Approaches in Psychology - The Cognitive Approach Flashcards
Schema
Expectation of the thing that will happen
How do cognitive psychologists study mental processes indirectly?
By making inferences about what it going on inside people’s heads
What does the cognitive approach believe about how internal mental processes can be investigated?
That internal mental processes can be investigated using scientific methods and principles
What do cognitive psychologists claim our mental processes are affected by?
Schema that we have formed through experiences
What do cognitive psychologists use to explain how our mind works?
Theoretical models of memory
What does schema help us to do?
Predict what will happen in the world based on past experience
How can we process information using schemas?
We can process a lot of information quickly
What do schema do with experience?
They develop and evolve to become more detailed and sophisticated
What can schema lead to?
Faulty conclusions - big issue regarding EWT as scheme could override what individuals actually saw take place
What do schema cause us to exclude?
Exclude important information to instead focus on things that confirm our pre-existing ideas
What can we develop with schema?
Stereotypes that are difficult to confirm
What are inferences?
Assumptions
Why do we have to make assumptions about mental processes?
Because we will never be able to see what anyone is actually thinking
Cognitive psychology
The scientific study of the mind as a computer
What do cognitive psychologists try to build up?
Cognitive models of the information processing that goes on inside people’s minds
What can models be used to provide?
Testable theories about mental processing
What does the Computer model state?
Mind is like a computer
Theoretical model
Diagrams that represent steps involved in mental processing
What are cognitive processes examples of?
Theoretical models
What did the cognitive approach provide a basis for?
The development of cognitive neuroscience
What has stemmed from the cognitive approach?
The use of scanning equipment
What have neuroimaging techniques helped us to study?
The influence of brain structures and mental processes
What does use of scanning/imaging techniques lead to?
Treatment of many different areas of the brain
What does the use of scanning/imaging techniques allow psychologists to study?
Mental processing of patients with depression, ocd, autism or dyslexia
What can the use imaging techniques help psychologists observe?
The effects of strokes on the brain
What does the use of computer simulations allow?
Theories to he tested or hypothesises about mental processes to be made
