jones - the cognitive approach Flashcards
What is the cognitive approach?
Study of how mental processes that mediate between stimulus and response affect behaviour
What are key / internal processes?
“Private” operations of the mind that mediate between stimulus and respons
What are some examples of key mental processes?
- perception
- memory
- attention
(- language - memory)
What does cognitive psychology assume?
Mental processes are the key to understanding human behaviour
How are mental processes studied?
Objectively and scientifically
What is the main method of investigation?
Experiment
What are the main assumptions?
- mental processes can and should be studied scientifically -> cognitive psychologists measure observable behaviour then infer internal mental processes
- It takes an information processing. The human brain processes information which arrives via senses. The brain, like a computer, receives information inputs, stores and retrieves information
- affected by a person’s belief or expectation (schemas) which are mental frameworks of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing
What does the cognitive approach focus on?
the study of internal mental processes
What do cognitive psychologists use?
Inference
What is infrence?
the process of drawing reasonable conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour to generate theories and models due to the inability to directly observe mental processes
What is the relationship of the cognitive approach to the social learning theory?
Similar but the cognitive approach focuses on just the thinking aspects that that affect a person
What does the cognitive approach use?
Theoretical models
What are theoretical models?
flow diagrams that…
- map out certain processes
- helps to explain human behaviours
- helps to make inferences about mental processes
What are some examples of theoretical models?
- Working memory model
- Multi store model
What is the information processing approach?
assumes that the brain can code, store and retrieve information like a computer
-> used to explain mental processes and make inferences
What are some similarities within the human brain and the computer? (examples)
- can crash -> disease or damage can cause amnesia
- data input -> sense organs
- hard drive -> long term memory
- soft memory -> short term memory
- serial processing -> people can do more than one task at a time
- output: behaviour responses
How is the human brain similar but different to the computer?
Input;
- computer: data is input through the keyboard / mouse / camera / microphone
- humans: the sense organs like the skim, eyes, and ears detect a stimulus
Processing:
- computer: soft memory and hard drive use the information
- humans: information is used from long term memory to understand what the stimulus is
Output:
- computer: an output occurs when a page is printed / speaker makes sound / table is created
- humans: a behavioural response occurs such as a facial expression / answering a question / speaking / writing
What is the main difference of computers and human brain?
Computers have no emotions
What is a schema?
-cognitive structure
-mental shortcuts
-framework for ones knowledge about people, places, objects and events which are organised into categories
-help us to think and learn more quickly as it allows information to make sense and simplifies interactions
What do stereotypes do?
Narrow thinking -> misinterpretation or incorrectly recall information
What are the origins of schema?
1923; Jean Piaget
basic units of knowledge which comprehend and interpret situations and are mentally applied in appropriate situations
1932: Fredrick Bartlett
factored into peoples memory of events to help people process and remember information -> information that isn’t placed into a schema will eventually be forgotten
What is the impact of schemas on learning and memory?
+ efficiently understand and interpret new information with minimal cognitive effort
- information that fits into an existing schema is more likely to attract attention
(objects that fit into schemas are more well remembered than objects that don’t)
How do schemas get us into trouble?
- overlooks and forgets information that don’t fit into schemas
- prejudice: expect behaviours to fit into our schemas which might cause us to misinterpret the actions or intensions of others or maintain incorrect or damaging stereotypes (eg. elderly are mentally compromised)
What are some modifications and adjustments to schemas?
Assimilation and accommodation
What is assimilation?
Applying schemas we already possess to understand something new
What is accomodation?
changing an existing schema or creating a new one as new information doesn’t fit into the original
What is and example for schema?
Young child: schema would be a dog having a tail and walking on four legs
-> when they go to the zoo, they might think the tiger is the dog as it fits into their schema
-> after learning the differences, the child will modify their existing dog schema and create a new tiger schema
-> as the child grows older and learns more animals, they will develop more animal schemas
What is cognitive neuroscience?
scientific study of the influence on brain structures on mental processes
What is the frontal lobe?
- controls critical functions (reasoning, decision making, movement, personality etc)
- but damage can lead to impaired judgement, personality changes or difficulties with speech and behaviours
What is broca’s area?
- located in the frontal lobe of the brain (usually in the left hemisphere near the motor cortex)
- primary function: control speech production and language processing
What is FMRI?
- non invading imaging technique
-measures and maps brain activity
-detects changes in blood oxygenation
-produces detailed images of brain regions involved in various tasks
-by using strong magnetic fields and radio waves to monitor oxygen levels in blood and indicating active areas of the brain
Where is the episodic memory located?
Hippocampus and medical frontal lobe
Where is the semantic memory located?
stored in the anterior temporal lobe and distributed across the cortex
What is a pet scan?
-imaging test
-shows how tissues and organs are functioning (including the brain)
-detect metabolic activity
-by tracing a radioactive substance injected into a bloodstream
-the scanner detects gamma rays emitted by the tracer creating a map of glucose visage which highlights active regions of the brain
What is the parahippocampal gyrus?
-located in the medical temporal lobe (adjacent to the hippocampus)
-In OCD, it contributes to overactive threat perceptions and repetitive behaviours
What is EEG?
-used by cognitive neuroscientists to analyse brain in the eye witnesses like memory retrieval, attention etc by identifying neutral activities
What is a strength of the cognitive approach?
soft deterministic approach
-> recognises that we are free to think before we respond to a stimulus
-> it is less deterministic than other approaches which see humans as just responding to environmental stimuli like robots (eg. biological approach - hard deterministic approach - doesn’t acknowledge that we think before we act)
-> therefore the approach recognises that we only operate on the basis of what we know but we do have free will so it is less determinist
What is a weakness of the cognitive approach?
machine reductionism
-> the computer analogy has been criticised for reducing human behaviour down to just machines (machine reductionism)
-> research: human memory might be affected by emotional factors (eg. anxiety in eyewitness testimony)
-> therefore, this implies that the cognitive approach ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and how this affects our ability to process information
What is a strength for cognitive neuroscience?
scientific and objective methods
-> highly controlled methods of study to enable researchers to infer cognitive processes at work
-> involved the use of lab experiments to produce reliable and objective data
-> this means that the study of the mind has established a credible scientific basis
What is a weakness for cognitive neuroscience?
-> lack external validity
-> cognitive psychologists are only able to infer mental processes from the behaviour they observe in their research
-> too abstract and theoretical in nature
-> experimental studies of mental processes are often carried out using artificial stimuli (eg. word lists in tests of memory)
-> cannot apply to everyday life
