Chapter 1: The Approach of Cognitive Psychology
Objectives
Summarize the two types of assumptions that people make when they study the mind.
Describe how philosophers, ranging from the ancient Greeks through the 19th century, attempted to study the mind.
Distinguish between deterministic vs. nondeterministic views and between nativist vs. empiricist positions.
Assess the accomplishments of possible candidates for the title of "founder of modern psychology". Nominate one person for the title and justify your selection.
Compare and contrast the founders and tenets of the structuralist and functionalist schools of psychology. Explain how problems with each of these schools led to the rise of behaviorism.
List the basic principles of behaviorism and discuss its successes and failures.
Discuss the strengths and pitfalls of using abstract constructs in general, and the computer metaphor in particular, to account for intelligent behavior.
Summarize the controversy over language that arose between Noam Chompsky and B.F. Skinner.
