Cognitive Approach

Question 1

Assumptions of cognitive approach

Answer 1

-Psychology must study mental processes as behaviour can’t just be explained by stimulus and response
-Mind works like a computer ( stimuli from environment = inputs) mind processes inputs then (behaviour = output)

Question 2

What are the internal mental processes

Answer 2

1. Perception -> how mind senses stimuli
2. Attention -> how mind selects which stimuli to focus on
3. Memory -> how mind stores info

Question 3

Information processing model

Answer 3

Input (stimuli) -> processing -> output (behaviour)

Question 4

mental processes have…

Answer 4

Limited capacity + occur in sequence but sometimes occur in parallel

Question 5

Schemas

Answer 5

A mental framework which we form our experiences
* affect expectations + behaviour
* different ppl have different schemas

Question 6

What is assimilation

Answer 6

When new experience matches our schema, is incorporated/ assimilated into our schema

Question 7

What is accommodation

Answer 7

When an experience doesn’t match our schema, must accommodate our schema

Question 8

Study support for cognitive approach

Answer 8

Bartlett 1932

Question 9

Bartlett 1932 method

Answer 9

• male Cambridge uni students
• told them Native American folk tail = “war of ghosts”
• asked them to recall folk tail to measure how many details they got wrong

Question 10

Bartlett 1932 findings

Answer 10

Pps changed details to match own cultural schema as it was unfamiliar to Western 1930s perspective
Canoes -> boats or left out unfamiliar names + places

Question 11

Weaknesses of cognitive approach

Answer 11

• lab experiment, lack ecological validity
• ignores possibility that different pps mental processes work in different ways - ignores individual differences

Question 12

Strength of cognitive approach

Answer 12

+ highly scientific = falsifiable, inferences based on observable behaviour, rely on empirical evidence, lab experiments = high control over extraneous variables
+ can be applied to understand + treat mental disorders (cognitive behavioural therapy)

Question 13

What is cognitive neuroscience

Answer 13

= Study of which parts of brain are involved in different mental processes

Question 14

Emergence of cognitive neuroscience

Answer 14

Only possible when ppl invented technology to look inside the brain while ppl were alive

Question 15

Methods used by cognitive neuroscience to detect activity in brain

Answer 15

1. fMRI = going into machine, gives pic of brain + which areas are active
2. EEG = wearing a hat, measures activity in brain