Domain 5: Learning & Cognition
General Description
This domain is focused on theoretical and empirical studies of basic processes in psychology, and the application of such studies. Topics of major emphasis are:
Cognition
- Theories of representation
- Knowledge acquisition and memory
- Thought (concept formation, problem solving, reasoning, imagery, decision making, creative thought)
- Perception, attention, and information processing
Psycholinguistics
- Production and comprehensionof written and oral language
- Cognition – language relationships
- Language acquisition
- Cultural factors as they affect language use
- The role of affect in language use
Learning
- Behaviorism (classical and operant conditioning)
- Social Learning Theory
- Cognitivism (information-processing, constructivism, and socio-constructivism)
- Motivation
Motivation
- Theories of motivation
- Arousal, drives, needs, and incentives Higher-order motives (e.g., competence, self-actualization)
- Achievement motivation (expectancy – value, self-efficacy, goals, attributions, belief systems)
- Issues and strategies related to attempts to change motivation
- Relationships between motivation and cognition
- Relationships between motivation and emotion
Instruction
- Classical and contemporary instructional theories
- Review of instructional research on such topics as: teachers, methods, and media; students
- Approaches to instruction: subject matter instruction, computer-aided instruction, cooperative/collaborative instruction
- Social influences on instruction
- Instruction in strategic learning and self-regulation
Courses
For those who elect to fulfill the domain requirement by coursework, the following courses are currently approved. Students may take two primary courses from this list or one primary and one secondary course. However, certain combinations are not recommended in order to avoid an overly-narrow focus, as indicated below.
Detailed statements of the contents, objectives, and assigned reading for each course can be examined in the departmental office (SZB 504) or on the course descriptions webpage. Additional information can also be obtained from the instructor who teaches the course.
| P/S | EDP # | Topic | Usual Instructor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | 382L.1 | Psychology of Learning | Robinson |
| Primary | 382L.2 | Motivation and Emotion | Wicker |
| Primary | 382L.4 | Instructional Psychology | Svinicki |
| Primary | 382L.5 | Cognition and Behavior | Wicker |
| Primary | 382L.7 | Psycholinguistics | Schallert |
| Secondary | 381.20 | Cognitive Foundations of Psychotherapy | Rude |
| Secondary | 382.6 | Psychology of Teachers and Teaching | Graduate Faculty |
| Secondary | 382L | Current Topics in Motivation | Wicker |
| Secondary | 382L.8 | Current Topics in Cognition | Weinstein |
| Secondary | 382L.10 | Contemporary Theories of Discourse Comprehension | Schallert |
| Secondary | 382L.11 | Theory and Practice of Writing | Schallert |
| Secondary | 382L.14 | Psychology of Computers in Education | Graduate Faculty |
| Secondary | 382L.14 | Communication and Language | Graduate Faculty |
| Secondary | 382L.14 | Learning School-Based Cognitive Skills | Graduate Faculty |
| Secondary | 382L | Current Topics in Motivation | Wicker |
Topics
Brief descriptions of the topics covered in Domain 5 courses are given below:
Primary Courses
- The Psychology of Learning. A theoretical analysis of behavioristic, observational, cognitive, constructivist, and socio-constructivist views of human learning and motivation.
- Motivation and Emotion. A broad survey course on theory and application in these two topic areas, with special emphasis on how they interact with each other and with cognition.
- Instructional Psychology. How the theories and research in human learning and motivation get translated into instructional practice; how research directly on teaching, teachers, and teaching methods inform practitioners who work with students and teachers. Prerequisite: Psychology of Learning or a course in cognition. (Should not be combined with either Psychology of Computers in Education or Learning School-Based Cognitive Skills.)
- Cognition and Behavior. A survey course on theories, research, and applications of cognitive psychology broadly defined to include cognitive approaches to a variety of psychological topics. (Should not be combined with Current Topics in Cognition.)
- Psycholinguistics. The study of the relationship between language and thought with an emphasis on the production and reception of oral and written language (writing, speaking, reading, and listening). (Should not be combined with Contemporary Theories of Discourse Comprehension or Communication and Language.)
Secondary Courses:
- Cognitive Foundations of Psychotherapy
- Psychology of Teachers and Teaching
- Stress in Children and Adolescents
- Psychology of Computers in Education
- Learning School-Based Cognitive Skills
- Social Cognition in the Classroom
- Theory and Practice of Writing
- Contemporary Theories of Discourse Comprehension
- Cognitive Modeling
- Communication and Language
- Current topics in Cognition
- Current topics in Motivation
Domain Exam
For those who elect this avenue for fulfilling the domain requirement, the three-hour domain examination consists of four essay questions from which the student chooses and answers two. Of the four questions, two will cover the social psychology topics and two will cover the personality topics described above. The students must select and answer one social and one personality question. At least two faculty members who are familiar with the content of the questions will evaluate the responses and grade the exam on a Pass/Fail basis. If the Pass/Fail recommendations of the two readers differ, a third reader will evaluate the student’s responses and resolve the discrepancy. Students must pass both questions to be considered as having passed the domain exam. Students may not retake the exam if they do not pass: a student who fails the examination must satisfy the domain requirement by coursework.
Readings
Here are some references that may be helpful:
Cognition
Gardner, H. (1985). The mind's new science: A history of the cognitive revolution. New York: Basic Books.
Anderson, J.R. (2000.) Cognitive psychology and its implications. Fifth Edition, New York: W.H. Freeman (especially Chapter 5 on knowledge representations and Chapter 8 on problem solving).
Bedard, J., & Chi, M.T.H. (1993). Expertise. Current Directions In Psychological Science, 4, 135-139.
emb, G.B., and Ellis, J.A. (1994). Knowledge taught in school: What is remembered? Review of Educational Research, 64, 253-286.
Kosslyn, C.M. (1995). Mental imagery. In S.M. Kosslyn & D.N. Osherson (Eds.), An Invitation to cognitive science. (Vol. 2, pp. 267-296). Cambridge MA: MIT Press.
Anderson, J.R. (1996/1983). The architecture of cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Chapter 1 on "Production Systems and ACT" is enough as a good introduction)
Resnick, L.B. (1991). Shared cognition: Thinking as social practice. In L.B. Resnick, J.M. Levine, & S.D. Teasley (Eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition, 1-20. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Kintsch, W. (1994). Text comprehension, memory, and learning. American Psychologist, 49 (4), 294-303.
Perkins, D.N. & Solomon, G. (1989). Are Cognitive Skills Context-bound? Educational Researcher,18, 16-25.
Mellers, B.A., Schwartz, A., & Cooke, A.D.J. (1998). Judgment and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 447-477.
Medin, D.L. (1989). Concepts and conceptual structure. American Psychologist, 44, 1469-1481.
Halpern, D.F. (1998). Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains. American Psychologist, 53, 449-455.
Learning
Reed, S. K. (2000). Cognition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Baddeley, A. (1998). Human memory. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (1999). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Ormrod, J. E. (1999). Human learning (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Alexander, P.A., Schallert, D.L., & Hare, V.C. (1991). Coming to terms: How researchers in learning and literacy talk about knowledge. Review of Educational Research, 61, 315-343.
Paris, S.G., & Winograd, P. (1990). How metacognition can promote academic learning and instruction. In B.F. Jones & L. Idol (Eds.), Dimensions of thinking and cognitive instruction, 15-51. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Bruner, J. (1988). Vygotsky: A historical and conceptual perspective. In N. Mercer (Ed.), Language and literacy from an educational perspective, Vol. 1, Language studies. Philadelphia: The Open Press.
Franken, R. E. (2002). Human motivation (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Motivation
Bandura, Albert, (1997). Self-efficacy: the exercise of control. New York : W.H. Freeman (especially Chapter 3: "The nature and structure of self efficacy.")
Alternative:
Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 122-147.
Corno, L. (1993). The best-laid plans: Modern conceptions of volition in educational research. Educational Researcher, 22, 14-22.
Urdan, T.C. & Maehr, M.L. (1995). Beyond a Two-goal Theory of Motivation and Achievement: A Case for Social Goals. Review of Educational Research, 65, 213-243.
Dweck, Carol S; Leggett, Ellen L. (2000). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. In Higgins, E. Tory & Kruglanski, Arie W. (Eds). Motivational science: Social and personality perspectives. Key reading in social psychology. (pp. 394-415).
Elliot, Andrew J. (1999). Approach and avoidance motivation and achievement. Educational Psychologist, 34(3), 169-189.
Midgley, Carol; Kaplan, Avi; Middleton, Michael. (2001). Performance-approach goals: Good for what, for whom, under what circumstances, and at what cost? Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 93(1), 77-86.
Hidi, S. (1990). Interest and its contribution as a mental resource for learning. Review of Educational Research, 60, 549-571.
Weiner, Bernard; Kukla, Andy. (2000). An attributional analysis of achievement motivation. In Higgins, E. Tory & Kruglanski, Arie W. (Eds). Motivational science: Social and personality perspectives. Key readings in social psychology. (pp. 380-393).
Alternative:
Weiner, B. (1985). An attributional theory of motivation and emotion. Psychological Review, 92, 548-573.
Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2000). Self determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.
Weiner, B. (1991). Metaphors in Motivation and Attribution. American Psychologist, 46, 921-930.
Psycholinguistics
Schallert, D. L., & Martin, D. B. (in press, 2001). A psychological analysis of what teachers and students do in the language arts classroom. In J. Flood, D. Lapp, & N. Farnan (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts, Vol. II. New York: Macmillan.
Wertsch, J. V. (1991). A sociocultural approach to socially shared cognition. In L. B. Resnick, J. M. Levine, & S. D. Teasley (Eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition, pp. 85-100. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Bruner, J. (1981). The pragmatics of acquisition. In W.Deutsch (Ed.), The child’s construction of language. New York: Academic Press.
Grice, H.P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J.L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics: Speech acts (Vol. 3). New York: Academic Press.
Mehan, H. (1985). The structure of classroom discourse. In van Dijk, T. (Ed.), Handbook of discourse analysis, Vol. 3. London: Academic Press.
Carlsen, W.S. (1991). Questioning in classrooms: A sociolinguistic perspective. Review of Educational Research, 61, 157-178.
Kintsch, W. (1988). The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension: A construction-integration model. Psychological Review, 95, 163-182.
Person, N. K., Kreuz, R. J., Zwaan, R. A., & Graesser, A. C. (1995). Pragmatics and pedagogy: Conversational rules and politeness strategies inhibit effective tutoring. Cognition & Instruction, 13, 161-188.
Stanovich, K.E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences
of individual differences in the
acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 21, 360-407.
Hammer, D. (1995). Student inquiry in a physics class discussion. Cognition and Instruction, 13, 401-430.
Hogan, K., Nastasi, B. K., & Pressley, M. (2000). Discourse patterns and collaborative scientific reasoning in peer and teacher-guided discussions. Cognition & Instruction, 17, 379-432.
Faigley, L. (1986). Competing theories of process: A critique and a proposal. College English, 48, 527-542.
Penrose, A. M., & Geisler, C. (1994) Reading and writing without authority. College Composition and Communication, 45, 505-520.
Instructional Psychology
National Research Council How People Learn. 2000.
Schauble, L., & Glaser, R. (Eds.) (1996) Innovations in learning : new environments for education. Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum Associates.
Bruning, R. H., Schraw, G. J., & Ronning, R. R. (1999). Cognitive psychology and instruction, (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill.
Fosnot, C. T. (Ed.) (1996). Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice. New York : Teachers College Press.
Jonassen, D. H., Land, S. M. (Eds.) (2000). Theoretical foundations of learning environments. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2000
Advances in Instructional Psychology edited by Robert Glaser, various years.
Annual Review of Psychology. Read the last several chapters on Instructional psychology.
