Introduction to Cognitive Analysis (Cathy)
Cognitive psychology concerns itself with the structure and functions of the mind. Cognitive neuroscience combines knowledge about the brain with knowledge about cognitive processes. Cognitive processes include perception, thinking, problem solving, memory, language, and attention. Cognition us based on one’s mental representations of the world, such as images, words and concepts. There are three fundamental principles of cognitive level of analysis;
1) Human beings are information processors, and mental processes guide behavior.
o Mind is like a complex machine, with the brain being hardware and mental representations being software.
o Information input to mind comes via bottom-up processing – that is from the sensory system. This information is processes in the mind by top-down processing via pre-stored information in the memory.
o There is a subtle relationship between how people think about themselves and how they behave.
o From social psychology we know that people who have fixed ideas about other people – this is called stereotyping – may be more prone to discriminate.
2) The mind can be studied scientifically by developing theories and using a number of scientific research methods.
o Cognitive psychologists have to a large extent used the experimental method because it was assumed to be the most scientific method.
o The experimental tasks did not always resemble what people did in their daily lives.
o Ulric Neisser said that cognitive psychology had become too artificial and that researchers should not forget that cognition cannot be isolated from our everyday experience.
o Cognitive psychologists now study cognition in the laboratory as well as in daily context.
3) Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors.
o British psychologist Frederic Bartlett, who coined the term schema, which is defined as a mental representation of knowledge.
o He found that people had problems remembering a story from another culture, and that they reconstructed the story to fit in with their own cultural schemas.
o He demonstrated that memory is not like a tape recorder, but rather that people remember in terms of meaning and what makes sense to the.
o Memory is subject to distortions, according to Bartlett, who showed how this principle could be investigated scientifically.
1) Human beings are information processors, and mental processes guide behavior.
o Mind is like a complex machine, with the brain being hardware and mental representations being software.
o Information input to mind comes via bottom-up processing – that is from the sensory system. This information is processes in the mind by top-down processing via pre-stored information in the memory.
o There is a subtle relationship between how people think about themselves and how they behave.
o From social psychology we know that people who have fixed ideas about other people – this is called stereotyping – may be more prone to discriminate.
2) The mind can be studied scientifically by developing theories and using a number of scientific research methods.
o Cognitive psychologists have to a large extent used the experimental method because it was assumed to be the most scientific method.
o The experimental tasks did not always resemble what people did in their daily lives.
o Ulric Neisser said that cognitive psychology had become too artificial and that researchers should not forget that cognition cannot be isolated from our everyday experience.
o Cognitive psychologists now study cognition in the laboratory as well as in daily context.
3) Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors.
o British psychologist Frederic Bartlett, who coined the term schema, which is defined as a mental representation of knowledge.
o He found that people had problems remembering a story from another culture, and that they reconstructed the story to fit in with their own cultural schemas.
o He demonstrated that memory is not like a tape recorder, but rather that people remember in terms of meaning and what makes sense to the.
o Memory is subject to distortions, according to Bartlett, who showed how this principle could be investigated scientifically.
Further Information from the IB Psychology Guide
At the second level of analysis, the products of our biological machinery can be seen in our cognitive system, which includes our cognitions, emotions and behaviours.
Around the 1950s psychologists began systematically to explore cognition to further understanding of human behaviour. This shift in focus from studying observable behaviour to studying mental processes, such as memory and perception, is called “the cognitive revolution”. Cognitive psychologists suggested that humans form internal mental representations that guide behaviour, and they developed a range of research methods to study these. In recent years, researchers within social and cultural psychology have used findings from cognitive psychologists to understand how mental processes may be influenced by social and cultural factors.
Cognitive psychology represents a vast array of research areas including cognitive psychology, cognitive science, cognitive neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. Topics such as memory, perception, artificial intelligence, amnesia and social cognition are studied. Cognitive psychologists use traditional research methods (for example, experiments and verbal protocols) but there is an increasing focus on the use of modern technology.
Cognitive psychologists collaborate increasingly with neuroscientists, social psychologists and cultural psychologists in order to explore the complexity of human cognition. This approach is illustrated in the field of cultural and social cognitive neuroscience, indicating the complementary nature of social, cognitive and biological levels of analysis. Research that integrates these three levels can develop more meaningful theories to explain the mechanisms underlying complex behaviour and the mind.
Around the 1950s psychologists began systematically to explore cognition to further understanding of human behaviour. This shift in focus from studying observable behaviour to studying mental processes, such as memory and perception, is called “the cognitive revolution”. Cognitive psychologists suggested that humans form internal mental representations that guide behaviour, and they developed a range of research methods to study these. In recent years, researchers within social and cultural psychology have used findings from cognitive psychologists to understand how mental processes may be influenced by social and cultural factors.
Cognitive psychology represents a vast array of research areas including cognitive psychology, cognitive science, cognitive neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. Topics such as memory, perception, artificial intelligence, amnesia and social cognition are studied. Cognitive psychologists use traditional research methods (for example, experiments and verbal protocols) but there is an increasing focus on the use of modern technology.
Cognitive psychologists collaborate increasingly with neuroscientists, social psychologists and cultural psychologists in order to explore the complexity of human cognition. This approach is illustrated in the field of cultural and social cognitive neuroscience, indicating the complementary nature of social, cognitive and biological levels of analysis. Research that integrates these three levels can develop more meaningful theories to explain the mechanisms underlying complex behaviour and the mind.