PARADIGMS OF COGNITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY
By Balaji Niwlikar
https://www.careershodh.com/
1
Introduction
Cognitive psychology –
Branch of psychology that studies mental processes including
how people think, perceive, remember, and learn. Cognitive
psychology sees the individual as a processor of information.
Term ‘ cognitive psychology’ in the book
by Ulric Neisser in 1967.
"a typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model” .
A body of knowledge structured according to what its proponents
consider important .
It include the assumptions investigators make in studying a
phenomenon.
It specifys what kinds of experimental methods & measures are
appropriate for an investigation.
Thus intellectual frameworks that guide investigators in studying
and understanding phenomena.
https://www.careershodh.com/
2
PARADIGMS OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Paradigms that cognitive psychologists use in
planning and executing their research.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Information Processing Approach(1960-70s)
The Connectionist Approach- (1980s)
The Evolutionary Approach
The Ecological Approach
https://www.careershodh.com/
3
Information Processing Approach
https://www.careershodh.com/
4
INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH
It arose in the 1940s and 1950s, after World War II (Sternberg & Sternberg, 2012).
Goal - to understanding human thinking in relation to how they process the same
kind of information as computers (Shannon & Weaver, 1963).
Used the computer metaphor.
Dominate in 1960 & 70s.
Rooted in structuralism, in that its followers attempt to identify the basic
capacities and processes we use in cognition.
The approach treats cognition as essentially computational in nature, with
being the
and the
being the
.
The information processing approach in psychology is closely allied to
in philosophy;
It is also related, though not identical, to cognitivism in psychology and
functionalism in philosophy (Horst, 2011).
https://www.careershodh.com/
5
INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH
“ boxes-and-arrows” models of cognition
In information-processing models, cognition is
typically assumed to occur
This approach focuses researchers on the
functional aspects of cognition— what kinds of
processes are used toward what ends.
information processors look to computer science
Tools used experimental and quasi-experimental
techniques in their investigations.
https://www.careershodh.com/
6
INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH
Cognition can be thought as information(what we see,
hear, read ,think about ) passing through a system.
Assumption-
Information is processed(received, stored, transferred, retrieval,etc)
in stages.
Peoples cognitive abilities=systems of interrelated capacities
(different attention spans, memory capacities, and language skills).
people, like computers, are symbol manipulators
Goal-
To determine the stages & storage places are and how they work.
To find the relationships between these capacities, to explain how
individuals go about performing specific cognitive tasks.
https://www.careershodh.com/
7
INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH
https://www.careershodh.com/
8
INFORMATION PROCESSING
APPROACH
Information processing model: The Working Memory-
It must pass through three stages of mental
processing; sensory memory, short-term memory,
and long-term memory.
Working Memory Model(Baddedely)It includes the central executive, phonologic loop,
episodic buffer , visuospatial sketchpad, verbal
information, long term memory, and visual
information (Sternberg & Sternberg, 2012)
https://www.careershodh.com/
9
INFORMATION PROCESSING
APPROACH
Cognitive development theory-
–
During the sensorimotor stage, newborns and toddlers rely
on their senses for information processing to which they
respond with reflexes.
The preoperational stage, children learn through imitation
and remain unable to take other people’ s point of view.
The concrete operational stage is characterized by the
developing ability to use logic and to consider multiple
factors to solve a problem.
formal operational, in which preadolescents and
adolescents begin to understand abstract concepts and to
develop the ability to create arguments and counter
argument.
https://www.careershodh.com/
10
INFORMATION PROCESSING
APPROACH
Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Three different components: creative, analytical,
and practical abilities(Sternberg & Sternberg, 2012)
He says that information processing is made up of
three different parts,
◦ Metacomponent(planning and evaluating problems)s,
◦ performance components(follow the orders of the
metacomponents), and
◦ knowledge-acquisition components (learns how to solve
the problems).
https://www.careershodh.com/
11
The Connectionist Approach
in the 1980s, as alternative
Connectionism or
cognition as a network of connections among
simple (and usually numerous) processing units
(McClelland, 1988). =neural networks
connectionist models assume that cognitive
processes occur in
connectionists look to cognitive neuropsychology
and cognitive neuroscience for information to help
them construct their theories and models
https://www.careershodh.com/
12
https://www.careershodh.com/
13
The Evolutionary Approach
Our most significant cognitive abilities
-Ability to perceive three-dimensional objects correctly
and the ability to understand and produce language.
Is it easy to program these abilities in computers. ???
Like other animal minds, the human mind is a biological
system, one that has evolved over generations- laws of
natural selection. (Cosmides & Tooby, 2002; Richerson
& Boyd, 2000).
We understand a system best if we understand the
evolutionary pressures on our ancestors.
people have special-purpose mechanisms (including
cognitive mechanisms) specific to a certain context or
class of problems (Cosmides and Tooby , 2002)
Ex. grammar acquisition, mate acquisition, food
aversion, way finding
https://www.careershodh.com/
14
The Evolutionary Approach
Explaining how a system of reasoning works, they
believe, is much easier if we understand how
evolutionary forces shaped the system in certain
directions rather than other ,equally valid ones.
Ex- creating and enforcing social contracts.
To do this, people must be especially good at
reasoning about costs and benefits, and be able to
detect cheating in a social exchange .
Therefore, evolutionary psychologists predict that
people’ s reasoning will be especially enhanced when
they are reasoning about cheating.
The evolutionary approach centers on questions of how
a cognitive system or function has evolved over
generations.
https://www.careershodh.com/
15
The Ecological Approach
Lave (1988) described the results of the Adult Math
Project as “ an observational and experimental
investigation of everyday arithmetic practices”
(2x2)+ (1x3) =?
Irappa ate 4 apple & Leena ate 10 apple, How many ice
creams did the two of them have together?”
The ecological approach stresses the need to consider
the context of any cognitive process to understand
more completely how that process functions in the real
world.
Overlap --psychologists+anthropologists+evolutionaristFocus-all cognitive activities are shaped by the culture
and by the context in which they occur.
https://www.careershodh.com/
16
The Ecological Approach
A major proponent of this viewpoint was J. J. Gibson ,whose
work on perception
It influences of both the functionalist and the Gestalt
schools on the ecological approach
Functionalists - the purposes performed by cognitive
processes,
Gestalt psychology’ s - the context surrounding any
experience is likewise compatible with the ecological
approach.
Matters -Personal experience, goals, interests, and practical
daily living
Tools-- thus this tradition relies less on laboratory
experiments or computer simulations and more on
naturalistic observation and field studies to explore cognition.
The ecological approach stresses the need to consider the
context of any cognitive process to understand more
completely how that process functions in the real world.
https://www.careershodh.com/
17
References:Galotti,K.M.(2004).Cognitive Psychology: In and
Out of the Laboratory, Fourth Edition. Thomson
Wadsworth.
https://www.careershodh.com/
18