psychlotron.org.uk What is happening inside the black box? ?

psychlotron.org.uk What is happening inside the black box? ?

psychlotron.org.uk What is happening inside the black box? ?

psychlotron.org.uk Do we need to look inside the black box to find out what it does?

psychlotron.org.uk Today’s session You will learn how to...You will learn about... Describe and apply psychological approaches & theories Consider the relationship between an approach and its methods The cognitive approach The information processing metaphor Cognitive models

psychlotron.org.uk Behaviourism SR Behaviourists aren’t interested in what happens in between S and R. They don’t think you need to know.

psychlotron.org.uk Social learning theory SRO Social Learning Theorists say that things take place within the organism that mediate between S and R. You do need to know about the person’s mental processes.

psychlotron.org.uk Cognitive approach SRIP Cognitive psychologists extend this idea and say that our behaviour is determined by the way we process information taken in from our environment.

psychlotron.org.uk The computer metaphor In which ways is a brain similar to a computer?

psychlotron.org.uk The computer metaphor Input processes Information manipulation processes Output processes Information storage

psychlotron.org.uk Cognitive models Cognitive psychologists use the results of their research to develop models of how people process information They infer mental processes from comparisons between the information (input) a person receives and the behaviour (output) they produce

psychlotron.org.uk 1. Takes in a shape. 2. Counts the vertices. 3. Adds one to this number. 4. Outputs a shape with the new number of vertices. What does this information processor do?

psychlotron.org.uk What does this information processor do? This may not be what is actually happening in the black box, but it allows us to account for how the box translates input into output. It is a useful model. 1. Takes in a shape. 2. Counts the vertices. 3. Adds one to this number. 4. Outputs a shape with the new number of vertices.

psychlotron.org.uk What will the output be? Our model allows us to predict how the information processor will behave. It is still not necessary for us to know what’s actually happening in the box. 1. Takes in a shape. 2. Counts the vertices. 3. Adds one to this number. 4. Outputs a shape with the new number of vertices.

psychlotron.org.uk Cognitive models Info from environment Behaviour Speech LTM WMPB

psychlotron.org.uk Cognitive methods Experimental cognitive psychology – Laboratory experiments Cognitive neuropsychology – Case studies – Investigations of the brain