Introduction to Cognitive and Physiological Psychology

1
Introduction to Cognitive and Physiological
Psychology

• Lecturer Doneisha Burke, MSc.

2
What is Psychology?

• Definition (Baron, 2001) The science of
  Behaviour and cognitive processes
• What is behaviour? Any observable action or
  reaction of a living organism (overt to simple
  changes in electrical impulses in our brain)
• What are Cognitive Processes? Every aspect of our
  mental life i.e thoughts, memories, reasoning etc.

3
Origin of Psychology

• Philosophy Physiology Psychology
• By the late 19th c. philosophers began asking
  questions about the human mind eg. What is the
  connection between the mind and body and do
  people have free will or are our actions
  predetermined by action in/ outside our bodies?
• Descartes argued for Dualism i.e the mind and
  body are separate entities.

4
Origin of Psychology

• Other philosophers however argued for
  INTERACTIONISM i.e mind influences the body and
  vice versa
• By the end of the 19th c. far too many questions
  were being raised and mere reasoning was
  insufficient in providing answers.
• The answerEMPIRICISM/ the EMPIRICAL APPROACH

5
Origin of Psychology

• To do this the field of physiology played an imp.
  role
• Between 1860 -1880 men such as
• Johannes Miller Herman Von Helmholtz provided
  insight into the use of physiology in
  understanding the human mind
• With the input from the philosophers and the
  physiologists the possibility of a scientific
  field of PSYCHOLOGY emerged.

6
Origin of Psychology

• In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt founded the 1st formal lab
  for research in Psychology at the University of
  Leipzig b/c of this he is often known as the
  Founder of Experimental Psychology
• G. Stanley Hall, a student of Wundt was
  influential in bringing Psychology to the US. He
  also founded the 1st lab of psychology at Johns
  Hopkins in 1883.

7
What should Psychology Study?

• Wundt Structuralism
• Focus should be on analyzing the contents of
  consciousness i.e identifying the basic
  structures of the human mind.
• Introspection- a method in which trained
  individuals report in detail on their conscious
  experiences in response to specific stimuli that
  are presented to them under carefully controlled
  sits.

8
What should Psychology Study?

• William James Functionalism
• Strongly influenced by Darwins Theory of Natural
  Selection, Psychology should focus on the
  functions of conciousness.
• Focus was therefore on how consciousness helped
  human beings cope with the challenging and
  changing world around them

9
What should Psychology Study?

• John B. Watson Behaviourism
• Behavioursim- the view that only observable,
  overt activities that can be measured
  scientifically should be studied by psychology
  while ignoring cognition and other internal
  states.
• Psychology should focus on behaviour rather than
  consciousness and experience.

10
What should Psychology Study?

• Behaviourism burst onto the scene in 1913 in an
  article written by John B. Watson.
• He argued passionately about psychology only
  studying what we can observe.
• Watson also received support from B.F. Skinner
  who argued that because internal mental states
  cannot be studied scientifically they should not
  be a part of psychology. E.g we can watch a mad
  man go in the bin for food but we cannot directly
  observe his hunger motivation

11
What should Psychology Study?

• Behaviourism was highly challenged by
• Psychoanalysis and Humanistic Psychology, which
  argued that people really do have free will and
  are strongly motivated by future plans and goals
  and the desire for self growth
• Cognitive Psychology (the ultimate challenge)
  which involved a renewal of interest in all
  aspects of cognition i.e on memory, reasoning and
  problem solving and used techniques for observing
  activity

12
What should Psychology Study?

• By the 1960s the development of computers
  provided the needed tools for conducting
  research.
• Soon after techniques for observing activity
  within the brain of fully awake people as they
  performed various cognitive tasks emerged.
• This resulted in behaviourists changing their
  view from not studying unobservable behaviour.

13
What should Psychology Study?

• Can you know see how psychology is the science
  of behaviour and cognitive processes?
• It studies all aspects of human behaviour-
  everything we think, feel, experience, or do- and
  is no longer restrained by the various isms
  previously discussed.

14
Issues in Psychology

• Stability vs. Change
• To what extent do we remain stable over time to
  what extent do we change?
• Nature vs. Nurture
• To what extent are aspects of our behaviour
  learned or shaped by inherited tendencies?
• Rationality vs. Irrationality
• To what extent does logical thought and reason
  guide affect our behaviour versus gut level
  feelings and emotions.

15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
Psychology the Scientific Method

• Scientific Method- refers to using values
  standards in an effort to study virtually any
  topic.
• Values Standards which make up the scientific
  method are
• Accuracy
• Objectivity
• Skepticism
• Open mindedness

18
Psychology the Scientific Method

• The Role of Theory
• Theory framework for explaining various events
  or processes.
• Steps
• Formulation based on existing evidence.
• Organize existing information and make
  predictions about.
• Test the hypotheses (testable predictions derived
  from theories)
• Results (confidence vs. further tests)
• Accept or Reject

19
Psychology the Scientific Method
20
The Scientific Method vs. Common Sense

• Conclusions about behaviour based on common sense
  are often
• Inconsistent and contradictory and our thinking
  is subject to several forms of errors because we
  are NOT perfect information- processing machines.

21
Forms of Errors

• Confirmation Bias
• The tendency to rely on or prefer information
  that confirms our own views or what we already
  believe.
• Availability Heuristic
• A mental shortcut in which we tend to view as
  more important information easier to bring to
  mind or think of more frequently.
• Rational vs. Intuitive Thought
• Tendency to do or believe in something because
  you have a gut- feeling instead of rationally
  thinking out the situation.

22
Forms of Errors

• Critical Thinking then becomes a must!
• Never jump to conclusions
• Keep an open mind
• Always ask How?
• Be skeptical
• Never be stampeded into accepting a view because
  others do
• Be aware of the role your emotions can play

23
Answering Questions about Human Behaviour

• Three (3) basic procedures are used to do this
• Observation
• Correlation
• Experimentation

24
Observation

• Systematic Observation
• A basic method of science in which the natural
  world, or various events or processes in it are
  observed and measured in a very careful manner
• S.O takes several different forms
• Naturalistic Observation
• Case studies
• Surveys

25
Correlation

• Correlational Method
• A research method in which researchers attempt to
  determine whether, and to what extent different
  variables are related to each other.
• The stronger a correlation, based on statistical
  analyses, the more accurate the prediction that
  has been made.
• correlation i.e as 1 variable increases so does
  the other. Eg. studying
• - correlation i.e as 1 variable increases, the
  other decreases. Eg. Job satisfaction

26
Experimentation

• Experimentation- A research method in which
  researchers systematically alter one or more
  variables in order to determine whether such
  changes influence some aspect of behaviour.
• Changes in one variable DO indeed cause changes
  in the other, unlike in the Correlational method.
• Key steps
• Systematic alteration of a variable involved
• Careful measurement of the effects of such
  alterations

27
Experimentation

• Independent Variable
• The variable that is systematically changed in an
  experiment .
• Dependent Variable
• The variable that is measured in an experiment
  (the behaviour).
• Experiments must meet 2 key requirements
• Random assignment of participants to groups
• No Confounding (of variables) i.e experimenter
  effects

28
Ethical Issues in Psych. Research

• Deception
• The temporary withholding of information about a
  study from participants. Under 2 conditions it is
  permissible.
• Debriefing
• Providing research participants with full
  information about all aspects of a study after
  their participation.
• Informed Consent
• Providing participants with as much information
  as possible about events and procedures involved
  in a study BEFORE they agree to participate.

29
Ethical Issues in Psychological Research

• Animal research
• Why use animals?
• Animal rights

30
Current trends in Psychology

• Diversity
• Differences in the behaviour or characteristics
  of individuals from different cultures or ethnic
  groups.
• It is widely accepted that differences are
  important and that findings are NOT applicable to
  everyone.
• Multicultural Perspective now dominates, in which
  cultural and ethnic differences play a critical
  role.

31
Current trends in Psychology

• Evolutionary Psychology
• This branch of psychology suggests that as a
  result of evolution human beings possess many
  evolved psychological mechanisms that help (or
  once helped) us to deal with important problems
  relating to survival.
• It suggests that human beings have always faced
  basic problems relating to survival and over time
  natural selection ensured that what we needed for
  survival evolved.

32
Current trends in Psychology

• This constitutes our Human Nature- a set of
  qualities or behaviours that define us as a
  unique species- which plays an important role in
  shaping our behaviour.
• Today many psychologists believe that genetic
  factors do indeed play a role in many aspects of
  our behaviour.

33
Current trends in Psychology

• The Exportation of psychology
• Application of psychologys knowledge about human
  behaviour in other fields.
• http//psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/tutor.html