History of Cognitive Psychology

History of Cognitive Psychology

Presentism – evaluation in terms of current knowledge

Historicism – evaluation in terms of what was known at the time

1984 Orange Bowl

Dialectical Progression (Hegel, 1770-1831)

1. Thesis formed2. Antithesis formed3. Synthesis occurs

Dialectical Progression - Example

1. Thesis formed - Nature2. Antithesis formed - Nurture3. Synthesis occurs - Interaction b/w nature and nurture

History of Psychology – Philosophical Influences

Ancient GreeksAristotle (384-322 B.C.) – credited as being the first empiricist

empiricism - knowledge via observationtabula rasa – “blank slate”

rationalism – knowledge via logical reasoning (Plato, 428-348 B.C.)

Associationism - how ideas become associated in the mindFirst associationist - Aristotle

Classic View of AssociationAristotleHobbes, Locke, Mill

1. We form mental associationsWe associate things in terms of:1. similarity - (cats and dogs)2. dissimilarity - (hot and cold)3. closeness in time - (lightning and thunder)

2. During thought, one memory leads to another- thinking of cats will make you think of dogs

Rich History of Association in Psychologyclassical conditioning

- learn association b/w CS and USoperant conditioning

- learn association b/w behavior and consequences

verbal learning- paired associate learning

semantic priming- related “primes” facilitate “targets”

false memory- critical lure is associated w/ list words

1600sDescartes - Rationalist

Locke - Empiricist

1700s - Kant

Argued that both rationalism and empiricism are important- dialectical synthesis

History of Psychology – Influence from Physiology

von Helmholtz (1821-1894) Broca (1824-1880) Wernicke (1848-1905)

Scientific Revolution (1550-1700)

Copernicus – discovered that the sun was the center of theuniverse.

later validated by Galileo and Newton

Psychology as an independent discipline

Wundt1st laboratory - 1879 Leipzig, Germany 1st Journal in Psychology5400 pages in articles and books

Psychology as an independent discipline

Titchner student of Wundtchampioned structuralism

- introspection

Schools of Psychology - Structuralism

Structuralism – attempt to break down conscious perceptioninto its basic elements.

Introspection – technique

Titchner

Schools of Psychology - Structuralism

Structuralism – attempt to dissect perception into elementsIntrospection – technique

introspection colors shapes size texture

Problems with Introspection

1. Subjective

2. The conscious mind does not have access to basic perceptual processes

meaning

sounds

letters

features

BOOK

Problems with Introspection

1. Subjective

2. The conscious mind does not have access to basic perceptual processes

3. The act of introspecting may change the experience itself

Early Memory Research – The Work of Ebbinghaus

- CVCs (KUG)- Relearning Task

kugbapfoblepdupetc.

savings score

Schools of Psychology – Functionalism

William James – HarvardPrinciples of Psychology (1890)

Still in print!

Functionalism – focus is on the functions of the mindinfluenced by Darwin’s theory

Natural Selection – nature selects

How did the functions of the mind help us survive?

attentionmemoryconsciousness

Schools of Psychology – Psychoanalytic Psychology

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Major Contribution – thoughts and behaviors can be influenced by unconscious processes.

Schools of Psychology – Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Theme - The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

1. We perceive objects the same despite different views

Schools of Psychology – Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt Theme - The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

1. We perceive objects the same despite different views

2. The mind fills in the gaps

Schools of Psychology – Behaviorism

Watson (1913) – Psychology as the Behaviorist Views itBehavior is the proper subject matter for psychology.The mind is not.

Logical positivism – All knowledge should be expressedby statements that are directly verifiable.

Classical conditioningOperant conditioning

Law of Effect

Schools of Psychology – Behaviorism

Watson (1913) – Psychology as the Behaviorist Views itBehavior is the proper subject matter for psychology.The mind is not.

"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, merchant-chief, and yes, even beggarman and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors" (Watson, 1930).

Schools of Psychology – Behaviorism

Operant conditioningLaw of Effect

behavior positive outcome = repeat

behavior negative outcome = do not repeat

E. Thorndike

Schools of Psychology – Behaviorism

Dominated experimental psychology b/w 1920 and 1960

Then psychologists started studying the mind again

Why?

1. Chomsky’s critique of Skinner’s book “Verbal Behavior”

2. The invention of the computer

3. WWII

History of Cognitive Psychology – The Winds of Change

1956 – Miller - STM

1959 – Chomsky reviews Skinner’s book

1959 – Selfridge - pandemonium theory

1960 – Sperling - iconic memory

1960 – Treisman - attention

Schools of Psychology – Cognitive Psychology

The study of the mind and mental processes.

What about Logical Positivism?

inference

Cognitive Psychology – later in the 60s

Roger Sperry – hemispheric specializationQuillian (1968) coins “semantic memory”Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) propose memory modelSternberg establishes RT as important DV

Cognitive Psychology – the 70s

Meyer and Schvaneveldt (1971) – semantic primingCraik and Lockhart (1972) – levels of processingCollins, Quillian, Loftus – spreading activationBaddeley proposes STWM modelLoftus and Palmer (1974) – car accident studyTversky and Kahneman – heuristics and decision makingMcClelland (1979) – cascadic processingTulving – encoding specificity

Cognitive Psychology – the 80s

Implicit Memory – Schacter, Roediger, Squire, JacobyModularity of Mind – Fodor (1983)McClelland and Rumelhart – interactive activationSeidenberg and McClelland (1989) – PDP

Current Trends

1. The study of the brain is big2. Connectionism is big

Current Trends

1. The study of the brain is big2. Connectionism is big 3. Cognitive Science – interdisciplinary approach

cognitive psychologylinguisticscomputer scienceneurologyand more

Current Trends

1. The study of the brain is big2. Connectionism is big 3. Cognitive Science – interdisciplinary approach4. Applications of Cognitive Psychology

Current Trends

1. The study of the brain is big2. Connectionism is big 3. Cognitive Science – interdisciplinary approach4. Applications of Cognitive Psychology

Testing Effect

Control Study 1 Study 2 Final TestExperimental Study 1 Test Final Test

The End of History of Cognitive Psychology