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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

The branch of psychology which studies mental processes is known as cognitive psychology. Some
of the aspects on which this area of study focuses are conscious mind, cognition, cognitive
development and cognitive flexibility.
Cognitive psychology involves the study of internal mental processes-all the things that go on
inside your brain, including perception, thinking, memory, attention, language, problem-solving
and learning. While it is a relatively young branch of psychology, it has quickly grown to become
one of the most popular subfields.
There are numerous practical applications for this cognitive research, such as providing help
coping with memory disorders, increasing decision-making accuracy, finding ways to help people
recover from brain injury, treating learning disorders, and structuring educational curricula to
enhance learning. Learning more about how people think, and process information not only helps
researchers gain a deeper understanding of how the human brain works, but it allows psychologists
to develop new ways of helping people deal with psychological difficulties.
In cognitive psychology, the ways of addressing fundamental issues have changed, but many of
the fundamental questions remain much the same. Ultimately, cognitive psychologists hope to
learn how people think by studying how people have thoughts about thinking.
The progression of ideas often involves dialectic. Dialectics is a philosophical concept that
originates from ancient Greek philosophy and has been developed and refined over centuries by
various thinkers. At its core, dialectics is a way of reasoning and understanding the world that
emphasizes reality’s dynamic, interconnected, and contradictory nature.
The term ‘dialectics’ comes from the Greek word ‘dialektikḗ,’ which means the art of conversation
or discussion. In the classical Greek tradition, dialectics was associated with the Socratic method
of questioning and refuting opposing arguments to arrive at a deeper truth.
In modern philosophy, dialectics has taken on a more specific meaning, implying a contradictory
process between opposing sides that aims to supersede the logic of reductio ad absurdum.
This means that if the premises of an argument result in a contradiction, the premises are false,
rendering one either devoid of premises or devoid of any substantive foundation.
A dialectic is a developmental process where ideas evolve over time through a pattern of
transformation. What is this pattern? In a dialectic:
A thesis is proposed. A thesis is a statement of belief. For example, some people believe
that human nature governs many aspects of human behavior (e.g., intelligence or
personality; Sternberg, 1999). After a while, however, certain individuals notice apparent
flaws in the thesis.
An antithesis emerges. Eventually, or perhaps even quite soon, an antithesis emerges. An
antithesis is a statement that counters a previous statement of belief. For example, an
alternative view is that our nurture (the environmental contexts in which we are reared)
almost entirely determines many aspects of human behavior.
A synthesis integrates the viewpoints. Sooner or later, the debate between the thesis and
the antithesis leads to a synthesis. A synthesis integrates the most credible features of each
of two (or more) views. For example, in the debate over nature versus nurture, the
interaction between our innate (inborn) nature and environmental nurture may govern
human nature.
PHILOSOPHICAL ANTECEDENTS OF PSYCHOLOGY: RATIONALISM VERSUS
EMPIRICISM
Where and when did the study of cognitive psychology begin? Historians of psychology usually
trace the earliest roots of psychology to two approaches to understanding the human mind:
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Philosophy seeks to understand the general nature of many aspects of the world, in part
through introspection, the examination of inner ideas and experiences (from intro-,
“inward, within,” and -spect, “look”);
Physiology seeks a scientific study of life-sustaining functions in living matter, primarily
through empirical (observation-based) methods.
Two Greek philosophers, Plato (ca. 428–348 B.C.) and his student Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), have
profoundly affected modern thinking in psychology and many other fields. Plato and Aristotle
disagreed regarding how to investigate ideas.
Plato was a rationalist. Rationalism emphasizes the role of reason in acquiring knowledge, holding
that certain truths are knowable through reason alone without relying on sensory experience. In
contrast, Plato is an empiricist. Empiricism holds that knowledge comes primarily from sensory
experience, and reason plays a secondary role in interpreting and organizing that experience.
Rationalism posits that some knowledge is innate and can be accessed through reason alone,
including mathematical and logical truths. Empiricism, in contrast, holds that all knowledge comes
from sensory experience and rejects the notion of innate knowledge.
Rationalism downplays the role of sensory experience in acquiring knowledge, holding that it can
be misleading and unreliable. Empiricism, on the other hand, emphasizes the importance of
sensory experience in acquiring knowledge and rejects the notion of a priori knowledge.
The contrasting ideas of rationalism and empiricism became prominent with the French rationalist
René Descartes (1596–1650) and the British empiricist John Locke (1632–1704). Descartes
viewed the introspective, reflective method as being superior to empirical methods for finding
truth. The famous expression “cogito, ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am) stems from Descartes.
He maintained that the only proof of his existence is that he was thinking and doubting. Descartes
felt that one could not rely on one’s senses because those very senses have often proven to be
deceptive (think of optical illusions, for example). Locke, in contrast, had more enthusiasm for
empirical observation (Leahey, 2003). Locke believed that humans are born without knowledge
and therefore must seek knowledge through empirical observation. Locke’s term for this view was
tabula rasa (meaning “blank slate” in Latin). The idea is that life and experience “write” knowledge
on us. For Locke, then, the study of learning was the key to understanding the human mind. He
believed that there are no innate ideas.
In the eighteenth century, German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) dialectically
synthesized the views of Descartes and Locke, arguing that both rationalism and empiricism have
their place. Both must work together in the quest for truth. Most psychologists today accept Kant’s
synthesis.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANTECEDENTS OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
➢ Structuralism

Structuralism is widely regarded as the first school of thought in psychology. This outlook
focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components. Major
thinkers associated with structuralism include Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener.

Structuralism focused on reducing mental processes to their most basic elements.

Structuralists used techniques such as introspection to analyze the inner processes of the
human mind. The introspective experimental technique used by the structuralists involved
having trained observers examine their inner responses. Using this approach, also known
as experimental self-observation, experimenters like Wundt trained people to analyze their
thoughts as carefully and objectively as possible.

While these methods were understandably not the most empirically rigorous, the
structuralist school of thought played an important role in the development of experimental
psychology.
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➢ Functionalism

Functionalism formed as a reaction to the theories of the structuralist school of thought and
was heavily influenced by the work of William James. It functioned on the mind's functions
and adaptations. Instead of focusing on the mental processes themselves, functionalist
thinkers were interested in the roles and functions of these processes.

In a functionalist approach, for example, instead of trying to understand the underlying

processes that cause mental states, the focus would be on understanding the function that
those states serve. Gaining a better understanding of the purpose would allow psychologists
to understand how the mind allows people to respond and adapt to their environments.

The functionalist school was interested in the purpose of thoughts and behaviors, whereas
structuralism was concerned with the elements that make up consciousness. While
functionalism largely disappeared as a school of thought, its influence persisted in applied
psychology, behaviorism, and educational psychology.

➢ Associationism

Associationism, like functionalism, was more of an influential way of thinking than a rigid school
of psychology. Associationism examines how elements of the mind, like events or ideas, can
become associated with one another in the mind to result in a form of learning. For example,
associations may result from:
• contiguity (associating things that tend to occur together at about the same time);
• similarity (associating things with similar features or properties); or
• contrast (associating things that show polarities, such as hot/cold, light/dark, day/ night).
In the late 1800s, associationist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909) was the first experimenter to
apply associationist principles systematically. Specifically, Ebbinghaus studied his own mental
processes. He made up lists of nonsense syllables that consisted of a consonant and a vowel
followed by another consonant (e.g., zax). He then took careful note of how long it took him to
memorize those lists. He counted his errors and recorded his response times. Through his self-
observations, Ebbinghaus studied how people learn and remember material through rehearsal, the
conscious repetition of material to be learned. Among other things, he found that frequent repetition
can fix mental associations more firmly in memory. Thus, repetition aids in learning.
Another influential associationist, Edward Lee Thorndike (1874–1949), held that the role of
“satisfaction” is the key to forming associations. Thorndike termed this principle the law of effect
(1905): A stimulus will tend to produce a certain response over time if an organism is rewarded for
that response. Thorndike believed that an organism learns to respond in a given way (the effect) in
a given situation if it is rewarded repeatedly for doing so (the satisfaction, which serves as a
stimulus to future actions). Thus, a child given treats for solving arithmetic problems learns to solve
arithmetic problems accurately because the child forms associations between valid solutions and
treats. These ideas were the predecessors of the development of behaviorism.

➢ Behaviorism

Behaviorism became a dominant school of thought during the 1950s. It was based upon
the work of thinkers such as John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B. F. Skinner. Behaviorism
is focused on observable behavior. This school of thought suggests that all behavior can be
explained by environmental causes rather than internal forces.

Examples of behavioral theories that emerged during this time include:

• Classical conditioning: This is a type of learning that involves associating a
previously neutral stimulus with a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers
a response. For example, pairing the sound of a bell with the presentation of food.
After an association is formed, the previously neutral stimulus will produce the
same response as the natural stimulus.
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• Operant conditioning: This type of learning involves using rewards and

punishments to create an association between the behavior and the consequences
of that behavior.
The behavioral school of psychology significantly influenced the course of psychology.
Many ideas and techniques that emerged from this school of thought are still widely used
today. Behavioral training, token economies, aversion therapy, and other methods are
frequently used in psychotherapy and behavior modification programs.

➢ Gestalt

Gestalt psychology was a school of psychology based upon the idea that people experience
things as unified wholes. This approach to psychology began in Germany and Austria
during the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism. Some
thinkers associated with the Gestalt school of thought included Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang
Köhler, and Kurt Koffka.

Instead of breaking down thoughts and behavior to their smallest elements, the Gestalt
psychologists believed that one must look at the whole of experience. According to Gestalt
thinkers, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, a philosophy known as holism.

Some examples of Gestalt thinking include explanations for optical phenomena, such as
visual illusions. Wertheimer described the phi phenomenon by observing how alternating
railway lights created the illusion of movement. The phenomenon suggests that a
succession of images seen in rapid sequence are perceived as moving.
EMERGENCE OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
In the early 1950s, a movement called the “cognitive revolution” took place in response to
behaviorism. Cognitivism is the belief that much of human behavior can be understood in terms
of how people think. It rejects the notion that psychologists should avoid studying mental processes
because they are unobservable. Cognitivism is, in part, a synthesis of earlier forms of analysis,
such as behaviorism and Gestaltism. Like behaviorism, it adopts precise quantitative analysis to
study how people learn and think; like Gestaltism, it emphasizes internal mental processes.
Early Role of Psychobiology
Ironically, one of Watson’s former students, Karl Spencer Lashley (1890–1958), brashly
challenged the behaviorist view that the human brain is a passive organ merely responding to
environmental contingencies outside the individual (Gardner, 1985). Instead, Lashley considered
the brain to be an active, dynamic organizer of behavior. Lashley sought to understand how the
macro-organization of the human brain made possible such complex, planned activities as musical
performance, game playing, and using language. None of these activities were, in his view, readily
explicable in terms of simple conditioning.
In the same vein, but at a different level of analysis, Donald Hebb (1949) proposed the concept of
cell assemblies as the basis for learning in the brain. Cell assemblies are coordinated neural
structures that develop through frequent stimulation. They develop over time as the ability of one
neuron (nerve cell) to stimulate firing in a connected neuron increases. Behaviorists did not jump
at the opportunity to agree with theorists like Lashley and Hebb. In fact, behaviorist B. F. Skinner
(1957) wrote an entire book describing how language acquisition and usage could be explained
purely in terms of environmental contingencies. This work stretched Skinner’s framework too far,
leaving Skinner open to attack. An attack was indeed forthcoming. Linguist Noam Chomsky
(1959) wrote a scathing review of Skinner’s ideas. In his article, Chomsky stressed both the
biological basis and the creative potential of language. He pointed out the infinite numbers of
sentences we can produce with ease. He thereby defied behaviorist notions that we learn language
by reinforcement. Even young children continually are producing novel sentences for which they
could not have been reinforced in the past.
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Add a Dash of Technology: Engineering, Computation, and Applied Cognitive Psychology

By the end of the 1950s, some psychologists were intrigued by the tantalizing notion that machines
could be programmed to demonstrate the intelligent processing of information (Rychlak &
Struckman, 2000). Turing (1950) suggested that soon it would be hard to distinguish the
communication of machines from that of humans. He suggested a test, now called the “Turing
test,” by which a computer program would be judged as successful to the extent that its output was
indistinguishable, by humans, from the output of humans (Cummins & Cummins, 2000). In other
words, suppose you communicated with a computer, and you could not tell that it was a computer.
The computer then passed the Turing test (Schonbein & Bechtel, 2003). By 1956 a new phrase had
entered our vocabulary. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the attempt by humans to construct systems
that show intelligence and, particularly, the intelligent processing of information (Merriam-
Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2003). Chess-playing programs, which now can beat most
humans, are examples of artificial intelligence. However, experts greatly underestimated how
difficult it would be to develop a computer that can think like a human being. Even today,
computers have trouble reading handwriting and understanding and responding to spoken language
with the ease that humans do.
Many of the early cognitive psychologists became interested in cognitive psychology through
applied problems. For example, according to Berry (2002), Donald Broadbent (1926–1993)
claimed to have developed an interest in cognitive psychology through a puzzle regarding AT6
aircraft. The planes had two almost identical levers under the seat. One lever was to pull up the
wheels and the other to pull up the flaps. Pilots apparently regularly mistook one for the other,
thereby crashing expensive planes upon take-off. During World War II, many cognitive
psychologists, including one of the senior author’s advisors, Wendell Garner, consulted with the
military in solving practical problems of aviation and other fields that arose out of warfare against
enemy forces. Information theory, which sought to understand people’s behavior in terms of how
they process the kinds of bits of information processed by computers (Shannon & Weaver, 1963),
also grew out of problems in engineering and informatics.
Applied cognitive psychology also has had great use in advertising. John Watson, after he left
Johns Hopkins University as a professor, became an extremely successful executive in an
advertising firm and applied his knowledge of psychology to reach his success. Indeed, much of
advertising has directly used principles from cognitive psychology to attract customers to products
(Benjamin & Baker, 2004).
By the early 1960s, developments in psychobiology, linguistics, anthropology, and artificial
intelligence, as well as the reactions against behaviorism by many mainstream psychologists,
converged to create an atmosphere ripe for revolution. Early cognitivists (e.g., Miller, Galanter,
& Pribram, 1960; Newell, Shaw, & Simon, 1957b) argued that traditional behaviorist accounts of
behavior were inadequate precisely because they said nothing about how people think. One of the
most famous early articles in cognitive psychology was, oddly enough, on “the magic number
seven.” George Miller (1956) noted that the number seven appeared in many different places in
cognitive psychology, such as in the literature on perception and memory, and he wondered
whether there was some hidden meaning in its frequent reappearance. For example, he found that
most people can remember about seven items of information. In this work, Miller also introduced
the concept of channel capacity, the upper limit with which an observer can match a response to
information given to him or her. For example, if you can remember seven digits presented to you
sequentially, your channel capacity for remembering digits is seven. Ulric Neisser’s book
Cognitive Psychology (Neisser, 1967) was especially critical in bringing cognitivism to
prominence by informing undergraduates, graduate students, an academics about the newly
developing field.
Neisser defined cognitive psychology as the study of how people learn, structure, store, and use
knowledge. Subsequently, Allen Newell and Herbert Simon (1972) proposed detailed models of
human thinking and problem solving from the most basic levels to the most complex. By the 1970s
cognitive psychology was recognized widely as a major field of psychological study with a
distinctive set of research methods.
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In the 1970s, Jerry Fodor (1973) popularized the concept of the modularity of mind. He argued
that the mind has distinct modules, or special-purpose systems, to deal with linguistic and, possibly,
other kinds of information. Modularity implies that the processes that are used in one domain of
processing, such as the linguistic (Fodor, 1973) or the perceptual domain (Marr, 1982), operate
independently of processes in other domains. An opposing view would be one of domain-general
processing, according to which the processes that apply in one domain, such as perception or
language, apply in many other domains as well. Modular approaches are useful in studying some
cognitive phenomena, such as language, but have proven less useful in studying other phenomena,
such as intelligence, which seems to draw upon many different areas of the brain in complex
interrelationships. Curiously, the idea of the mind as modular goes back at least to phrenologist
Franz-Joseph Gall (see Boring, 1950), who in the late eighteenth century believed that the pattern
of bumps and swells on the skull was directly associated with one’s pattern of cognitive skills.
Although phrenology itself was not a scientifically valid technique, the practice of mental
cartography lingered and eventually gave rise to ideas of modularity based on modern scientific
techniques.
Cognition and Intelligence
Human intelligence can be viewed as an integrating, or “umbrella” psychological construct for a
great deal of theory and research in cognitive psychology. Intelligence is the capacity to learn from
experience, using metacognitive processes to enhance learning, and the ability to adapt to the
surrounding environment. It may require different adaptations within different social and cultural
contexts. People who are more intelligent tend to be superior in processes such as divided and
selective attention, working memory, reasoning, problem solving, decision making, and concept
formation. So when we come to understand the mental processes involved in each of these
cognitive functions, we also better understand the bases of individual differences in human
intelligence.
What is Intelligence?
The ability to solve problems and to adapt to and learn from life’s everyday experiences
• The ability to solve problems
• The capacity to adapt and learn from experiences
• Includes characteristics such as creativity and interpersonal skills
• The mental abilities that enable one to adapt to, shape, or select one’s environment
• The ability to judge, comprehend, and reason
• The ability to understand and deal with people, objects, and symbols
• The ability to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment
As you think about what intelligence is, you should ask the following questions:
• To what extent is intelligence genetic?
• To what extent is intelligence stable?
• How do cognitive abilities interact with other aspects of functioning? Are there true sex
differences?
• Is intelligence a global capacity (similar to “good health”) or can it be differentiated into
various dimensions (called “factors” or “aptitudes”)?
• Are there a number of “intelligences”?
How do you measure intelligence?
Intelligence Quotient (IQ): Measure of intelligence that takes into account a child’s mental and
chronological age
IQ Score = MA / CA x 100
Mental age (MA): the typical intelligence level found for people at a given chronological age
Chronological age (CA): the actual age of the child taking the intelligence test
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• People whose mental age is equal to their chronological age will always have an IQ of 100.
If the chronological age exceeds mental age – below-average intelligence (below 100). If
the mental age exceeds the chronological age – above-average intelligence (above 100).
The normal distribution: most of the population falls in the middle range of scores between 84
and 116.
• Very Superior Intelligence (gifted) - Above 130
• Superior Intelligence - 120 to 129
• High Average Intelligence - 110 to 119
• Average Intelligence - 90 to 109
• Low Average Intelligence - 80 to 89
• Borderline Intellectual Functioning - 71 to 79
• Mild Mental Retardation - 55 to 70
• Moderate Retardation - 40 to 54
• Severe Mental Retardation - 25 to 39
• Profound Mental Retardation - Below 25
Intelligence tests were developed for the practical function of selecting students for admission or
placement in schools. Originally these tests were not based on any theory of intelligence. They
defined intelligence as the ability to do well in school.
Three Cognitive Models of Intelligence
Multiple Intelligences (Howard Gardner)
Gardner thinks there are eight types of intelligence. He believes each of us have all of the eight
types of intelligence to varying degrees. These multiple intelligences are related to how an
individual prefers to learn and process information.
• Verbal skills : The ability to think in words and use language to express meaning
o Sensitivity to the meanings and sounds of words, mastery of syntax, appreciation
of the ways language can be used (authors, journalists, speakers, poets, teachers)
• Mathematical skills : The ability to carry out mathematical operations
o Understanding of objects and symbols and of actions that be performed on them
and of the relations between these actions, ability for abstraction, ability to identify
problems and seek explanations (scientists, engineers, accountants)
• Spatial skills: The ability to think three-dimensionally
o Capacity to perceive the visual world accurately, to perform transformations upon
perceptions and to re-create aspects of visual experience in the absence of physical
stimuli, sensitivity to tension, balance, and composition, ability to detect similar
patterns (architects, artists, sailors, chess masters)
• Bodily-kinesthetic skills: The ability to manipulate objects and be physically adept
o Use of one’s body in highly skilled ways for expressive or goal-directed purposes,
capacity to handle objects skillfully (surgeons, craftspeople, dancers, athletes,
actors)
• Musical skills: A sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone
o Sensitivity to individual tones and phrases of music, an understanding of ways to
combine tones and phrases into larger musical rhythms and structures, awareness
of emotional aspects of music (musicians, composers, sensitive listeners)
• Interpersonal skills: The ability to understand and effectively interact with others
o Ability to notice and make distinctions among the moods, temperaments,
motivations, and intentions of other people and potentially to act on this knowledge
(teachers, mental health professionals, parents, religious and political leaders)
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• Intrapersonal skills: The ability to understand oneself

o Access to one’s own feelings, ability to draw on one’s emotions to guide and
understand one’s behavior, recognition of personal strengths and weaknesses
(theologians, novelists, psychologists, therapists)
• Naturalistic skills: The ability to observe patterns in nature and understand natural and
human-made systems
o Sensitivity and understanding of plants, animals, and other aspects of nature
(farmers, botanists, ecologists, landscapers, environmentalists)
Triarchic Theory (Robert Sternberg)
Intelligence comes in three forms.

• Analytical intelligence: The ability to acquire and store information; to retain or retrieve
information; to transfer information; to plan, make decisions, and solve problems; and to
translate thoughts into performance
o How efficiently people process information
o How to solve problems, how to monitor solutions, and how to evaluate the results
o The use of strategies, acquiring knowledge
o Students high in analytical intelligence do well in class with lectures and objective
tests. They are considered smart, get good grades, do well on traditional tests, and
go to competitive colleges.
• Creative intelligence: The ability to solve new problems quickly; the ability to learn how
to solve familiar problems in an automatic way so the mind is free to handle other problems
that require insight and creativity
o How people approach familiar or novel tasks
o Compare new information with what they already know and to come up with new
ways of putting facts together
o To think originally
o Students high in creative intelligence might not conform to traditional schools.
They tend to give unique answers for which they might get reprimanded.
• Practical intelligence: The ability to get out of trouble; The ability to get along with other
people
o How people deal with their environment
o How to size up a situation and decide what to do – to adapt to it, to change it, or to
get out of it
o Students high in practical intelligence don’t relate well in traditional schools. They
do well outside the classroom walls with good social skills and common sense.
Carroll: Three-Stratum Model of Intelligence
According to the three-stratum model of intelligence, intelligence comprises a hierarchy of
cognitive abilities comprising three strata (Carroll, 1993):
• Stratum I include many narrow, specific abilities (e.g., spelling ability, speed of reasoning).
• Stratum II includes various broad abilities (e.g., fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence,
short-term memory, long-term storage and retrieval, information- processing speed).
• Stratum III is just a single general intelligence (sometimes called g).
Of these strata, the most interesting is the middle stratum, which is neither too narrow nor too
all-encompassing.
In the middle stratum are fluid ability and crystallized ability. Fluid ability is speed and
accuracy of abstract reasoning, especially for novel problems. Crystallized ability is accumulated
knowledge and vocabulary (Cattell, 1971). In addition to fluid intelligence and crystallized
intelligence, Carroll includes several other abilities in the middle stratum. They are learning and
memory processes, visual perception, auditory perception, facile production of ideas (similar to
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verbal fluency), and speed (which includes both sheer speed of response and speed of accurate
responding). Carroll’s model is probably the most widely accepted of the measurement-based
models of intelligence.
Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
Researchers employ a variety of research methods. These methods include laboratory or other
controlled experiments, psychobiological research, self-reports, case studies, naturalistic
observation, and computer simulations and artificial intelligence. Each of these methods will be
discussed in detail in this section. To better understand the specific methods used by cognitive
psychologists, one must first grasp the goals of research in cognitive psychology.
Goals of Research

• Research goals include data gathering, analysis, theory development, hypothesis

formulation, testing, and application beyond research settings.
• Researchers may gather information with or without preconceived notions, focusing on
describing cognitive phenomena like face recognition or expertise development.
• Data gathering is empirical, and data is analyzed statistically to draw inferences and
identify patterns.
• Researchers aim to understand both the "what" and the "how" and "why" of cognition,
moving from observation to inference.
• Research typically starts with a theory and generates hypotheses, which are tested through
experiments and statistical analysis.
• Statistical significance helps determine if results are likely due to chance or the hypothesis.
• Findings may lead to further research, theory revision, or practical applications to improve
real-life cognition.
• Different research methods have various advantages and disadvantages depending on the
research purpose.
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