Transcript History
How to investigate the Mind? Ask your subjects (Introspectionism) First-Person Privileged Access Edward Titchener (1867-1927) First psychology lab, Leipzig Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) Introspection is not just casual thinking about one’s inner experiences. Assets of Introspectionism It deals with the subjective feeling of mental life (qualia) Even today, some research depends on subject’s introspective report (do you see the light?) It provides hints for future research – articulatory loop in working memory Problems of Introspectionism: Verbal report distorts and impoverishes the experience Instrospectionism lacks verification (public scrutiny) Provides access to products of thinking, rather than the processes that underlie it (example). Relies on conscious report: Many interesting mental events are unconscious (e.g. memory retrieval, or visual processes that lead to perceptual illusions). How to investigate the mind Ask your subjects (Introspectionism) Look at S-R patterns (Behaviorism) - Reaction against Instrospectionism - Restricts psychology to truly objective, observable data Cognitive Psychology Introspectionism Behaviorism 1900 1950 2000 Behaviorism Stimulus Response Study stimulus-response relations, but do NOT attempt to understand unobservable mental processes Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) Classical Conditioning Neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus that already produces a response 1. sight of foodsalivation 3. bell and food seen together 4. bell salivation Behaviorism Psychology is the “science of behavior.” Emphasis on what can be directly observed. – Stimuli Responses – Reinforcements / Rewards Ignore the mind (unobservable). Goal: predict behavior Assets of Behaviorism rigorous scientific observation controlled laboratory settings. Applicable to certain areas (e.g., learning: pairing of stimuli and responses) Problems with Behaviorism Limiting science to observable things is a bad idea. Theories are about unobservable Can’t account for much of human behavior. – Language; Attention Rats learn to follow this path … later they can deduce the shorter path. X X this ability cannot be explained only by links between stimuli and responses. A better explanation is to pose the existence of an internal spatial map Cognitive Maps in Bees, von Frisch 1967 behavior of bees returning to hive after locating nectar Can use a symbolic form of communication Different patterns of dances represent different meanings Round dance: source less than 100 yards from hive Figure 8 dance: greater distances Behaviorism Stimulus Response Study stimulus-response relations, but do NOT attempt to understand unobservable mental processes Cognitive Psychology Stimulus Response Study stimulus-response relations to infer the underlying mental processes. The contents of the mind CAN be studied scientifically How to investigate the mind Ask your subjects (Introspectionism) Look at S-R patterns (Behaviorism) Infer mental processes (Cognitive Psychology) – from S-R patterns (Reaction Time, Accuracy) – from neural patterns (cognitive neuroscience)