Final Cognitive Psychology In and Out of the Laboratory: CHP 1
Describe how a cognitive psychologist would use the experimental method and the naturalistic observation method to study the effect of a perpetrator's hat on witnesses' ability to accurately identify the perpetrator in a lineup.
(1) An experiment would involve manipulating the independent variable (the presence of a hat on a perpetrator) while holding other factors constant. (2) An experiment would involve tight control over all circumstances of the "crime" and the administration of the lineup—for example, through using videotapes of the crime and randomly assigning participants to conditions. (3) The observational method would involve recording data from actual crimes in which perpetrators did or did not wear hats. (4) The observational method would be higher in ecological validity, but be lower in experimental control
Contrast the goals of structuralism, functionalism, and behaviorism
1) Structuralism was concerned with cataloging the component parts of conscious experience. (2) Functionalism was concerned with understanding the whole of consciousness, and particularly the function of cognitive processes in adapting to our environments. (3) Behaviorism was only concerned with connecting observable stimuli and observable behaviors, without reference to intervening, invisible cognitive processes
41. Which of the following allows us to support claims about cause-and-effect relationships? a. experiment b. naturalistic observation c. controlled observation d. case study
A
42. Since the 1970s, various techniques of ______ have allowed us to construct pictures of the anatomy and functioning of intact brains. a. brain imaging b. neurosurgery c. brain lesioning d. single-cell recording
A
44. A body of knowledge structured according to what its proponents consider important, which guides research topics and research methods, is called a ______. a. paradigm b. hypothesis c. methodology d. metaphor
A
43. The field most concerned with ensuring that we succesfully interact with and operate technology is ______. a. connectionist modeling b. human factors engineering c. evolutionary survival d. brain imaging
B
If you are interested in determining how cognitive processes change over time, how would you devise an experiment to test this in a between-subjects deign and with a within-subjects design?
Between-subjects designs use participants in only one of the experimental conditions. Thus, you could test younger individuals and compare them to older individuals to see if there are differences in cognitive ability. Within-subjects designs have participants contribute to all experimental conditions. Thus, you would need to test individuals at multiple time points throughout some time period in order to see how their cognitive abilities change or not.
38. Which of the following has the highest ecological validity? a. experiment b. introspection c. naturalistic observation d. clinical interview
C
40. When the same experimental subjects participate in two different experimental conditions, the design is called a ______ design. a. between-subjects b. case study c. within-subjects d. clinical interview
C
39. Different people participate in different experimental conditions in a(n) ______. a. introspective procedure b. clinical interview c. controlled observation d. between-subjects design
D
Describe the process of introspection used by Wundt and Titchener and how this might add to our ability to uncover cognitive processes.
Highly trained observers were exposed to various stimuli. They would then describe their conscious experiences. These allowed structuralists to identify the moment to moment experiences people felt with a cognitive processes. Along with the assumption that conscious thought was a marriage of sensations, the idea was that identifying those sensations in the moment must reveal how consciousness and mental processes work.
12. A traditional "school" within psychology that emphasized the adaptation of the organism to its environment and focused on questions such as what role a particular system served for an organism is called ______. a. functionalism b. structuralism c. behaviorism d. connectionism
a
26. Noam Chomsky believed all of the following EXCEPT ______. a. Children learn grammar through the reinforcement and punishment of their utterances by parents and other adults. b. An implicit system of rules underlies our language abilities. c. Generative rules allow speakers to construct all "legal" grammatical sentences in their language. d. People routinely process enormously complex information.
a
3. The earliest theories about cognitive abilities date back to ______. a. Aristotle and Plato b. John Locke c. Sigmund Freud d. Williams James
a
33. Ecological validity refers to the extent to which ______. a. one can study things that occur in the real world b. one can isolate the causes of behaviors or reactions c. one can explain the phenomena that are observed d. one can predict new phenomena based on current results
a
35. The major disadvantage of naturalistic observation is the lack of ______. a. experimental control b. ecological validity c. training given to the participants d. findings to analyze
a
6. The belief that most of our abilities and tendencies are with us from birth is known as ______. a. nativism b. empiricism c. associationism d. behaviorism
a
65. Of the following, which would be considered the most difficult aspect of research in cognitive psychology? a. Creating tasks that measure everyday cognition in the laboratory. b. There is no way to accurately study the human mind. c. There are too many complex cognitive processes to study. d. We can only accurately study the brains of animals.
a
Which paradigm involves mental representation through the activation of nodes? a. connectionist b. evolutionary c. ecological d. information processing
a
10. Which of the following is NOT one of the four properties that Wundt proposed as the basis for any conscious thought or idea? a. mode b. quantity c. intensity d. duration
b
14. One difference between functionalism and structuralism was that ______. a. functionalists emphasized laboratory experimentation more than structuralists b. functionalists wanted to study whole organisms in real-life tasks c. structuralists were more interested in habit formation d. functionalists wanted to study only observable behaviors
b
20. The belief that psychological phenomena cannot be reduced to simple elements but must be studied in their entirety is central to the school known as ______. a. structuralism b. Gestalt psychology c. behaviorism d. connectionism
b
23. Which of the following is NOT associated with the work of Francis Galton? a. the inheritability of intellectual abilities b. the development of cognitive ability from childhood through old age c. the measurement of individual differences d. the study of mental imagery
b
28. The field of ______ developed during World War II to study such practical questions as how to design aircraft that were safer for human beings to operate. a. psycholinguistics b. human factors engineering c. Gestalt psychology d. structural modeling
b
29. The term "limited capacity processors" suggests that ______. a. computers have limited memory storage b. human beings can only do so many things at once c. neurons can only fire at a certain rate d. processing in the brain occurs in parallel
b
31. Gardner believed that cognitive theories must focus on events "between input and output"—in other words, that cognition must be analyzed at the level of ______. a. behavior b. representation c. neurons d. culture
b
45. A paradigm in psychology answers all of the following questions EXCEPT ______. a. what assumptions may be made in studying a phenomenon b. what types of training and degrees are needed by researchers c. what sorts of questions should be studied d. what sorts of analogies and metaphors are appropriate
b
5. The philosopher John Locke was a strong believer in ______, which rests on the assumption that knowledge comes from an individual's own experience. a. nativism b. empiricism c. behaviorism d. structuralism
b
50. Processes that occur simultaneously rather than one at a time are known as ______ processes. a. serial b. parallel c. central d. sequential
b
53. The ecological approach overlaps most with the ______ approach. a. information processing b. evolutionary c. experimental d. connectionist
b
57. Which of the following independent variables would be indicative of a quasi-experiment? a. dosage levels of a drug b. gender of a participant c. time given to complete a task d. types of stimuli presented
b
61. A Gestalt psychologist would most likely endorse which of the following ideas? a. We can only study the behaviors that we can observe. b. We sometimes create shapes out of particular star constellations. c. The most important thing is understanding the purpose of the mind. d. Constructing our mental representations requires many small, simple elements.
b
64. Which of the following would NOT be considered a cognitive process? a. problem-solving b. personality c. memory
b
9. A traditional "school" within psychology that had as its goal the identification of the simplest possible units of the mind is ______. a. functionalism b. structuralism c. behaviorism d. the Gestalt school
b
Prior to the creation of modern brain imaging techniques, what was the main way to study the human brain? a. photographs b. autopsy c. intentional trauma d. through the use of chemicals
b
You have one friend who claims that he absolutely can never remember anyone's facial features. You decide to work closely with them in order to learn as much as you can about how we view and remember faces. This would be what kind of research design? a. quasi-experiment b. clinical interview c. experiment d. naturalistic observation
b
1. Which of the following is NOT an example of a cognitive process? a. attention b. perception c. reflex d. problem solving
c
13. The school of psychology known as functionalism, which emphasized the purposes of the mind's operations, was founded by ______. a. Wilhelm Wundt b. John Watson c. William James d. Edward Titchener
c
16. Which of the following is true regarding Watson's behaviorism? a. It is sometimes regarded as a branch of structuralism. b. It relies heavily on the technique of introspection. c. It rejected references to unobservable mental states such as consciousness. d. It had a large positive impact on the development of cognitive psychology.
c
18. Even rats have goals and expectations and can form mental representations of mazes, according to ______. a. Watson b. Skinner c. Tolman d. Galton
c
19. Which of the following is a central tenet of the Gestalt school of psychology? a. The goal of psychology is to break down and identify the simplest mental elements that make up conscious experience. b. The most important function of the mind is to allow the individual to adapt to his or her environment. c. Psychological phenomena cannot be reduced to simple elements, but must be studied in their entirety. d. The intellectual structures of a child differ qualitatively from those of a mature adult.
c
2. That guest star on your favorite television show looks familiar. You are sure that you have seen him before but you are unable to think of his name. The fact that you know you have seen the face before however, illustrates the cognitive process of ______. a. perception b. attention c. recognition d. problem solving
c
21. The invention of which of the following might be most closely associated with the cognitive revolution? a. lightbulb b. telephone c. computer d. satellite
c
34. The term ______ refers to the relevance of the research to the "real world." a. internal validity b. evolutionary validity c. ecological validity d. natural validity
c
36. Clinical interviews are to introspection as ______ are to ______. a. naturalistic observations; experiments b. naturalistic observations; quasi-experiments c. controlled observations; naturalistic observations d. controlled observations; experiments
c
46. All of the following are basic assumptions of the traditional information processing approach to cognition EXCEPT ______. a. serial processing b. people are general-purpose symbol manipulators c. the function of consciousness d. information is processed in stages
c
47. Which of the following is a basic assumption of the connectionist approach? a. multiple stores and a central processor b. multiple stores where information is kept throughout processing c. networks of connections among simple processing units d. a central processor that directs the flow of information
c
51. The idea of natural selection is central to which paradigm? a. information processing b. connectionist c. evolutionary d. ecological
c
56. Which of the following paradigms might suggest that the most important part of cognition is how we interact with the environment and objects in it even without mental representations? a. evolutionary approach b. connectionist approach c. embodied cognition d. cognitive neuroscience
c
66. Which of the following might be a valid criticism of Wundt and Tichener's introspection technique? a. There were no interesting questions to study with introspection. b. Individuals do not have the ability to self-reflect on their own mind. c. It is difficult to verify someone's reported introspective experience. d. People cannot distinguish the experience of one cognitive ability from another.
c
7. ______ emphasizes the role of constitutional factors over the role of learning in the acquisition of abilities and tendencies. a. Behaviorism b. Empiricism c. Nativism d. Functionalism
c
. A researcher observes that children who grow up with access to certain kinds of toys like building blocks and video games have higher than average spatial ability scores. This would be an example of ______. a. behaviorism b. introspection c. Gestalt principles d. individual differences
d
11. Wilhelm Wundt and his students used a technique known as ______ to study mental states. a. behaviorism b. intensity measurement c. componentialism d. introspection
d
15. Which "school" of psychology emphasized objectivity of research methods and measurement? a. connectionism b. functionalism c. structuralism d. behaviorism
d
17. Skinner objected to hypothesizing the existence of ______, which he took to be internal copies of external stimuli. a. reinforcers b. instincts c. motivators d. mental representations
d
22. Gestalt psychologists would likely say that members of other cognitive schools of thinking ______. a. offered incomplete accounts of psychological processes b. ignored individuals' personal cognitive experience c. should focus more on how the mind imposes order on the outside world d. all of these
d
24. Which of the following was NOT instrumental in producing the "cognitive revolution"? a. attempts to create an artificial intelligence b. Noam Chomsky's work in the field of linguistics c. the development of the computer d. B. F. Skinner's development of the Skinner box
d
25. The ______ was a rejection of the prevailing assumption that mental events were beyond the realm of scientific study. a. cognitive revolution b. behaviorist rebellion c. human factors movement d. psychodynamic theory
d
30. The term ______ refers to the claim that neural structures supporting a particular cognitive process reside in a particular brain region. a. limited capacity processors b. synaptic transmission c. brain plasticity d. localization of function
d
32. The interdisciplinary field of cognitive science brings together all of the following fields EXCEPT ______. a. philosophy b. linguistics c. computer science d. psychoanalysis
d
4. All of the following statements are central to empiricism EXCEPT ______. a. Knowledge comes from an individual's experience. b. Learning takes place through the mental association of two ideas. c. Environment plays a powerful role in determining intellectual ability. d. Important structures of the human mind are present at birth.
d
48. Connectionist models share the assumption that ______. a. processing occurs serially b. knowledge is stored in various storehouses c. a central processor directs the flow of information d. processing occurs in parallel
d
49. Which approach is most consistent with the way the brain functions? a. information processing b. evolutionary c. ecological d. connectionist
d
54. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the ecological approach? a. It has its roots in psychology and anthropology. b. It emphasizes larger cultural contexts for cognition. c. It emphasizes realistic, "everyday" contexts. d. It emphasizes carefully controlled, laboratory experimentation.
d
58. The notion that technology should be built with the cognitive capabilities of humans in mind is referred to as the ______. a. motor-mind problem b. system-cognition interface c. constrained-systems model d. person-machine system
d
62. Williams James is to ______ as Wilhelm Wundt is to ______. a. connectionism; empiricism b. Gestalts; nativism c. representationist; behaviorist d. functionalism; structuralism
d
63. In our everyday lives, our general lived experience is that our cognitive processes are ______. a. slow and difficult b. slow and complicated c. quick and inaccurate d. quick and effortless
d
67. Psychologists from which of the following historical schools would be most likely to reject the idea that we have mental representations? a. structuralism b. functionalism c. Gestalt psychology d. behaviorism
d
As a cognitive researcher, you determine that, just like us, primates quickly recognize certain classes of threats in their environment and can act quickly and accordingly. This kind of finding would be most in line with which cognitive paradigm? a. information-processing b. connectionist c. ecological d. evolutionary
d
Of the paradigms of cognitive psychology, which would be least likely to argue that mental representations and processes are only internally generated? a. information-processing approach b. connectionist approach c. evolutionary approach d. ecological approach
d
All connectionist models share the assumption that there must be a central processor that directs the flow of information
f
Early research on cognition made its greatest strides during the behaviorist period.
f
Sam is very outgoing, while his friend Lawrence is very quiet. An empiricist would say that the difference in their personalities is probably due to biologically endowed personality traits.
f
The biggest advantage of the experimental method is its high ecological validity.
f
When participants in an experiment all receive multiple different experimental conditions, it is called a between-subjects design.
f
William James modeled the functionalist school of psychology on the science of chemistry
f
B. F. Skinner believed that mental representations were simply internal copies of external stimuli.
t
Evolutionary psychologists believe that we can only understand how a cognitive system works if we understand how evolutionary forces shaped the system in certain directions.
t
If you want to learn about cause and effect, you must use the experimental method.
t
Theories about cognition date back to the days of Aristotle and Plato.
t
