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General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
PSYCD003.
Course Title (CB02)
An Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
This course provides an overview of theory and research in Cognitive Psychology. Topics related to cognition including perception, language acquisition, and development, reasoning and decision-making, attention, and learning and memory will be investigated and applied.
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course is CSU and UC transferable. It belongs on the ADT in Psychology. This course introduces students to the field of Cognitive Psychology and will help prepare students who seek to transfer in Psychology as well as Cognitive Science.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU
°®¶¹´«Ã½ GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GDX°®¶¹´«Ã½ GE Area D - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGDYCSU GE Area D - Social SciencesApproved
IGETCArea(s)StatusDetails
IG4XIGETC Area 4 - Social and Behavioral SciencesApproved

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

PSYC D001.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

Lecture and visual aids

Discussion of assigned reading

Discussion and problem solving performed in class

Homework and extended projects

Field observation and field trips

Guest speakers

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Collaborative projects

Assignments

  1. Required reading assignments from text and other sources
  2. Written APA (American Psychological Association) paper or presentation on instructor approved topic
  3. Midterm exams including both objective (multiple-choice) and subjective (short answer/essay) questions
  4. Final exam using a combination of objective and subjective questions

Methods of Evaluation

  1. Midterm examinations consisting of a combination of essay, short answer and multiple-choice questions will be used to assess the student's mastery of course content based on readings and lectures. The short and essay questions will be graded based on a rubric.
  2. The APA paper or presentation will assess the student's ability to synthesize and analyze research on their chosen topic and explain its application to course material; it will be graded based on a rubric.
  3. The final exam will consist of a combination of multiple-choice, short answer and essay questions designed to assess the student's mastery of course content based on readings and lectures. The short answer and essay questions will be graded based on a rubric.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • None.

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Galotti, K. Cognitive Psychology In and Out of the Laboratory (6th Ed). Sage, 2018.
Goldstein, E. Bruce. Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience (5th Ed). Cengage, 2019.
Reisberg, D. Cognition: Exploring the Science of the Mind (7th Ed), Norton, 2019.

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
American Psychological Association. Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Research with Human Participants. Washington, D.C.: APA, 2nd revised ed. 2007.
American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6th ed. Washington, D.C.: APA, 2010.
Slotnick, Scott D., Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory. Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Recognize the historical background and overview of cognitive psychology
  • Recognize the interdisciplinary nature of cognitive psychology
  • Explain the foundations of cognitive neuroscience
  • Describe the theories and principles of perception
  • Identify and explain the cognitive processes involved in memory structure and storage
  • Identify and explain the cognitive processes involved in language
  • Identify and explain the cognitive processes involved in reasoning and decision making

CSLOs

  • Explain the basic elements of scientific design and methodology applied to problems in cognitive psychology.

  • Explain the cognitive processes involved in perception, language acquisition and development, reasoning and decision making, attention and learning and memory.

Outline

  1. Recognize the historical background and overview of cognitive psychology
    1. Historical influences on the study of cognition
      1. Behaviorism
      2. Cognitive psychology
      3. Cognitive science
      4. Neuroscience
    2. Research Methods in Cognitive Psychology
      1. Descriptive
      2. Correlational
      3. Experimental
      4. Ethics
    3. Paradigms in cognitive psychology
      1. Connectionism
      2. Theoretical neuroscience
      3. Bayesian
      4. Deep learning
  2. Recognize the interdisciplinary nature of cognitive psychology
    1. Cognitive Science
    2. Anthropology
    3. Neuroscience
    4. Linguistics
    5. Computer science
    6. Artificial intelligence
  3. Explain the foundations of cognitive neuroscience
    1. Structures of the brain: cortex, lobes, hemispheres
    2. Localization of functions
    3. Lateralization of functions
      1. Cerebral cortex
      2. Left and right hemispheres: individual, gender, and cultural differences
      3. Frontal lobes
      4. Parietal lobes
      5. Temporal lobes
      6. Occipital lobes
    4. Brain-imaging techniques
  4. Describe the theories and principles of perception
    1. Vision
    2. Audition
    3. Theories of perception
      1. Psychophysics
      2. Top-down processing
      3. Bottom-up processing
      4. Face perception
      5. Gestalt approaches to perception
      6. Gibson's ecological theory
    4. Disruptions in perceptions
  5. Identify and explain the cognitive processes involved in memory structure and storage
    1. Working memory/Short Term Memory
      1. Capacity and duration
      2. Processing
    2. Long Term memory
    3. Attention
      1. Implicit/Procedural
      2. Explicit memory
        1. Semantic
        2. Episodic
      3. Retrieval
      4. Retrieval Errors
  6. Identify and explain the cognitive processes involved in language
    1. The structure of language
      1. Phonology
      2. Syntax
      3. Semantics
      4. Pragmatics
    2. Language comprehension and production
      1. Speech perception
      2. Speech errors
      3. Sentence comprehension
      4. Story grammar
      5. Gricean maxims of conversation
    3. Language and cognition
      1. Modularity hypothesis
      2. Whorfian hypothesis
      3. Neuropsychological views
    4. Multiple Languages
    5. Artificial Intelligence and Language
  7. Identify and explain the cognitive processes involved in reasoning and decision making
    1. Reasoning
      1. Deductive reasoning
      2. Inductive reasoning
      3. Everyday reasoning
    2. Decision making
      1. Setting goals
      2. Gathering information
      3. Structuring the decision
      4. Making a final choice
      5. Evaluating a decision
    3. Cognitive illusion in decision making
      1. Availability heuristic
      2. Representative heuristic
      3. Illusory correlations
      4. Hindsight bias
      5. Confirmation bias
      6. Overconfidence
    4. Judging versus creativity
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