Chapter 1: Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Miser

The idea that people conserve mental energy by using quick, heuristic judgments; memory is reconstructed; processing is limited; probability judgments are biased by experience rather than facts.

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

Behavior

Observable actions of humans and nonhuman animals.

Mental processes

Internal experiences such as thoughts, beliefs, and feelings inferred from behavior.

Inference

Drawing conclusions about mental processes from observable, measurable behavior.

Mind

The set of cognitive processes that form memories, solve problems, and guide behavior; many operations occur without conscious awareness.

Perception

The process of interpreting sensory information.

Attention

The cognitive process of selecting information for processing.

Memory

The ability to encode, store, and retrieve information.

Language comprehension and production

The processes by which we understand and produce language.

Franciscus Donders

19th-century psychologist who used reaction-time experiments to study mental processes and decision speed.

Simple Reaction Time (RT) Task

Task where a participant presses a button as soon as a light appears; measures basic detection time.

Choice Reaction Time (RT) Task

Task requiring detection plus decision to press the correct button depending on stimulus position.

Decision time

The portion of RT attributed to making a decision; calculated as (Choice RT) − (Simple RT).

Ebbinghaus

Pioneer of memory research using nonsense syllables; studied learning and forgetting and the forgetting curve.

Savings

Original learning time minus relearning time after a delay, indicating retention.

Forgetting curve

The pattern of rapid memory loss early on that slows over time.

Wilhelm Wundt

Founder of experimental psychology; introduced voluntarism and introspection; emphasized controlled observation.

Voluntarism

The view that the mind actively organizes experience through willful attention.

Introspection

Systematic reporting of conscious experiences in response to stimuli.

Structuralism

Early school aiming to analyze the mind's structure by its basic elements; associated with Edward B. Titchener.

Edward B. Titchener

Proponent of structuralism; emphasized introspection and a periodic-table-like classification of mental elements.

Functionalism

School focusing on the purpose and adaptive functions of mental processes.

William James

Advocate of functionalism; often called the Father of American Psychology.

Behaviorism

School arguing psychology should study observable behavior and ignore mental processes.

John B. Watson

Founder of behaviorism; argued psychology should be an objective science focused on stimulus-response.

B.F. Skinner

Proponent of radical behaviorism; emphasized operant conditioning and consequences.

Tolman

Demonstrated cognitive maps in rats, challenging strict S-R learning.

Cognitive map

Internal representation of a spatial environment guiding navigation.

Noam Chomsky

Critic of behaviorist language explanations; argued for innate language structures and rules.