Showing papers on "Cognitivism (psychology) published in 2011"
TL;DR: This chapter discusses the relationship between attention, Cognition, and Skilled Performance, and Discontinuity in the Development of Motor Control in Children.
Abstract: I Motor Control and Action Planning.- 1 Cognitivism and Future Theories of Action: Some Basic Issues.- 2 A Distributed Processing View of Human Motor Control.- 3 The Apraxias, Purposeful Motor Behavior, and Left-Hemisphere Function.- 4 A Motor-Program Editor.- 5 Eye Movement Control During Reading: The Effect of Word Units.- II Motor Contributions to Perception and Cognition.- 6 Motor Theories of Cognitive Structure: A Historical Review.- 7 Context Effects and Efferent Factors in Perception and Cognition.- 8 Saccadic Eye Movements and Visual Stability: Preliminary Considerations Towards a Cognitive Approach.- 9 Scanning and the Distribution of Attention: The Current Status of Heron's Sensory-Motor Theory.- 10 The Relationship Between Motor Processes and Cognition in Tactile Vision Substitution.- III Mediating Structures and Operations Between Cognition and Action.- 11 Mechanisms of Voluntary Movement.- 12 Evaluation: The Missing Link Between Cognition and Action.- 13 Modes of Linkage Between Perception and Action.- 14 The Contribution of Vision-Based Imagery to the Acquisition and Operation of a Transcription Skill.- 15 Speech Production and Comprehension: One Lexicon or Two?.- IV Attention, Cognition, and Skilled Performance.- 16 S-Oh-R: Oh Stages! Oh Resources!.- 17 Automatic Processing: A Review of Recent Findings and a Plea for an Old Theory.- 18 Motor Learning as a Process of Structural Constriction and Displacement.- V Interactions Between Cognition and Action in Development.- 19 Cognition and Action in Development: A Tutorial Discussion.- 20 Biodynamic Structures, Cognitive Correlates of Motive Sets and the Development of Motives in Infants.- 21 Discontinuity in the Development of Motor Control in Children.- Author Index.
448 citations
TL;DR: Cognitivism is a relatively recent learning theory and its features are not well known or are confused with constructivism by teachers as mentioned in this paper, however, cognitivism has a philosophical and theoretical basis, its implications for classroom practices, and illustrative teaching methods.
Abstract: Learning theories are essential for effective teaching in that they shed light on different aspects of the learning process. The spectrum of learning theories can be categorized into three main areas: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Behaviorism as a teacher-centered instructional framework for a long time dominated educational settings, shaping every aspect of curriculum and instruction. In contrast to behaviorism, cognitivism is a relatively recent learning theory and its features are not well known or are confused with constructivism by teachers. This article aims to provide an overview of the core characteristics of cognitivism, its philosophical and theoretical basis, its implications for classroom practices, and its illustrative teaching methods. Cognitive apprenticeship, reciprocal teaching, anchored instruction, inquiry learning, discovery learning, and problem-based learning are explicated as the most distinctive methods of the cognitive perspective on learning.
173 citations
TL;DR: This paper addresses the unsatisfactory state of affairs of computation and information processing by presenting a general and theory-neutral account and defends the relevance to cognitive science of both computation, at least in a generic sense, and informationprocessing, in three important senses of the term.
Abstract: Computation and information processing are among the most fundamental notions in cognitive science. They are also among the most imprecisely discussed. Many cognitive scientists take it for granted that cognition involves computation, information processing, or both – although others disagree vehemently. Yet different cognitive scientists use ‘computation’ and ‘information processing’ to mean different things, sometimes without realizing that they do. In addition, computation and information processing are surrounded by several myths; first and foremost, that they are the same thing. In this paper, we address this unsatisfactory state of affairs by presenting a general and theory-neutral account of computation and information processing. We also apply our framework by analyzing the relations between computation and information processing on one hand and classicism, connectionism, and computational neuroscience on the other. We defend the relevance to cognitive science of both computation, at least in a generic sense, and information processing, in three important senses of the term. Our account advances several foundational debates in cognitive science by untangling some of their conceptual knots in a theory-neutral way. By leveling the playing field, we pave the way for the future resolution of the debates’ empirical aspects.
160 citations
TL;DR: Gallese et al. as discussed by the authors argue that stories often evoke intense feelings and sensations in their readers, which may be considered the outcome of a basic functional mechanism instantiated by our brain-body system.
Abstract: Author(s): Gallese, Vittorio; Wojciehowski, Hannah | Abstract: How do stories often evoke intense feelings and sensations in their readers? This essay explores that question with a new combination of insights from neuroscience and literary theory, while also assessing the difficulties as well as the potential gains of such interdisciplinary research. The authors lay the groundwork for a neurocritical embodied narratology that incorporates both the critiques of traditional humanism within literary studies and of classic cognitivism within neuroscience. Their methodological approach focuses on Feeling of Body (in contrast to Theory of Mind), which may be considered the outcome of a basic functional mechanism instantiated by our brain-body system. Feeling of Body is also a foundational aspect of liberated Embodied Simulation, a process enabling a more direct and less cognitively mediated access to the world of narrated others and mediating our capacity to share the meaning of their actions, basic motor intentions, feelings, and emotions, thus grounding our identification with and connectedness to narrated characters. Through case studies of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Dante Alighieri’s Vita nuova, the authors argue that literary texts rely on Feelings of Body communicated by the authors to their readers, and, in turn, experienced by readers simulating those experiences through the sensory-motor networks common to human beings.
85 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Cognitive ecology is the multidimensional contexts in which we remember, feel, think, sense, communicate, imagine, and act, often collaboratively, on the fly, and in rich ongoing interaction with our environments.
Abstract: "COGNITIVE ECOLOGY" is a fruitful model for Shakespearean studies, early modern literary and cultural history, and theatrical history more widely Cognitive ecologies are the multidimensional contexts in which we remember, feel, think, sense, communicate, imagine, and act, often collaboratively, on the fly, and in rich ongoing interaction with our environments Along with the anthropologist Edwin Hutchins, (1) we use the term "cognitive ecology" to integrate a number of recent approaches to cultural cognition: we believe these approaches offer productive lines of engagement with early modern literary and historical studies (2) The framework arises out of our work in extended mind and distributed cognition (3) The extended mind hypothesis arose from a post-connectionist philosophy of cognitive science This approach was articulated in Andy Clark's Being There: Putting Brain, Body, and World Together Again, and further developed by Susan Hurley and Mark Rowlands, among others (4) The distributed cognition approach arose independently, from work in cognitive anthropology, HCI (Human-Computer Interaction), the sociology of education and work, and science studies The principles of distributed cognition were articulated in Hutchins's ethnography of navigation, Cognition in the Wild, (5) and developed by theorists such as David Kirsh and Lucy Suchman (6) These models share an anti-individualist approach to cognition In all these views, mental activities spread or smear across the boundaries of skull and skin to include parts of the social and material world In remembering, decision making, and acting, whether individually or in small groups, our complex and structured activities involve many distinctive dimensions: neural, affective, kinesthetic, sensory, interpersonal, historical, political, cultural, technological; indeed, each dimension in this necessarily partial list is itself wildly heterogeneous Many cognitive states and processes are hybrids, unevenly distributed across the physical, social, and cultural environments as well as bodies and brains, hooking up in both temporary and more enduring ways with other people and with certain things--artifacts, media, technologies, or institutions--each with its own history and tendencies In other words, this is a system-level mode of analysis System here is not to be seen at the relatively abstract level of Michel Foucault's opisteme or even Pierre Bourdieu's habitus, but instead as dynamic, material, and non-localizable In this view system "cannot be understood in its development or function as strictly localized within one level of analysis" (7) In a dynamic model of system, no one element can be identified as the unit of analysis Rather, thought is distributed across insides (internal mechanisms constraining attention, perception, and memory); objects (artifacts and environments); and people (social systems) Because our practices of remembering or decision-making in cultural settings always involve the coordination of many disparate resources at once, we cannot assign any general analytic priority to one of these dimensions (8) The integrative label "cognitive ecology" particularly highlights the point that disparate but tightly interconnected elements within any such culturally specific setting operate in a complementary balance that shifts over time Although firmly grounded in contemporary sciences of mind, cognitive ecology thus has little in common with the rigid rationalist logicism of classical forms of cognitivism Thinking is not the product of stable and determinate internal structures Communication and action are not the mere expressions of the real cognitive processes in the head, but are thinking or remembering in action A raft of loosely allied movements in the situated, embodied, and distributed cognitive sciences reject the individualist "classical sandwich," by which "mind" stolidly mediates between input and output, perception and action, instead studying more-or-less intelligent practices in their cultural-historical settings …
74 citations
TL;DR: A methodological framework destined to force disciplinary course modules to evolve in order to integrate high-level cognitive skills and professional competencies is proposed in terms of the primary currents in educational psychology: behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism and social constructivism.
Abstract: The changing profile of students, the expectations of business and the capabilities offered by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) makes it necessary to change teaching practices, particularly in higher education. This paper proposes a methodological framework destined to force disciplinary course modules to evolve in order to integrate high-level cognitive skills and professional competencies. In this paper, we examine this framework in terms of the primary currents in educational psychology: behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism and social constructivism. We present and analyze three case studies showing the evolution of three disciplinary course modules. We show that the lessons taught in these three modules are more motivating and more efficient, producing results that are closer to what employers are asking of their employees.
35 citations
DOI•
01 Mar 2011
TL;DR: The authors argued that language may be a social semiotic, but above all it is a cognitive product and its development is therefore first and foremost a cognitive process, and that the study of second language acquisition has historically been dominated by a single broad approach-that which goes by the name of cognitive.
Abstract: If language is many things, then so is its acquisition. It is therefore a curious fact
that the study of second language acquisition (SLA) has historically been dominated
by a single broad approach-that which goes by the name of “cognitive.” From
this perspective, language may be a “social semiotic,” but above all it is a cognitive
product. Its development is therefore first and foremost a cognitive process.
28 citations
TL;DR: Discursive psychology as discussed by the authors is a theoretical and analytical lens that reconceptualizes psychological concepts (e.g., cognition, affect, motivation, etc.), viewing such concepts as part of discourse.
Abstract: Discursive psychology (DP) is a theoretical and analytical lens that reconceptualizes psychological concepts (e.g., cognition, affect, motivation, etc.), viewing such concepts as part of discourse. DP, as a “broad title for a range of research done in different disciplinary contexts—communication, language, sociology, and psychology,” examines how reality and psychology “are produced, dealt with, and made relevant by participants in and through interaction” (Hepburn & Wiggins, 2005, pp. 595–601). DP takes an emic approach to studying psychological concepts, such as cognition, moving away from the etic perspective that is common in much of the research within cognitive psychology (Potter, 2005). In this article, I introduce the theoretical and methodological ways in which DP might function to expand how scholars within cognitive psychology make sense of and examine psychological constructs, particularly cognition. I begin, however, by presenting a historical overview of the concept of cognition while also exploring how cognition might be considered through a discursive lens. I then provide an overview of the distinctive features of DP, briefly highlighting its relation to and distinction from other discourse research traditions. Finally, I discuss the possibilities for applying a DP framework to examine topics of study within cognitive psychology.
25 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The authors argue that stories often evoke intense feelings and sensations in their readers, which may be considered the outcome of a basic functional mechanism instantiated by our brain-body system, i.e., feeling of body.
Abstract: How do stories often evoke intense feelings and sensations in their readers? This essay explores that question with a new combination of insights from neuroscience and literary theory, while also assessing the difficulties as well as the potential gains of such interdisciplinary research. The authors lay the groundwork for a neurocritical embodied narratology that incorporates both the critiques of traditional humanism within literary studies and of classic cognitivism within neuroscience. Their methodological approach focuses on Feeling of Body (in contrast to Theory of Mind), which may be considered the outcome of a basic functional mechanism instantiated by our brain-body system. Feeling of Body is also a foundational aspect of liberated Embodied Simulation, a process enabling a more direct and less cognitively mediated access to the world of narrated others and mediating our capacity to share the meaning of their actions, basic motor intentions, feelings, and emotions, thus grounding our identification with and connectedness to narrated characters. Through case studies of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Dante Alighieri’s Vita nuova, the authors argue that literary texts rely on Feelings of Body communicated by the authors to their readers, and, in turn, experienced by readers simulating those experiences through the sensory-motor networks common to human beings.
23 citations
Book Chapter•
13 Jul 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the authors support the general hypothesis that irony is a non-unified phenomenon comprising different devices with different semantic/pragmatic/cognitive characteristics, focusing on the processes of production and retrieval of the ironic message, where the speaker employs a strikingly unrealistic, unexpected, and inappropriate (and thus "surrealistic") question or assertion in order to create the ironic effect.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to support the general hypothesis that irony is a non-unified phenomenon comprising different devices with different semantic/pragmatic/cognitive characteristics. The arguments presented here stand on the boundary between semantics, cognitivism and pragmatics, focusing on the processes of production and retrieval of the ironic message. The main focus is a particular strategy in which the speaker employs a strikingly unrealistic, unexpected, and inappropriate (and thus “surrealistic”) question or assertion in order to create the ironic effect. This type of strategy is illustrated in example (1). (1) Are you going to school tomorrow? No, I am riding my unicorn to Alaska! The ironic device discussed is compared to other common ironic strategies which are distinguished with the help of five criteria: the meaning derivation process, context dependence (the amount of contextual information needed for the recognition of the ironic character of the utterance), cancellability (the possibility of cancelling the ironic character of the utterance), and, at the level of discourse, the effectiveness of interpretation and humorous effect.
TL;DR: There are three leading learning theories, i.e., behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism, each of which is associated with certain types of instruction to yield productive outcomes as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: There is a strong relationship between learning theories and instructional practices. Effective learning occurs as a result of effective teaching strategies. Effective teaching requires teachers to understand learning concepts and to develop a theoretical orientation combined with practice for efficient instructional design. There are three leading learning theories presented in this article, i.e., behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism, each of which is associated with certain types of instruction to yield productive outcomes. Direct instruction and mastery learning are the two typical models that can measure observable changes in learning behavior, a focus of behaviorism. Self-directed learning and cognitive strategies best represent cognitivism that is mainly reflected by the information processing through a series of complex procedures. Cooperative learning and service learning, on the other hand, can typically demonstrate the nature of constructivism, which places an emphasis on how students construct understanding through social interaction and negotiation of meaning. The instructional models presented in this paper are expected to support teachers to enhance teaching strategies and design effective instruction through a critical reflection of theoretical concepts and practical application.
Book•
14 Mar 2011
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide an overview of what has been written and promoted to educators in the area of e-learning theory and practice, and the result is an informative and potentially very useful guide which should be read by all of us who are interested in, or responsible for, planning and encouraging effective teaching and learning with technology.
Abstract: Psychology for the Classroom: E-Learning describes and reflects upon the developing nature of technology-supported teaching and learning and the educational psychology associated with those developments. Through examples drawn from research, presentation of theory, description of pedagogy and illustration by vignette, the book informs teachers and allows them to modify and develop their teaching in order to exploit the affordances of the new technologies and our understanding of their applications as well as to better meet the challenges both to teachers and teaching but also to the intellectual and cognitive demands placed upon learners. There is a particular emphasis placed upon the developing theories and practice of cybergogy as well as an interpretation of conventional theories of behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism in the light of the online teaching and training practices. The author has taken an overview of what has been written and promoted to educators in the area of e-learning theory and practice, and the result is an informative and potentially very useful guide which should be read by all of us who are interested in, or responsible for, planning and encouraging effective teaching and learning with technology. The purpose of the proposed book is to provide background, detail of research in the topic of e-learning through internet-based technologies and the implications for teaching and learning to date, an outline of the main points of theory generated from the research, a view of the pedagogical implications which can be drawn out of the research, a consideration of how the pedagogical suggestions are being turned into teaching practice. The book will provide a foundation of research leading to practical strategies, all presented in an unbiased way, in order to inform teachers and to allow them to make choices about possible changes to their ways of teaching in the e-learning environment. Much of the research and development related to e-learning includes the actions of the teachers and trainers, the technology in the form of hardware, the technology in the form of software and the strategies and procedures of technology-enabled teaching.
TL;DR: In this article, the epistemological basis of cognitive experimental psychology is analyzed and arguments contrary to and in favor of cognitive revolution are discussed as a rupture with the paradigm of behaviorism.
Abstract: This article aims to analyze the epistemological basis of Cognitive Experimental Psychology. Initially, some of the presuppositions of cognitive psychology within the realm of cognitive science and its relation to cognitivism will be discussed. Secondly, the relation between historical aspects and theoretical presuppositions are considered. In light of these aspects, some philosophical ideas are raised in order to highlight the transition from the original models of science to the appearance of cognitive science as it is known today. Finally, arguments contrary to and in favor of the cognitive revolution are discussed as a rupture with the paradigm of behaviorism.
TL;DR: In this article, the fundamental concepts of cognitive science are presented and discussed, divided into four stages: the beginnings, classical cognitivism, connectionism, and embodiment-enaction.
12 Dec 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, the hidden beliefs of BA students of three main language fields in Iran were investigated using metaphor analysis, and the results indicated that the three groups hold the similar beliefs towards the current university education system and share the similar ideals in this respect.
Abstract: The present study investigates the hidden beliefs of BA students of three main language fields in Iran. Employing quantitative metaphor analysis, the conceptions of 300 students of English, French and Arabic were detected on the basis of the three main paradigms in education, namely Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Situative learning and teaching. The results indicate that the three groups hold the similar beliefs towards the current university education system and share the similar ideals in this respect. The role of culture in education is discussed in light of the results. The findings are also compared with previous studies that have drawn on metaphor analysis in the Iranian context of foreign language education.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify and evaluate three claims that motivate embodied social cognition and argue that these claims are not specific to social cognition; they are general hypotheses about cognition and they may be used in more general arguments for embodied cog- nition.
Abstract: In this paper I evaluate embodied social cognition, embodied cognition's account of how we understand others. I identify and evaluate three claims that motivate embodied social cognition. These claims are not specific to social cognition; they are general hypotheses about cognition. As such, they may be used in more general arguments for embodied cog- nition. I argue that we have good reasons to reject these claims. Thus, the case for embodied social cognition fails. Moreover, to the extent that gen- eral arguments for embodied cognition rest on these premises, they are correspondingly uncompelling.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the most recent debates in a certain area of the ‘law and emotion' field, namely the literature on the role of affect in the criminal law.
Abstract: This article focuses on the most recent debates in a certain area of the ‘law and emotion’ field, namely the literature on the role of affect in the criminal law. Following the dominance of cognitivism in the philosophy of emotions, authors moved away from seeing emotions as contaminations on reason and examined how affective reactions could be accommodated within penal proceedings. The review is structured into two main components. I look first at contributions about the multi-dimensional presence of emotions within ordinary criminal proceedings. Second, I examine work done on the use of criminal trials under the emotionally stressful circumstances of post-conflict societies. In the conclusion I sketch a theoretical proposal for moving the discussion forward.
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: Chemero, Anthony as discussed by the authors argues that the Representational Theory of Mind is a relatively new invention, attached to the rise of modern computer technologies, and that the main problems with representation have been identified intermittently, only to be forgotten almost immediately.
Abstract: Chemero, Anthony. (2009). Radical embodied cognitive science. Cambridge, MA: A Bradford Book, MIT Press.Students of psychology are taught to regard the Representational Theory of Mind as a relatively new invention, attached to the rise of modern computer technologies. Yet, as Jerry Fodor-for once-rightly pointed out, "insofar as the Representational Theory of Mind is the content of the computer metaphor, the computer metaphor predates the computer by about three hundred years" (Fodor, 1981, p. 140).Fundamental difficulties with the Representational Theory of Mind were identified long before the new cognitivism. Two of the main problems continue to be remembered intermittently, only to be forgotten almost immediately. The first is what has come to be known as the symbol-grounding problem: How do mental representations ever come to connect meaningfully to the world (Harnad, 1990)? To put it bluntly, where do they come from? The second concerns the application of mental rules and representations: How can rules and representations be applied intelligently to the specifics of any particular situation (Polanyi, 1969)? In other words, how do we know when and how to apply any particular rule or representation? By appeal to yet more rules and representations? (For an excellent recent discussion of this second problem see Shaw, 2003.)Since the rise of modern cognitivism there have been many important reactions and alternatives. Unfortunately, Anthony Chemero hardly attempts to situate his new book, Radical Embodied Cognitive Science, within this much wider context. There are no references, for example, to Jean Lave's Cognition in Practice (1988), Lucy Suchman's Plans and Situated Actions (1987), Susan Oyama's Ontogeny as Information (2000), or to the extensive work within ethnomethodology and discursive psychology (e.g., Coulter, 1983; Edwards, 1997). There are only fleeting references to Ed Hutchins' Cognition in the Wild (1995) and other landmark texts including those of Edward Reed, Chemero's former colleague at Franklin and Marshall College. Given that Chemero does not situate his exact position in relation to some of the big issues on this wider anti-cognitivist agenda, it is difficult to tell exactly where he stands, not least with regard to situatedness, and, indeed, to other prominent approaches (e.g., sociological approaches) to embodiment.1Chemero's aim, in this spirited book, is to promote a coalition of just two of the existing alternatives to cognitivism: James Gibson's ecological psychology and dynamic systems theory. One of the glowing testimonials on the cover of the book even claims that Chemero "weds" these two frameworks, but, if so, the marriage was long overdue. The couple had already been living together in Connecticut (with Michael Turvey and Bob Shaw) for a considerable time. As long ago as 1981, Claire Michaels and Claudia Carello presented an engaging celebration of this partnership in their book Direct Perception.Getting RadicalChemero is rightly suspicious of the radical claims of some of the supposed alternatives to cognitivism. These "alternatives" often invoke embodiment or situatedness-or both-as a supplement to cognitivism rather than a true alternative. Some of these alternatives even treat these developments as providing the very "bootstrap" that cognitivism had long been waiting for! Chemero's radical stance involves the complete rejection of "representationalism and computationalism" (p. 29).I am at one with Chemero in his rejection of computationalism and, indeed, formalism (if that really is also his ultimate target). Psychologists fail to take note of the fundamental limits that the pioneers of computationalism themselves placed upon formalism. Turing is especially intriguing in this respect. After all, his work on diffusion demonstrated "how patterns in nature can emerge without any programmer at all" (Kelso, 1995, p. 4).I also agree with Chemero that representationalist theorists have played fast and loose with the concept of representation. …
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Embodied cognition (EC) is a growing popular research program in cognitive science in general and cognitive psychology in particular as discussed by the authors, which emphasizes the formative role the organism's structure of body and sensorimotor systems playing in the development of mind and cognitive processes.
Abstract: Embodied Cognition (EC) is a growing popular research program in cognitive science in general and cognitive psychology in particular. It emphasizes the formative role the organism's structure of body and sensorimotor systems playing in the development of mind and cognitive processes. The notion of EC stands in contrast to the traditional cognitive psychology which regards the mind as a device to manipulate symbols and our cognitive capacities should be understood in terms of computational procedures operating on symbolic, internal states and processes. EC rejects this notion of the cognition and proposes that bodily states and structure, the physical attributes of the body and brain's modal systems for perception, action, and introspection shape the mind. In other words, the particular way in which an organism is embodied can definitely have an impact on the organism's mind and action in the world. According to EC, not only is cognition embodied, but also embedded. That means that our cognitive capacities arises from bodily interactions with the world and is continually meshed with them. The brain is embedded in the body, and the body is embedded in environment. The mind, brain, body and environment are organized into an integrative system. At early stage, EC research program is just a metaphysical thinking that is aimed at against Descartes' dualism in mind-body relations. Through the philosophy of cognitive science and theoretical psychology, EC has now become a hot topic in experimental psychology. Accumulative evidences have showed the embodiment of cognition, emotion, memory, self-concept, attitude, judgment and other psychological processes and states. The advances in neuroscience provide EC research with convenient instruments. EC has taken advantage of the methods, technology, datum and results of neuroscience. But in so doing, proponents of EC do not intend to reduce the psychological to the physiological and the physical. EC research approach, therefore, can not be of reductionism. In the mean time, the neuroscience approach in EC provide psychology with a brand new perspectives, by which psychologists can make study on cognitive processes at a neural level other than at a behavioral level only. Both of the two levels are necessary for psychological research. It will not have a harm effect on psychological science.
01 Jul 2011
TL;DR: The authors argue that many of the problems related with school mathematics cannot be fully conceptualized without some kind of political mapping that situates them not at the level of learning, but at the political and economical one.
Abstract: Mathematics education as a field of academic research has been historically concerned with the improvement of the process of teaching and learning mathematics in schools. Despite the diversity of theories used and developed within the field (from cognitivism and constructivism to more recent sociocultural approaches), a focus on learning‘ and mathematics‘ permeates the way researchers apply and develop different theorizations in mathematics education. In recent years, however, a discontentment with the way research disavows the social and political dimension of learning‘ has led the community to search for theories that provide a different conceptualization for the problems of the field. In this article we take advantage of contemporary philosophy to develop an analysis of mathematics education as a field of research. We shall argue that many of the problems related with school mathematics cannot be fully conceptualized without some kind of political mapping‘ that situates them not at the level of learning‘ but at the political and economical one. Our suggestion is that positing schools as crucial modern institutions for the reproduction of capitalist economy and ideology can bring us closer to the complex situations teachers and students experience in schools.
TL;DR: The authors explored several versions of cognitivism, focusing in particular on Kunne's Neo-Fregean proposal that concepts are modes of presentation, and tackled a challenge facing all cognitivist accounts, namely the 'proposition problem': how can the cognitive dimension of concepts be reconciled with the idea of concepts are components of propositions.
Abstract: Th is article explores a cognitivist approach to concepts. Such an approach steers a middle course between the Scylla of subjectivism and the Charybdis of objectivism. While concepts are not mental particulars, they have an ineliminable cognitive dimension. Th e article explores several versions of cognitivism, focusing in particular on Kunne’s Neo-Fregean proposal that concepts are modes of presentation. It also tackles a challenge facing all cognitivist accounts, namely the ‘proposition problem’: how can the cognitive dimension of concepts be reconciled with the idea that concepts are components of propositions. My moral is that this challenge can be met only by combining Neo-Fregean ideas with certain Wittgensteinian insights.
TL;DR: Wojciehowski and Chapelle as discussed by the authors explored how stories often evoke intense feelings and sensations in their readers, with a new combination of insights from neuroscience and literary theory, while also assessing the difficulties as well as the potential gains of such interdisciplinary research.
Abstract: Author(s): Wojciehowski, Hannah Chapelle | Abstract: How do stories often evoke intense feelings and sensations in their readers? This essay explores that question with a new combination of insights from neuroscience and literary theory, while also assessing the difficulties as well as the potential gains of such interdisciplinary research. The authors lay the groundwork for a neurocritical embodied narratology that incorporates both the critiques of traditional humanism within literary studies and of classic cognitivism within neuroscience. Their methodological approach focuses on Feeling of Body (in contrast to Theory of Mind), which may be considered the outcome of a basic functional mechanism instantiated by our brain-body system. Feeling of Body is also a foundational aspect of liberated Embodied Simulation, a process enabling a more direct and less cognitively mediated access to the world of narrated others and mediating our capacity to share the meaning of their actions, basic motor intentions, feelings, and emotions, thus grounding our identification with and connectedness to narrated characters. Through case studies of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Dante Alighieri’s Vita nuova, the authors argue that literary texts rely on Feelings of Body communicated by the authors to their readers, and, in turn, experienced by readers simulating those experiences through the sensory-motor networks common to human beings.
TL;DR: This article discussed a variety of conceptual issues related to the notions of causality and explanation in psychology, including functionalism, cognitivism, computationalism, behaviourism, and idealism.
Abstract: Mario A. Bunge is one of the most prominent philosophers and humanists of our time. His vast record of publications has covered, among others, episte-mology, ontology, ethics, philosophy of natural and social sciences, philosophy of technology, and philosophy of mind. A topic that intersects many of these areas and is recurrent in Bunge's work is causality. His analyses of the causal principle, and the redefinition of determinism into near-determinism have been applied to different philosophical issues that range from the causal role of neuronal functioning to the laws of social phenomena. Bunge has criticized functionalism, cognitivism, computationalism, behaviourism, and idealism in their attempt to explain human and non-human behaviour. This article results from an extensive interview held with Dr. Bunge in which we discussed a variety of conceptual issues related to the notions of causality and explanation in psychology.
TL;DR: In this paper, a view of conceptualization grounded in the Indian philosophical notion of "valid cognition" is proposed, arguing that we need to shift from the usual dichotomies of cognitive science and epistemology such as the formal/empirical and the rationalist/EMpiricist divides.
Abstract: We perform conceptual acts throughout our daily lives; we are always judging others, guessing their intentions, agreeing or opposing their views and so on. These conceptual acts have phenomenological as well as formal richness. This paper attempts to correct the imbalance between the phenomenal and formal approaches to conceptualization by claiming that we need to shift from the usual dichotomies of cognitive science and epistemology such as the formal/empirical and the rationalist/empiricist divides—to a view of conceptualization grounded in the Indian philosophical notion of “valid cognition”. Methodologically, our paper is an attempt at cross-cultural philosophy and cognitive science; ontologically, it is an attempt at marrying the phenomenal and the formal.
TL;DR: The authors define cognitivism in the anthropology of religion as an approach to religion that appeals to the mind and to processes of cognition as universals from which theories of religion, and explanations for religion, can be generated.
Abstract: Cognitive approaches to religion in religious studies and anthropology are proving increasingly fashionable of late. The focus of this essay is on “cognitivism” in the anthropology of religion, and in particular the writings of E. B. Tylor, Claude Levi-Strauss and Harvey Whitehouse. I define cognitivism in the anthropology of religion as an approach to religion that appeals to the mind and to processes of cognition as universals from which theories of — and explanations for — religion, can be generated. The essay engages in a detailed analysis of three cognitive theories of religion. Each theory takes the mind to be an enduring and stable foundation upon which an explanation for religion can be erected. Yet the mind — the foundation — is disclosed through each theory as unstable; it actually changes under different kinds of enquiry into religion. I then sketch two possible alternative theories of the mind before concluding by arguing that the cognizing mind might productively be treated not as a given and natural fact but rather as the product of discourse.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight the significance of Chomskyan concepts of linguistic and cognitivism in restructuring educational ideals and directions regarding learning in Educational Psychology and suggest Chomskyan psychology as an inevitable part of the curriculum content of Educational Psychology of teacher education of Indian Universities.
Abstract: This paper makes an attempt to highlight the significance of Chomskyan concepts of linguistic and cognitivism in restructuring educational ideals and directions regarding learning in Educational Psychology. His specific views on educational aspects are the need of the hour in education scenario especially in the context of globalization. This paper is attempted to: (i). Identify the Contributions of Chomsky in Psychology, Cognitivism and Educational Psychology. (ii). Identify Chomsky's Contributions on Psychology of learning as a theory that opposes the concept of behaviourist approach. (iii). Discuss the specific views of Chomsky in language learning, class room instruction, school running and educational administration. (iv). Suggest Chomskyan psychology as an inevitable part of the curriculum content of Educational Psychology of teacher education of Indian Universities. These reflections and findings of Chomsky supported the restructuring of classroom teaching-learning process not only in language but also in science and humanity subjects. His suggestions scaffold the adoption of innovative pupil centered methods including constructivist approaches in classroom teaching. All his views show clear-cut support for restructuring educational directions and execution of innovative changes in education in the aspects like planning of education, administration, curriculum, methods, organizing text book, classroom teaching and managing school atmosphere.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Palmer as mentioned in this paper argued that narratives are motivated by the interactions of minds and argued that stories gain their "tellability" because of their human significance, whether for the people involved (the characters) or the person telling or hearing.
Abstract: What is mind but motion in the intellectual sphere? --Oscar Wilde, Intentions In his important essay on "Social Minds," Alan Palmer continues his longstanding mission to reconfigure the field of narratology and thus redefine our understanding of the nature of narrative by turning attention to our minds and the relationships between different forms of consciousness. Like all good paradigm-shifts, it is an ambitious concept founded on simplicity. The fundametally significant insight is that narrative should be regarded as being driven not by event but by person. In classical narratology, even where viewpoint and perspective were the topics in focus, often the discussion was about the effect on how events were perceived, how events were motivated, how events were telescoped or extended; beyond this, narrative itself was defined by the nature of its story or plot. This classical line, of course, is divergent from the popular conception of narrative: stories gain their "tellability" because of their human significance, whether for the people involved (the characters) or the person telling or hearing. So Palmer's approach rests on the evident truism that narratives are about relationships between people. Of course, his argument goes far beyond this, but the foundational tenet that narratives are motivated by the interactions of minds has important consequences. First, as he indicates, Palmer's approach forms part of the wider cognitive rum in the arts and humanities. After early polemical and programmatic positioning, this movement has been producing significant and irreversible insights into consciousness and our articulation of it in both high art and more prosaic discourse. Though his convincing arguments are illustrated largely by nineteenth-century fiction, there is enough in his position to allow other researchers to explore the validity of his ideas more widely. Second, Palmer, by argument and example, shifts the means of discussion from an exclusive focus on text (typical of traditional stylistics) to a principled connection with the context of reading, writing, and social positioning. This has the benefit of speaking to the current historicising paradigm of literary scholarship, while retaining a sense of his more rigorous and systematic stylistic inheritance. If this leads literary scholars back to their abandoned skill in language study, so much the better. At the same time, Palmer avoids the extremism within the cognitive turn in literary studies by grounding his discussions of mind and consciousness in a textual and textured sensibility: he pays attention to style. This prevents him making wild and untestable assertions about consciousness, evolution, cultural universals, or the internal nature of thought--grand statements about consciousness that engage with the theory while neglecting the linguistic grounding or empirical base in texts. Importantly for cognitivism broadly, Palmer's work argues for a strong and practical social theory alongside the psychological understanding of narrative. His reading here relies on social psychology and social theory; I believe much progress could be made here, too, by applying some of the concepts and methods of sociolinguistics. Probably the key feature in modern sociolinguistics is the social articulation and management of identity. Conversations between pairs or small groups usually involve identity markers, expressive aspects of register and perspective, all of which are evident (in other terms) in Palmer's analysis of the Middlemarch passage. In Palmer's analysis, minds tend to be discrete, with definite boundaries and stable cores, and his notion of intermental thought represents a transition from one core to another (group) core. A more developed sociolinguistic analysis would also go on to explore the ways in which the different minds represented in a novel were presented as dynamically interacting and shifting against each other: how do minds adapt and change at their edges? …