History of Cognitive Psychology
History of Cognitive Psychology
Presentism – evaluation in terms of current knowledge
1984 Orange Bowl
Historicism – evaluation in terms of what was known at the time
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
1st laboratory - 1879 Leipzig, Germany
1st 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 Darwin’s 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. Chomsky’s critique of Skinner’s 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 Skinner’s 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
Experimental
Study 1
Study 1
Study 2
Test
Final Test
Final Test
The End of History of Cognitive Psychology