Lecture 01-Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Key Takeaways

• Defining Psychology: Psychology is a science that studies mental processes, experiences, and behaviors within different contexts, rather than solely focusing on predicting behavior, reading minds, or simple behavior modification 2:23.
• Core Components: Mental processes include learning, remembering, perceiving, and feeling; experiences are subjective feelings and awareness; and behaviors are responses or reactions to events and actions, which can be simple/complex or overt/covert 2:39.
• Science vs. Common Sense: Psychology differs from common sense by employing scientific observation to overcome biases like confirmation bias (seeking evidence that agrees with one's view) and stereotypes (preconceived notions that distort reality) 5:45.
• Disciplinary Structure: Psychology is structured as a discipline that seeks to understand how the mind works and how mental processes lead to behaviors, drawing from both physical/biological sciences (e.g., brain function, neurotransmitters) and social/cultural sciences (e.g., person-context interaction) 7:10.
• Scientific Method: As a science, psychology applies the scientific method, emphasizing objectivity and empiricism (basing opinions on facts and measurements), often utilizing a hypothetico-deductive model 8:41.
• Hypothetico-Deductive Model: This research model involves a literature review, formulating research questions, designing and conducting empirical studies, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions that contribute back to the body of research literature 8:58.
• Cognitive Psychology Focus: Cognitive psychology is defined as the scientific study of the mind, aiming to understand mental functions, which include perception, attention, memory, emotions, language, decision-making, thinking, and reasoning 11:19.
• The Mind's Role: The mind creates and controls mental functions and acts as a system that creates representations of the world, enabling individuals to act within it to achieve goals 13:32.
• Examples of Mental Functions: Everyday activities, like Raphael's walk across campus, involve a simultaneous interplay of numerous mental functions such as understanding conversation, visualizing, remembering, comparing options, evaluating possibilities, solving problems, and making decisions 16:04.