Studied by 0 people
Looks like no one added any tags here yet for you.
Cognitive Psychology
subdiscipline of experimental psychology focused on investigating the mental processes that give rise to our perceptions and interpretations of the world around is
Cognition
mental activity; refers to the acquisition, storage, transformation, and use of knowledge
Mental Processes
perception, memory, imagery, language, problem solving, reasoning, & decision making; knowledge through and not through the senses
Two meanings of Cognitive Psychology
(1) synonym for the word cognition, (2) theoretical approach in psychology
Cognitive Approach
theoretical orientation that emphasizes people's thought process
Goals of Psychology
describe, explain, predict, control
Learning
a relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience & maturation
5 Modern Approaches to Psychology
biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic & phenomenological
Why do we study Psychology?
to know, understand, explain, predict, and manage behavior
Why do we study Cognitive Psychology?
to understand cognitive process and to apply such knowledge to improve things
Clinical Psychology
deals with memory & trauma; cognitive behavior therapy
Educational Psychology
stages of cognitive development; preparedness for learning
Geriatrics
care for the elderly; neurocognitive deterioration
Social Psychology
memory & perception; affecting social relaitons
Self-Development
better management of your own thoughts & behavior
Aristotle
examined topics such as perceptions, memory, and mental imagery; discussed how humans acquire knowledge through experience and observation; emphasized the importance of empirical evidence
Empirical Evidence
scientific evidence obtained by careful observation and experimentation
Wilhelm Wundt
father of experimental psychology; studies on reaction times, sensory processes, and attention; advocated for the use of introspection
Introspection
examination of one's own thoughts and feelings; where one systematically analyzes their own sensations and report them as objectively as possible
Hermann Ebbinghaus
pioneered the experimental study of memory, and is known for their discovery of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect; chose nonsense syllables during their experiments
Mary Whiton Calkins
reported the phenomenon called recency effect; first woman to be president of the American Psychological Association; developed guidelines for teaching college courses in introductory psychology
Recency Effect
recall is especially accurate for the final items in a series of stimuli
William James
father of American Psychology; known for his textbook Principles of Psychology
Functionalism
mental activity is to be evaluated in terms of how it serves an organisms in adapting to its environment
Pragmatism
find the simplest solution under the shortest time
Behaviorism
the view that psychology must focus on objective, observable reactions to stimuli in the environment
John B. Watson
most prominent early behaviorist; emphasis on external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation; famous for Little Albert study in which baby was taught to fear a white rat
Reductionism
Wilhelm Wundt
Structuralism
Edward B. Titchener
Functionalism
William James
Behaviorism
John B. Watson
Cognitive Maps
Edward Tolman
Operational Definition
a precise definition that specifies exactly how a concept is to be measured
Gestalt Psychology
a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts
Gestalt
an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.
Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, Kurt Koffka
emphasized that organisms perceive entire pattern or configurations, not merely individual components
Wolfgang Kohler
Gestalt psychologist that first demonstrated insight through his chimpanzee experiments. He noticed the solution process wasn't slow, but sudden and reflective.
Insights
abrupt realization
Frederic Bartlett
forerunner of Cognitive Psychology; used materials such as lengthy stories
Schema Theory
human memory is an active, constructive process; we interpret and transform the information we encounter; we search for meaning, trying to integrate this new information so that it is more consistent with our own personal experiences
Jean Piaget
Known for his theory of cognitive development in children
Stages of Cognitive Development
sensorimotor, pre operational, concrete operational, formal operational
Noah Chomsky
Linguist; how internal processes affect our ability to consciously perceive, impact, and in the the world around us
Ecological Validity
The extent to which a study is realistic or representative of real life.
Cognitive Science
the interdisciplinary field that tries to answer questions about the mind; includes psychology, neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, and linguistics
Thinking
requires us to manipulate our internal representations of the external world
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
branch of computer science; seeks to explore human cognitive processes by creating computer models that show 'intelligent behavior' and also accomplish the same tasks that humans do
Pure Artificial Intelligence
an approach that designs a program to accomplish a cognitive task as efficiently as possible, even if the computer's processes are completely different from the processes used by humans
Computer Simulation or Computer Modeling
Attempts to take human limitations into account; the goal is to program a computer to preform a specific cognitive task the same way humans do
Computer Metaphor
a way of describing cognition as a complex, multipurpose machine that processes information quickly and accurately; our cognitive processes work like a computer
Information-Processing Approach
argued that (a) our mental processes are similar to the operations of a computer, and (b) information progresses through our cognitive system in a series of stages, one step at a time
How does the Information-Processing Model work?
Input -> Process -> Output or Sensation -> Intellectual Processes -> Behavior
Serial Processing
the system must complete one step before it can proceed to the next step in the flowchart
Connectionist Approach
Cognitive processes can be understood in terms of networks that link together neuron-like processing units; many operations can proceed simultaneously
Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) Approach & Neural-Network Approach
terms interchangeably used with Connectionist Approach
Cerebral Cortex
outer layer of the brain that is essential for cognitive processes
Cognitive Neuroscience
combines the research techniques of cognitive psychology with various methods for assessing the structure and function of the brain
Social Cognitive Neuroscience
a new discipline that uses neuroscience techniques to explore the kind of cognitive processes used in interactions with other people
Brain Lesions
the destruction of an area in the brain, most often by strokes, tumors, blows to the head, and accidents
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Scan
a visual display of brain activity that detects where a radioactive form of glucose goes while the brain performs a given task
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
based on the principle that oxygen-rich blood is an index of brain activity; more precise than a PET Scan and is less invasive
Event-Related Potential (ERP) Technique
a procedure for recording the very brief, small fluctuations in the brain's electrical activity in response to a stimulus such as an auditory tone
Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
records magnetic field fluctuations produced by neural activity during the processing of stimuli presented to participants
Individual Differences
variations in the way that groups of people perform on the same cognitive task
Major Depression
psychological disorder in which feelings of sadness, discouragement, and hopelessness interfere with the ability to perform daily mental and physical functions
Bottom-up Processing
emphasizes the importance of information from the stimuli registered on the sensory receptors; uses a low-level analysis of the stimulus
Top-down processing
emphasizes how our concepts, expectations, and memory influence our cognitive processes; requires higher-level cognition
