Cognitive Approach

Question 1

What is memory?

Answer 1

Memory is the process of encoding, storing and recalling previously learned information.

Question 2

What is recall?

Answer 2

Bring a memory back into one’s mind; remember.

Question 3

Reconstructive Memory

Answer 3

Pieces of stored information are reassembled during recall. This process is guided by our schemas.

Question 4

Schema

Answer 4

A mental package of beliefs and expectations that influence memory.

Question 5

Role of schema in memory

Answer 5

-Shortening
-Rationalisation
-Confabulation

Question 6

Shortening

Answer 6

When part of our memory is left out, so what remains is shorter.

Question 7

Rationalisation

Answer 7

When parts of a memory are distorted to fit your schema and make it meaningful. When something does not make sense, you work on it until it does.

Question 8

Confabulation

Answer 8

When details are added to an original memory to ‘fill in the gaps’ or to make it meaningful. You fill in gaps in your recall from past experiences so two or more memories could merge to make a new one.

Question 9

Participants

Answer 9

People recruited to take part in research.

Question 10

Cognitive Scripts

Answer 10

Information stored in memory which describes the typical behaviours given in a situation, which we retrieve to guide our behaviour.

These are collections of schemata (plural for schema) which link together to produce a series of expectations relevant to the situation you are in. These scripts guide you on what to expect and how to behave in specific situations.

Question 11

Cognitive Priming

Answer 11

Exposure to one stimulus (the prime) influences how you respond to a subsequent stimulus.

Question 12

Positive Priming

Answer 12

Stimulus that makes response to a prime faster. It speeds up how you respond to things after you have been primed.

Question 13

Negative Priming

Answer 13

Stimulus that makes response to a prime slower.

Question 14

What is a stimulus?

Answer 14

Something (as an environmental change) that acts to partly change bodily activity.

Question 15

What is priming/prime?

Answer 15

Stimulus that subconsciously affects how you respond to something.

Question 16

Semantic

Answer 16

The meaning of something.

Question 17

Types of priming

Answer 17

-Repetition
-Semantic
-Associative

Question 18

Repetitive Priming

Answer 18

A form of direct priming. We process a stimulus more quickly or recall more easily, because we encountoured it earlier.

Question 19

Semantic Priming

Answer 19

We process a stimulus more quickly or recall more easily because we encountered a stimulus related to it in meaning earlier.

Question 20

Associative Priming

Answer 20

This involves using two stimuli that are normally associated with one another. Eg. fish and chips; fish acts as a prime for chips.

Question 21

Cognitive Biases

Answer 21

Errors in how we process information that affect our attention, memory and decision making.

Question 22

Confirmation Bias

Answer 22

We pay more attention to and seek out information that supports our existing beliefs.

Question 23

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 23

In explaining the reasons for other people’s behaviour, we focus on their personal characteristics and overlook the role of the situation.

Question 24

Hostile Attribution error (aggression)

Answer 24

A tendency to assume that someone else’s behaviour has aggressive intent when it is actually neutral.

Question 25

Long-term memory (LTM)

Answer 25

Permanent memory store with practically unlimited capacity, storing memories for up to a lifetime. Encoding is mainly semantic (meaning).

Question 26

Short-term memory (STM)

Answer 26

Limited-capacity memory store. Encoding is mainly acoustic (sounds), capacity is between 5 and 9 items, duration is up to 30 seconds without rehearsal.

Question 27

Sensory memory (SM)

Answer 27

Memory stores for our senses, e.g. vision (iconic store) and hearing (echoic store). Encoding in the iconic store is visual and in the echoic store is acoustic. Capacity is huge but duration is very brief.

Question 28

Cognitive scripts

Answer 28

Information stored in memory that describes the behaviours typical in a given situation, which we retrieve to guide our behaviour.

Question 29

Memory scripts

Answer 29

Knowledge of behaviours, roles, outcomes, etc. stored in memory tell us what to expect in a social situation and how to behave.

Question 30

Person perception

Answer 30

Information stored in memory about which personality characteristics often go together, which guide our impressions of other people.

Question 31

Consumer Behaviour

Question 32

Brainwashing techniques

Answer 32

Methods used to alter or control what a person is thinking and to entice consumers to accept an adverts message uncritically.

Question 33

Subliminal Message

Answer 33

When stimuli are presented quickly and are not perceived consciously.

Question 34

Authority Bias

Answer 34

Consumers tend to assign more credibility to someone who is likely to be an expert.

Question 35

Basic Assumption

Answer 35

Human behaviour is learned through how we process and interpret information.

Question 36

General Evaluation

Question 37

Real life applications

Answer 37

Consider how and who this made a difference to in society. Eg. for reconstructive memory, it can explain why we cannot solely rely on eyewitness testimony.