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Psychology Cognitive Psychology

What is Cognitive Psychology?

by (author) Michael R.W. Dawson

Publisher
Athabasca University Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2022
Category
Cognitive Psychology
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781771993418
    Publish Date
    Sep 2022
    List Price
    $24.99
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781771993432
    Publish Date
    Aug 2022
    List Price
    $24.99

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Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels

  • Age: 18
  • Grade: 12

Description

To answer the question of what cognitive psychology is you must first understand its theoretical foundations—foundations which have often received very little attention in modern textbooks. Author Michael Dawson seeks to address this oversight by exploring the essential principles that have established and guided this unique field of psychological study.

Beginning with the basics of information processing, Dawson explores what experimental psychologists infer about these processes, and considers what scientific explanations are required when we assume cognition is rule-governed symbol manipulation. From these foundations, psychologists can identify the architecture of cognition and better understand its role in debates about its true nature.

 

What is Cognitive Psychology? asks questions that will engage both students and researchers, including: Do we need the computer metaphor? Must we assume thinking involves mental representations? Do machines—or people—or brains—actually think? What is the "cognitive" in "cognitive neuroscience" and where is the mind? By establishing cognitive psychology’s foundational assumptions in its early chapters, this book places the reader in a position to critically evaluate such questions.

About the author

Michael R. W. Dawson is a professor of psychology at the University of Alberta. He is the author of numerous scientific papers as well as the books Understanding Cognitive Science (1998), Minds and Machines (2004), Connectionism: A Hands-on Approach (2005), and From Bricks to Brains: The Embodied Cognitive Science of LEGO Robots (2010).

Michael R.W. Dawson's profile page

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