Cognitive Psychology Applied

A Symposium at the 22nd International Congress of Applied Psychology

Chizuko Izawa

• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317783251
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Storia e teoria della psicologia

To present a timely analysis applying the rich resources of the current cognitive revolution, the contributors to this volume emphasize symbiotic interactions between theoretical/laboratory and applied/real-life approaches. A direct result of a symposium on general experimental psychology held during the International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP) in Kyoto, this volume includes papers focusing on topics in cognitive psychology that can be applied to school, business/industry, and daily life. The 20 contributors to ICAP represent not only a uniformly high level of excellence, but also a unique collection of talent from five nations: Canada, England, France, Japan, and the United States. This combined intelligence offers critical analyses of cognitive approaches to enhancing work efficiency, educating the labor force, coping with anxiety, improving mental hygiene, understanding the aging population, and exploring aesthetics in music.

1
Introduction to the Applied Cognitive Psychology Symposium, Kyoto International Congress of Applied Psychology

Chizuko Izawa
Tulane University

Kyoto, a city of picturesque mountains and placid waters, was the ancient capital of Japan and seat of the Imperial Court for nearly 11 centuries (794-1868). Kyoto’s long and abundant cultural heritage made it a fountainhead for still viable traditions in politics, the economy, and education; it set the standards for elegance throughout Japan. Today, after 1,200 years, its traditions harmoniously coexist with ultra modern high technology among the 1.5 million citizens looking toward the 21st century. All this is symbolized by a skyline blending modern skyscrapers with the graceful curvatures of numerous shrine- and temple-roofs; authoritative pagoda towers may be glimpsed against green mountains.

Indeed, this former capital city is a veritable storehouse of history as, for example, seen in the Kyoto Imperial Palace, the Nijo Castle, various detached palaces, about 400 shrines, and 1,650 Buddhist temples, including Chioriin (Ginkakuji, Silver pavilion built in 1482) and Kinkakuji with its three-story golden pavilion. Its renowned formal Japanese gardens extend the serenity of nature. Kyoto offers treasures from every era of its history. By now, the city holds 202 national treasures and 1,596 important cultural assets, 20% and 15%, respectively, of the country’s total.

Exquisite Nishijin silk weaving dates back to the start of the Heian period (794-1192) and is still produced today for the Obi sashes of Kimonos; the same is true of the spectacular designs and colors of Yugen-Dyeing for silk. Several of my best Kimonos and Obis were hand made in Kyoto in the same manner as was done 1,000 years ago! The fine quality of its elegant ceramic ware (.Kiyomizuyaki), Kyoto dolls, boxwood combs, folding fans, and Uji-tea are other examples as are the countless festivals, parades, and various performing arts, whose colorful traditions are still in evidence every season. Every year, Kyoto attracts far more than 50 million visitors from all parts of the globe, and their number is still growing. Somehow in Kyoto, the true heart of Japan, West and East meet more easily, and the past mingles more smoothly with the present and future.

All of these many aspects of Kyoto raced through my mind, when I was informed by Professor (Emeritus) Tadasu Oyama of the University of Tokyo, my alma mater, that Kyoto had been selected to host the 1990 International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP), the first Asian city chosen during the Congress’ 70-year history. As head of the scientific program committee, Professor Oyama asked me if I could serve at the 1990 ICAP as a symposium organizer. I accepted his invitation on the spot, because both he and I shared the strong mutual conviction that both theoretical and applied psychology would benefit by enhanced interaction at the conference. Because of that, he created a new section on general psychology for the ICAP Kyoto program. I promised Professor Oyama to organize one of the best symposia at the 1990 ICAP; in fact, so good that its proceedings would be published as a book! Thus, this volume was conceived at the Sidney ICP (International Congress of Psychology) in September 1988.

The innovation of including general psychology in the ICAP program was a tremendous success in Kyoto. That is a tribute not only to Professor Oyama, but also to Professor Hiroshi Motoaki, president of the XXIInd ICAP and his hardworking arrangements committee. They oversaw the entire operation with typical Japanese competence and hospitality.

Indeed, it has been my conviction, throughout my career, that theoretical psychology need not be relegated to the ivory tower. It can and should be applied wherever and whenever possible to real-life situations. Conversely, this does not imply that the theoretical psychology should become an adjunct to applied issues. The former should advance independent of any other concerns. However, by being attentive to applicational concerns, theory construction may cultivate unexpected insights; my own professional history testifies to the reality of such serendipity (e.g., Izawa, 1989b, 1992b). Similarly, applied psychology would advance faster by staying closer to theoretical developments and concerns.

For example, a lively scientific debate was recently triggered by Banaji and Crowder’s (1989) support of laboratory-oriented as opposed to real-life investigations on memory studies (cf. Neisser, 1978). See both the 1989 paper and their defense (Banaji & Crowder, 1991; Roedinger, 1991, e.g.). Very strong negative reactions came from the “naturalists,” including Aanstoos (1991), Bahrick (1991), Ceci and Bronfenbrenner (1991), Conway (1991), Gruneberg, Morris, and Sykes (1991), Morton (1991), and Neisser (1991), arguing that everyday life was the preferred data source. There are, of course, those who seek to accommodate both sources (e.g., Klatzky, 1991; Loftus, 1991; Tulving, 1991). Certain points relevant to this debate are presented by Peggy Intons-Peterson in Chapter 6 of this volume.

Uncompromising preoccupation with “naturalistic” studies and total rejection of laboratory studies, or vice versa, would be both unproductive and unwise. In the eyes of this author, it is not one or the other. Both are useful. The question is, how do we make sound uses of respective findings? But there is no doubt about the preeminent role of laboratory studies because they allow for tight controls and precision. This, however, does not imply that real-life situation (or applied) studies are worthless. Both types of studies offer something essential!

Both approaches are already well entrenched in the world of production and businesses. The psychology of memory and cognition are already heavily involved here. Any attempts to purify matter favoring one approach or the other are inherently unhealthy. Diversities in scientific philosophy, approach, and method are a strength, not a weakness, of psychological science.

A case in point. By utilizing everyday memories about the 1989 California earthquake, Palmer, Schreiber, and Fox via Berkeley students (1991), and Neisser, Winograd, and Weldon via Emory students (1991) found no evidence that the so-called “flashbulb” memory (Brown & Kulik, 1977) is especially vivid, accurate, and solid. They concluded that the Berkeley subjects remembered events better because they recalled the incidents more frequently in telling and comparing their stories with others. For this investigator, this confirms the results of her laboratory studies on recall tests (Ts). The more recall tests, the better the recall memory. See Chapter 4 for details of T(test) effects. This is just one live example of how laboratory data and everyday memory can meet, verifying each other’s findings!

Diversity is a necessity. Enslavement to one approach, one philosophy, or one method inhibits scientific advancement and discovery. One conspicuous example suffices: A noted historical failure to find the positive distributed or spaced practice effect in verbal learning in spite of decades’ intense efforts by Underwood and a large number of associates stems, in large part, from their complete (and blind) reliance on the anticipation method, then the unquestioned standard in the field (e.g., Izawa, 1971; Izawa & Hayden, chap. 2 in this vol.).

Furthermore, observations about everyday memory does at times provide insights for theory constructions in learning and memory. I, for example, had to learn English quickly to obtain my doctorate from William K. Estes, then at Stanford, within a 4-year constraint. By serving daily as a “subject” in verbal learning experiments, I developed serendipitous theoretical insights into learning processes (e.g., Izawa, 1989b). This would have been impossible by just running laboratory experiments. A symbiosis between theoretical lab psychology and everyday memory applied psychology has been at work for the last 3 decades in my laboratory.

Historically, too, applied and theoretical laboratory approaches developed together. For example, in Wundt’s laboratories at Leipzig, Münsterberg (e.g., 1889) pursued precisely that avenue in his various studies of work efficiency. That approach continues to interest this investigator throughout her entire career (e.g., Izawa, chaps. 3-4 in this vol.; Izawa & Hayden, chap. 2 in this vol.). Münsterberg subsequently came to Harvard at William James’ invitation in 1892, and in 1899 the American Psychological Association (APA) elected him as its seventh president. Then, in 1908 Münsterberg established the Division of Applied Psychology at the Harvard psychology laboratories. Thus, both in Germany and later in the United States, investigators utilized both formal laboratory and applied approaches almost from the very beginnings of their researches.

Such symbiosis among theoretical/laboratory and applied/naturalistic approaches can and must continue. It is fitting, indeed, that such symbiotic strategies were advocated at the 1990 ICAP in Kyoto (the former imperial capital), where East and West, as well as past, present, and future are easily brought into harmony with each other. The Japanese management style of quiet persuasion and consensus among diverse views, instead of violent confrontation, may indeed have offered something very positive there. Just as frequent consultation and the sense of mutual obligation between Japanese employers and employees have produced winning teams in the world economy, similar positive consequences for knowledge may be the fruit of forging closer affiliations between theoretical and applied approaches in this field. The setting in Kyoto was right, and our theme, beneficial.

Thus, the title of our ICAP symposium: “Applied Cognitive Psychology: Applications of Cognitive Theories and Concepts.” All of our chapters, save two, were from the Kyoto ICAP symposium program. For those who could not be in Kyoto, there were two additional presentations: One was by Drewnowski and Larking (University of Michigan), which discussed “Cognitive Aspects of Dietary Recall—Implications for Nutritional Epidemiology” and included the advantages of Japanese diet. (In this context, the Kyoto cuisine is especially recommended for its heavy reliance on vegetables.) The other was by Imai (University of Hokkaido, Japan), who addressed “Mental and Cognitive Adaptational Difficulties in the New Era.” For brief summaries of these provocative presentations and all others at the Kyoto ICAP symposium, see Izawa (1992a).

This volume was heavily devoted to training/learning effects, that is, more than half of the volume: chapters 2 through 7:

Chapters 2-4: Today, there is no more pressing need than to improve schools and productivity in the workplace in order to compete more effectively with Japan, Germany, and other industrial nations. The core prerequisite for enhancing education and work productivity is efficient learning/training and retention of information. Izawa and Hayden challenged this critically important issue facing Americans today in Chapter 2. As a consequence, the efficient study (S) program effect and the hidden effect of test (T) trials/events were discovered, providing foundations for the study-test-rest (S-T-r) program hypothesis herein proposed (Izawa, chaps. 3, 4).

Chapter 5: U.S. education in general has been judged inadequate year after year, especially in mathematics (cf. chap. 2). Fendrich, Healy and Bourne tackled multiplication processes in here and demonstrated that, even among college students, skills in multiplication could be improved by additional training.

Chapter 6: Intons-Peterson pursued a highly interesting point in everyday uses of memory, for example, when going from one place to another, after directions were given. Do we need external aids to memory? If so, which aid is best? How about note-making/note-taking of lectures?

Chapter 7: Both work and ordinary life often involves visual search for correct items among wrong alternatives, or spotting alien items among homogeneous ones. Lightfoot, Czerwinski, and Shriffrin’s sharp, in-depth analyses on visual search is scientific thinking at its best. Training versus automated processes are elucidated. The role of attention was also pursued in this chapter and the next by Waugh, FitzGerald, Elias, and Robbins.

Chapter 8: The latter authors incisively examine the processing of “unattended” information (which includes threatening vs. benign words) by individuals of low or high anxiety; their findings pose a clear challenge to important earlier work in this domain. Highly effective collaboration among cognitive and health psychologists were central to this chapter.

Chapter 9: The linkages and interplay of cognition/memory dimensions with those of anxiety, moods, and emotions become very much clearer in this chapter at the able hands of Ellis and Hertel. They delineate the importance of moods or emotional states for work performance, health behavior, and at times crucial eyewitness testimony.

Chapter 10: Umemoto, an educational psychologist, made his career primarily at the University of Kyoto and has been able to utilize his exceptional skills in music. He is a virtuoso pianist in exploring cognitive issues in unique ways.

Chapter 11: This is the grand finale. Three accomplished psychologists from different countries we...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• 1. Introduction to the Applied Cognitive Psychology Symposium, Kyoto International Congress of Applied Psychology
• 2. Race Against Time: Toward the Principle of Optimization in Learning and Retention
• 3. Efficient Learning: The Total Time, Exposure Duration, Frequency, and Programming of the Study Phase
• 4. Power Behind the Scenes: Hidden Effects of Test Trials Unveiled
• 5. Mental Arithmetic: Training and Retention of Multiplication Skill
• 6. External Memory Aids and Their Relation to Memory
• 7. On the Automatization of Visual Search
• 8. Anxiety and Selective Attention
• 9. Cognition, Emotion, and Memory: Some Applications and Issues
• 10. Music Cognition and Scale Schema
• 11. Aging and Cognitive Function: Cross-Cultural Studies
• Author Index
• Subject Index