Cognitive Approach Flashcards
What is a schema?
Cognitive framework or concept that helps us organise & interpret info from situations & environment we find ourselves in
E.g. what we think a school looks like
What are person schemas?
Focused on specific individuals, e.g. schema for friend may include info about appearance, behaviour, etc.
What are social schemas?
General knowledge about how people behave in certain situations, e.g. happy at wedding
What are self-schemas?
Focused on knowledge about yourself
Can include both what you know about current self & ideas about idealised future self
What are event schemas?
Focused patterns of behaviour that should be followed for certain events
Acts like script, informing you on what you should do, how you should act & what you should say in certain situation
What are disadvantages of schemas?
They exclude important info, meaning we may focus on things that confirm our pre-existing beliefs
Can contribute to stereotypes
Make it difficult to retain new info that doesn’t fit established knowledge package of world
What is the definition of theoretical models and an example?
Theories proposed to attempt to explain & infer info about mental processes
E.g. information-processing model:
Describes mind as computer, in terms of incoming info (input) to be encoded, (from eyes, ears, etc.) manipulating this mentally (storage, decision making), consequently directing output (behaviour/emotion)
What is cognitive neuroscience?
Academic field that studies influence of brain structures on mental processes
Emergence of CN occurred due to advances in brain imaging techniques, like MRI & PET scans
What are strengths of the cognitive approach?
STUDIED IN HIGHLY CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENTS (LAB):
Produce reliable, objective data & has established credible scientific basis
LESS DETERMINISTIC:
Recognises our cognitive system can only operate within limits we know
We’re free to think before responding to stimulus
More reasonable interactionist position
What are weaknesses of the cognitive approach?
MACHINE REDUCTIONISM:
Ignores influence of human emotion & motivation on C.S., which may affect ability to process info
E.g. research found human memory may be affected by environmental factors like Anxiety for eyewitness
APPLICATION TO EVERYDAY LIFE:
Cognitive psychologists only able to infer mental processes from behaviour they observe in research, so C.P. Occasionally suffers from being to abstract & theoretical
Experiments often carried out with artificial stimuli, therefore lacking external validity
What is the cognitive approach’s real-life application?
Important contribution in field of A.I. & development of ‘thinking machines’
