approaches in psychology - cognitive approach.

Question 1

What is meant by “cognitive”?

Answer 1

Mental processes such as perception, memory and reasoning.

Question 2

What is meant by “cognitive neuroscience”?

Answer 2

An area of psychology dedicated to the underlying neural bases of cognitive functions.

Question 3

What is meant by “computer model”?

Answer 3

The process of using computer analogies as a representation of the human condition.

Question 4

What is meant by “inference”?

Answer 4

Reaching a logical conclusion on the basis of evidence and reasoning.

Question 5

What is meant by “schema”?

Answer 5

A cognitive framework that helps to organise and interpret information in the brain.

Question 6

What is meant by “theoretical models”?

Answer 6

Simplified, usually pictorial representations of particular mental processes based on current research evidence.

Question 7

What is meant by “cognitive psychology”?

Answer 7

The scientific study of the mind as an information processor.
[concerns the way we take in information from the outside world and how we make sense of that information]

Question 8

When and how did cognitive psychology begin?

Answer 8

Mid 1950s when researchers miller, chomsky, broadbent, newell, shaw and simon in several fields began to develop theories of mind based on complex representations and computational procedures.

Question 9

What are the assumptions of the cognitive approach?

Answer 9

• meditional processes occur between stimulis and response.
• psychology should be seen as a science.
• humans are information processors.

Question 10

“meditional processes occur between stimulis and response”

Answer 10

> essential to look at the metal processes of an organism and how these influence behaviour.
important to understand as without this understanding, psychologists cannot have a complete understanding of behaviour.

Question 11

“psychology should be seen as a science”

Answer 11

> follow behaviorists in preferring objective, controlled., scientific methods for investigating behaviour.
use results of investigators as the basis for making inferences about mental processes.

Question 12

“humans are information processors”

Answer 12

> information processing in humans resembles that in computers where it is based on transforming information, storing information and retrieving information from memory.
memory and attention assume that mental processes follow a clear sequence.

Question 13

Give an overview of the role of schemas.

Answer 13

• cognitive procssing can often be affected by schemas.
• as you get older, these become more detailed and sophisticated.
• based on previous experience.

Question 14

How are schemas helpful?

Answer 14

It interprets incoming information quickly and effectively preventing us from being overwhelmed by the vast amount of information we percieve in our environment.

Question 15

What is the history of cognitive psychology?

Answer 15

1925 > kohler - published book called ‘the mentalit of apes’ reporting observations which suggested that animals could show insightful behaviour.
- rejeted behaviorism.
1948 > robert wiener - introduced terms such as input and output through pubishing ‘cybernetics: or control and communication in the animal and the machine’.
> tolman - work on cognitive maps such as training rats in mazes showing that animals had an internal representation of behaviour.
1956 > george miller- birth of cognitive psychology.
1972 > newell and simon - development of the general problem solver.
1960 > miller - founded the center for cognitive studies at harvard with jerome bruner.
1967 > ulric neisser - published ‘cognitive psyhology’ marking the official beginning of the cognitive approach.
1968 > atkinon and shiffrin - multi store model which is a process model of memory.

Question 16

What methodologies/studies support the cognitive approach?

Answer 16

• case study (HM, KF).
• lab experiments.
• interviews.
• observations.
• computer modeling.

Question 17

What was the aim of the h.m study?

Answer 17

To cure h.m of his epileptic seizures.

Question 18

What happened in the h.m study?

Answer 18

1. surgery that involves what was called a-partial medial temporal lobe resection took place.
   
   2. Scoville removed 8cm of brain tissue from the hippocampus where it is believed it may have destroyed other parts of the brain as well.
      
      3. h.m lost the ability to form new memories where he could do a task and not realise that he had done it hundreds of times before.
      4. his intelligence remained and his childhood memories where still intact.

Question 19

What were the weaknesses of the h.m study?

Answer 19

• the high doses of anti-epileptic drug he was taking before and the lower doses after sugery may have resulted in some memory loss.
• no memory tests were conducted before surgery therefore initial memory loss was reported by his mother whom he lived with.

Question 20

What is cognitive interviewing?

Answer 20

A method of interviewing eyewitnesses and victims about what they remember from a crime scene.

Question 21

How is a cognitive interview carried out?

Answer 21

1. the interviewer attempts to help the witness feel relaxed and seeks to tailor their language to suit the individual.
   
   2. the witness is then encouraged to recreate their internal and external conditions at the scene such as their mood, thoughts and weather.
      
      3. they must recall the event backwards and forwards in time and recall it from other people’s perspectives.
         [the interviewer aims to be non-judgmental and avoids personal comments throughout]

Question 22

What are the strengths of cognitive interviews?

Answer 22

• witnesses reported greater detail in their accounts of cimes when technique was used.
• more strutured than standard technique.
• allows for a very thorough interview which is appropriate for crime-related interviews allowing for detailed testimonies.
  [fisher et al - 1990]

Question 23

What are the weaknesses of cognitive interviews?

Answer 23

• witnesses recalled more incorrect information compared to standard technique as more detail may result in an increased chance of making mistakes.
• more time consuming.
  [koehnken et al - 1999]

Question 24

Who discovered computer modeling?

Answer 24

Piaget and tolman.

Question 25

Who was tolman and what did he do?

Answer 25

• soft behaviorist.
• desrcibed research which behaviorism found difficult to explain.
• suggested that learning was based on relationships (cognitive maps) which formed amongst stimuli.

Question 26

What is meant by “computer analogy”?

Answer 26

The use of the cimuter a tool for thinkinng how the human mind handles infromation.
[a computer codes (changes) information, stores information, uses information and produces an output (retrieves information)]

Question 27

What are the assumptions of the information processing approach?

Answer 27

• information from the environment is processed by a series of processing systems such as attention, perception and short term memory.
• processing systems transforms or alters the information in systematic ways.
• information processing in humans resembles that in computers.

Question 28

What is the aim of the information processing approach?

Answer 28

To specify the processes and structures that underlie cognitive performance.

Question 29

Describe the cognitive model.

Answer 29

[can scientifically study internal behaviour]

input in the environment ⟶ mediational processes mental event ⟶ output behaviour.

Question 30

What areas can cognitive psychology be applied to?

Answer 30

• therapy (cognitive behavioural therapy).
• education w/ rygotsky.
• cognitive neuroscience.
• moral development w/ kohlberg.
• intelligence.
• memory.
• depression.
• attention.
• education w/ piaget.
• education w/ bruner.
• cognitive bias.
• moral development w/ piaget.
• learning styles w/ kolb.
• forgetting.
• perception.
• eyewitness testimony.

Question 31

What are the strengths of the cognitive approach?

Answer 31

• highly controlled and rigorous methods of study.
  ↳ use of lab experiments to produce reliable data.
• applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical context.
• high internal validity
  ↳ attempt to control all extraneous variables so only the IV can affect the DV.
• useful application to real world.
• computer models can be built to test ideas that cannot be done on humans being more ethical.

Question 32

What are the weaknesses of the cognitive approach?

Answer 32

• narrow focus on mental processes
  ↳ larger focus on logical aspects of cognitive processing and less on the emotional, creative and social aspects that also affect thinking.
• reductionist
  ↳ ignores causes for our behaviour that could come from our social environment or biology.
• laboratory experiments are low in ecological validity due to unnatural situation used for participants
  ↳ not representative of normal life.
  ➝ not generalisable.
• ignores individual differences as they focus on generalisation
  ↳ treats us all as working in the same way ignoring factors that may make us unique.

Question 33

What are the issues and debates of the cognitive approach?

Answer 33

• free will vs determinism.
• nature vs nurture.
• holism vs reductionism.
• idiographic vs nomothetic.

Question 34

Which side of the issue and debate does cognitive psychology adopt within free will vs determinism?

Answer 34

UNCLEAR
- on one hand it argues the way we process information is determined by our past experiences - schemas.
- on the other hand it argues we can change the way we think.

Question 35

Which side of the issue and debate does cognitive psychology adopt within nature vs nurture?

Answer 35

BOTH
- nurture as it argues that our behaviour is influenced by learning and experience.
- nature as it argues that some of our brains’ innate capacities as information processors.

Question 36

Which side of the issue and debate does cognitive psychology adopt within holism vs reductionism?

Answer 36

REDUCTIONISM
- when studying a variable it isolates processes such as memory from other cognitive processes.
- lacks validity as we would use many cognitive processes in our normal life.

Question 37

Which side of the issue and debate does cognitive psychology adopt within idiographic vs nomothetic?

Answer 37

NOMOTHETIC
- focuses on establishing theories on information processing that apply to all people.