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.
Algorithms
Problem
Solving
Techniques
Representativeness
Heuristic
Compensatory
Models
Heuristics
We are
here
Decision
Making
Techniques
Availability
Heuristic
Unit 6:
Cognition
Obstacles to
Problem Solving
Obstacles to
Decision Making
Biological
Factors
Acquisition
and use of
Language
Information
Processing
Model
Memory
Encoding
Cognitive
Factors
Cultural
Factors
Storage
Retrieval
Essential
Task
6-1:
Outline
• Cognition definition
• Identify how the following interact to
form our cognitive life:
– schemata/concepts
– prototypes
– Assimilation & Accommodation
– effortful processing & unconscious
processing
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.
2.
3.
4.
Concepts
Problem solving
Decision making
Judgment
formation
5. Language
6. 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 Christine 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.
2.
3.
State a color.
Name or draw a triangle.
List the first type of motor vehicle that comes to
mind.
4. Write a sentence
5. Give me a hero.
6. Describe a heroic act
7. Game
8. Philosopher
9. Writer
10. Pop Star
I gave schemata and tried to predict
prototypes.
1.
2.
3.
4.
red or blue
a picture of an equilateral triangle
a car
a short declarative statement, e.g., “The boy an
home.”
5. Superman, Batman, or possibly a fireman
6. a single act by a male, e.g. a rescue by a fireman
7. monopoly or some other board game
8. Socrates or Aristotle
9. Stephen King, or some other white male author
10. Spears or Tay Swift
Prototypes
A prototype is the BEST example or
cognitive representation of
something within a certain schema
or concept.
Schema
List characteristics that
make a place a
college or university.
Prototype
Now 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.
Courtesy of Oliver Corneille
A computer generated face that was 70 percent
Caucasian led people to classify it as Caucasian.
Schema
• Developmental Psychologist Jean
Piaget believed that children
develop and modify schema by two
processes:
•Assimilation
•Accommodation
Assimilation
• 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.
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.