APPROACHES- Cognitive Approach

Question 1

State one assumption of the cognitive approach.

Answer 1

Cognitive psychologists assume that behaviour is the result of information processing.

Question 2

In a laboratory study of problem-solving, cognitive psychologists asked participants to solve problems presented in different colours of ink. They found that it took longer to solve problems presented in green ink, than it did to solve problems presented in other colours. They inferred that the mental processing of problems is made more difficult when a problem is presented in green ink.

Explain what is meant by “inference” in relation to this study. (Two marks)

Answer 2

Mark 1: (definition of inference) the process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour

Mark 2: (Application) the conclusion the psychologist has drawn is that the ‘mental processing of behaviours is made more difficult when a problem is presented in green ink’ this is because the observed behaviour is ‘they found it took longer to to solve problems presented in green ink’ than other colours.

Question 3

We use schema when we process information from the world around us.

Explain one reason why using schema might be useful when processing information from the world around us, and explain one reason why using schema might not be useful when processing information from the world around us.

Answer 3

schema help us predict what will happen in our world based on our experiences
* schema enable us to process vast amounts of information rapidly
* schema prevent us from becoming overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.

• schema can distort our interpretation of sensory information
• schema lead to perceptual errors or inaccurate EWT / memories
• schema can cause biased recall / see what we expect

Question 4

Briefly explain one strength and one limitation of the cognitive approach in psychology. [4 marks]

Answer 4

A strength of the cognitive approach is that it emphasises the importance of scientific methods and relies on lab experiments, so the research conducted in the cognitive approach is objective and highly controlled. This is a strength because it means the data collected is objective and reliable, which allows researchers to make inferences of cognitive processes from the data collected.
A limitation of the cognitive approach is its machine reductionism. This is a limitation because the computer analogy ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the human behaviour, and how this may affect our ability to process information. For example, research has found that human memory can be affected by anxiety.

Question 5

One strength and limitation of cognitive neuroscience.

Answer 5

Strengths: control/objectivity in research; use of models for ease of understanding; links to neuroscience and consequent applications.
Limitations: still requires inferences about cognitive processes; mechanistic approach to understanding human behaviour.

Question 6

Outline and briefly discuss cognitive neuroscience (just content, not evaluation) [8 marks]

Answer 6

Cognitive neuroscience has become prominent with improvements in technology such as fMRI and PET scans

• Some research within cognitive neuroscience is Tulving et al. (1994) showed that the different types of long-term memory may be located on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex

Question 7

Outline and briefly discuss cognitive neuroscience (just evaluation) [8 marks]

Answer 7

Evaluation of cognitive neuroscience:
- Cognitive neuroscience has real-world applications e.g. in medicine, health, education

• It uses objective (controlled) scientific methods e.g. MRI scans which increase reliability
• Technology such as MRI scans are not 100% reliable due to user-error in calibration, temperature and noise interference