Cognitive Approach Flashcards
What is a schema?
A schema contains all the information you know about an object, action or concept
What is the schema of a human face for example?
The information that a face has 2 eyes, a mouth a nose
What does a schema help you to do?
Organise and interpret information and experience
What happens when information is consistent with a schema?
It is assimilated into the schema e.g. a child’s schema for an apple may be green, hard and edible therefore when a child sees a green apple the experience is assimilated and the schema is strengthened
What happens when information is inconsistent with the schema?
Accommodation occurs and the schema has to change to resolve the problem e.g if a child sees a red apple they have to accommodate this new info- it becomes hard, edible and red or green
What is a role schema?
These are ideas about the behaviour which is expected from someone in certain role setting or situation
What is an example of a role schema?
A schema for a doctor may be someone who is intelligent, respectable and sensible
What is an event schema?
They contain information about what happens in a situation
What is an example of event schema?
Going to a restaurant and expecting to read a menu and place an order
What is a self schema?
These contain information about ourselves based on physical characteristics and personality as well as beliefs and values
What is an example of self schema?
If your health schema says your are health conscious you are likely to eat healthily and exercise regularly
What are the problems with schema?
Issue of prejudice and stereotype outcomes
Likely to pay attention to information we can easily assimilate and ignore information that would involve changing our schema to accommodate
What was Bartlett experiment?
English participants were asked to read a Native American folk tale called ‘The war of the ghosts’. It was an unfamiliar story with unusual names,objects and structure. They were then asked to recall the information after different lengths of time.
What were the results of Bartlett’s experiment?
All participants changed the story to fit their own schemes. The details became more English. The longer time left between hearing and recalling meant less was remembered
What was the conclusion of Bartlett’s experiment?
People use their own schema to help interpret and remember the world around them
Strength of Bartlett’s experiment?
It was highly influential and paved the way for further cognitive research
Limitation of the experiment?
Studied in a lab experiment so it lacks ecological validity
What is cognitive neuroscience?
The scientific study of the influence of the brain structure on mental processes
What do brain imaging techniques allow!
Psychologists to discover when and where things happen in the brain in relation to people’s behaviour at the time
What is lesion studies?
Looking at people with brain damage to see how behaviour is affected
What is an example of a lesion study?
Paul Broca 1860s identified how a damaged area of the frontal lobe could link to permanently impaired speech production
What is electrophysiology?
Using electric and magnetic fields to measure brain activity and brain waves
What is neuroimaging?
Pinpointing areas of the brain which are active when a task is performed e.g pet scans have been used to show areas most active during memory tasks
Strengths of cognitive approach
Considers mental processes which are often overlooked in other processes
Has a big influence on the development of therapies e.g cognitive behaviour therapy
Limitations of the approach
Lab studies are mostly used
Role of emotion is often ignored
Fails to take into account individual differences and assume that everyone processes stuff in the same way
