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 formed
2. Antithesis formed
3. Synthesis occurs



Dialectical Progression - Example

1. Thesis formed - Nature
2. Antithesis formed - Nurture
3. Synthesis occurs - Interaction b/w nature and nurture

History of Psychology Philosophical Influences

Ancient Greeks
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) credited as being the first
empiricist
empiricism - knowledge via observation
tabula rasa blank slate

rationalism knowledge via logical reasoning
(Plato, 428-348 B.C.)
Associationism - how ideas become associated in the mind
First associationist - Aristotle

Classic View of Association
Aristotle
Hobbes, Locke, Mill

1. We form mental associations
We 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 Psychology
classical conditioning
- learn association b/w CS and US
operant 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

1600s
Descartes - 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 the
universe.
later validated by Galileo and Newton
Psychology as an independent discipline

Wundt
1
st
laboratory - 1879 Leipzig, Germany
1
st
Journal in Psychology
5400 pages in articles and books



Psychology as an independent discipline

Titchner
student of Wundt
championed structuralism
- introspection
Schools of Psychology - Structuralism

Structuralism attempt to break down conscious perception
into its basic elements.
Introspection technique
Titchner
Schools of Psychology - Structuralism

Structuralism attempt to dissect perception into elements
Introspection 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




kug
bap
fob
lep
dup
etc.
savings
score
Schools of Psychology Functionalism

William James Harvard
Principles of Psychology (1890)
Still in print!

Functionalism focus is on the functions of the mind
influenced by Darwins theory

Natural Selection nature selects

How did the functions of the mind help us survive?

attention
memory
consciousness
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 it
Behavior is the proper subject matter for psychology.
The mind is not.
Logical positivism All knowledge should be expressed
by statements that are directly verifiable.

Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Law of Effect
Schools of Psychology Behaviorism

Watson (1913) Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it
Behavior 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 conditioning
Law 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. Chomskys critique of Skinners 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 Skinners 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 specialization
Quillian (1968) coins semantic memory
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) propose memory model
Sternberg establishes RT as important DV
Cognitive Psychology the 70s

Meyer and Schvaneveldt (1971) semantic priming
Craik and Lockhart (1972) levels of processing
Collins, Quillian, Loftus spreading activation
Baddeley proposes STWM model
Loftus and Palmer (1974) car accident study
Tversky and Kahneman heuristics and decision making
McClelland (1979) cascadic processing
Tulving encoding specificity
Cognitive Psychology the 80s

Implicit Memory Schacter, Roediger, Squire, Jacoby
Modularity of Mind Fodor (1983)
McClelland and Rumelhart interactive activation
Seidenberg and McClelland (1989) PDP
Current Trends

1. The study of the brain is big
2. Connectionism is big
Current Trends

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

cognitive psychology
linguistics
computer science
neurology
and more
Current Trends

1. The study of the brain is big
2. Connectionism is big
3. Cognitive Science interdisciplinary approach
4. Applications of Cognitive Psychology

Current Trends

1. The study of the brain is big
2. Connectionism is big
3. Cognitive Science interdisciplinary approach
4. Applications of Cognitive Psychology
Testing Effect

Control Study 1 Study 2 Final Test
Experimental Study 1 Test Final Test

The End of History of Cognitive Psychology