PARADIGMS OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY By Balaji Niwlikar https

PARADIGMS OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY By Balaji Niwlikar https: //www. careershodh. com/ 1

Introduction Cognitive psychology – � Branch of psychology that studies mental processes including how people think, perceive, remember, and learn. Cognitive psychology sees the individual as a processor of information. � Term ‘cognitive psychology’ in the book Cognitive Psychology by Ulric Neisser in 1967. � Paradigm � "a typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model”. � A body of knowledge structured according to what its proponents consider important. � It include the assumptions investigators make in studying a phenomenon. � It specifys what kinds of experimental methods & measures are appropriate for an investigation. � Thus intellectual frameworks that guide investigators in studying and understanding phenomena. � https: //www. careershodh. com/ 2

PARADIGMS OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY � Paradigms that cognitive psychologists use in planning and executing their research. 1. 2. 3. 4. Information Processing Approach(1960 -70 s) The Connectionist Approach- (1980 s) The Evolutionary Approach The Ecological Approach https: //www. careershodh. com/ 3

Information Processing Approach https: //www. careershodh. com/ 4

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH � � � � It arose in the 1940 s and 1950 s, after World War II (Sternberg & Sternberg, 2012). Goal - to understanding human thinking in relation to how they process the same kind of information as computers (Shannon & Weaver, 1963). Used the computer metaphor. Dominate in 1960 & 70 s. Rooted in structuralism, in that its followers attempt to identify the basic capacities and processes we use in cognition. The approach treats cognition as essentially computational in nature, with mind being the software and the brain being the hardware. The information processing approach in psychology is closely allied to the Computational theory of mind in philosophy; It is also related, though not identical, to cognitivism in psychology and functionalism in philosophy (Horst, 2011). https: //www. careershodh. com/ 5

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH � “boxes-and-arrows” models of cognition � In information-processing models, cognition is typically assumed to occur serially. � This approach focuses researchers on the functional aspects of cognition—what kinds of processes are used toward what ends. � information processors look to computer science � Tools used experimental and quasiexperimental techniques in their investigations. https: //www. careershodh. com/ 6

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH � Cognition can be thought as information(what we see, hear, read , think about ) passing through a system. � Assumption�Information is processed(received, stored, transferred, retrieval, etc) in stages. �Peoples cognitive abilities=systems of interrelated capacities (different attention spans, memory capacities, and language skills). �people, like computers, are symbol manipulators � Goal- �To determine the stages & storage places are and how they work. �To find the relationships between these capacities, to explain how individuals go about performing specific cognitive tasks. https: //www. careershodh. com/ 7

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH https: //www. careershodh. com/ 8

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH � Information processing model: The Working Memory� It must pass through three stages of mental processing; sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. � Working Memory Model(Baddedely)� It includes the central executive, phonologic loop, episodic buffer , visuospatial sketchpad, verbal information, long term memory, and visual information (Sternberg & Sternberg, 2012) https: //www. careershodh. com/ 9

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH development theory- Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory – � During the sensorimotor stage, newborns and toddlers rely on their senses for information processing to which they respond with reflexes. � The preoperational stage, children learn through imitation and remain unable to take other people’s point of view. � The concrete operational stage is characterized by the developing ability to use logic and to consider multiple factors to solve a problem. � formal operational, in which preadolescents and adolescents begin to understand abstract concepts and to develop the ability to create arguments and counter argument. � Cognitive https: //www. careershodh. com/ 10

INFORMATION PROCESSING APPROACH � Sternberg's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence � Three different components: creative, analytical, and practical abilities(Sternberg & Sternberg, 2012) � He says that information processing is made up of three different parts, ◦ Metacomponent(planning and evaluating problems)s, ◦ performance components(follow the orders of the metacomponents), and ◦ knowledge-acquisition components (learns how to solve the problems). https: //www. careershodh. com/ 11

The Connectionist Approach � in the 1980 s, as alternative � Connectionism or parallel-distributed processing, or PDP � cognition as a network of connections among simple (and usually numerous) processing units (Mc. Clelland, 1988). =neural networks � connectionist models assume that cognitive processes occur in parallel. � connectionists look to cognitive neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience for information to help them construct their theories and models https: //www. careershodh. com/ 12

https: //www. careershodh. com/ 13

The Evolutionary Approach � Our most significant cognitive abilities � -Ability to perceive three-dimensional objects correctly and the ability to understand produce language. � Is it easy to program these abilities in computers. ? ? ? � Like other animal minds, the human mind is a biological system, one that has evolved over generations- laws of natural selection. (Cosmides & Tooby, 2002; Richerson & Boyd, 2000). � We understand a system best if we understand the evolutionary pressures on our ancestors. � people have special-purpose mechanisms (including cognitive mechanisms) specific to a certain context or class of problems (Cosmides and Tooby , 2002) � Ex. grammar acquisition, mate acquisition, food aversion, way finding https: //www. careershodh. com/ 14

The Evolutionary Approach � Explaining how a system of reasoning works, they believe, is much easier if we understand how evolutionary forces shaped the system in certain directions rather than other , equally valid ones. � Ex- creating and enforcing social contracts. � To do this, people must be especially good at reasoning about costs and benefits, and be able to detect cheating in a social exchange. � Therefore, evolutionary psychologists predict that people’s reasoning will be especially enhanced when they are reasoning about cheating. � The evolutionary approach centers on questions of how a cognitive system or function has evolved over generations. https: //www. careershodh. com/ 15

The Ecological Approach � Lave (1988) described the results of the Adult Math Project as “an observational and experimental investigation of everyday arithmetic practices” � (2 x 2)+ (1 x 3) =? � Irappa ate 4 apple & Leena ate 10 apple, How many ice creams did the two of them have together? ” � The ecological approach stresses the need to consider the context of any cognitive process to understand more completely how that process functions in the real world. � Overlap --psychologists+anthropologists+evolutionarist� Focus-all cognitive activities are shaped by the culture and by the context in which they occur. https: //www. careershodh. com/ 16

The Ecological Approach �A major proponent of this viewpoint was J. J. Gibson , whose work on perception � It influences of both the functionalist and the Gestalt schools on the ecological approach � Functionalists - the purposes performed by cognitive processes, � Gestalt psychology’s - the context surrounding any experience is likewise compatible with the ecological approach. � Matters -Personal experience, goals, interests, and practical daily living � Tools-- thus this tradition relies less on laboratory experiments or computer simulations and more on naturalistic observation and field studies to explore cognition. � The ecological approach stresses the need to consider the context of any cognitive process to understand more completely how that process functions in the real world. https: //www. careershodh. com/ 17

References: � Galotti, K. M. (2004). Cognitive Psychology: In and Out of the Laboratory, Fourth Edition. Thomson Wadsworth. https: //www. careershodh. com/ 18