IB Psychology HL - CLOA - Outline and Explain How Cloa Principles Can Be Demonstrated In Research

Principle 1: mental representations guide behaviour

Principle 2: mental processes can and should be studied scientifically

behaviourists believe that there’s no intervention between the stimuli and the response

but cognitive psychologists disagree

there are cognitive mediums between input (stimuli) and output (response)

these cognitive mediums are based on the way the world is represented in our memory

we never confront reality full-on; instead we interpret and perceive it on the basis of stored knowledge

viewing mental processes in terms of information-processing has made it possible to create theories on unobservable cognitive structures and processes

these models can be tested with conventional scientific methods

studying mental processes enable psychologists to explain what behaviourism can’t

CLOA studies can be related to BLOA and SCLOA to develop more comprehensive explanations

schemas are mental representations

they guide behaviour by creating expectations

thus influencing the cognitive process of memory

Cited studies:

Bartlett (1932)

Bransford & Johnson (1972)

to support the theory that memory is an active reconstructive process

to prove that schemas influence certain details during memory reconstruction

English participants were asked to read a Native American folk tale (War of the Ghosts)

Their memory of the story was tested using serial reproduction or repeated reproduction

with successive reproductions, the story became progressively shorter

distortions were introduced in the recollection of the story (e.g. hunting seals became fishing, canoe became boat…)

more complex info = higher chance of distortion

people use existing schemas to subconsciously fill in gaps in memory

according to Bartlett, memory is an imaginative reconstruction of experience

new information is strongly influenced by activated schemas

very robust study with 2 ways of assessing schema use (serial & repeated reproduction)

but culturally very specific to 1930s England

therefore cannot be generalized to modern society as most modern English people know what seals and canoes are

unsophisticated methodology: Bartlett didn’t explicitly ask for accurate reproductions; environment not controlled

to identify the processing stage at which schemas are likely to exert influence

Participants heard a long speech that made vague references with no context

3 conditions:

- no title

- title before

- title after

Participants were asked to indicate how easy they found it to understand the speech, and were asked to recall as much of it as possible

participants of the ‘no title’ and ‘title after’ conditions found the paragraph much more difficult to comprehend

participants of the ‘title before’ condition remembered much more of the speech

in the ‘title before’ condition, the background information given prior to the speech activated schemas involved with the subject

this helped disambiguate the speech

perceiving the passage within the context defined by the relevant schemas improved understanding.

in the ‘title after’ condition, the context was given too late for participants to comprehend the material as they had already forgotten most of it

memory is a mental process

it’s scientifically investigated using free-recall experiments

where variables are controlled

the focus is on remembering impersonal material that can be tested on many subjects

Cited studies:

Loftus and Palmer (1974)

Participants watched car accident videos.

They were asked how fast they estimated the cars were going when they hit. The action verb “hit” was replaced with contacted, smashed, etc., with different groups.

phrasing used in the question affected the memory

due to the schema activated by the chosen verb

shows that schemas can affect memory

supports the unreliability of reconstructive memory