1.) Outline the principles that define the cognitive level of analysis.
This may be possibly one of the easier questions for you to receive on the test, especially because it only involves naming and briefly explaining the principles.
They are the following:
1. Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide behavior (below)
2. The mind can be studied scientifically by developing theories and using a number of scientific research methods (#3)
3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors (below)
4. Cognitive processes actively organize and manipulate information that we receive (throughout)
Below, the first and third principles are expanded for your further understanding (after all, these four points themselves don't make a good essay). The other two are covered in the other main questions, so keep looking back to these principles above! What follows each one in parenthesis is the question that correlates with each principle.
1. Mental Processes Guide Behavior
- The mind is an information-processing machine using hardware (the brain) & software (ex. mental images and representations)
- Information input into the mind comes via a bottom-up processing -- from the sensory system. This information is processed by the mind by top-down processing via pre-stored information in the memory. Finally, there is output in the form of behavior.
Examples of mental processes affecting behavior:
- There is a relationship between self-image and behavior (ex. conformity)
- A person's mindset is important is predicting behavior (ex. discrimination)
3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors
- A good man to know for this section --> Frederick Barltlett
- Bartlett was interested in how cultural schemas influence remembering (see question #5 for schema explanation)
- He found that people had problems remembering a story from another culture, and that they reconstructed the story to fit in with their own cultural schemas
- People remember in terms of meaning and what makes sense to them
- Therefore, memory is subject to distortions (this concept can be studied scientifically)
They are the following:
1. Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide behavior (below)
2. The mind can be studied scientifically by developing theories and using a number of scientific research methods (#3)
3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors (below)
4. Cognitive processes actively organize and manipulate information that we receive (throughout)
Below, the first and third principles are expanded for your further understanding (after all, these four points themselves don't make a good essay). The other two are covered in the other main questions, so keep looking back to these principles above! What follows each one in parenthesis is the question that correlates with each principle.
1. Mental Processes Guide Behavior
- The mind is an information-processing machine using hardware (the brain) & software (ex. mental images and representations)
- Information input into the mind comes via a bottom-up processing -- from the sensory system. This information is processed by the mind by top-down processing via pre-stored information in the memory. Finally, there is output in the form of behavior.
Examples of mental processes affecting behavior:
- There is a relationship between self-image and behavior (ex. conformity)
- A person's mindset is important is predicting behavior (ex. discrimination)
3. Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors
- A good man to know for this section --> Frederick Barltlett
- Bartlett was interested in how cultural schemas influence remembering (see question #5 for schema explanation)
- He found that people had problems remembering a story from another culture, and that they reconstructed the story to fit in with their own cultural schemas
- People remember in terms of meaning and what makes sense to them
- Therefore, memory is subject to distortions (this concept can be studied scientifically)