Purchase Solution

Paradigms of Cognitive Psychology

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

Compare and contrast the three paradigms of Cognitive Psychology. What is the best way to organize this type of assignment and what facts should be included?

Purchase this Solution

Solution Summary

This solution compares and contrasts three theories of cognitive psychology to clearly illustrate the structure of a compare and contrast assignment.

Solution Preview

Compare and contrast the three paradigms of Cognitive Psychology. What is the best way to organize this type of assignment and what facts should be included?

The three main paradigms of Cognitive Psychology are the information-processing approach (see Lachman et al., 1979), the connectionist approach (see McClelland & Rumelhart, 1986), and the ecological approach (see Lave, 1988; Neisser, 1976; Rogoff, 1990).

Paradigms are basically the intellectual frameworks that guide investigators in studying and understanding phenomena. In learning about each cognitive paradigm and in a compare and contrast assignment of the three paradigms, several questions should be addressed. What assumptions underlie each of the paradigms? What questions or issues does each paradigm emphasize? What analogies or metaphors (for example, the computer-mind) does the paradigm use? What research methods and measures are favored in each of the three paradigms?

As an example, we will address each of these questions for one of the three paradigms-- the information-processing paradigm below:

1. In this paradigm, cognition is thought of as information (what we see, hear, read about, think about) passing though a system (us, or more specifically, our minds) serially or in discrete stages.

2. One of the assumptions of this paradigm is that information is processed (that is, received, stored, recoded, transformed, retrieved, transmitted) in stages and that it is stored in specific places while being processed.

3. One goal of this paradigm, then, is to determine what these stages and storage places are and how they work.

4. Another ...

Purchase this Solution


Free BrainMass Quizzes
Psychology

This quiz provides a general overview of psychology basics.

Erik Erikson's Psychosocial Stages

Erik Erikson researched eight stages of psychosocial development beginning at birth and ending at death. This quiz challenges your knowledge of each stage, the corresponding age range, and the conflicts present during each stage.

Role of Memory in Learning

This quiz addresses the role of memory in the learning process. The quiz differentiates between the different types of memory that facilitate learning.

Abnormal Psychology

This quiz will explore the faucets of abnormal psychology, from the question of what is abnormal, to the intricacies of DSM diagnosable disorders.

Controversies in Developmental Psychology

This quiz addresses controversies in developmental psychology.