Margaret Matlin
Cognitive psychology
Chapter 1 – An introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Metacognition: thinking about your thought processes.
Cognition/mental activity: the acquisition, storage, transformation and use of knowledge.
Cognitive psychology: the variety of mental activities such as perception, memory, imagery,
language, problem solving, reasoning and decision making/a particular theoretical approach.
Cognitive approach: a theoretical orientation that emphasizes people’s though processes and their
knowledge.
Aristotle emphasized the importance of empirical evidence, scientific evidence obtained by careful
observation and experimentation.
The founder of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, proposed that psychology should study mental
processes using a technique called introspection, in which carefully trained observers would
systematically analyse their own sensations and report them as objectively as possible, under
standardized conditions.
Recency effect: the observation that our recall is especially accurate for the final items in a series of
stimuli (Mary Whiton Calkins, early memory research, guidelines for teaching).
William James preferred to theorize about everyday psychological experiences (e.g. tip-of-the-
tongue-phenomenon).
Behaviorism: psychology must focus on objective, observable reactions to stimuli in the
environment, rather than introspection. The emphasis is placed on operation definition, a precise
definition that specifies exactly how a concept is to be measured.
Gestalt psychology: we humans have basic tendencies to actively organize what we see;
furthermore, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Frederic Bartlett proposed that human memory is an active, constructive process, in which we
interpret and transform the information we encounter.
Research in human linguistics, memory and developmental psychology increases the
disenchantment with behaviourism. The behaviourist approach tells us nothing about numerous
psychologically interesting processes; e.g. behaviourist principles can’t explain for alterations in
memory (+/- 1960s).
The information-processing approach argued that (a) our mental processes are similar to the
operation of a computer, and (b) information progresses through our cognitive system in a series of
stages, one step at the time.
The Atkinson-Shiffrin model proposed the memory involves a sequence of separate steps; in each
step, information is transferred for one storage of another (external input -> sensory memory
(storage system that records information from each of the senses with reasonable accuracy,
memories lost within about 30 seconds, unless somehow repeated) -> short-term memory/working
memory (holds only a small amount of information that you are actively using, fragile memories) ->
long-term memory (enormous capacity, relatively permanent compared to the information stored in
working memory).
However, enthusiasm has declined for both models, because cognitive psychologists now realize
that human thinking requires more complex models.
Cognitive psychology
Chapter 1 – An introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Metacognition: thinking about your thought processes.
Cognition/mental activity: the acquisition, storage, transformation and use of knowledge.
Cognitive psychology: the variety of mental activities such as perception, memory, imagery,
language, problem solving, reasoning and decision making/a particular theoretical approach.
Cognitive approach: a theoretical orientation that emphasizes people’s though processes and their
knowledge.
Aristotle emphasized the importance of empirical evidence, scientific evidence obtained by careful
observation and experimentation.
The founder of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, proposed that psychology should study mental
processes using a technique called introspection, in which carefully trained observers would
systematically analyse their own sensations and report them as objectively as possible, under
standardized conditions.
Recency effect: the observation that our recall is especially accurate for the final items in a series of
stimuli (Mary Whiton Calkins, early memory research, guidelines for teaching).
William James preferred to theorize about everyday psychological experiences (e.g. tip-of-the-
tongue-phenomenon).
Behaviorism: psychology must focus on objective, observable reactions to stimuli in the
environment, rather than introspection. The emphasis is placed on operation definition, a precise
definition that specifies exactly how a concept is to be measured.
Gestalt psychology: we humans have basic tendencies to actively organize what we see;
furthermore, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Frederic Bartlett proposed that human memory is an active, constructive process, in which we
interpret and transform the information we encounter.
Research in human linguistics, memory and developmental psychology increases the
disenchantment with behaviourism. The behaviourist approach tells us nothing about numerous
psychologically interesting processes; e.g. behaviourist principles can’t explain for alterations in
memory (+/- 1960s).
The information-processing approach argued that (a) our mental processes are similar to the
operation of a computer, and (b) information progresses through our cognitive system in a series of
stages, one step at the time.
The Atkinson-Shiffrin model proposed the memory involves a sequence of separate steps; in each
step, information is transferred for one storage of another (external input -> sensory memory
(storage system that records information from each of the senses with reasonable accuracy,
memories lost within about 30 seconds, unless somehow repeated) -> short-term memory/working
memory (holds only a small amount of information that you are actively using, fragile memories) ->
long-term memory (enormous capacity, relatively permanent compared to the information stored in
working memory).
However, enthusiasm has declined for both models, because cognitive psychologists now realize
that human thinking requires more complex models.
