • Functionalism
  • Associationism
  • Behaviorism
  • Gestalt Psychology
  • Cognitivism
• Structuralism


  • Aimed to understand the structure of consciousness by breaking it down into its basic components, such as sensations and feelings
  • Used introspection, a method in which individuals reported their thoughts and experiences, to gain insights into the workings of the mind
• Functionalism


  • Emphasizes the study of the functions of the mind and the role of mental processes in relation to the adaptation of the organism to its environment
  • Believed that the mind evolved to help individuals adapt to their environments and solve practical problems
  • Laid the foundation for the study of applied psychology, including educational and industrial psychology
• William James: '"Our view of the world is truly shaped by what we decide to hear."'
• Associationism


  • Examines how elements of the mind, such as events or ideas, can become associated with one another in the mind to result in a form of learning
  • Associations may result from contiguity, similarity, or contrast
• Behaviorism


  • Holds that conclusions about human development should be based on controlled observations of overt behavior rather than speculation about unconscious motives or other unobservable phenomena
  • Well-learned associations between external stimuli and observable responses (called habits) are the building blocks of development
• John Locke: '"Tabula rasa."'
• Gestalt Psychology


  • Emphasized the importance of studying the whole of an experience rather than its individual parts
  • Focused on perception, problem-solving, and the idea that the mind organizes information into meaningful patterns
• Cognitivism


  • Focused on mental processes such as memory, attention, and problem-solving
  • Attempts to measure different types of intelligence, determine how you organize your thoughts, and compare different components of cognition
• Rene Descartes: '"Cogito ergo sum." ("I think, therefore, I exist.")'
• Intelligence


  The capacity to learn from experience, use metacognitive processes to enhance learning, and adapt to the surrounding environment
• Key Themes in Cognitive Psychology

  • Nature versus Nurture
  • Rationalism versus Empiricism
  • Structures versus Processes
  • Domain Generality versus Domain Specificity
  • Validity of Causal Inferences versus Ecological Validity
  • Applied versus Basic Research
  • Biological versus Behavioral Methods
• Nature vs. Nurture


  Nature talks about genetics or inherent qualities, while nurture focuses on the experiences or environment
• Nature vs. Nurture


  We can explore how covariations and interactions in the environment adversely affect someone whose genes otherwise might have led to success in a variety of tasks
• Rationalism vs. Empiricism


  Rationalism focuses on reasoning and logical thinking, while Empiricism focuses on sensory experience and observation
• Rationalism vs. Empiricism


  We can combine theory with empirical methods to learn the most we can about cognitive phenomena
• Structures vs. Processes


  Should we study the structures of the human mind, or should we focus on the processes of human thinking?
• Structures vs. Processes


  We can explore how mental processes operate on mental structures
• Domain Generality vs. Domain Specificity

  Domain Generality - certain abilities or processes are general and can be applied across different areas or domains

  Domain Specificity - certain abilities or processes are specific to particular areas or domains
• Domain Generality vs. Domain Specificity

  We can explore which processes might be domain-general and which might be domain-specific
• Validity of Causal Inferences vs. Ecological Validity

  Causal Inferences - figuring out cause and effect relationships

  Ecological Validity - how well the study reflects what happens in the "ecology" or real-life context
• Validity of Causal Inferences vs. Ecological Validity

  We can combine a variety of methods, including laboratory methods and more naturalistic ones, so as to converge on findings that hold up, regardless of the method of study
• Applied vs. Basic Research


  Should we conduct research into fundamental cognitive processes, or should we study ways in which to help people use cognition effectively in practical situations?
• Applied vs. Basic Research

  We can combine the two kinds of research dialectically so that basic research leads to applied research, which leads to further basic research, and so on
• Biological vs. Behavioral Methods

  Should we study the brain and its functioning directly, perhaps even scanning the brain while people are performing cognitive tasks, or should we study people's behavior in cognitive tasks, looking at measures such as percent correct and reaction time?
• Biological vs. Behavioral Methods


  We can try to synthesize biological and behavioral methods so that we understand cognitive phenomena at multiple levels of analysis