Basic Concepts in Experimental Psychology

 

Perception

            Perception can be defined as our recognition and interpretation of sensory information. Perception also includes how we respond to the information. We can think of perception as a process where we take in sensory information from our environment and use that information in order to interact with our environment. Perception allows us to take the sensory information in and make it into something meaningful.

Cognition

Cognition is a term referring to the mental processes involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension. These processes include thinking, knowing, remembering, judging and problem-solving. These are higher-level functions of the brain and encompass language, imagination, perception, and planning. The earliest definition of cognition was presented in the first textbook on cognitive psychology published in 1967. According to Neisser, cognition is "those processes by which the sensory input is transformed. reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used. The field of psychology concerned with the study of cognition is known as cognitive psychology (Darlene, 1983).

Learning

Learning is the act of acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing existing, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences which may lead to a potential change in synthesizing information, depth of the knowledge, attitude or behavior relative to the type and range of experience. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, plants and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow a learning curve. Learning does not happen all at once, but it builds upon and is shaped by previous knowledge. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge. Learning produces changes in the organism and the changes produced are relatively permanent (Terry, 2006).

The learning can be defined as "the modification of a behavioral tendency by experience (such as exposure to conditioning). There are three types of learning that are following:

·         Classical Conditioning

It involves a neutral stimulus (NS) being paired with an Unconditioned Stimulus (US) repeatedly, which lead to an Unconditioned Response naturally (UR). The NS becomes a Conditioned Stimulus (CS), leading to a Conditioned Response (CR) (Terry, 2006).

·         Operant Conditioning

It involves Reinforcement increasing the likelihood of a response (positive or negative) Punishment-decreasing the likelihood of a response (positive or negative) (Terry, 2006).

·         Observational Learning

It involves learning by watching, through: Modeling and Vicarious conditioning (Terry, 2006).

Memory

Cognitive psychologist Margaret W. Matlin has described memory as the "process of retaining information over time." Others have defined it as the ability to use our past experiences to determine our future path. The process of forming a memory involves encoding, storing, retaining and subsequently recalling information and past experiences. There are several different types, classification and function of memory sensory, short-term and long-term memory (Stevens, 1998).

·         Sensory Memory

It processes information from the environment and holds it for a very brief period of time, generally for no longer than a second (Stevens, 1998).

·         Short-Term Memory

It is also known as working memory. Information in short-term memory is not stored permanently. Most of information stored in short-term memory will only be kept for approximately 20 to 45 seconds (Stevens, 1998).

·         Long-Term Memory

It refers to the storage of information over an extended period. The information can last in long-term memory for hours, days, month or year. Implicit & explicit memory. Declarative & non-declarative memory (procedural) and Semantic & episodic memory are several different types that people use to describe long-term memory (Stevens, 1998).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heinz Hartmann Ego Psychology and the Mechanisms of Adaptation

  Heinz Hartmann devoted considerable time to the study of the Ego's Defenses and their functions from the perspective of the Adaptation. However, he seems not to have expanded on the defenses explained by Freud. The ego mobilizes defenses to protect itself from four types of dangers including conflicts among: ·          The id, ego, and super ego conflict. ·          Conflict in interpersonal relations. ·          Conflict in social norms. ·          Conflict in response to trauma. Mechanism of Adaptation: Heinz Hartmann described the "Mechanisms of Adaptation" that are more or less firmly established in the ego of an adult and always run to the same course unconsciously, just as Anna Freud describes the "Defense Mechanisms". These mechanisms are established in the ego to defend against un-described or disturbin...
Read more

Assessment techniques by George Kelly

 The Interview Kelly’s primary assessment technique was the interview. As he put it, “If you don’t know what is going on in a person’s mind, ask him; he may tell you!” (1958, p. 330). Adopting what he called a “credulous attitude,” Kelly accepted the client’s words at face value, believing this was the best way to determine the person’s constructs. He also recognized that a person might deliberately lie or distort the reported version of events. However, what the client said must be respected, even if not always fully believed. Self-Characterization Sketches: Another technique used to assess a construct system is to have the person write a self characterization sketch. Kelly’s instructions to the client were as follows. “I want you to write a character sketch of [client’s name] just as if he were the principal character in a play. Write it as it might be written by a friend who knew him very intimately and very sympathetically, perhaps better than anyone ever really could know h...
Read more