PSYB57H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Cognitive Deficit, Abstraction
Document Summary
Cognitive psychology: the scientific study of how the mind works. Brief history: pre-20th century cognitive psychology: aristotle. How do you classify objects into groups; how do we decide which objects are grouped together: descartes, locke, ebbinghaus. Introspection: observing your own thoughts: problems with introspection: Brief history: behaviorism: behaviorism overcame the limitations posed by introspection. Focused on observable behaviors: behaviorism uncovered principles of how behavior changes in response to stimuli, such as rewards and punishments, problems with behaviorism: Brief history: cognitive revolution: from introspection and behaviorism, experimental psychologists learned that: Introspective methods for studying mental events aren"t scientific. However, we need to study mental events in order to understand behavior: transcendental method of immanuel kant. Working backwards from observable pieces of behavior to determine a cause. E. g. , start with evidence left behind at a crime scene, working backwards to determine the motive of the crime. Cognitive psychologists study mental events, but do so indirectly.
