Approaches: Cognitive

Question 1

Cognitive Approach is…….

Answer 1

Mind takes in the impoverished sensory input and matches it to a schema derived from past experience
The schema is used to fill in the blanks in the input and to give it a meaning
Your ability to see what’s there depends on you having an appropriate schema

Question 2

Cognitive neuroscience

Answer 2

This discipline combines cognitive and neuroscience
It has emerged with the advances in scanning technology
Aims to bridge the gap between neuroscience and cognitive

Question 3

Experimental cognitive psychology

Answer 3

Laboratory experiment

Question 4

Cognitive neuropsychology

Answer 4

Case studies

Investigations of the brain

Question 5

Cognitive psychologists

Answer 5

Extend this idea and say that our behavior is determined by the way we process information taken in from our environment

Question 6

Cognitive/theoretical models

Answer 6

Cognitive psychologists use the results of research to develop models of how people process information
They infer mental processes from comparisons between the information (input) a person receives and the behavior (output) they produce.

Question 7

Schemas

Answer 7

A collection of ideas about a person or situation formed through experience which helps the individual to understand and predict the world around them

Question 8

Evaluation (strengths)

Answer 8

Thought processes are generally thought to have an influence on behavior and of all approaches this acknowledges the importance of this
Uses scientific processes to research, yet can also lead to lacking ecological validity
Informed the use of treatments such as CBT

Question 9

Evaluation (weakness)

Answer 9

Seen as over simplistic, can’t be proved just supported by evidence, describing complex processes and it often overlooks the rate of emotion
Criticized for comparing people to computers, mechanistic and lacking free wil