...Kimberly Ann McBean PSY 314 Professor Sailor Spring 2015 Methods Participants XXX participants participated in a memory experiment to receive classroom credit. These participants were recruited from 3 upper level psychology classes, XXX from cognitive psychology class and XXX from 2 experimental psychology classes at a public university, 66% of the samples were majority female. Materials In this experiment a 2 (number of presentations= once or twice words shown) x 2 (word frequency= low or high) design was used. The participants were presented with a list of 36 words on an overhead projector (see Appendix for a complete list of words used in this experiment) all the words were white, same size letters, same font as well. All words presented had a black background; the concreteness and word length was the same. The list consists of 18 high frequency words and 18 low frequency words. Participants were also given a sheet of paper numbered 1-36. Participants were instructed to study and to write down an estimate (on the numbered paper given) of the chance of how well they would do at recalling each word on a later test (i.e. if you thought you had 80% chance of recalling a word, you would write down 80). After participants were presented with the words once, they were instructed that there would be an additional chance for them to study some of the words (without making recall estimates). While participants were instructed to write down estimate times, they were also told...
Words: 784 - Pages: 4
...Describe the cognitive approach in psychology and evaluate the research methods used. In the cognitive approach, lab experiments are reductionist because it’s focusing on basic processes and compares human cognition to computer functioning; ignoring the complexity of the human mind. The cognitive approach often takes this narrow focus and ignores social and emotional factors which may impact on cognition. This is evident from studies such as Ebinghaus experiment where he investigated forgetting and how memory ‘decays’. Although there are some explanations that relate to the brain and how our brain deals with information to remember it, there is another explanation that supports the reductionist side. Humans are like computers and if we don’t recall the information to remind ourselves of something, like in a computer drive we will simply get overloaded with other information that will overshadow this one and simply make us forget. This therefore shows how lab experiments can be reductionist. Furthermore, because it was a lab experiment where Ebinghaus knew what to expect from his inference we can say it was unfair and invalid because he was appreciative. The use of case studies in the cognitive approach is longitudinal which is good as it allows information to be gathered over a period of time and can therefore show changes in behaviour or thoughts over the set period. The Ebinghaus study, where he collected data over several weeks to see if he was capable of remembering things...
Words: 310 - Pages: 2
...Cognitive Processes Paper Psych/560 June 6, 2013 Prof. Pitt Cognitive Processes According to Robinson-Riegler and Robinson-Riegler (2008), learning is a natural task carried out by humans to facilitate better and more fulfilling life development. In general, human beings learn through, observation or even through other classical methods. Humans learn how to adapt to specific disciplines as well as how to ignore some unnecessary responsive stimulus though classical methods. However, in applying the available learning methods, human beings must pass through a comprehensive cognitive process. There are several types of stimulus or cognitive processes common in human growth and development. Different people employ the available cognitive processes at different times in their life time. The identification of the common cognitive processes as well as their purpose in human development is exceptionally decisive in facilitating the understanding of human cognitive development. Common Cognitive Processes By referring to Robinson-Riegler and Robinson-Riegler (2008), the first main cognitive process is perception. Perception entails the front-end process which helps in the organization and interpretation of the received information. Perception is usually based on auditory information as well...
Words: 1418 - Pages: 6
...Cognitive Processes According to Robinson-Riegler and Robinson-Riegler (2008), learning is a natural task carried out by humans to facilitate better and more fulfilling life development. In general, human beings learn through, observation or even through other classical methods. Humans learn how to adapt to specific disciplines as well as how to ignore some unnecessary responsive stimulus though classical methods. However, in applying the available learning methods, human beings must pass through a comprehensive cognitive process. There are several types of stimulus or cognitive processes common in human growth and development. Different people employ the available cognitive processes at different times in their life time. The identification of the common cognitive processes as well as their purpose in human development is exceptionally decisive in facilitating the understanding of human cognitive development. Common Cognitive Processes By referring to Robinson-Riegler and Robinson-Riegler (2008), the first main cognitive process is perception. Perception entails the front-end process which helps in the organization and interpretation of the received information. Perception is usually based on auditory information as well as visual information. Perception is acquired through observation and listening to the emerging information, as well as organization of the received information in human mind. The second main cognitive stage is identification process. Although this process...
Words: 1405 - Pages: 6
...theorist for each. Three major psychological perspectives are behavioral, sociocultural, and cognitive. The behavioral perspective views behavior as the result of environment experience. Environmental experience is basically all of a person’s life experiences that they have been subjected to in the past, and also the new experiences that will take part in their behavior. The behavioral perspective gained great momentum in the 20th century because it was a powerful tool in training, education, and industry. Critics claimed that behaviorism was dehumanizing. (John B. Watson, http://www.ccis.edu/, 5/17/13) and others conducted a thorough explication of Classical Conditioning and B. F. Skinner, responding somewhat to the critics of behaviorisms dehumanization, explained and expertly defended the processes of Operant Conditioning. Basically based off of a person’s environment will depict the way that they may behave. The cognitive perspective focuses mainly on the cognitive processes that are involved in learning, also on how a person’s brain works. It’s a form of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as a person’s perception, their thinking, their language, memory, problem solving and creativity. Cognitive psychologists focus mainly on how a person understands things, or how they solve problems, while also involving themselves that mediates between stimulus and response. Cognitive psychology has become associated with computer information processing...
Words: 765 - Pages: 4
...Cognitive Processes Associated With Language Gwendolyn Spillman, University of Phoenix Cognitive Psychology PSYCH/640 Gaston Weisz March 21, 2014 Cognitive Processes Associated With Language Language is a cognitive function that most humans take for granted. The basic means of communication among individuals is through language. Language allows people to communicate with each other, share his or her thoughts and feelings, share ideas and concepts, fears, and affirmations. Different cultures have different languages as well as vocabulary and grammatically components that each one understands. The goal of this paper is to explain what language is and the many methods behind it, the cognitive process of perception and how it affects language, and the cognitive process of language comprehension. Cognitive Processes Associated with Comprehension There are three processes concerning the cognitive processes associated with language comprehension. These processes begin with the perceptual processes that encode spoken or written words (Anderson, 2010). Parsing is the second stage, in which people try to extract as much information from every word in order to put meaning to a sentence. Individuals will use syntactic cues, such as word order to arrive at an interpretation of a sentence (Anderson, 2010). When sentences contain ambiguity, people will use the principle of minimal attachment to help them interpret a sentence. This is a process where a person will choose an interpretation...
Words: 775 - Pages: 4
...INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (McLeod, 2015) Psychodynamic approach includes human functioning that drives within the unconscious and between different structures of personality. The understanding of human behaviour is called ‘psychoanalysis’. (Freud, 1939), the father of psychology, assumed that mental illnesses wasn’t something to be treated medically but by what has come to be known as psychodynamic therapy. He advocated that the unconscious mind could influence the mental illness whilst recovering (Cardwell, 1996). This approach to psychoanalysis is demonstrated in his treatment of Anna O. Freud assumed that mental illnesses wasn’t something to be treated medically but by therapy. He implicated that unconscious mind could influence the mental illness whilst recovering (Cardwell, 1996). He diagnosed her illness as hysteria and developed a form of therapy to treat her symptoms (Webster, 2015). (Cardwell, 2004) Freud compared the mind to an iceberg with the water above being the conscious and the water beneath the unconscious part of the mind. The id - the primary part of personality follows pleasure and gratification, and dominates the unconscious part of the mind. Ego - driven by reality principles and penalties of an action dominates the conscious mind. Superego contains conscience and guilt, and also dwells mostly in the conscious mind. The superego develops as we become aware of societal rules. (Cardwell, 1996) According to Freud we have two drives which are sex and...
Words: 3310 - Pages: 14
...A true cognitive process, as general consensus presupposes, involves certain biological processes- more specifically the processes that occur within the brain. Namely, a process that involves three steps; encoding, consolidation, and retrieval- the way of the common individual. A template to which, if a process is not in sync with is considered synthetic. Equally in importance, the inferences one draws upon while consolidating these memories or rather methods of storing information are further scrutinized as being false. An inference entails a certain formality, particularly a system which involves memories of past information (which are subject to being accessed at anytime) and the utilization of such information to reach a certain assertion....
Words: 1542 - Pages: 7
...Chapel Hill acrystal@email.unc.edu Beth Ellington School of Information and Library Science University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill elliv@email.unc.edu ABSTRACT In this paper we critically review task analysis models and techniques. These approaches to task analysis are discussed in order to develop a richer picture of human activity, while analyzing their limitations, general weaknesses, and possibilities for improvement. We consider their ability to determine the appropriate set of atomic actions in a task, their effect on workers’ motivational needs, their support of users’ cognitive and sociocultural processes, and their effectiveness in supporting interface design. We note that the major approaches have focused on very different levels of analysis, and call for greater integration of these different levels in task analysis theory. Keywords Task analysis, cognitive modeling, activity theory. INTRODUCTION Practitioners and researchers routinely advocate building user-centered systems which enable people to reach their goals, take account of natural human limitations, and generally are intuitive, efficient and pleasurable to use (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). Central to the design of such systems is a clear understanding of what users actually want to do: What are their tasks? What is the nature of those tasks? Many techniques have been proposed to help answer these questions. Task analysis techniques are particularly important because they...
Words: 5335 - Pages: 22
...Bjorklund, D. (Ed.). (2013). Children's strategies: Contemporary views of cognitive development. Psychology Press. Introduction The text by Bjorklund (B.D.) breaks down the views of the children of the world and the stages of cognitive development and how it has been most and least effective when the developing child has shown some type of reaction. Method B.D. took a group of school aged children (five years to nine years of age) and divided them into what he believe to be the correct development groupings. He did so without any prior knowledge based on their educational backgrounds or scores. After having them answer a series of questionnaires, he looked at the results and found the results startling. They laid out that just because a child is the same age as another child, doesn’t mean that he/she is necessarily on the same cognitive plane that the other’s would be. Results The results were pretty straight forward, with the children of the same ages not all being on the same cognitive level as the all others their age, those leveled the same are put were put in groups and much more effective learning happened. Almost 100% of student showed positive improvement once bunched in with others suffering from the same learning disorder or simply not yet developed into a cognitive level he or she is supposed to reach at their current age. Abstract During the last 25 years, research into cognitive grouping and development has come a long way in determining what level a...
Words: 352 - Pages: 2
...Cognitive Psychology Psych 560 May 20, 2013 Prof. Pitt Cognitive Psychology The brain is one of the major faculties that provide sense to human life. The numerous and various abilities of the human brain are truly amazing. However, although it is a common thought that man may think extraordinarily, human emotions have great influence to how human beings think, and use his brains. It is the reason why any activity facilitated or performed by the brain is called a mental processes or cognition. Cognition refers to the process that involves mental or cognitive ability such as in learning, comprehension, judging, thinking, problem-solving, remembering and recalling (Kendra, 2011). Neisser (2009) defined cognition as the “act of knowing, and cognitive psychology is the study of all human activities related to knowledge”. (Page 1) Cognitive psychology is a part of the larger field of cognitive science and is related to various disciplines in psychology such as neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy. The main thrust of cognitive psychology is how the people acquire, store and process information. Compared with other dominant approaches in psychology for example, the behaviorism approach which is concerned with the observable behaviors, the cognitive approach focuses on internal mental states. Unlike psychoanalysis which is focused on subjective perceptions, the cognitive psychology...
Words: 1201 - Pages: 5
...of Cognitive Psychology as a Discipline PSYCH560/Cognitive Psychology December 3rd 2011 Evolution of Cognitive Psychology as a Discipline Cognition Cognition is typically referred to as the procedure of obtaining, retaining, using and applying information or knowledge. It can sometimes be defined as the science of knowing. Cognition “refers to all processes by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used” (Neisser, 1967). When defined broadly, cognition includes the processing of emotions; however, if defined narrowly, it excludes emotion processing. Cognition includes all the mental processes. For example, attaining knowledge and understanding, thinking, remembering, assuming, perceiving, judging and even analytical problem-solving are all part of cognition. Given such a comprehensive definition, it is evident that cognition is concerned in everything a human being might probably do; every psychological experience is a cognitive experience. However, although cognitive psychology is related to all human activity rather than a few segments of it, the apprehension is that it is from a specific point of view yet other viewpoints are evenly justifiable and essential. The Interdisciplinary Perspective & Emergence of Cognitive Psychology As well as being part of psychology as a whole, cognitive psychology is also part of the more general interdisciplinary subject of cognitive science...
Words: 1097 - Pages: 5
...Cognitive Dissonance: Abortion Individuals are social by nature and can be influenced by various factors when making choices. An individual is capable of feeling the pressure from family, peers, and community. An individual may also believe that doing something like cheating is acceptable if in the end one obtains the desire result. An individual may experience an internal exchange of ideas and problems when making a decision how to find the way through a complicated decision. Individuals may also negotiate and barter with their divine beliefs to feel at ease when making a decision to behave in an unpleasant and moral way. Cognitive dissonance theory is extremely active in this stage of disagreement, when an individual is in a state of moral conflict the theory is applied to regulate, find a balance, and to have peace of mind (Benoit, 2012). Individuals come upon countless situations throughout life when a complicated decision must be made; often times a person will even go against spiritual and moral beliefs when sensing external pressure. Moral and cognitive maturity along with a strong sense of self will assist on a logical decision. Identify the Situation Individual Consciously Made in a Behavior that Violated Cognitions Since the beginning of time, man expands all his mental facilities and physical limitations to discover the meaning of life and search to discover, when life begins. Physicians, scholars, theologians, and lay people have spent...
Words: 1626 - Pages: 7
...Language Essay Ryan Butler Psychology 360 August 29, 2011 Professor Newlin LANGUAGE Have you ever wondered how we speak? How about why our communication is considered a language and other animal’s communication is not considered language? A wide range of beliefs exist on what defines language. Thus, by exploring the definition of language and lexicon, evaluating language’s key features, the four levels of language structure and processing, and the role of language in Cognitive Psychology, an understanding of what language is becomes clear. Let us begin by defining language and a term named lexicon. LANGUAGE AND LEXICON DEFINITION One big question, when the subject of language comes up, is exactly what language is. What constitutes something as a language? By explaining one definition of a language, and a term associated with language, called a lexicon, a definition of language transpires. Thus, the Willingham (2007) text mentions four certain characteristics communication must possess to, officially, be considered a language. One of these characteristics is that language must be communicative, and thus be communication between individuals in some form or another. Secondly, the symbols standing for words must be arbitrary, and thus have no reason for representing a word. Third, a language must be structured, and not arbitrary. For example, if I say a dog was walking on a sidewalk I cannot say a sidewalk was walking on a dog. etc. Fourth, a language must be...
Words: 1420 - Pages: 6
...Issue Analysis: Cognitive Dissonance PSYCH/555 April 22, 2013 Dr. Keisha Anthony Issue Analysis: Cognitive Dissonance “Festinger's (1957) cognitive dissonance theory suggests that we have an inner drive to hold all our attitudes and beliefs in harmony and avoid disharmony (or dissonance)” (McLeod, 2008). Issue 5: Does Cognitive Dissonance Explain Why Behavior Can Change Attitudes debates the cognitive dissonance theory with one of the authors challenging the theory by claiming that self-perception is a better explanation as to why people behave differently once they have acted outside of their norm as most people try to find some sort of consistency between their actions and their attitudes. Consonant and dissonant cognitions both affect the attitude on opposite ends of a spectrum. As with consonant cognitions the behavior matches the attitude and with dissonant cognitions have behaviors that conflict with their attitudes. One of the most powerful influences on attitude change is the motivation of people to maintain that consistency between their attitudes and behaviors. Although the cognitive dissonance theory is studied and utilized by psychologists all over the world, there are some who reject this theory and believe that self-perception is what enables people to decide on their attitudes, emotions, and behaviors because they are able to cast judgment upon themselves based on their behavior in different situations. Summary of both Arguments in Issue 5 Festinger...
Words: 1476 - Pages: 6
