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Cognitive Psychology Notes

Cognitive psychology focuses on understanding knowledge, information processing, and the application of this knowledge, emphasizing the importance of meaning in cognition. The field aims to study behavior to infer mental activity and brain function, with roots in both biology and philosophy, particularly epistemology. Historical perspectives include rationalism, empiricism, and their synthesis by Kant, highlighting the evolution of thought in understanding human cognition.

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27 views2 pages

Cognitive Psychology Notes

Cognitive psychology focuses on understanding knowledge, information processing, and the application of this knowledge, emphasizing the importance of meaning in cognition. The field aims to study behavior to infer mental activity and brain function, with roots in both biology and philosophy, particularly epistemology. Historical perspectives include rationalism, empiricism, and their synthesis by Kant, highlighting the evolution of thought in understanding human cognition.

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lakshmisunder2027
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Experimental psych, meant to study the average


●​ Cognitive psychology

Study tips
●​ Do quiz before reading
●​ distributed/interleaved practice
○​ Different times and topics
●​ Try to teach to somebody else – parents
●​ Know people’s names if mentioned in lecture

What is cognitive psychology


●​ Understanding
○​ The nature of knowledge
○​ How we process and store information
○​ How we flexibly apply this knowledge
●​ Meaning is central to cognitive processing
○​ When you encounter a stimulus, you try to find the who/what/when/where/why
○​ There is no aspect of cognition that does not involve some active
interpretation/meaning-making
●​ Much more than subjective experience
○​ There’s a lot going on that you don’t have direct access to

Goals of cognitive psychology


●​ Understanding the mind
○​ Study behavior and brain (primarily behavior)
●​ Make inferences about the nature of mental activity from behavior
○​ At the hidden cognitive level, what would explain that output
●​ Make inferences about the brain from behavior
●​ Try to understand adaptive function of how mind works
○​ I.e., evolutionary perspective
○​ Memory and decision making
■​ Why is our memory frequently imperfect? Why is our decision making frequently
erred?
Necessity of inferences
●​ Kant’s transcendental method: inference to best explanation
○​ Begin with observable facts
○​ Work backward to figure out underlying causes
○​ From visible effects of invisible cause
●​ Design test of hypothesized cause
●​ Central to scientific process
○​ Other sciences
○​ Psychology
●​ Hard to make scientific discoveries without inference

Taxonomy and behaviorism do not use inference → hypothesis → implications/internal processes

Where did psychology emerge?


●​ From biology and philosophy
○​ How to actually test hidden processes

History of cognitive psychology


●​ Originated in epistemology - study of the nature of knowledge
○​ What knowledge is inbuilt/guaranteed, v. because of specific experiences
●​ Philosophical roots
○​ Rationalism - plato, descartes, socrates - fire and air, less concrete
■​ We had genuine knowledge present at birth
■​ We know it already, we just have to get at what we know
○​ Empiricism - aristotle, locke - earth and water, more concrete elements
■​ Knowledge is based in experience/observations of the world
■​ John Locke - tabula rasa
○​ Synthesis of rationalism and empiricism - Kant
●​

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