Cognitive Approach Flashcards
Define cognitive approach
An approach focused on how our mental processes (thoughts perceptions and attention) affect behaviour
Define internal mental processes
Private operations of the mind such as perceptions and attention that mediate between stimulus and response
Define Schema
A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing.They are developed from experience
Define inference
The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate in the basis of behaviour
Define cognitive neuroscience
the scientific study of biological structures that underpin cognitive processes
What is the direct opposite approach of the cognitive approach
The behaviourist approach
What are the assumptions of the cognitive approach
*Internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically.
*As a result the cognitive approach has investigated areas of human behaviour that were neglected by behaviourists such as memory perception and thinking.
Why do cognitive psycholgists have to make indirect hypothesises
Memory Perception and Thinking are private processes and cannot be observed so psychologists have to make inferences about what is going on inside people’s minds on the basis of their behaviour
How do Cognitive psychologists understand internal mental processes
They use Theoritical and computer models to help them
What is an example of a thoerotical model that is used to help psychologists
The information processing approach,which suggests that information flows through a cognitive system in a sequence of stages that include input storage and retrieval, is based on the way computers function and this suggests a similar process goes through the human mind
What’re schemas
‘packages’ of ideas and information developed through experience for example you have a schema for a chair- somethug that has legs that you can sit on-
Why are schemas usefull
They enable us to process lots of information quickly as it acts as a short cut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli
Why might schemas be bad
They may distort our interpretations of sensory information leading to perpetual error
Why has the computer analogy (how humans think,input storage retrieval thingy) been criticised
Because machine reductionism ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation one the cognitive system and hie this may affect our way of thinking for example, evidence has been shown that human memory may be affected by emotional factors such as anxiety
