Midterm 1 Slides Flashcards
-The development of the computer in the 1950s and 1960s had a strong influence on psychology and led to the rapid emergence of Cognitive Psychology
-The computer gave cognitive psychologists a metaphor comparing human mental processing to the manner in which a computer operates.
-Cognitive Psychology treats the mind as an information-processing machine
-Valuable strategy, but not perfect
Rise of Cognitivism
Incoming information——>Sensory memory —–> Working Memory—-> Long-Term Memory
Cognitive Model of Human Processing
(describes intellectual funtioning)
Treating the mind as a symbolic information processor has its limitations
-Emotion and motivation often left out or underrepresented in cognitive models of intellectual functioning
-Cognitivism
Limitations of Cognitivism
Human thinking is fully objective, mechanical, rational, and cold
Cognitivism
Why did Kasparov win?
-Motivation to win
- Emotional Capacity to feel
Adaptive/Self-Regulation
-Flexible learning
-Self-Correction
(Human thinking is adaptive, grows and learns over time)
Limitation 1 of Cognitivism
Cognitivism models are often described to have performance limits or constraints
-Miller’s Law
-In real, levels of intellectual functioning are typically not an invariant property of a cognitive system, but depend on one’s emotional states
-Kasparov mentioned he was ‘energized’ by the high-stakes game and associated pressure
(Human thinking begins in an intimate association with emotion and feelings which is never entirely lost)
Limitation 2 of Cognitivism
-Cognitive models do not incorporate subjective experience, consciousness, intentionality and reflectivity
-People not only feel, strive, and know, but also know, and can anticipate further feeling, striving and knowing
-People monitor and reflect upon their own experience, knowledge, and mental functioning in past, present, and future tenses
(Inability to include human phenomenological (ie subjective) experiences as a legitimate (and often essential) for higher-order mental functions)
Limitation 3 of Cognitivism
How affect and motivation support or impede higher mental functions at the brain level
Neurobiological level (better perspectives of intellectual functioning)
Various motivational, emotional and cognitive constructs, such as surprise, volition, intention, expectancy, planning are incorporated in cognitive models of human thinking and behavior
Behavioral level (better perspectives of intellectual functioning)
A person’s subjective conscious experiences, including bodily sensations and mental images and other perceptions and cognitions such as desired outcomes, current concerns, intentionally and the self are incorporated in cognitive models on human thinking
Phenomenological level (better perspectives of intellectual functioning)
Knowledge=Cognition
Feeling-Emotion/Affect
Desire=Motivation
Three absolutely irreducible faculties of the mind (Immanuel Kant)
-Cognition: Thoughts and reasoning related to information processing
-Emotion: Feelings such as anger and happiness that signal emotional relationships
Motivation: Urges and desires that direct the individual
Trilogy of the Mind
Urges and desires that direct the individual (need or drive for fulfillment)
-Biological (Primary ie Hunger/Thirst)
-Social (Secondary ie Achievement)
-Personal (ie Habits)
Motivation
The desire to achieve some goal. Sometimes inspired by observing others being successful
Achievement Motive
The motive to react aggressively when faced frustrations such as being obstructed from reaching a goal
Agressive Motive
The need to have an impact on and influence others
Power Motive
The need for acquisition of material property (money or goods)
Acquisitive Motive
The drive to explore and know new things
Curiosity Motive
The need for affiliation and a tendency to associate oneself with other members of a group
Gregariousness Motive
Habits act as drivers and compel the person to perform the act. They motivate the individual to indulge in that action automatically
Habit Motive
Broad goals (goals that last over a long period of time) that motivate the individual to act and fufill
Life Goals
The effort one is willing to put into reaching a goal. Aspirations also define experienced satisfaction upon goal fulfillment (individual differences)
Aspirations
Describes the individual differences in what motivate us. Different individuals are differently motivated
Attitudes and Interests
Concerns behavior driven by intrinsic desires. The motivation to engage behavior that comes from within the individual rather than from without
Intrinsic Motivation
Refers to behavior that is driven by external rewards or punishment. Can be both rewards-based and fear-based
Extrinsic Motivation
CET is designed to explain the effects of extrinsic factors on intrinsic motivation
The theory postulates that:
-Extrinsic rewards can decrease intrinsic motivation
-Extrinsic reward decrease overall motivation (initially defined by intrinsic motivation)
-Caused by a loss of autonomy due to the introduction of external factors
-‘Locus of control’ goes from internal to external
Cognitive Evaluation Theory
-Prize condition(winners and losers)
-No-Prize Condition (winners and losers)
-Prized winners reported lower enjoyment
-Attributed their win to the external factor of rewards changing the perceived autonomy and locus of control
-This in turn reduced internal motivation and reduced perceived enjoyment
Evidence for CET: Team Building exercise study
-Teaching 24 girls (12-13 years) that weren’t exposed to track and field
-10 week course
-Perceived Autonomy Perceived Competence and Intrinsic Motivations (IM) measured after each sessions
-Two different teaching style: ‘Direct’ and ‘Differentiated’
Evidence for CET: Teaching Track and Field
- A differentiated teaching style led to higher intrinsic motivation
-Higher intrinsic motivation was associated with an increased perceived autonomy
-Likewise perceived competence led to higher IM scores
-Evidenced for locus of control CET explanation (When involved in decision making and when self-reported competence is higher, intrinsic motivation increases.
Results for Teaching Track and Field Study
-Some studies have found changes in intrinsic motivation without changes in perceived locus of control and perceived confidence
-One study found that college student rewarded with money after a task reported internal attributions of control
-Another study found that participants preferred to replay games in which they previously experienced high suspense but low perceived competence over games in which which previously experienced high perceived competence but low suspense
Evidence Against the CET
-Qualitatively difference motivational frameworks, driven by people’s beliefs and goals, that affect basic attentional and cognitive processes
-Not a singular construct
-Interacts with cognition in a varying manner, changing intellectual functioning depending on the motivational framework applied by an individual
Current View on Motivation
The goal of validating one’s ability through one’s performance
-The goal of looking smart, not dumb
-Aka ‘achievement goals’
Performance goal
The goal of increasing one’s ability
-The goal of getting smarter
Learning Goal
When students that intelligence is a is a fixed trait, it becomes critical to validate their fixed ability through their performance
Entity Theory of Intelligence
When students that intellectual skills can increase through their effort they become less concerned with how their abilities might be evaluated now, and more concerned with cultivating their abilities in the longer term
Incremental theory of intelligence
-Junior high school students were taught a challenging new unit
-Prior to the start of the unit students were assessed on their performance goals and learning goals
-unit dealt with scientific principles that cut across several types of problems
-Students were trained on one type of problem
-Were given a transfer test to see if the could apply the same principle to another type of problem
-To what extent does newly learning knowledge transfer when students set either PGs or LGs
Motivational Effects on Cognitive Strategies Study 1
Students with LGs vs PGs
-Both learned the initial material equally well but students with learning goals
-Produced significantly more written work during their attempts to transfer
-Tried more difference transfer strategies
-Were more successful in transferring the learned principles to the new task
Results of Motivational Effects on Cognitive Strategies Study 1
-Researches instilled different goals in late grade-school students as the embarked on a challenging concept-formation task
-The task was set up such that research could study rapid-changes in student’s problem solving ‘sophistication’
-They got more difficult as it progressed
-Half of children were led to believe that they had high ability and would probably do well on the upcoming task
-Half the children were led to believe they had lower ability at the task
Motivational Effects on Cognitive Strategies Study 2
-Students with learning goals versus performance goals:
-Both groups of students initially were equally good at solving the problems but as the problems became more difficult:
-Students with learning goals were able to maintain or even improve their problem- solving strategies over the failure trials, regardless of whether they believed that had high or low ability at the task
-Unless students believed that had high ability those with performance goals showed a steep decline in the sophistication of their problem-solving strategies over the failure trials
Results of Motivational Effects on Cognitive Strategies Study 2
Students with learning goals reported engaging in deeper processing of educational learning materials (outlining materials summarizing, integrating information over units
-Predicative of higher grades
Do people with learning goals approach learning materials differentially?
METHODS:
-Late grade-school students succeded on the first set of moderately difficult problems of a non verbal test
-Though the type of praise they were given, students were oriented towards learning goals or performance goals
-The students were then faced with much more difficult problems
RESULTS
-Those oriented toward learning goals performed better on the difficult problems
-Those oriented toward learning goals carried over their benefit to a third set of problems (ie equivalent in difficulty to the first set)
-LG students did significantly better than PG students on the third set as well.
-Those with performance goals after encountering difficulty, performed worse on the third set than they had on the first
Do learning goals influence over existing intellectual abilities?
Coping mechanism that ensures goals are met and is responsible for directing for attention toward goal- relevant information and away from goal-irrelevant theory
Executive control network
-Selective attention leads to facilitated processing of information
-This normally leads to observable differences (faster reaction times, higher accuracy, deeper processing)
-Entity Theory/Performance goals (Ability-relevant feedback) focus on different info than incremental theory/Learning goals (Learning-relevant feedback)
-Focusing attention on information underlying these different theories/goals, may lead to observable differences in behavior and underlying mental processes
Logic Behind Attentional Experiments (Electrophysiological Approach)
Connected with students from an elite university and was concerned with:
-the issue of why African American students with strong academic skills nonetheless underperform in such settings
-Whether providing these students with an incremental theory about their intelligence would prove beneficial
METHODS:
African American and Caucasian participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups
-Group 1: Received training in incremental theories were randomly assigned to one of three groups
-Group 2(control) Received no training
-Group 3 (control): Taught the idea that intelligence leads to different abilities that one should mot worry if not successful in one ability…there are always others
(not incremental)
Educational Interventions (Study)
Predictions:
-Both set of students should benefit from training on incremental theory by AA students more so
-Due to being more often the object of negative stereotypes concerning intellectual ability
-Stereotype Threat
-Entity Theory would emphasize this
-Incremental Theory may diffuse threat by portraying skills as acquirable over time making threat less potant
Predictions of Educational Interventions (Study)
In terms of academic performance:
-The two control groups did not differ and the group receiving the incremental intervention looked significantly better than both
-Those who had received training in the incremental theory reported greater enjoyment of their academic work (studying test-taking) and greater valuing of academic in general
-The gains were largest for the AA students, but they were also apparent for Caucasian students
CONCLUSION:
-Study dramatically demonstrates that a motivational analysis can have strong implications for education and indeed for any endeavor involving skilled performance
I-s a strong educational advantage for informing students about incremental theories of cognitive abilities (intelligence) and by providing students with a mindset that impinges a feeling of high ability
Results of Educational Interventions (Study)
