Cognitive Approach and Learning Practices

Practice flashcards covering the Cognitive Approach, including Schema Theory, Cognitive Load Theory, Memory Models, Dual Processing, Biases, and Conditioning, as well as Paper $$2$$ evaluative concepts.

What is the acceptable definition of Schema theory?

Schema theory argues that people use mental frameworks, called schemas, to organize knowledge and interpret new information, suggesting that memory is reconstructive rather than an exact copy of reality.

What was the aim of Bartlett's $1932$ 'War of the Ghosts' study?

To investigate how schemas affect memory recall and whether people reconstruct unfamiliar information based on their own cultural expectations.

In Bartlett's study, what is 'serial reproduction'?

A method where participants retold a story after a delay or passed their version to another person to see how the story changed over time.

How does Cognitive Load Theory define the limit of learning?

It explains that working memory has a limited capacity, so learning is reduced if the memory is overloaded with unnecessary information or demands.

What are the three types of cognitive load mentioned in the theory?

Intrinsic load (natural difficulty of material), Extraneous load (unnecessary effort from poor presentation), and Germane load (useful effort that helps learning).

What did Sweller's research on the worked-example effect find?

Students who studied worked examples where steps were already shown learned more effectively than beginners who had to solve problems from scratch, as it reduced extraneous load.

What are the four components of the Working Memory Model that students should be able to label?

The central executive, the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the episodic buffer.

Describe the finding of Baddeley and Hitch's dual-task experiment.

Participants could perform a reasoning task and a memory task simultaneously, suggesting that short-term memory consists of different components that handle different types of information.

What are the three stores in the Multi-Store Memory Model?

Sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

What is the 'primacy effect' in the context of Glanzer and Cunitz's study?

The tendency to remember words at the beginning of a list because they have been rehearsed and moved into long-term memory.

Compare System $1$ and System $2$ in Dual Processing Theory.

System $1$ is fast, automatic, and intuitive, while System $2$ is slower, controlled, and more logical.

What is anchoring bias?

A cognitive bias where an initial value or piece of information (the anchor) influences later estimates or decisions, even if that anchor is irrelevant.

What was the result of Tversky and Kahneman's wheel of fortune study?

Participants who saw a high number on the rigged wheel ($65$) gave higher estimates for the percentage of African countries in the UN than those who saw a low number ($10$).

How does confirmation bias affect decision-making?

It causes people to search for and interpret information that supports their existing beliefs while ignoring evidence that challenges them.

What did the Wason Selection Task reveal about human reasoning?

Participants tended to seek evidence that confirmed a rule rather than looking for evidence that could disprove or falsify it.

In classical conditioning, what is the 'conditioned stimulus'?

A previously neutral stimulus that, after being associated with an unconditioned stimulus, eventually produces a learned response.

Define the four types of consequences in operant conditioning.

Positive reinforcement (adding something pleasant), Negative reinforcement (removing something unpleasant), Positive punishment (adding something unpleasant), and Negative punishment (taking away something pleasant).

How is causality defined for an ERQ evaluation?

Causality refers to whether a study shows that one variable directly causes a change in another, typically achieved by manipulating an independent variable and controlling confounding variables.

What was a major limitation regarding bias in the Storm et al. ($2016$) study?

It used a sample of $60$ undergraduate volunteers, creating sample bias as university students may use technology differently than the wider population.

How did Storm et al. ($2016$) operationalize the measurement of technology reliance?

By recording the proportion (percentage) of questions for which participants chose to use Google in the second phase of the experiment.

What are the five ethical duties included under 'responsibility' in psychology?

Gaining informed consent, protecting participants from harm, maintaining confidentiality, allowing withdrawal, and providing a debriefing.