Cognitive Approach - Evaluating The Cognitive Approach

Question 1

what are the weakness and strength paragraphs

Answer 1

:)
- useful application
- utilises scientific methodologies
- nomothetic
:(
- deterministic
- reductionistic

Question 2

following the acronym drugs – describe the cognitive approach

Answer 2

• deterministic
• reductionist
• useful application
• nomothetic
• scientific

Question 3

why is determinism a weakness (PEELC Paragraph)

Answer 3

• P: one weakness is that it takes a deterministic view of human behaviour
• E: This is because it assumes that our internal mental processes, such as perception, memory and language work together to understand our environment (information processing) and therefore determine our behaviours
• E: One of the cognitive elements that helps us understand the world comes from the third assumption: schemas. Schemas are packets of information stored in our long-term memories, which develop through experience and determine how we respond to situations. E.g. our schema for the word ‘smashed’ will determine our memory of a car crash (as seen in Loftus and Palmers experiment)
• L: giving a deterministic view of behaviour is a strength because if we know what causes behaviour we can predict behaviour and develop ways of changing negative behaviours
• C: However 1 of the key principles of therapies based on the cognitive approach such as CBT is that we can change our irrational thinking via a process of cognitive restructuring suggesting we do have some free will

Question 4

why is ‘useful application’ a strength (PEELC paragraph)

Answer 4

• P: one strength is that it has been responsible for developing research and theories that have real-world application
• E: this is the case because a key assumption of the cognitive approach is that we develop schemas based on our experiences which helps us to understand the world. Research into schemas has shown us that they may influence our memories and that memories may not be a perfect picture of what happened but are reconstructed using our schemas
• E: for example, Loftus and Palmer found that the verbs used in questions about the speed of cars altered the memory of the crash, with faster estimates with more severe verbs like smashed. This information was then used to improve the processes used when interviewing eyewitnesses, such as abolishing the uses of leading Qs and using the cognitive interview technique in order to avoid what happened to Ronald Cotton
• L: Therefore, the cognitive approach has directly improved people’s lives, by improving the reliability of EWT and reducing inaccurate convictions
  -C: However, we should be careful when applying findings from the cognitive approach to real life as much research has been conducted in a laboratory setting and so findings may not be completely ecologically valid and generalisable

Question 5

why is reductionism a weakness (PEELC paragraph)

Answer 5

• P: one weakness is that it reduces down complex human behaviours into more simple parts
• E: This is because it reduces our behaviour to the result of internal mental processes. This focus on the mind ignores other factors such as the role of emotions or social influences inhuman behaviour
• E: This can be seen in the way the cognitive approach would explain and treat mental disorders such as depression as being due to faulty thinking and therefore to treat it you should use CBT to identify and restructure thoughts. However, this process ignores the potential that depression could be caused by other factors such as life events, so cognitive therapies may not be effective for all people all of the time
• L: being reductionist is a weakness because it focuses our understanding on one aspect and so leads to an incomplete picture of human behaviour which is less useful
• C: However, by focusing on cognition the approach does give us a detailed understanding of that element of human functioning, giving us in-depth info about processes such as attention, perception and memory

Question 6

why is being scientific a strength (PEELC paragraph)

Answer 6

• P: one strength is that it utilises scientific methodology in order to establish its theories
• E: The cognitive approach favours lab experiments which are highly controlled and replicable and they use objective methods of measurements
• E: for example. in Loftus and Palmer’s experiment on reconstructive memory they control the car crashes shown to the participants by using identical films in a lab setting, just manipulating the verbs used in the standardised questions. Cognitive neuroscientists also make use of scientific measures such as PET and MRI scans which can measure brain activity and work out which areas of the brain are related which cognitive processes in an objective way
• L: Scientific methods mean that findings are more likely to be valid and therefore adds credibility to research. This means that we can have more confidence in applying them to real world situations such as therapies
• C: However, internal processing is an unobservable thing so cognitive psychologists often rely on self-reports and introspection, such as Griffiths asking his participants to speak aloud their thoughts when gambling. This is subjective and open to social desirability bias, not objective and not scientific

Question 7

why is being nomothetic a strength (PEELC paragraph)

Answer 7

• P: one strength is that treatments developed from Cognitive psychology have high generalisability
• E: The first assumption assumes that all humans work like a computer and so we all have the same thought processes (input, process, output)
• E: For example, this can be applied to CBT. Aaron Beck proposes the idea of a negative thinking triad that all depressed people become stuck in a pattern of negative thinking called the negative cognitive triad (thinking about the self, the future and the word). Therefore CBT , which get rid of this automatic negative thinking through replacing automatic negative thoughts with rational responses and using Socratic questioning techniques, depression can be cured in all people
• L: being nomothetic is a strength because it means that if treating depression for all patients follows the same process (dysfunctional thought diary + cognitive restructuring + pleasant activity scheduling), it means that treatment can be widely distributed
• C: However, it ignores individual differences such as what might have caused the depression. If the mental health issue is due to social situation (abusive relationships) or biology, then changing maladaptive thoughts wont fixt their depression