Monitor on Psychology - September 2011 - (Page 28)

capsule tIme He resumed his research in the Netherlands, where fellow psychologists and education researchers were receptive to his work on improving teaching and learning methods. Selz’s work on problem-solving was a natural fit for studying pedagogy and he began to devote his research to this area. Working with Dutch researchers, Selz sought to identify the specific cognitive skills that students used when performing a task, such as addition or subtraction, defining a word or comprehensive reading, and then to teach more advanced students to pass on those skills to struggling classmates. But two years after his move, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Though his colleagues offered to hide him in safe houses in Amsterdam, Selz refused, arguing that the Iron Cross he earned in World War I would be enough to protect him. That was not the case. In 1943, the Nazis again detained Selz and put him on a train to Auschwitz. He died during transport, either from exhaustion or sickness. His last recorded correspondence was a postcard to his colleagues, telling them he planned to begin a lecture series for his fellow inmates. how humans solved problems, step by step. What better way to do this than by studying introspective reports by humans themselves? That’s when early computer scientists turned to Selz’s Though his colleagues offered to hide him in safe houses in Amsterdam, Selz refused, arguing that the Iron Cross he earned in World War I would be enough to protect him. Cognitivism refound A decade or so later, the emerging field of computer science reawakened interest in Selz’s work. One of the most daunting problems for computer scientists was teaching computers to simulate human tasks. To do this, they first had to learn research to guide them, rediscovering his work and incorporating his methods and ideas into a new field they called artificial intelligence. In 1956, George Miller, Noam Chomsky and the rest of the betterremembered cognitive revolutionaries convened at an MIT information sciences symposium. The discussions there among these early computer scientists and cognitive psychologists convinced them that they were all seeking answers to the same questions about the human thought process. That meeting spurred collaboration among heretofore disparate academic disciplines and resulted in cognitive theories of the mind becoming a powerful force in experimental psychology. Though cognitivism has splintered into its own subdisciplines — neuroeconomics, cognitive linguistics, cognitive neuroscience and dozens more — it remains a powerful tool in understanding mental life. n References • van Strien, P.J., & Faas, E. (2003). How Otto Selz became a forerunner of the cognitive revolution. In Dalton, T.C., & Evans, R.B. (Eds.), The Life Cycle of Psychological Ideas (pp. 175–201). New York, Boston, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. • ter Hark, M. (2010). The psychology of thinking before the cognitive revolution: otto Selz on problems, schemas and creativity. History of Psychology, 13(1), 2–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ a0017442. • Miller, G. (2003). The cognitive revolution: a historical perspective. Trends in Cognitive Science, 7(3), 141–144. doi:10.1016/ S1364-6613(03)00029-9. • Robinson, D. The cognitive revolution. Retrieved from University of texas, College of education website: www.edb.utexas. edu/robinson/cogRev. 28 Monitor on psychology • septeMber 2011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0017442 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0017442 http://www.edb.utexas.edu/robinson/cogRev http://www.edb.utexas.edu/robinson/cogRev

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - September 2011

Monitor on Psychology - September 2011
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
From the CEO
Supreme Court hears psychologists on prison and video game cases
Antipsychotics are overprescribed in nursing homes
New MCAT likely to recognize the mind-body connection
A $2 million boost for military and families
In Brief
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATE
On Your Behalf
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
TIME CAPSULE
QUESTIONNAIRE
Speaking of Education
SCIENCE WATCH
An uncertain future for American workers
Advocating for psychotherapy
PRACTICE PROFILE
ETHICALLY SPEAKING
Seared in our memories
Helping kids cope in an uncertain world
APA and Nickelodeon team up
Muslims in America, post 9/11
Bin Laden’s death
‘They expect us to be there’
Answering the call of public policy
Candidates answer final questions
APA News
Division Spotlight
New leaders
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION
Disaster relief training
Honoring teaching excellence
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - September 2011

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201206
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201205
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201204
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201203
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201202
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201201
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/member_benefits
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201109_test
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201109
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com