WHS AP Psychology

Unit 6: Cognition

Essential Task 6-1: Define cognition and identify how the following interact to form our cognitive life: schemata/concepts, prototypes, assimilation, accommodation, effortful processing, and unconscious processing.

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Unit 6:

CognitionUnit 6:

Cognition

Problem Solving

Techniques

Problem Solving

Techniques

Decision Making

Techniques

Decision Making

Techniques

Acquisition and use of Language

Acquisition and use of Language

HeuristicsAlgorithms Compensatory Models

Biological Factors

Cognitive Factors

Representativeness Heuristic

Availability Heuristic

Cultural Factors

MemoryMemory

Obstacles to Decision Making

Obstacles to Problem Solving

Information Processing

Model

StorageEncoding Retrieval

Essential Task 6-1:

• Cognition definition• Identify how the following interact to

form our cognitive life: – schemata/concepts– prototypes – Assimilation & Accommodation– effortful processing & unconscious

processing

Outline

Cognition Definition

Cognition, or thinking, refers to a process that involves knowing, understanding, remembering,

problem solving and communicating.

Purposeful!

Cognitive Psychology

Cognition involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below. 1. Concepts

2. Problem solving3. Decision making4. Judgment formation5. Language6. Memory

Schema or Concept

The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of

chairs but their common features make up your CHAIR schema

Chair Schema Characteristics?

• Furniture• Seat• Four Legs• Back• Arms• Sits one person• Cushioned• Made of wood

Category Hierarchies

We organize concepts into category hierarchies.

Courtesy of C

hristine Brune

Schemata can get fuzzy

• Is a whale a mammal?• Are penguins and kiwis birds?• Are 17 year old people children or

adults• People more easily detect male

prejudice against females than female against males or female against female

Can I read your mind?

1. State a color.2. Name or draw a triangle.3. List the first type of motor vehicle that comes to

mind.4. Write a sentence5. Give me a hero.6. Describe a heroic act7. Game8. Philosopher9. Writer10. Pop Star

I gave schemata and tried to predict prototypes.1. red or blue2. a picture of an equilateral triangle3. a car4. a short declarative statement, e.g., “The boy an

home.”5. Superman, Batman, or possibly a fireman6. a single act by a male, e.g. a rescue by a fireman7. monopoly or some other board game8. Socrates or Aristotle9. Stephen King, or some other white male author10. Spears or Tay Swift

Prototypes

A prototype is the BEST example or cognitive representation of something within a certain schema or concept.

SchemaList characteristics that make a place a college or university.

PrototypeNow list a specific college that BEST represents or embodies those characteristics.

Categories

Once we place an item in a category, our memory shifts toward the category prototype.

A computer generated face that was 70 percentCaucasian led people to classify it as Caucasian.

Courtesy of O

liver Corneille

Schema

• Developmental Psychologist Jean Piaget believed that children develop and modify schema by two processes:

•Assimilation

•Accommodation

• Assimilation incorporates new experiences into existing mental structures and behaviors

• Example: a toddler who has a chocolate lab at home would also incorporate Dalmatians into her schema of dog.

Assimilation

Accommodation

• Accommodation occurs when a child’s theories are modified based on an experience

• Example- The baby with a theory of dogs is surprised the first time she sees a cat- it resembles a dog, but meows instead of barks and rubs up against her rather thank licking

• The baby must REVISE her previous theory to include this new kind of animal

Why is this process important?

• As adaptation continues, the child organizes his/her schemata into more complex mental representations, linking one schema with another.