Unit 6: Cognition

1. WHS AP Psychology Unit 6: Cognition Essential Task 6-1: Define cognition and identify how the following interact to form our cognitive life: schemata/concepts, prototypes, assimilation, accommodation, effortful processing, and unconscious processing. 

2. Algorithms Heuristics Representativeness Heuristic Compensatory Models We are here Decision Making Techniques Problem Solving Techniques Availability Heuristic Unit 6: Cognition Obstacles to Problem Solving Obstacles to Decision Making Biological Factors Memory Acquisition and use of Language Information Processing Model Encoding Storage Retrieval Cultural Factors Cognitive Factors

3. Essential Task 6-1: Outline • Cognition definition • Identify how the following interact to form our cognitive life: • schemata/concepts • prototypes • Assimilation & Accommodation • effortful processing & unconscious processing

4. Cognition Definition Cognition, or thinking, refers to a process that involves knowing, understanding, remembering, problem solving and communicating. Purposeful!

5. Cognitive Psychology Cognition involves a number of mental activities, which are listed below. • Concepts • Problem solving • Decision making • Judgment formation • Language • Memory

6. Schema or Concept The mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people. There are a variety of chairs but their common features make up your CHAIR schema

7. Chair Schema Characteristics? • Furniture • Seat • Four Legs • Back • Arms • Sits one person • Cushioned • Made of wood

8. Category Hierarchies We organize concepts into category hierarchies. Courtesy of Christine Brune

9. Schemata can get fuzzy • Is a whale a mammal? • Are penguins and kiwis birds? • Are 17 year old people children or adults • People more easily detect male prejudice against females than female against males or female against female

10. Can I read your mind? • State a color. • Name or draw a triangle. • List the first type of motor vehicle that comes to mind. • Write a sentence • Give me a hero. • Describe a heroic act • Game • Philosopher • Writer • Pop Star

11. I gave schemata and tried to predict prototypes. • red or blue • a picture of an equilateral triangle • a car • a short declarative statement, e.g., “The boy an home.” • Superman, Batman, or possibly a fireman • a single act by a male, e.g. a rescue by a fireman • monopoly or some other board game • Socrates or Aristotle • Stephen King, or some other white male author • Spears or Tay Swift

12. Prototypes A prototype is the BEST example or cognitive representation of something within a certain schema or concept. Schema List characteristics that make a place a college or university. Prototype Now list a specific college that BEST represents or embodies those characteristics.

13. Categories Once we place an item in a category, our memory shifts toward the category prototype. Courtesy of Oliver Corneille A computer generated face that was 70 percent Caucasian led people to classify it as Caucasian.

14. Schema • Developmental Psychologist Jean Piaget believed that children develop and modify schema by two processes: • Assimilation • Accommodation

15. Assimilation • Assimilationincorporates new experiences into existing mental structures and behaviors • Example: a toddler who has a chocolate lab at home would also incorporate Dalmatians into her schema of dog.

16. Accommodation • Accommodationoccurs when a child’s theories are modified based on an experience • Example- The baby with a theory of dogs is surprised the first time she sees a cat- it resembles a dog, but meows instead of barks and rubs up against her rather thank licking • The baby must REVISE her previous theory to include this new kind of animal

17. Why is this process important? • As adaptation continues, the child organizes his/her schemata into more complex mental representations, linking one schema with another.