lecture 5 (sept 15) TBC

Introduction

• Science methods help protect us from bias because human thinking itself is not purely objective

What is cognition?

• includes mental processes i.e. acquiring, organizing, using, and communicating knowledge

• happens outside of consciousness

Core Idea about the Mind and Memory

• View and memory is subjective

Concepts and Categories

• Concept: mental representation used to organize knowledge

• Category: group of things treated as related in some meaningful way i.e. asked to think about chairs = different categories of chairs come to mind

• Categories reduce complexity but its boundaries are not always clear

Prototype

• typical example of a category (first thing you think of when asked to think of something)

• not a strict definition

• applied to the world in i.e. stereotypes (asked to think about a president and prototype might be anyone but a woman)

Research Spotlight Rosch and Mervis

• Examined structure of categories

• items judged as prototypes shared similarities with other things in the category

Why do categories help?

• makes prediction possible

• reduce cognitive effort

• support language and communication

• allow to generalize previous experience

• but can encourage oversimplification

Schemas

• mental template/organization/series of knowledge about a person, role, or situation i.e. what happens when you grocery shop

• guides attention, interpretation, expectations, and memory

• useful because they help predict what is likely to happen next

• cons: fill gaps incorrectly, can contribute to stereotypes

Constructive Cognition

• Combining new information with existing knowledge

• Interpretation depends partly on what we already know and expect

• meaning, 2 people can experience same thing but interpret it differently

Building Blocks of Language

• Phonemes: smallest distinctive sound units that don’t have meaning on their own i.e. cat is k/ae/t (3 phonemes)

• Morphemes: smallest units that carry meaning

• Semantics: meaning of words and sentences

• Syntax: rules governing how words are combined

• Pragmatics: how language is used and interpreted in context

Language is Contextual

• Meaning depends on more than dictionary definitions

• Tone, relationship, situation, shared knowledge, and culture can alter interpretation

• Understanding language requires cognitive and social information