do now: figuring out who you are take a copy of the article from the stool and read it...
TRANSCRIPT
DO NOW: Figuring Out Who You Are Take a copy of the article from the stool and read it independently. Decide
what you think of it and be prepared to discuss. Keep the following things in mind:ProcessingPerceptionSchemaDistortions http
://thoughtcatalog.com/2011/the-painful-art-of-figuring-out-who-you-are/
Unit 3: Cognitive Level of Analysis
What is Cognition?
Cognitive LoA is new to psychology (40-50 years)
Important way to look at your life – important to be able to think about your thinking (metacognition)
Understanding of perception = awesome.
Do we study this in the lab or in a daily context?
Cognitive LoA Cognitive psychology: concerns itself with the structure and functions of
the mind
Mind: a set of mental processes that are carried out by the brain
Mental processes (cognitions): include perception, thinking, problem solving, memory, language, and attention
Cognitions: based on mental representations of the world such as images, words, and concepts
1. Mental processes guide behavior
2. The mind can be studied scientifically
3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors
Principles of the Cognitive Level of Analysis
What about memory?Memory = reconstructive nature
Only outlines, not exact copies false memories
The brain is able to fabricate illusions so realistic we believe they are true
PerceptionHow do we perceive things?
Perception: the cognitive process that interprets and organizes information from the senses to produce some meaningful experience of the world
Problem: what people think is objective may not be… why?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jkaSIOqUgY
What about technology?
In groups of 4, consider the questions in the “Be A Thinker” box on p. 69. Be prepared to discuss.
1. What can a human do that a computer can’t?2. What can a computer do that a human can’t?3. Do you think it will ever be possible to construct
a robot that can be exactly like a human?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC3IryWr4c8
Cognitive Psychology:Methodology Methods
Experiments: we will look in a second Observations: observe the effects of a pre-existing condition Interviews and Self-Report: questionnaires, interviews, surveys Psychometric Testing: standardized tests, other aptitude tests, Wechsler Memory
Scale
Strengths and Limitations; Ethical Considerations Ecological Validity
Relevance to everyday life Meaningfulness of research Why might lab experiments lack ecological validity?
Ethics Examples: Malpass and Devine (1981) Suspect ID Loftus and Palmer (1974, 1975, & 1979)
Experiment Video
How fast was the car going when it hit the other car?
How fast was the car going when it smashed into the other car?
How fast was the car going when it collided with the other car?
How fast was the car going when it bumped the other car?
RESEARCH IN COGNITION
Historical Context: The First Cognitive Psychologists
Donders (1868)Mental chronometry
Measuring how long a cognitive process takesReaction-time (RT) experiment
Measures interval between stimulus presentation and person’s response to stimulus
Historical Context: The First Cognitive Psychologists
Donders (1868)(a) Simple RT task: participant pushes a button
quickly after a light appears(b) Choice RT task: participant pushes one button
if light is on right side, another if light is on left side
Historical Context: The First Cognitive Psychologists
Donders (1868)Choice RT – Simple RT = Time to make a decision
Choice RT 1/10th sec longer than Simple RT
Mental responses cannot be measured directly but can be inferred from behavior
STROOP TASK
Blue Red Green Yellow
Red Green Blue Yellow
Blue Yellow Red Blue
Green Red Green Red
YellowRed Yellow Blue
Blue Red Green Yellow
Red Green Blue Yellow
Blue Yellow Red Blue
Green Red Green Red
YellowRed Yellow Blue
We can infer a different mental response
Processing Bottom-up processing
Top-down processing