Main -> In the Classroom: Cognition

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Demonstrations

Serial Position Curve  (courtesy of Joseph Swope via PSYCHTEACHER listserv 9/10/13)

Have the student put away pens and paper.  Ask them to remember as many words from the following list giraffe, lion, tiger, rat, alligator, buffalo, eagle, ox, bear, beaver, mouse cat, deer, fox, raccoon, opossum, rabbit, squirrel , elephant, cheetah. Take a moment to distract the student by reminding them of upcoming homework or by telling them a knock-knock joke.  Then, ask students to write down as many words as possible.  Give them a few minutes to wrack their brains.  Ask, by show of hands, how many students remembered  which words.  Tally student responses on the board.  Have students notice that the animals in the middle of the list were not remembered as much as the animals at the beginning and at the end of the list.

Remembering by Schema  (courtesy of Joseph Swope via PSYCHTEACHER listserv 9/10/13)

Have the student put away pens and paper.  Ask them to remember as many words from the following list Refrigerator, oven, cutting board, dishwasher, knife, pot holder, blender, spatula, toaster fork microwave, spoon, toaster, fork, stove, frying pan, dish towel,  freezer. Take a moment to distract the student by reminding them of upcoming homework or by telling them a knock-knock joke.  Then, ask students to write down as many words as possible.  Give them a few minutes to wrack their brains.  Ask, by show of hands how many students remembered refrigerator, how many remembered oven.  Hands will rise as students eagerly display their brilliance.  Then ask how many remembered sink.  A few students will raise their hands despite the fact that sink was never mentioned.

 Priming and "reading students' minds"  (courtesy of Joseph Swope via PSYCHTEACHER listserv 9/10/13)

This one takes a little planning and works well for a lecture on consciousness.  On the day before this demonstration takes place, create baseline data, by having student write down the first animal that pops in their head.  Collect the papers.  Then on the day in question and throughout the lecture, the instructor will lace his words with the theme of jungle cats.  It is a common school mascot and the teacher can ask about how the "Lions" did.  Or the instructor can ask about the Cincinnati football team and what the heck is a Bengal anyway.  Throughout the lecture the teacher might refer to Simba or Mufasa.  The teacher might remark about how he played golf on the "linx".  After weaving such instances into his remarks, lectures and conversation, the instructor should then ask students to write down the first animal that springs to mind.  Collect the responses and explain how instances of big cats have been 'subtly' presented to the students.  Record the baseline data on the board from the previous day.  Record the current collection of student response on the board as well.  Check to see if there is a noticeable difference in responses that include big cats.

How expectations influence perception

     Description is here: https://britamthielen.wordpress.com/2020/02/24/classroom-activity-how-perspective-shapes-perception/  This demonstration involves showing students a K-Pop video that ends surprisingly and having them reflect on how their top-down expectations influenced how they perceived the video.

Availability Heuristic (links to another page with a demonstration)

Articles on teaching Cognitive Psychology

Jigsaw Variations and Attitudes About Learning and the Self in Cognitive Psychology

Crone and Portillo (2013) argue that the jigsaw method is especially relevant for Cognitive Psychology courses due to the high level of abstraction in the content and possibility of its integration in real life