1 Cognitive Theories Kimberley A. Clow Office Hour: Thursdays 2-3pm Office: S302

2 Outline What is Cognition? Schemas & Scripts Personal Construct Theory –Fundamental Postulate –Corollaries Attribution Theory Feelings –Depression Evaluation

3 Cognition Important Terms –Structure –Encoding –Retrieval –Forgetting Memory is the major phenomenon involved –Different kinds of memory

4 Maintenance Rehearsal Sensory Register Short-Term Memory Long-Term Memory Sensory input Information is lost in 0.5 to 3 sec Attention Unrehearsed information is lost in a few minutes Encoding Retrieval Some information may be lost over time

5 Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts English students told a Native Indian story Memory for the story tested across time –Omissions and normalization Results indicated that memory is reconstructive –Leveling making story simpler –Sharpening overemphasizing certain details –Assimilating changing details to fit what we think

6 Scripts What is your Restaurant script? –What happens first? –And then?

7 Personal Construct Theory What is a construct? “People’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings (their personalities) are determined by the constructs they use to anticipate or predict events” George Kelly

8 A Metaphor

9 The Fundamental Postulate "A person's processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates events."

10 Corollaries Construction –"A person anticipates events by construing their replications." Experience –"A person's construction system varies as he successively construes the replication of events."

11 Dichotomy –"A person's construction system is composed of a finite number of dichotomous constructs. “ Submerged poles Core vs. peripheral constructs GOOD BAD QUIET LOUD LOVELY DISGUSTING

12 Organization –"Each person characteristically evolves, for his convenience in anticipating events, a construction system embracing ordinal relationships between constructs." Personal not scientific Tight vs. loose relationships animals -- plants | flowers -- trees | deciduous -- conifers | Christmas trees -- others

13 Range –"A construct is convenient for the anticipation of a finite range of events only.“ Comprehensive vs. incidental Modulation –"The variation in a person's construction system is limited by the permeability of the constructs within whose range of convenience the variants lie." Permeable vs. impermeable Dilation vs. Constriction

14 Choice –"A person chooses for himself that alternative in a dichotomized construct through which he anticipates the greater possibility for extension and definition of his system." Individuality –"Persons differ from each other in their construction of events." Commonality –"To the extent that one person employs a construction of experience which is similar to that employed by another, his psychological processes are similar to the other person."

15 Fragmentation –"A person may successively employ a variety of construction subsystems which are inferentially incompatible with each other." Sociality –"To the extent that one person construes the construction processes of another, he may play a role in a social process involving the other person."

16 Constructive Alternativism " We take the stand that there are always some alternative constructions available to choose among in dealing with the world. No one needs to paint himself into a corner; no one needs to be completely hemmed in by circumstances; no one needs to be the victim of his biography. "

17 What About Uncertainty? Think about understanding behaviour, where causes are not clear or certain Imagine a scenario… –A young woman, Jill, carrying a stack of papers trips and the papers fall all over the place. –A young man, Jack, helps her retrieve all of her papers. Why did Jack help Jill?

18 Basic Terms Attribution –the process through which we come to understand the causes of others’ behaviour as well as the causes of our own behaviour Internal Attribution –inferring that a particular behaviour demonstrated by an individual was due to dispositional causes External Attribution –inferring that the individual’s behaviour was caused by some other factor than his or her dispositions (e.g., situational causes)

19 Experiments Math Achievement –Different Training Programs Internal Attribution Persuasion Positive Reinforcement –Influences on self-esteem and math achievement Health –Internal or External Manipulation –Only internals changed their health related behaviour

20 Problems with External Attributions Behaviour only occurs with the external incentives They can undermine existing habits and preferences –Overjustification Effect External incentives work well ONLY if people believe they EARNED the reward due to INTERNAL factors

21 Covariation Principle Explain behaviour according to 3 factors –Consistency How does the person react to the same stimulus/event on different occasions? –Distinctiveness How does the person respond to other stimuli/events that are similar? –Consensus How do other people react to the same stimulus/event?

22 Attribution Principles Discounting Principle –the role of a given cause in producing a given effect is discounted if other plausible causes are also present Augmentation Principle –If both a factor that facilitates the behaviour and a factor that inhibits the behaviour are present, we assign added weight to the facilitative factor

23 Algorithms vs. Heuristics Algorithm –specific rule or solution procedure –guaranteed to give the correct answer if followed correctly Heuristic –a "rule of thumb" procedure –quick, easy, efficient –not always appropriate

24 Fundamental Attribution Error The tendency to –underestimate the role of situations –overestimate the role of dispositions

25 What About Feelings? Constructs of Transition –Anxiety –Threat –Guilt –Aggression Hostility

26 Learned Helplessness

27 Models of Depression Aaron Beck

28 Irrational Beliefs Everyone I meet should like me I should be perfect at everything I do Because something once affected my life, it will always affect it It is unbearable and horrible when things are not the way I want them to be I must perform important tasks competently and perfectly If I don’t get what I want, it’s terrible I must have love or approval from all the significant people in my life

29 Distorted Thinking All or Nothing Thinking Overgeneralization Mental Filter Disqualifying the Positive Jumping to Conclusions Emotional Reasoning Personalization

30 Rational Emotive Therapy Emotions stem from our interpretations of events, not from the events themselves –We create our problems Need to modify our interpretations –If we don’t interpret things in a way that makes us feel bad, we won’t feel bad Albert Ellis

31 A-B-C Theory of Personality

32 Evaluation Strengths –Brought cognition into the study of personality How we think How we perceive –Emphasis on person’s own interpretation Weaknesses –Important aspects of personality denied or neglected –Difficulty predicting behaviour –Many unanswered questions