Cognitive approach Flashcards
what does cognitive psychology look at?
looks at the internal workings of the mind and explains behaviour through cognitive processes
what do cognitive psychologists try to do?
try to explain behaviour by looking at our perception,language attention and memory
how is the cognitive approach a reductionist approach?
the mind can be compared to a computer
what are the 3 main research methods used by cognitive psychologists?
lab
field
natural
what are the 3 principles of the cognitive approach?
our mental systems have limited capacity
a control mechanism oversees all mental processes
there is a 2 way flow of information
as computers developed the analogy between the human brain and the computer model was formed how?
people began to see similarities in how computers and humans make sense of info
computer models and the human mind follow the same route what is this?
data input
data processing
data output
what are the differences between humans and computer models that make computer models less useful?
humans are often influenced by emotional and motivational factors -something which computers arent affected by
humans have an unlimited but unreliable memory - computers have a limited but reliable memory
humans have free will whereas computers don’t
what does a schema help to do?
helps organise all the information you know - a schema contains all the information you know about an action object or concept
what happens when information is consistent with a schema?
it is assimilated into the schema
what happens when information is inconsistent with a schema?
accomodation occurs and and the schema has to change in order to resolve the problem
what are the 3 types of schema?
role schemas
event schemas
self schemas
what are role schemas?
ideas about the behaviour which is expected from someone in a certain role setting or situation
what are events schemas?
they contain information about what happens in a situation
what are self schemas?
these contain information about ourselves based on physical characteristics and personality
what is a problem with schemas?
schemas can stop people from learning new information
what are the 3 different methods that cognitive neuroscience uses?
leison studies
electrophysiology
neuroimaging
what are leison studies?
looking at people with brain damage to see how they are affected
what are electrophysiology?
using electric and magnetic fields to measure brain activity
what is nueroimaging?
pinpointing areas of the brain which are active when a task is performed
what are the strengths of the cognitive approach?
it considers mental processes
it has a big influence of the development of therapies
what are the weaknesses of the cognitive approach?
research is often carried out in artificial situations - for this reason it is often argues the results aren’t valid in the real world
it fails to take individual differences into account by assuming that all of us process stuff in exactly the same way
