ASSIGMNENT OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

SUBMITTED TO
MAAM UME RUBAB
SUBMITTED BY
NADIA BATOOL
ROLL NO:32
CLASS:BS APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

LAHORE COLLEGE FOR WOMEN UNIVERSITY LAHORE

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND CONSCIOUSNESS
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of the mind as an information
processor.
Cognitive psychologists try to build up cognitive models of the information
processing that goes on inside people’s minds, including perception, attention,
language, memory, thinking, and consciousness.
Examples of Cognitive Psychology:

1. Making a judgment about something based on information you received that your brain
processes.
2. Learning is an example of cognition. The way our brain makes connection as we learn concepts
in different ways to remember what we have learned.
3. Our ability to reason through logic is a prime example of cognition. People do have different
ways of reasoning if we think about why people buy certain things when they shop. My wife can
reason that it is okay to buy an under armour shirt for a child because it is higher quality where I
might reason that he is going to outgrow it too fast anyway and it wouldn't make sense to spend
that much money on a shirt.
Cognitive psychology became of great importance in the mid-1950s. Several factors were
important in this:

1. Dissatisfaction with the behaviorist approach in its simple emphasis on external behavior
rather than internal processes.
2. The development of better experimental methods.
3. Comparison between human and computer processing of information.

Consciousness in cognitive psychology

Consciousness refers to your individual awareness of your unique thoughts, memories, feelings,
sensations, and environment.

Your conscious experiences are constantly shifting and changing. For example, in one moment
you may be focused on reading this article. Your consciousness may then shift to the memory of
a conversation you had earlier with a co-worker. Next, you might notice how uncomfortable your
chair is, or maybe you are mentally planning dinner.

This ever-shifting stream of thoughts can change dramatically from one moment to the next, but
your experience of it seems smooth and effortless.

What aspects of consciousness to researchers study? Topics such as sleep, dreams, hypnosis,
hallucinations, meditation and the effects of psychoactive drugs are just a few of the major topics
related to consciousness that psychologists study.

Early Research on Consciousness

For thousands of years, the study of human consciousness was largely done by philosophers.
French philosopher Rene Descartes introduced the concept of mind-body dualism or the idea that
while the mind and body are separate, they do interact.

Once psychology was established as a discipline separate from philosopher and biology, the study
of the conscious experience was one of the first topics studied by early psychologists.

Structuralists used a process known as introspection to analyze and report conscious sensations,
thoughts, and experiences. Trained observers would carefully inspect the contents of their own
minds. Obviously, this was a very subjective process, but it helped inspire further research on the
scientific study of consciousness.

American psychologist William James compared consciousness to a stream; unbroken and

continuous despite constant shifts and changes. While the focus of much of the research in
psychology shifted to purely observable behaviors during the first half of the twentieth century,
research on human consciousness has grown tremendously since the 1950s.

How Is Consciousness Defined in Psychology?

One of the problems with the study of consciousness is the lack of a universally accepted
operational definition. Descartes proposed the idea of cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am),
suggested that the very act of thinking demonstrates the reality of one’s existence and
consciousness.

Today, consciousness is often viewed as an individual’s awareness of their own internal states as
well as the events going on around them. If you can describe something you are experiencing in
words, then it is part of your consciousness.
In psychology, consciousness is occasionally confused with the conscience. It is important to note
that while consciousness involves awareness of yourself and the world, your conscience is related
to your morality and sense of right or wrong. Research on consciousness has focused on
understanding the neuroscience behind our conscious experiences. Scientists have even utilized
brain scanning technology to seek out specific neurons that might be linked to different conscious
events.

Modern Theories of Consciousness

Modern researchers have proposed two major theories of consciousness:

Integrated information theory attempts to look at consciousness by learning more about the
physical processes that underlie our conscious experiences. The theory attempts to create a
measure of the integrated information that forms consciousness. The quality of an organism’s
consciousness is represented by the level of integration. This theory tends to focus on whether
something is conscious and to what degree it is conscious.

The global workspace theory suggests that we have a memory bank from which the brain draws
information to form the experience of conscious awareness. While integrated information theory
focuses more on identifying whether an organism is conscious, the global workspace theory offers
a much broader approach to understanding how consciousness works.

While consciousness has intrigued philosophers and scientists for thousands of years, we clearly
have a long way to go in our understanding the concept. Researchers continue to explore the
different bases of consciousness including the physical, social, cultural and psychological
influences that contribute to our conscious awareness.

Levels of Performance Consciousness

There are four levels of performance consciousness.

1. Unconscious Incompetent

The Unconscious Incompetent doesn’t know that he doesn’t know. He’s also called a DK2,
which is short for, “don’t know, squared.” He’s not only incapable but actually clueless about his
inability.

In truth everyone is a DK2 from time to time. The challenge is to not live our lives as one
because DK2 is a terminal professional condition. But if you’re thinking, “Oh, Great One!
Please, stop me before I DK2 again,” don’t fret; we’ll get to that.
2. Unconscious Competent

This person lurches uncontrollably toward success without knowing how it happened. We may
call such a person gifted or lucky. Those who work hard for everything call them annoying.

Don’t envy the Unconscious Competent because not knowing how you got where you are is one
of the definitions of lost. Any resulting success is also likely to be temporary.

3. Conscious Incompetent

This person is incapable and knows it. There’s no ego about what he thinks he knows and no
resistance to your methods and practices. A Conscious Incompetent is an amorphous block of
disciple clay waiting to be molded by you, the sculptor.

Be careful. Sometimes this person wallows in his condition as an excuse for non-performance.
Conscious Incompetence should be a temporary condition on the way to the ultimate level of
consciousness.

4. Conscious Competent

This person gets the job done and knows why. She can identify what causes success while being
fully aware — and taking ownership — of failures.

How do you become a Conscious Competent? Through a practice called self-analysis.

Self-analysis allows us to see what we do well and capitalize on it, as well as recognize and
evaluate what we don’t do well and improve or minimize it. It’s not easy because it requires
control of our egos.

Ego obstructs self-analysis by telling us that any success we have is because we’re so smart,
while assuring us that any failures we experience couldn’t be our fault. Successful self-analysis
is part of a conscious plan for professional improvement.