PSYC*2650 Chapter 1: The Science of the Mind

Question 1

What is cognitive psychology?

Answer 1

The scientific study of the acquisition, retention, and use of knowledge

Question 2

Explain the case of H.M, presented in chapter 1?

Answer 2

• Had surgery to control severe epilepsy
• Lost the ability to form new memories
• Able to remember everything from before surgery

Question 3

What does it mean to study something empirically?

Answer 3

To study it through experimentation and observation

Question 4

What is introspection?

Answer 4

A method in which people observe and record the content of their own mental lives and experiences

Question 5

Who proposed introspection?

Answer 5

Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Bradford Titchener

Question 6

What three things were involved in the “training” of introspectors?

Answer 6

• Given vocabulary to describe their observations
• Taught to be as complete as possible
• Report their experiences with the least amount of interpretation possible

Question 7

What are two limits of introspection?

Answer 7

• Some thoughts are unconscious
• The testability of claims is often unattainable

Question 8

What is the focus of functionalism?

Answer 8

Understanding the function of the mind rather than its structure

Question 9

What is the focus of behaviourism?

Answer 9

How behaviour changes in response to various stimuli

Question 10

What was the central tenant of behaviourism?

Answer 10

Responses to stimuli (behaviour) are learned through association, rewards, and punishment (classical and operant conditioning)

Question 11

What is a limit of behaviourism?

Answer 11

Behaviour is guided by the interpretation of a situation, not the objective situation itself

Question 12

Which aspect of behaviour is often misunderstood when behaviourists focus only on the objective situation?

Answer 12

The reasoning behind the behaviour

Question 13

What model of study did Immanual Kant propose?

Answer 13

The Transcendental Method

Question 14

What is involved in the transcendental method of study?

Answer 14

Begin with observable facts and work backwards to infer the best explanation

Question 15

Which method of study was the intellectual foundation of the cognitive revolution?

Answer 15

Transcendental Method

Question 16

What did Ulric Neisser contribute to cognitive psychology?

Answer 16

• Wrote a book called “cognitive psychology”, giving the field its name
• often referred to as the father of cognitive psychology

Question 17

What did Edward Tolman argue about learning?

Answer 17

Argued that learning involved the acquisition of new knowledge rather than simply a change in behaviour

Question 18

Which theory did Noah Chomsky argue against?

Answer 18

Skinner’s theory of Behaviourism and language acquisition

Question 19

According to Chomsky, what does Skinner’s theory fail to explain?

Answer 19

The creativity and flexibility of language

Question 20

What did Gestalt psychologists argue about understanding behaviours, ideas, and perceptions?

Answer 20

Behaviours, ideas, and perceptions can only be understood as part of a “whole”, rather than element-by-element

Question 21

Which central theme of modern cognitive psychology did Gestalt psychology influence?

Answer 21

That perceivers shape their own experience

Question 22

What did Fredric Bartlett claim about the influence of people’s experiences?

Answer 22

That we shape and organize our own experiences into mental frameworks known as schemas

Question 23

What was Donald Broadbent’s contribution to cognitive psychology?

Answer 23

One of the earliest researchers to use the language of computer science in explaining human cognition

Question 24

What is cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 24

The study of the mental functioning of humans through close study of the brain and nervous system

Question 25

What is clinical neuropsychology?

Answer 25

The study of the brain trough cases of damage or illness to/of the brain

Question 26

What are neuroimaging techniques?

Answer 26

Non-invasive methods for examining the structure and activation patterns of a living brain

Question 27

What are the three central assumptions of cognitive psychology?

Answer 27

• Mental processes exist
• People are active information processors
• Mental processes can be studies scientifically

Question 28

What is the most common measure of behaviour in cognitive psychology?

Answer 28

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