Cognitive Level of Analysis Unit 3

Cognition The mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired.

Historically Cognitive Psychology became of great importance in the 1950s. This occurred largely for several reasons. * Schema – a mental framework which organizes knowledge, beliefs and expectations; and is used to guide behaviour.

REASON 1 Dissatisfaction with the behaviourist approach Behaviorists placed a simple emphasis on behaviour rather than the internal processes. Examples of ways behaviors were thought to be learned Response to Stimuli Trial and Error Conditioning

Response to Stimuli Stimulus – any event or factor that may effect behaviour. Response – reaction to a stimulus indicates a measurable change in behaviour. Learning and the example of the hot radiator.

Trial and Error Wolfgang Kohler (1887 – 1967) Argued that we organize experience in particular ways which leads to insight. Insight can be described in this instance as forming an appropriate schema for a particular situation. An ape named Sultan

Conditioning Pavlov’s Dog and the Skinner Box

Why Cognitive Psychology became of Greater Importance – other reasons The Development of Better Experimental Models The start of the use of computers allowed psychologists the ability to try to understand the complexities of human cognition by comparing it to something simpler and better understood.

The Main Areas of Study in Cognitive Psychology are: Perception Attention Memory Language

Perception Concerned with how we acquire knowledge. This is the cognitive process that interprets and organizes information from the senses to produce some meaningful experience of the world. Perception altering example.

Attention Is also concerned with how we acquire knowledge. It is the process of selectively focusing on particular stimulus elements typically deemed those most significant.

Memory Memory is concerned with how we organize and retain knowledge.

Short-term Memory Test L R X D V C M Q B N

How many letters did you recall? How many did you remember in order?

Language Concerned with how we use knowledge.

The Cognitive level of analysis focuses on the way humans process information, look at how we treat information that comes into a person and how this treatment leads to responses.

Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis Principle 1: The assumption that there is an important biological basis for all human cognitive processing and the behaviour that it creates. Studies combine knowledge about the brain with knowledge about cognitive processes.

Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis Principle 2 Mental processing (cognitive processes) in the mind can be studied scientifically and theories are studied through a variety of methods.

Outline principles that define the cognitive level of analysis Principle 3 Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural practices. (One of the first to say this was Frederick Bartlett who also coined the term schema)

Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the cognitive level of analysis Read handout from Jamieson (pp 67 – 69) Note: method triangulation must be able to look at idea from al 3 levels of analysis

The Three Levels of Analysis Cognitive Biological Socio-Cultural Behaviour