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Cognitive Approach Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the 6 key concepts of the Cognitive approach?

A
  1. The mind actively processes information from our senses (touch, taste etc.) - LTM and STM
  2. Memory- Eyewitness Testimony (EWT)
  3. Mental health (irrational thoughts)
  4. Attention and perception
  5. Schemas
  6. Reconstructive memory
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2
Q

What are the 4 key assumptions of the Cognitive approach?

A
  1. The black box
  2. The computer analogy
  3. Behaviour is a product of information processing.
  4. Cognitive priming
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3
Q

What is ‘The black box’ analogy?

A

A metaphor for the human mind. Our minds record information, store memory, and provide details about specific content when we need them.

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4
Q

What is the computer analogy?

A

The computer is used by psychologists as an analogy for the human memory system that mirrors a computer system.

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5
Q

Give one strength and one weakness of the computer analogy:

A

One strength is that it helps to develop treatments for mental health (e.g., CBT) but a weakness is that it ignores other factors, e.g., biological factors in behaviour (such as influence of CNS).

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6
Q

What are the 5 stages of the computer analogy?

A
  1. Input- info enters the memory (CPU) from the memory through are senses.
  2. Encoding (coding)- info is scaled down and put into a format so it can be recognised.
  3. Storage- once encoded, its stored away for future use.
  4. Retrieval- the attempt to recover the info when you want to use it- this isn’t always easy.
  5. Output- final stage- like opening a file or printing it off
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7
Q

Define coding/encoding in terms of psychology.

A

How we code or change information to store in memory.

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8
Q

Give an example of research that supports coding in STM and LTM and how it does so.

A

The study of Baddeley (1966) supports research that supports coding in STM and LTM. He does this by proposing that information is acoustically encoded in the STM and semantically encoded in the LTM. He did so through an independent group design where participants recalled words immediately, and again 20 minutes later. He found that people that had to recall the words earlier (STM) struggled to recall words that were acoustically similar.

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9
Q

Define capacity in terms of psychology.

A

How much information we are able to memorise or store.

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10
Q

Define duration in terms of psychology.

A

How long we can hold or store this information in our memory.

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11
Q

What is information processing?

A

The idea that information is processed through a number of stages, like computer processed data.

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12
Q

What is Cognitive priming?

A

How exposure to a stimulus influences the way in which we relate or respond to the same or similar stimulus experienced in the future.

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13
Q

What are Schemas?

A

Packages of ideas, concepts, beliefs, and expectations developed through experience that act as a mental framework to interpret new info.

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14
Q

Why is it useful that schemas create shortcuts in thinking?

A

Shortcuts help us process things more quickly and avoid being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.

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15
Q

What is a negative effect of schemas?

A

It can distort our interpretations of stimuli & lead to faulty conclusions/unhelpful behaviour e.g. negative self-schemas.

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16
Q

What type of schemas are babies born with?

A

Simple motor schemas (sucking/ grasping) but as we get older, we learn more sophisticated and detailed schemas.

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17
Q

What are positive schemas?

A

Help us take shortcuts in thinking which helps us process things more quickly and avoid being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.

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18
Q

What are negative schemas?

A

They can distort our interpretations of stimuli and lead to faulty conclusions/unhelpful behavioural behaviour e.g., negative self- schemas.

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19
Q

Explain the Bugelski and Alampay, 1961 study.

A

A study where the participants exposed to animal pictures, subsequently saw the rat-man figure as a rat and may have initially looked at a different segment of the picture than those who had either been previously exposed to humans or saw no set-inducing figures. This demonstrated the importance of expectation in inducing perceptual set.

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20
Q

What are the strengths of the ‘schema’ theory’?

A
  • The ‘schema’ theory has been very useful in explaining several other cognitive processes, such as memory and reasoning
  • It can be applied to processes such as stereotyping and reconstructive memories
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21
Q

What are the weaknesses of the ‘schema’ theory’?

A
  • Critics argue that the theory is very vague and never really explains how schemas come about
  • Too much focus is on the inaccuracy of memory, when, for the most part, memories tend to be largely accurate.
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22
Q

What is memory?

A

The cognitive (thought) process whereby past experience is remembered.

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23
Q

What are 5 ways memory is used in everyday life?

A

1) Remembering names

2) Remembering plans for the day

3) Recalling items that one needs to purchase at the grocery store

4) Remembering to take medications

5) Remembering telephone numbers

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24
Q

What is Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) Multi-store Model?

A

A theoretical framework that explains how information is processed and stored in our memory. A theoretical framework that explains how information is processed and stored in our memory.

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25
Q

What is the Sensory memory?

A

The memory short-term store where all immediate info processed by the sense organs are briefly held unless its paid attention to.

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26
Q

What is Short-term memory?

A

The memory store that has limited capacity and limited duration, and where info becomes conscious.

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27
Q

What is Long-term memory?

A

Long-term memory- the memory store that has unlimited capacity and unlimited duration, and where is permanently stored.

28
Q

When is information displaced (forgotten)?

A

If the STM runs out of space, and information is ‘shunted out’ of storage by new information becoming forgotten.

29
Q

When will the STM decay?

A

If it has limited duration/ capacity, and time runs out.

30
Q

What is maintenance rehearsal?

A

To keep info in the STM temporarily or permanently, we need to keep practising it (e.., repeating a number). The info is ‘looped’ so it can be maintained.

31
Q

How long should you rehearse something for it to transfer to LTM?

A

About 30 seconds.

32
Q

What is the process of retrieval?

A

Process of getting information back from LTM to STM in order to be output.

33
Q

Name and define the two types of memory retrieval.

A

1) Recall- the idea that research needs to be retrieved directly from memory.
2) Recognition- our ability to recognise an event or something as familiar.

34
Q

Why is retrieval not always possible?

A

It is in the LTM, but we cannot find or reach it. However, it may be retrievable at a later date or when someone or something gives us a clue

35
Q

What is free recall?

A

The idea of retrieving something from our memory without assistance.

36
Q

What is cued recall?

A

A memory process where info is retrieved from memory by the aid or assistance of a prompt or cue.
E.g., if you see a picture of a dog and then try and recall it after seeing the letter ‘D’.

37
Q

What are meaningful cues?

A

A cue that relates directly to the information we are trying to remember, e.g., trying to remember a person’s name and you can only think of the first letter which triggers you to remember their name.

38
Q

What are cue’s without meaning?

A

A cue that isn’t directly related to the information we are trying to remember by may occur at the same time we learn it. E.g., remembering a first date due to the perfume someone is wearing.

39
Q

What is the difference between state cues and context cues?

A

State cues are internal factors such as how your feeling thinking, or whether your intoxicated. However, context cues are external factors in your environment like the time of day, room design, people around you etc.

40
Q

What is Recognition memory?

A

Remembering something because we have encountered it before in the past, suggesting that we have memory stored in our long-term store that we cannot access through free recall.

41
Q

Name a strategy to test memory and recall of information?

A

Serial reproduction: a task where a piece of info is passed from one participant to the next in a chain or series. Differences between each version are measured.

42
Q

What did psychologist’s believe memory was before Bartlett ?

A

Psychologists used to believe that memory was simply an exact recall of events.

43
Q

What does Bartlett describe as reconstructive memory?

A

Bartlett believes that before memories enter the LTM they are changed. When they recall only fragments of the original memory, we build from these fragments filling in the missing elements (slightly changing it each time).

44
Q

He believed our ________ expectations change our memories.

A

Cultural

45
Q

Explain effort after meaning in terms of the reconstructive nature of memory.

A

We focus on the meaning of events and afterwards make an effort to interpret the meaning in more familiar terms afterwards.

46
Q

What experiment supports Bartlett’s theory of reconstructive memory?

A

The study called Bartlett War of the Ghosts which asked participants to read a Native American folk tale called the ‘War of Ghosts’ since it was most likely unknown to participants.

47
Q

What are the strengths of the Bartlett War of the Ghosts study?

A
  • It emphasises the importance of people’s previous experience on the way they remember things which helps to explain why people of different cultures may have difficulty in agreeing with each other.
  • The study was more relevant to how we use our memory in everyday life, i.e., we often pass on information to others. This means that it is high in ecological validity, so we can apply the findings to other settings.
48
Q

What are the weaknesses of the Bartlett War of the Ghosts study?

A
  • In the study, the intervals at which P’s were asked to recall the story often changed between different P’s. Therefore, the results aren’t entirely reliable.
  • In the study there wasn’t a reliable method of recording the stories told. Therefore, it’s difficult to measure the accuracy of the stories told.
49
Q

What are Cognitive scripts?

A

A collection of schemata which join together and develop over time to produce a series of expectations suitable to a particular situation.

50
Q

What does ‘Self-fulfilling prophecy’ mean?

A

What we expect is what we get.

51
Q

What is cognitive/collective priming?

A

When exposure to a stimulus influences how we will relate or respond to the same or similar stimuli experienced in the future. These can be separated into 2 categories: positive priming and negative priming.

52
Q

Define positive priming (include an example):

A

The idea that our favourable experience to a stimulus speeds up our subsequent future reaction or response to other similar ones.
Ex. Your reaction to eating a certain food determines your reaction in the future.

53
Q

Define negative priming (include an example):

A

The idea that our unfavourable experience to a stimulus slows down our subsequent future reaction or response to other similar ones.
Ex. If you were bitten by a dog, you may be cautious around dogs later.

54
Q

What is repetitive priming?

A

A type of positive priming which makes future responses quicker.

55
Q

What is semantic priming?

A

Priming associated with meaning and allows you to quickly associate categories with similar meanings.

56
Q

What is associative priming (give an example)?

A

A type of positive priming that occurs due to relating/associating two unlike categories regularly. Ex. An English person may associate fish with chips.

57
Q

What are Cognitive biases and why are they efficient?

A

Cognitive bias is the tendency to act in an irrational way due to our limited ability to process information objectively, which include heuristics or mental shortcuts. This is not always negative, but it can cloud our judgement.
- These biases often help us to be efficient but sometimes they can have negative effects resulting in stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.

58
Q

What are heuristics?

A

Metal shortcuts for faster processing to treat the demands placed on memory capacity. Their often quite efficient but sometimes have negative effects resulting in stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination.

59
Q

Name 3 types of cognitive bias.

A
  1. Confirmation bias
  2. Hostile attribution bias (HAB)
  3. Fundamental attribution bias (FAE)
60
Q

Define confirmation bias.

A

A type of bias focused on things that are consistent or support our previously help view and ignore any information that doesn’t do so.

61
Q

Define Hostile attribution bias (HAB).

A

The tendency to ascribe negative intentions to someone, then retaliating by behaving towards them as if they are a threat.
- This suggests we are primed for aggression (often perceiving or detecting danger in a biased manner), therefore we are more likely to interpret others behavior as threatening and act aggressively towards them even if they were neutral in reality.

62
Q

Define Fundamental attribution bias (FAE). Give an example.

A

The tendency to underestimate the effect off your own motives for doing something. However, you underestimate the motives or behaviour of others about a similar thing.
- E.g., you believe someone fell because they were clumsy but when you fall you relate it to something else rather than clumsiness.

63
Q

How do people with cognitive scripts for aggression tend to develop them?

A

Through observing and experiencing such situations.

64
Q

Once aggressive scripts are stored in your memory, when are they triggered?

A

The scripts prime us to be ‘ready’ for aggression, therefore they’re triggered by cues that we encounter and perceive to be aggressive.

65
Q

Why do aggressive people tend to have a wider range of aggressive scripts that are easily triggered?

A

They perceive more as aggressive and display more negative feeling towards such situations.

66
Q

What happens if someone has a cognitive schema that interprets the environment as generally hostile an unsafe?

A

They may act aggressive.

67
Q

How does the cognitive approach explain gender identity?

A

Through perception: the process or result of becoming aware of objects, relationships, and events by means of the senses, which includes activities as recognising, observing, and discriminating.

--Psychology-- (6 decks)

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