Approaches - The cognitive approach Flashcards
What is an outline of the cognitive approach?
Behaviour is the result of conscious information processing (thoughts)
What are internal mental processes?
-A series of stages of mental informational processing
-Stages are represented by cognitive theories as theoretical models
-These are flow charts showing information flows,
processed in a mental system, such as:
-Memory (WMM/MMS) or attention
-The models produce theories testable by
experiment
How does the cognitive approach view the brain?
The computer model
- The cognitive approach suggests the brain can be viewed as similar to a computer (CPU) and the mind as like the software it runs on (CPD)
- Computers also have inputs and outputs, the brain has senses (inputs) and outputs (such as: Behaviour)
What are schemas?
-Cognitive frameworks of how people or objects work
-These are formed from past experiences
-They organise the large amount of new information we experience every moment and make assumptions on how we behave or think
-An incorrect schema can lead to stereotyping,
prejudice and bias
What are inferences?
- Going beyond the observed behaviour to make assumptions about the understood structure of mental processes that resulted in that behaviour
- Used as internal mental processes and cannot be directly observed
What lead to the emergence of cognitive neuroscience?
- The development of new brain scanning techniques such as FMRI have allowed thought processes to be linked to patterns of activity in the brain
- This provided neuro-biological support to the pre-existing cognitive models such as the WMM
What is a weakness of the cognitive approach? (Machine reductionism)
-Machine reductionism oversimplifies the human behaviour by describing human thinking as processing like a computer
-Computers do not have features of human experiences such as emotion, irrationality and
consciousness
What is a strength of the cognitive approach?
Practical application
-Cognitive psychologist’s ideas on information processing have been used to develop the field of
artificial intelligence
-This gives the approach real world applications in self-driving and automation
-This also has significant consequences on the
economy
What is a weakness of the cognitive approach?
Soft determinism
-The cognitive approach is an example of soft determinism as it states that thoughts are influenced by previous experiences (Schemas) and brain structure
-However conscious thoughts can override as an
expression of free will
What is a weakness of the cognitive approach?
Unscientific inferences
- Using inferences to assume underlying processes in thinking is unscientific
- This is because internal mental processes cannot be directly tested and inferences maybe mistaken or influenced by bias
- However the experimental method is scientific
What is a weakness of the cognitive approach?
Lack of explanation of larger mental system
-Mental processes described by models such as attention and memory are distinct
-However there is little explanation as to how these mental events work together in a larger mental
system
What is a strength of the cognitive approach?
-Cognitive neuro science was used by Braver to provide neuro-biological evidence of the CE in the WMM, located in the prefrontal cortex
-This was done by measuring high activation with brain scans when completing CE tasks increasing with
difficulty
-This means that the cognitive approach allows
psychologists to make new neuro-biological
discovery’s using systems
