The History of (Cognitive) Psychology

Part A
Question 1: The Cognitive Revolution has won, how did this
happen?
Thomas Kuhn (1960). The structure of scientific revolutions. The historic, cyclic progression of science (Kuhn, 1960) Period of normal science Period of crisis Paradigm shift Back to normal science 1 Normal science A stable period characterized by majority of scientists working under the rubric of an all-encompassing paradigm. What is a paradigm? A mental framework that majority of scientists owe their allegiance to A committed point of view as to what the substantive issues of a field are what scientific questions ought to be raised and answered and what methodologies are appropriate in addressing

these questions

2 Period of crisis A chaotic period characterized by the noticing of anomalies that cannot be explained by the existing paradigms How are the anomalies noticed? Anomalies are noticed: via the development or refinements of new

tools technologies methodologies

How do scientists react to these anomalies? First, denial Then serious consideration Then the rush to offer alternative (often competing) theories and explanations for these anomalies And majority of scientists shift their allegiance and commitment to this new paradigm (Paradigm shift)

And research efforts will now be vigorously directed to verifying and strengthening the theories associated with the new paradigm (back to

normal science but under a new regime!)

Part B
Psychology has a long past and a short history.
H. Ebbinghaus

Question 2:

Have there been paradigmatic shifts in psychology or only metatheoretical progressions? What is a theory? General explanation of a set of observations or facts

What

is a metatheory? Specifies a domain for Psychology Develops a set of techniques for investigating that domain Elaborates on a research program to integrate the findings of Psychology into the larger body of human knowledge and practice

Metatheories in scientific/experimental psychology Introspectionism Behaviorism Cognitive Psychology

A. Wilhelm Wundts metatheory = Introspectionism

If psychologists are asked, what the business of psychology is, they generally make some such answer as follows if they belong to the empirical school: that this science has to investigate the facts of

consciousness, its combinations and relations, so that it may ultimately discover the laws which govern these relations and combinations.
Wilhelm Wundt, 1912 Claimed that the domain of experience

Psychology is conscious human

To be studied through the method of introspection

Note: Introspectionists believed that thought processes can be decomposed into their simplest mental elements through the method of sheer introspection or reflection

Wundt Up Close and Personal

He decided to transfer school instead, and did better.

He graduated summa cum laude, finished Medicine in 3 instead of 4 years, and was the top notcher in the Medical Board Exams. But instead of practicing Medicine, he decided to become a researcher and academic. In the very first course that he taught, only 4 students enrolled. But at the time of his death, he had supervised & taught more than 10,000 undergrad students and mentored 186 doctoral dissertations. Many of his students became pioneering and profoundly influential scientists and researchers.

What is the method of (objective) introspection? The process of objectively examining and measuring ones own thoughts and mental activities

But why did Wundtian Introspectionism failed? Because its method was UNSCIENTIFIC! Because it could not find a way out of the mind-body problem (Dualism)

B. John Watsons metatheory = Behaviorism

The Behaviorist recognizes no dividing line between man and brute. The behavior of man, with all of its refinement and complexity, forms only a part of the behaviorists total scheme of investigation.
Watson, 1913, p. 158 Claimed that the domain of Psychology is observable human (and animal) behavior

To be studied through experimental techniques already in place in the other established sciences And Psychology was therefore purged (EXPUNGED!) of all mentalistic concepts which were considered unscientific to study Mind, consciousness these were now considered ephemeral phenomena that had no place in a scientific psychology

Note: Behaviorists believed that any complex behavior can be decomposed into its constituent stimulus-response (S-R) elements

Watson Up Close and Personal

He came from a poor family, the son of an abusive and irresponsible father, who eventually left his wife and children to live with two women (at the same time!). His only hope for a decent education was to study in a community college to become a Baptist Minister But he did so well, and was so confident that he actually wrote the President of the University of Chicago for a scholarship for graduate studies, and was given one.

He wrote a brilliant dissertation on animal behavior and was awarded in 1903, the very first PhD in Psychology at the University. He was only 25 years old --the youngest PhD that the University of Chicago had ever graduated.

Note: Although Behaviorism was a very productive and successful metatheory for Psychology for more than four decades it was itself challenged on some fronts

C. Anomalies pointed out by Gestalt psychologists:

area of perception area of problem solving

They believed that psychological functioning should always be viewed as a patterned WHOLE; as a TOTALITY of EXPERIENCE; or as a GESTALT. Super Motto: The whole is more than the sum of its

parts!

A. Try Reading This:

The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdgnieg.

Basic Gestalt principle of perception:

Regardless of the form or the structure of an incoming physical stimulus, the human perceptual system has a natural tendency/preference to organize the perceptual experience in a satisfyingly wholistic way. People seem to be doing something to transform the stimuli (in accordance w/ the principles of WHOLISM and GOOD ORGANIZATION or PRAGNANZ

B. How many circles are there? (Principle of Closure)

Insightful Problem Solving:

The Gestalt psychologists conducted extraordinary experiments (during their war-time exile) that led to the concept of insightful problem-solving.

Four characteristics of insight Suddenness Solution precedes behavior (in contrast to Thorndikes cats) Smoothness (once solution is arrived at, unhesitatingly) executed fluently &

Novel (not just the application of existing habits, but a whole new way of looking at the problem)

C. Box Problem: Are You Smarter than a Chimpanzee?

These observations were problematic to Behaviorism because they could not be explained by conditioning principles if we can attribute insightful-like behaviors to monkeys, it would seem illogical to deny them to humans

So the Gestalt project also failed! Inspite of the fact that these anomalous phenomena were convincingly demonstrated by the Gestalt psychologists, why did Western psychology NOT shift from Behaviorism to Gestalt Psychology?

D. Advent of Cognitive Psychology (Yehey!)

The tools & technologies that brought down behaviorism the design and development of SERVOMECHANISMS

the invention of the COMPUTER

Servo-mechanisms
Designed by Norbert Weiner (at MIT) to keep airplanes, anti-aircraft artillery, & guided missiles on course to perform this function, they had to correct themselves by continuously getting feedback from the environment They worked by computing the difference between their goal state and their current state

Cybernetics
The new science created by Wiener to study the concepts of information, communication, feedback, and control - in both living and non-living systems

View of human behavior

Opposed the behavioristic viewand claimed that human beings are ACTIVE INFORMATION-PROCESSORS and not merely passive receptors of stimuli Humans process information in terms of their existing goals and adjust their responses so as to achieve these goals

Logico-mathematical basis of the computer

Boolean algebra in the 1800s (ugh!) Bertrand Russel & Alfred North Whiteheads Principia

Mathematica

The Turing Machine (by Allan Turing)

The Turing machine

Theoretically, it could execute any program or plan that can be expressed in binary code (0/1; blank/slash)

Philosophically, the idea of a machine that can perform a task using binary code paralleled Booles idea that thinking or logic (deciding whether something was true or false) was itself a binary

process

The Turing machine embodied the notion that thinking (or problem-solving) was a COMPUTATIONAL PROCESS

Convergences: Computer science & Psychology

Information theory (e.g. Claude Shannon) the BINARY principles of logic (truth/falsity) parallel the BINARY states of electromagnetic relays (on/off; open/close)

Neurophysiology (e.g., Warren McCulloch, Walter Pitts) human neurons also BINARY (they either fire or not fire) neurons can then be seen as logical units carrying information

The Psychological Implications of the Computer Age

Computers are designed to process information actively and intelligently - according to their stored programs. Servo-mechanisms and computing machines can be designed to be goal-directed and purposeful.

Computers can process many kinds of information and can solve many types of problems so long as they have the appropriate software. (Many software can work on any type of hardware.)

Result: The down-fall of behaviorism!