Cognitive Approach Flashcards
Why was the cognitive approach developed?
Developed in the 1960s as a response to the behaviourists’ failure to acknowledge the mental process.
The development of the first computers have cognitive psychologists a metaphor for describing the mental process.
Give the four main assumptions of cognitive psychologists.
• interested in how we interpret the world
• interested in the internal workings of the kind and explain our behaviour though cognitive processes
• use experimental procedures and methods to test behaviour in a scientific way
• computers used as a metaphor to explain how we think. humans treated as information processors.
Give the three terms that compare humans and computers.
• brain described as a processor
• some parts can work sequentially (information travelling along one pathway) meaning, if demanding, the task must be completed before another can be tackled
• brain can sometimes work in parallel (similar tasks at the same time)
State the comparison between human and computer data input.
computer: information coming in via keyboard (signals passed through wires)
humans: information coming in from the world through senses (signals passed through neurons)
Give the similarities in data processing between humans and computers.
computers: computer processor
humans: brain
Give the similarities in data output between computers and humans.
computers: information output to a monitor
humans: behavior - based on how we have processed the information
What is meant by inference?
Where a cognitive psychologist draws a conclusion about how a mental process operates based on an observed behaviour or finding.
What is Schema?
Packages of information/mental framework of expectations and beliefs that we build up from our early experiences.
State 5 problems with Schema.
• stereotypes
• conforming to social standards
• courses
• job roles
• increase in anxiety
