Cognitive Approach Flashcards
The cognitive approach in a few words
Internal mental processes through inferences. We are like information processors.
What does the cognitive approach focus on to explain behaviour?
What is going on inside people’s minds based on the basis of their behaviour.
They see humans as information processors, so they focus on how information received from our senses is processed by the brain.
How do schemas explain behaviour?
Cognitive processing is affected by a person’s beliefs/expectations. Schemas are packages of ideas developed through experience and they act as a mental framework for the interpretation of incoming information. Schemas allow us to make short cuts and process information quickly.
what are theoretical models?
Theoretical models make inferences by looking at behaviour and explaining the thought processes that happen in the mind. E.g. the information processing approach. It suggests that information flows through input, storage and retrieval like the multi-store model of memory.
How does the cognitive approach link to the emergence of cognitive neuroscience?
Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes. (using neuro-imaging techniques like MRI scans).
Brain scans show them how the brain supports different cognitive activities and emotions by showing which parts of the brain are active for different activities.
Strength- scientific methods however…
The use of laboratory studies and the emergence of cognitive neuroscience enhance the scientific basis of psychology.
However, as cognitive psychology can’t use direct observation of behaviour, it can be too theoretical. Similarly, research studies of mental processes are often carried out using artificial stimuli (such as tests of memory using wordlists) that may not represent everyday experience.
Therefore, research on cognitive processes may lack external validity.
Weakness- machine reductionism
Such machine reductionism ignores the influence of human evolution and motivation on the cognitive system and how this may affect our ability to process information. For example, research has found that human memory may be affected by emotional factors such as the influence of anxiety on eyewitnesses.
Strength- nomothetic view
This is a strength because researchers can make generalisations about the whole population because they use large samples. They also use objective data and high control so it’s easier to replicate studies that use this approach. However, the cognitive approach also uses case studies such as the KF case study which can be a weakness because the experience of one person can’t be generalised to show the cognitive processes of everyone. This means the case studies have low external validity.
what is the information processing approach?
The information processing approach is based on the way computers function. However a computer model would involve programming a computer to see if such instructions produce a similar output in humans. If they do, then we can infer that similar processes go on in the human mind.
