This is a snapshot of project information archived on 2 September 2022. Please contact the project team for most recent updates.
Whatcha thinking about? Cognitive Psychology and You
Subject: Psychology
Book Language: English
Audience: Undergraduate majors in psychology taking upper-level courses
Created date: June 3, 2021
Updated date: August 3, 2021
Target Release Date: 2022-01-01
License:
- Attribution
- Share Alike
Needs:
- Authors
- Editors
- Contributors
Description:
About the Project
Welcome participants and potential volunteers to this little pet project I’ve started. This project came about as a result of discussions with my students over the years and their reports that they do not relate to the textbook (regardless of what textbook I used - and there were many). Often times, students listened to my explanations and examples of the concepts, and still demonstrated that they were able to meet the learning objectives. In addition, cost was also a factor for them. So, knowing that there was not a free option that was relatable drove me to start this project. So, please join me on this adventure. I’m looking for proofreaders, contributors, and collaborators on this project! If you are interested, please reach out to me by filling out this
Form
.
Motivators
The primary motivation for this project came from reports from students that they weren’t reading the assigned textbook. They didn’t feel as though they could relate to what was written in the textbook, and relied heavily on my lectures and our class discussions to make it relatable. Word was getting out, and students wouldn’t even purchase the textbook. In addition, other students found that the assigned textbook wasn’t always affordable - even for a rented or electronic version. In an effort to address both these difficulties, I embarked on this project.
Audience
The primary student audience includes upper-level psychology majors who are taking a cognitive psychology course. It is geared towards students who have taken some lower-level psychology courses, including those that teach research. Secondarily, the project is geared towards educators and meant to be an easy-to-comprehend introduction to cognition.
Structure
The text is broken up into five modules. Each module will consist of 2-3 chapters. Each chapter will then have sections to keep the content organized. In order to ensure alignment with course level objectives, there will be module objectives, and section objectives. Ancillary materials will include discussion questions, links to activities, test questions…
Licensing
The book will carry a CC-BY-SA license and why. People can use it as they please, and change it. You can read more about this license here:
Creative Commons website
, or the
Rebus Community Licensing Policy
.
“While the global license for the book is CC-BY, some differently licensed materials may be included so long as they are clearly demarcated in the text and any changes are made in accordance with the conditions of the other license. This might apply in the cases of images, videos, or sections of non-CC-BY text that are essential to the book. However, we strongly discourage relying on this exception in order to protect and promote downstream uses. For more, see the [author guide].”
Timeline
May 31, 2021 - table of contents - Complete
August 31, 2021 - All chapter of the book (text) written in Pressbooks (likely without pictures)
September 30, 2021 - Pictures, links, and resources in Pressbooks
October 1-31, 2021 - Peer Review Process complete
November 1-31, 2021 - Revisions
Spring 2022 semester - pilot with students
June 2022 - incorporate student suggestions
Fall 2022 semester - 2nd pilot with students
Continuous revisions
Measures of Success
Initial success will be measured when I pilot the book with my own students. I want to ensure that I have been culturally and educationally inclusive.
Short Description:
I’ve long told students that the best way to retain information is through repeated exposure. However, how is this possible when students don’t read, or even purchase the assigned textbook? How do we address this when students may not be able to afford the assigned textbook? If they do purchase the textbook what if students simply don’t relate to the examples in it? Over the course of many years, after changing textbooks several times, I decided to write an open resource for students that would be culturally sensitive, relatable, and free. In this resource, students will read about the different cognitive processes and learn how they play a role in our everyday lives. There will be special considerations of cognition in current events, discussing such topics as artificial intelligence, CTE in football players, aphasia, the role of genetics in Alzheimer’s disease, and distracted driving.
Outline
Section 1 - The Background
Chapter 1: Introduction to the field of cognitive psychology
a. What is cognition?
b. The history of cognitive psychology
c. The field of cognitive psychology today
Chapter 2: How is the scientific method applied to cognitive psychology (how do you
study what you can’t directly observe)?
a. What is the scientific method?
b. Research methods review
c. Measures in cognitive psychology
d. Other methods/advances in cognitive psychology research
e. Being a good “consumer” of research.
Chapter 3: The Brain
a. Early research on the brain
b. Neurons
c. Brain
d. Current research on the brain
e. Special section on the effects of disease/damage (highlight CTE)
Section 2 - Perception and Attention
Chapter 4 – How we perceive the world
a. Define perception
b. Role of the sensory systems in perception
c. Perceptual processing
Chapter 5 – Paying Attention
a. Views and theories of attention
b. Factors that influence attention
c. Automatic/Controlled Processing
d. Special topic on distracted driving
Section 3 - Making Memories
Chapter 6 – Introduction to Memory
a. Importance of memory in our lives
b. Is memory a structure or process?
c. The modal model of memory
d. Working memory
e. Prospective memory
Chapter 7 – Long-term memory (the study skills chapter)
a. Forgetting
b. Rehearsal
c. Methods of encoding that will improve memory
d. Methods of retrieval that will improve memory
e. Mnemonics
f. Bizarreness effect
g. Self-reference effect
h. Generation effect
i. Mental frameworks and schemas
j. Autobiographical memory
Chapter 8 – When Memory Goes Wrong
a. Reconstructive memory
b. Seven sins of memory
c. Schemas and scripts
d. Photographic vs. flashbulb memories
e. Memory errors in the laboratory
f. Eyewitness memory
g. Special discussion of “Repressed” memories
h. Amnesia
i. Alzheimer’s dementia
j. Childhood amnesia
Section 4 - Using your Imagination, Speaking your Mind, and Being Knowledgable
Chapter 9 – Mental Imagery
a. Define mental imagery
b. Mental imagery representation in the mind
c. What is the role of imagery in memory?
d. Imagery in problem solving
e. Imagery in the ability to navigate the environment
f. Nonvisual images
Chapter 10 – Language
a. What is it?
b. Structure
c. From sounds to words, to sentences, to text
d. Language production vs. language comprehension
e. Dialogue
f. Language development
g. Animal communication
Chapter 11 – Knowledge
a. Define knowledge
b. Define concepts
c. Conceptual organization
d. Everyday use of concepts
Section 5: Advanced Cognition
Chapter 12 – Problem solving
a. What is a problem?
b. What is problem solving?
c. Well-defined vs. ill-defined problems
d. Defining and representing problems
e. Approaches of problem solving
f. How cognition limits ability to solve problems
g. Experts vs. novices in solving problems
h. IDEAL framework
i. Special topic: can you become a better problem solver? How?
Chapter 13 – Reasoning and Decision Making
a. What is reasoning?
b. Deductive reasoning
c. Inductive reasoning
d. What is decision making?
e. What is the role of reasoning and decision making in our real lives?
Chapter 14 – Special introduction to artificial intelligence
a. What is AI?
b. How is AI being used in the different fields
c. The future of AI