PAPER 2 - Approaches - Cognitive Flashcards
What is the cognitive approach?
The term ‘cognitive’ means ‘mental processes’, so this approach focuses on how our mental processes (e.g. thoughts, perceptions, attention) affect behaviour.
What are internal mental processes?
‘Private’ operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response.
How do cognitive psychologists study internal mental processes?
They study them indirectly by making inferences about what is going on mentally on the basis of their behaviour.
Define inference.
The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour.
What is a schema?
A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from experience.
What do schemas enable us to do?
Process lots of information quickly as a mental shortcut to prevent us being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.
Why may schemas lead to perceptual errors?
They may distort our interpretation of sensory information.
What do psychologists use to help them understand internal mental processes?
Theoretical and computer models.
What is the difference between theoretical and computer models?
Theoretical - abstract
Computer - concrete…involves actually programming a computer to see if such instructions produce a similar output to humans. It they do then we can assume a similar process is going on in the human mind.
Describe one important theoretical model.
The information processing approach.
It suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages. These include input, storage and retrieval, as in the MSM. It is based on the way that computers function.
What have computer models contributed to?
‘Thinking machines’ or artificial intelligence.
What is cognitive neuroscience?
The scientific study of biological structures that underpin cognitive processes.
How did Paul Broca identify the first contribution to cognitive neuroscience in the 1860s?
He identified how damage to an area of the frontal lobe (now known as Broca’s area) could permanently impair speech production.
In the last 25 years, how have scientists been able to systematically observe and describe the neurological basis of mental processes?
Because of advances in brain imaging such as fMRI and PET scans.
Give an example of how cognitive neuroscience has supported findings in the research of memory.
In research that involved tasks that required the use of episodic and semantic memory, Buckner and Peterson (1996) were able to see how these different types of LTM may be located on the opposite side of the prefrontal cortex.
The central executive is thought to reside in a similar area.
Give an example of how cognitive neuroscience has supported findings in the research of mental disorders.
They’ve established the neurological basis of some mental disorders between the parahippocampal gyrus and OCD is discussed. It appears to play a role in processing unpleasant emotions.
What is a future application of expanding cognitive neuroscience to include the use of computer-generated models known as brain fingerprinting? (EWT)
Analyse the brain wave patterns of eyewitnesses to determine whether they are lying in court.
Explain the strength of scientific methods in the cognitive approach.
It uses objective, scientific methods.
Highly controlled and rigorous methods of study = can infer cognitive processes at work.
Lab studies produce reliable objective data.
Cognitive neuroscience has enabled the 2 fields of biology and cognitive psychology to come together.
Therefore the study of the mind has a credible scientific basis.
Explain the counterpoint for the strength of scientific methods in the cognitive approach.
Cognitive psychology relies on the inference of mental processes rather than observations of behaviour.
It can therefore suffer from being too abstract and theoretical.
Research studies of mental processes are often carried out using artificial stimuli that may not represent everyday experience.
Therefore, it can lack external validity.
Explain the strength of real-world application in the cognitive approach.
It is the most dominant approach in psychology today and has been applied to a range of practical and theoretical contexts.
E.g. cognitive psychology has made an important contribution in the field of AI and advances that may revolutionise how we live in the future.
Cognitive principles have also been applied to the treatment of depression (e.g. CBT) and have improved the reliability of EWT.
This supports the value of the cognitive approach.
Explain the limitation of machine reductionism in the cognitive approach.
Similarities between the human mind and the operations of the thinking machine have been criticised as they ignore the influence of human emotion and motivation in the cognitive system. This may be a factor in our ability to process information so is actually important to consider.
For instance, research found that human memory may be affected by emotional factors, such as the influence of anxiety on eyewitnesses!
Therefore, this may weakend the validity of the cognitive approach.
Explain the strength of soft determinism in the cognitive approach.
Soft determinism is displayed in the view that human behaviour may be determined by internal and external factors but we can also exert our free will at times.
Other approaches adopt hard determinism views that suggest all behaviour is determined by factors other than free will, such as conditioning and genes.
Therefore, the cognitive approach is a more flexible position than other approaches.
