Cognitive approach

Question 1

What are internal processes?

the way we extract, store, and retrieve information that helps guide our behaviour

Answer 1

• attention: selecting important information we observe (e.g through our senses, a lot of it may be forgotten and given no attention if it’s irrelevant)
• thinking (using our information to solve problems)
• storage/retrieval (the multi-store model)

These processes cannot be studied directly so must be studied indirectly by inferring what goes on as a result of measured behaviour

Question 2

What are the role of schemas?

(a cognitive framework that helps us organise and interpret information in the brain - helps individuals make sense of new information)

Answer 2

• schemas for specific events are based on expectations of what happens and how to behave in those situations e.g in a restaurant, expected to wait to be seated to a table)
• allow us to take shortcuts when interpreting huge amounts of information
• helps us fill in gaps if we don’t have the full information, (-) but can cause us to have stereotypes as a result + (-) cause us to exclude information that doesn’t conform to our pre-existing beliefs of the world

Question 3

What is the computer model regarding the cognitive approach?

Answer 3

• uses computer models to explain mind processes which suggests the mind and computers process information similarly
• they both work on the principle of input and output
• in the mind, information is inputted through the senses, encoded into the memory, and can be retrieved

Question 4

How are theoretical models used in the cognitive approach?

Answer 4

• used to display the internal mental processes e.g schemas + multi-store model, working memory model
• they are simplified, pictorial, representations of a particular process based on current research evidence
(-) changes all the time e.g working memory model didn’t include episodic buffer until years after established

Question 5

How has cognitive neuroscience e.g brain scans influenced the cognitive approach?

Answer 5

• due to rapid advances in last 40 years, we can now study the living brain using brain scans
• can see the structure and how they function during mental processing e.g which parts are active during tasks targeting specific processes
e.g PET scans

Question 6

Evaluation of the cognitive approach

Answer 6

(-) computer behaviour cannot be generalised to humans - they are not the same e.g computers don’t make mistakes or forget things but people do
(-) ignores the role of emotions and motivation, only tells us how processes take place and not why e.g behaviour can be influenced/motivated by emotions which the approach ignores
(+) cognitive approach uses scientific methods to investigate which leads to more accurate conclusions about how the mind works