Cognitive Level of Analysis

Cognitive Level of Analysis

1. #1 Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide behavior

   • memory models
     • Working Memory Model
       • Baddeley and Hitch 1974
         • challenged view that STM is a single store central executive, episodic buffer, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad
     • Multi-Store Model
       • Atkinson and Shiffrin 1968
         • suggest multi-store model Attention-encoding-rehearsal sensory memory short term memory - 7 items for 6-12 seconds long term memory
   • Long term Memory
     • Explicit
       • semantic memory
       • episodic memory
       • Kandel
         • role of hippocampus in forming explicit memories --- case studies of hippocampus damage shows that no new explicit memories can be formed (HM)
     • Implicit
       • procedural memory
       • emotional memories
         • LeDoux
           • certain memories have emotional significance and are remembered better --- role of amygdala
           • routes to the amygdala
             • Short route - stimuli immediately taken in from the thalamus to the amygdala -- immediate response (fight/flight) Long route - stimuli goes from thalamus through the sensory cortex, hippocampus, to the amygdala -- more informed response
         • Brown and Kulik 1977
           • flashbulb memory -- immediate storage of traumatic event Participants remembered exactly where they were when they learned about JFK, MLK, Kennedy assassinations
         • Talarico and Rubin 2003
           • emotional intensity associated with greater memory confidence but not accuracy
     • Clive Wearing
       • suffered from both anterograde and retrograde amnesia couldn't remember for more than a few seconds, no new memories, still had procedural memory (music), still had emotional connections (love of wife)

2. #2 The mind can be studied scientifically

   • controlled experiment
   • Memory
     • Cole and Scribner 1974
       • investigate memory strategies in different cultures -- looked at US and Kpelle people found that children had better memory strategies (chunking) after school and could remember lists (in both countries) when told in a narrative all children did similarly
     • Rogoff and Wadell 1982
       • Mayan children could easily recall objects if they were related in a meaningful way to the scenery --- shows narrative impact on remembering
     • Loftus and Palmer 1974
       • investigating the role of leading question in recall --- changing the wording used changed the way a car crash was remembered (estimated mph changed) smashed/collided/bumped/contacted

3. #3 Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors

   • Schema theory
     • Anderson and Pichert 1978
       • participants hear a story about two boys that go home to a house (described based on 72 points) --- interpreted story based on burglar or house-buyer schema --- individuals that switched schema remembered more points about the house findings: establish cause-and-effect relationship on how schemas affect different memory processes
   • stereotyping
   • memory
     • Sigmund Freud
       • repression used to block out intense emotional and anxiety provoking events --- protect conscious self from things they can't cope with
     • Bartlett 1932
       • Told a story The War of the Ghosts Every time the story was repeated it changed slightly --- story became shorter and more conventional but remained coherent (still flowed like a story) --- people change it to fit their existing schemas (ways of processing life)
   • Social Comparison Theory
     • people learn and assess themselves through comparison with others
   • Level of Aspiration Theory
     • people examine what could be gained before making decisions about what to do --- previous experience and desire to reach goal influence expectations and decisions
   • illusory correlation
     • faulty associations between variables