cognitive approach

Question 1

what does cognition mean and what do cognitive psychologists study?

Answer 1

knowing
they study the mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired

Question 2

how is the cognitive approach different from behaviourism and SLT?

Answer 2

-it’s an extension from behaviourism because it argues that our behaviour is determined by the way we process information taken in from our environment by using our internal mental processes
-its different from SLT because it is direct and our behaviour is not caused by observing others
-cognitive approach is not a learning theory

Question 3

what are the 4 assumptions?

Answer 3

-focuses on how people perceive, store, manipulate and interpret info
-look at IMPs to understand behaviour
-thought processes should be studied scientifically- well controlled lab studies
-mental processes are private and cannot be observed. They are studied indirectly by making inferences

Question 4

what does this approach investigate?

Answer 4

areas of human behaviour that were ignored by behaviourists eg perception, attention, memory, lang, thinking

Question 5

what are internal mental processes?

Answer 5

operations that occur in the mind, but can be studied scientifically
e.g. memory, attention, perception

Question 6

what is an inference?

Answer 6

reaching a logical conclusion on the basis of evidence and reasoning

Question 7

why do we need to make inferences?

Answer 7

the cognitive approach recognises that mental processes are private and must be studied indirectly by inferring what goes on as a result of measuring behaviour

Question 8

what are theoretical models?

Answer 8

simplified representations of the mind based on current research evidence

Question 9

give an example of a theoretical model?

Answer 9

multi store model of memory

Question 10

how is the brain similar to a computer?

Answer 10

input ——-> processing ———> output

Question 11

what development caused the development of the cognitive approach?

Answer 11

1960s development of the computer , this led to a focus on how sensory info passes through the system

Question 12

explain the computer analogy?

Answer 12

information passes through senses, is processed within our mind (in memory) and then after this processing we produce an output (behaviour)

Question 13

what is a schema?

Answer 13

a ‘package’ of beliefs and expectations on a topic that come from prior experience

Question 14

explain the role of schema?

Answer 14

they are useful by helping us take shortcuts in thinking and organise and interpret info

we are born with simple motor schema for innate behaviours eg sucking and then develop and evolve from experience

Question 15

what is the name for the idea that we build schema through assimilation and accommodation?

Answer 15

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Question 16

what is assimilation?

Answer 16

we add info to our already existing schema that we didn’t previously have before

Question 17

what is accommodation?

Answer 17

having to adapt or change schema as a result of new, conflicting information

Question 18

when can schemas be useful?

Answer 18

1. in an exam- unfamiliar questions not as uncomfortable because we have expectations due to prior exam experience
2. in a dangerous situation- expectations from prior experience help us detect danger
3. help being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli- eg all airports around the world have the same system

Question 19

when can schemas not be useful?

Answer 19

-can lead to stereotypes and prejudice
-can also lead to inaccurate eye witness testimony

Question 20

how can schemas lead to stereotypes and prejudice?

Answer 20

e.g. police may have experiences with dealing with certain types of people when dealing with crime e.g. POC. They expect POC to be the ones committing crime due to built schema and are more likely to see POC as criminals and arrest them

Question 21

how can schemas lead to inaccurate eye witness testimonies?

Answer 21

schemas are capable of distorting unfamiliar information in order to fit in with existing knowledge or schemas

Question 22

who is the desirable researcher for cognitive?

Answer 22

Bugelski and Alampay 1962

Question 23

describe the rat man study?

Answer 23

-two groups shown a sequence of pictures, either faces or animals before being shown the ambiguous rat man
-people who saw faces more likely to see man and people who saw animals more likely to see rat

Question 24

describe how the influence of schema may be used to explain the results of the rat man study?

Answer 24

the mind takes in the impoverished (ambiguous) sensory input and matches it to the schema derived from past experience. The schema is used to ‘fill in the blanks’ in the input

Question 25

explain some strengths of the rat man study?

Answer 25

-high internal validity; establish cause and effect between IV and DV
-control of extraneous variables

Question 26

explain some limitations of the rat man study?

Answer 26

-demand characteristics
-low mundane realism so results may not generalise to real life