AU PSYC 355 Cognitive Psychology Test Bank For
Cognition 10th Edition
Cognition - ANS-Mental activity, including the acquisition, storage, transformation, and
use of knowledge.
Cognitive Psychology - ANS-- A synonym for cognition
- The theoretical approach to psychology that focuses on studying people's thought
processes and knowledge.
such as:
attention, memory, language, concept formation, and problem solving.
Father of Cognitive Psychology:
Ulric Neisser
Cognitive Approach - ANS-A theoretical orientation that emphasizes people's thought
processes and their knowledge.
Empirical Evidence - ANS-Scientific evidence obtained by careful observation and
experimentation.
Introspection - ANS-An early approach to studying mental activity, in which carefully
trained observers systematically analyzed their own sensations and reported them as
objectively as possible, under standardized conditions.
Wilhelm Wundt advocated for the use of introspection.
Recency Effect - ANS-The recency effect is a cognitive bias in which those items, ideas,
or arguments that came last are remembered more clearly than those that came first.
The observation that our recall is especially accurate for the final items in a series of
stimuli (such as a list of words or numbers).
Behaviorism - ANS-Focusing on objective, observable reactions to stimuli in the
environment rather than subjective processes such as introspection.
Most recognized - Psychologist John B. Watson. He emphasized observable behavior.
Most behaviorists believed that it was inappropriate to theorize and speculate about
unobservable components of mental life. As a result, the behaviorists did not study
concepts such as a mental image, an idea, or a thought.
, Instead they focused heavily on learning. ie changes in environment produce changes
in behavior.
Operational Definition - ANS-In psychology research, a precise definition that specifies
exactly how researchers will measure a concept.
Gestalt Psychology - ANS-(pronounced "geh-shtahlt") The theoretical approach which
emphasizes that:
(1) humans actively organize what they see,
(2) they see patterns, and
(3) the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Gestalt - ANS-(pronounced "geh-shtahlt") In perception and problem-solving, an overall
quality that transcends the individual elements in the stimulus.
Humans actively organize what they see.
Overall quality that transcends the individual elements
Information-processing Approach - ANS-A theory of cognition proposing that:
(1) mental processes are similar to the operations of a
computer
and
(2) information progresses through the cognitive system in a series of stages, one step
at a time.
Shares these assumptions:
1. Stimuli (maybe a visual object such as a chair or a word from a sentence) occur or
are present in one's environment. Your sensory receptors process that information, and
are responsible for making sure that it gets to your brain. Like typing a word into a
computer and pressing enter.
2. Next, the information that is provided to your brain via your senses is processed and
decoded over the course of multiple processing stages.
For example, upon seeing a chair, your visual system seems to first process different
features of the chair such as its color, its edges, and its size. After those features are
recognized, information progresses to other parts of the visual object recognition system
in order for the features to get bound together.
Cognition 10th Edition
Cognition - ANS-Mental activity, including the acquisition, storage, transformation, and
use of knowledge.
Cognitive Psychology - ANS-- A synonym for cognition
- The theoretical approach to psychology that focuses on studying people's thought
processes and knowledge.
such as:
attention, memory, language, concept formation, and problem solving.
Father of Cognitive Psychology:
Ulric Neisser
Cognitive Approach - ANS-A theoretical orientation that emphasizes people's thought
processes and their knowledge.
Empirical Evidence - ANS-Scientific evidence obtained by careful observation and
experimentation.
Introspection - ANS-An early approach to studying mental activity, in which carefully
trained observers systematically analyzed their own sensations and reported them as
objectively as possible, under standardized conditions.
Wilhelm Wundt advocated for the use of introspection.
Recency Effect - ANS-The recency effect is a cognitive bias in which those items, ideas,
or arguments that came last are remembered more clearly than those that came first.
The observation that our recall is especially accurate for the final items in a series of
stimuli (such as a list of words or numbers).
Behaviorism - ANS-Focusing on objective, observable reactions to stimuli in the
environment rather than subjective processes such as introspection.
Most recognized - Psychologist John B. Watson. He emphasized observable behavior.
Most behaviorists believed that it was inappropriate to theorize and speculate about
unobservable components of mental life. As a result, the behaviorists did not study
concepts such as a mental image, an idea, or a thought.
, Instead they focused heavily on learning. ie changes in environment produce changes
in behavior.
Operational Definition - ANS-In psychology research, a precise definition that specifies
exactly how researchers will measure a concept.
Gestalt Psychology - ANS-(pronounced "geh-shtahlt") The theoretical approach which
emphasizes that:
(1) humans actively organize what they see,
(2) they see patterns, and
(3) the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Gestalt - ANS-(pronounced "geh-shtahlt") In perception and problem-solving, an overall
quality that transcends the individual elements in the stimulus.
Humans actively organize what they see.
Overall quality that transcends the individual elements
Information-processing Approach - ANS-A theory of cognition proposing that:
(1) mental processes are similar to the operations of a
computer
and
(2) information progresses through the cognitive system in a series of stages, one step
at a time.
Shares these assumptions:
1. Stimuli (maybe a visual object such as a chair or a word from a sentence) occur or
are present in one's environment. Your sensory receptors process that information, and
are responsible for making sure that it gets to your brain. Like typing a word into a
computer and pressing enter.
2. Next, the information that is provided to your brain via your senses is processed and
decoded over the course of multiple processing stages.
For example, upon seeing a chair, your visual system seems to first process different
features of the chair such as its color, its edges, and its size. After those features are
recognized, information progresses to other parts of the visual object recognition system
in order for the features to get bound together.
