COGNITIVE PROCESS

The Term of Cognition

The term cognition is used in several different loosely related ways.

In psychology it is used to refer to the mental processes of an individual, with particular relation to a view that argues that the mind has internal mental states (such as beliefs, desires and intentions)

In terms of information processing, especially when a lot of abstraction or concretization is involved, or processes such as involving knowledge, expertise or learning for example are at work.

It is also used in a wider sense to mean the act of knowing or knowledge, and may be interpreted in a social or cultural sense to describe the emergent development of knowledge and concepts within a group.

Definition of Cognitive Process

the performance of some composite cognitive activity;

an operation that affects mental contents; "the process of thinking"; "the cognitive operation of remembering" Cognitive processes include creating

mental representations of physical objects and events, and other forms of information processing.

Basic & High Cognitive Process

basic cognitive process - cognitive processes involved in obtaining and storing knowledge

higher cognitive process - cognitive processes that presuppose the availability of knowledge and put it to use

Cognition in mainstream psychology

The sort of mental processes described as cognitive or cognitive processes are largely influenced by research which has successfully used this paradigm in the past.

Consequently this description tends to apply to proceses such as memory, attention, perception, action, problem solving and mental imagery.

Traditionally emotion was not thought of as a cognitive process.

Empirical research into cognition is usually scientific and quantitative, or involves creating models to decsribe or explain certain behaviours.

Single & Double Loop Learning

Argyris and Schön (1978) distinguished between single-loop and double-loop learning, related to Gregory Bateson's concepts of first and second order learning. (Argyris & Schon 1978)

In single-loop learning, individuals, groups, or According to Argyris and Schon, organizations should strive to create a learning system where single and double-loop approaches are used when appropriate.

Argyris and Schon's work links individual learning to organizational learning and comes from an organization development perspective.

Organization development can be defined as "a process of planned system change that attempts to make organizations (viewed as social-technical systems) better able to attain their short-and long-term objectives.

This is achieved by teaching the organization members to manage their organization processes, structures, and culture more effectively" (French, Bell, & Zawacki,1994, p. 7).

Single Loop Learning

In single-loop learning, individuals, groups, or organizations modify their actions according to the difference between expected and obtained outcomes.

Single-loop learning results in the organization continuing its present policies or achieving its current objectives.

correcting an action to solve or avoid a mistake single-loop learning looks at technical or external

causes

Double Loop Learning

Double-loop learning leads to the organization modifying its underlying norms, policies, or objectives.

Correcting also the underlying causes behind the problematic action.

Underlying causes may be an organization’s norms and policies, individuals’ motives and assumptions, and informal and ingrained practices that block inquiry on these causes.

Double-loop learning requires the skills of self-awareness and self-management, and the willingness to candidly inquire into why what went wrong did so, without sliding into defensiveness, blaming others, making excuses, trying to be “nice and positive” to each other, protecting each other’s egos, and other automatic or unconscious patterns of behavior that block honest feedback, inquiry and learning.

double-loop learning also looks at cultural, personal or internal causes

SAMPLE PROBLEM:delays in completion of work

Sample questions that lead to single-loop learning:

Which step suffers most from delays, and what delays that step?

How can the work process be simplified to reduce completion time?

What better technology can be used to reduce delays?

Sample questions that lead to double-loop learning: What are the bases for setting the standard or expected completion

time, and are these bases still valid in this situation? If the delay had been noted earlier or it has been recurring or

persistent, what prevented those who noted them from reporting or doing something about it? What prevented them from taking the initiative?

Does it happen often that employees notice a delay but hesitate for some reasons to do something about it? If so, what are those reasons? If it is difficult for employees to talk about those reasons, why so?

Does it happen that a delay occurs so often that employees tend to no longer notice or talk about it? Why? Or, what led to this pattern of unspoken group behavior?

If the delay often occurs with a specific employee, what prevented his manager or colleagues from doing something about it earlier? Is there an unwritten agreement or practice to avoid embarrassing co-employees, or to always “be nice and positive” to each other?

Were there people who believe that some potential root causes of a delay or problem were not considered or were too easily dismissed by colleagues or by managers? Why didn’t these people speak out, and if they did, why were they not fully listened to?

Is problem recognition, problem analysis or problem solving often dominated only by certain employees, and if so, why does this practice persist?

conclusion

Double-loop learning requires three skills: self-awareness to recognize what is often unconscious or habitual, honesty or candor to admit mistakes and discuss with colleagues to discover and validate causes, and taking responsibility to act appropriately on what is learned.

According to Argyris, “today, facing competitive pressures an earlier generation could hardly have imagined…leaders and subordinates alike…must all begin struggling with a new level of self-awareness, candor, and responsibility”

What is cognitive learning?

Human beings can learn efficiently by observation, taking instruction, and imitating the behavior of others.

"Cognitive learning is the result of listening, watching, touching or experiencing."

Cognitive learning is a powerful mechanism that provides the means of knowledge, and goes well beyond simple imitation of others.

Cognitive learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge and skill by mental or cognitive processes — ;the procedures we have for manipulating information 'in our heads'.

How do we learn cognitive?

In cognitive learning, the individual learns by listening, watching, touching, reading, or experiencing and then processing and remembering the information.

Cognitive learning might seem to be passive learning, because there is no motor movement. However, the learner is quite active, in a cognitive way, in processing and remembering newly incoming information.

Cognitive learning enables us to create and transmit a complex culture that includes symbols, values, beliefs and norms.

The Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI)

why people produced different solutions to seemingly similar problems and developed a theory of cognitive style is related to creativity and problem-solving.

developing a theory of cognitive style related to creativity and problem-solving.

His theory purports that individuals have a preferred mode of perceiving and solving problems that can be located on a continuum ranging from adaption (doing things better) to innovation (doing things differently).

(Kirton,1976)

KAI

32-item self report instrument developed to assess a person's location on the continuum.

Possible scores on the KAI range from 32 to 160, with a standard deviation of 17.54 (Kirton, 1976)

Scores above 96 characterize innovators and scores below 96 characterize adaptors.

Argyris and Schon's theory of organizational learning

vsKirton's theory of cognitive

style related to problem solving and creativity

Adaption & Single Loop Learning

Creativity is a function of style rather than ability Adaptors are capable of very creative solutions to

organizational problems, but they will solve the problems within the perceived constraints.

In single-loop terms, individuals will find solutions that modify strategies or the assumptions underlying the strategies in ways that leave the existing organizational values and norms unchanged. Adaption and single-loop learning achieve efficiency and effectiveness in short-term results.

Innovator & Double Loop Learning

In contrast, both Argyris and Schon's double-loop learning process and Kirton's innovation process entail challenging the existing paradigm.

Individuals engaging in double-loop or innovative behavior disregard the constraints of the presented problem, examine the underlying assumptions and governing values, make fundamental changes, and find or create new problems to be solved.

Kirton has found that innovators have little respect for past customs and they approach tasks from unexpected angles. In double-loop terms, individuals will find solutions that result in the modification of the values that shape the current strategies and assumptions.

Innovation and double-loop learning relate to a big-picture or long-term perspective, which involves discovering new challenges and breaking old mindsets so that transformational results can be realized.

Cognitive Style

describe the way individuals think, perceive and remember information, or their preferred approach to using such information to solve problems.

Cognitive style differs from cognitive ability (or level), the latter being measured by aptitude tests or so-called intelligence tests. Controversy exists over the exact meaning of the term cognitive style and also as to whether it is a single or multiple dimension of human personality.

Cognitive style refers to a recurring pattern of perceptual and intellectual activity

Cognitive vs Learning Style

learning style has been used as a description for the cognitive process of thinking, perceiving, and remembering (McFadden, 1986).

McFadden states that most definitions of learning style as well as cognitive style, illustrate variations in individual information processing and that no single definition for learning style or cognitive style has been identified.

Cognitive vs Learning Style (Lanj.)

Descriptions of cognitive style, notes McFadden, include: a consistent pattern of behavior within a range of individual variability (Cornet, 1983);

a student's consistent way of responding to and using stimuli in a learning environment (Claxton & Ralston, 1978);

how individuals process information and prefer to learn (Garity, 1985);

the way individuals organize information and experiences (Laschinger & Boss, 1984);

a person's characteristic style of acquiring and using information (Haynsake, 1981) and;

an expression of psychological differentiation within characteristic modes of information processing (Witkin & Goodenough, 1971, 1981).

INTELLEGENCE &

MENTAL ABILITIES