Psychology: The Cognitive Approach Flashcards
What are the 4 assumptions in the Cognitive Approach?
- Focuses on how the people perceive, store, manipulate and interpret information
- Cognitive psychologists look at internal mental processes to understand behaviour
- Thought process can and should be studied scientifically. Well controlled laboratory studies can investigate what we are thinking.
- Mental processes are ‘private’ and can’t be observed. Cognitive psychologists study them indirectly by making inferences about what is going on inside people’s heads.
What is the Cognitive Approach?
The cognitive approach is concerned with how the processes of thinking and knowing shape our behaviour.
How is the Cognitive approach different from SLT and behaviourism?
Cognitive Approach studies internal process unlike the other two that study only observable processes.
What is an Internal Mental Process?
Humans are seen as information processes. The main concern of cognitive psychology is how information received from our senses is processed by the brain and how this processing directs how we behave.
Examples: Perception, Attention, Memory
What is inference?
Reaching a logical conclusion on the basis of evidence and reasoning. We have this because the Cognitive Approach understands that mental processes are private therefore not observable.
What are Theoretical models?
These are simplified representations of the mind based on current research evidence. Often in picture form represented by boxes and arrows representing information flow.
Example: The Multi-Store Model, The Computer Metaphor
What is a Schema?
A ‘package’ of beliefs & expectations of a topic that come from prior experience. For example seeing a dog for the first time or knowing what’s dog is happy/aggressive depending of prior experience
How can schemas be useful?
They are useful by helping us to take shortcuts in thinking, and organise and interpret information
How can schemas lead to inaccurate Eyewitness testimony and stereotypes?
If we have a schema for crime this can often be described instead of the person’s actual appearance. be used instead of the person’s actual
What is Cognitive Neuroscience?
This is the scientific study of the influence of brain structure (neuro) on mental processes (cognitive)
What is Paul Broca’s study?
Paul Broca (1861)
51y/o man transferred to Broca’s hospital with an uncontrollable infection
Had extreme difficulty in voluntary speech and could only say the sound ‘tan’
Post-mortem dissection found an lesion in left frontal lobe
Broca’s area –> responsible for speech production
Supported localisation of function perspective instead of holistic function perspective
How can the Cognitive approach be practically applied?
- Cognitive development
- Mood disorders
- Memory
Why is the Cognitive approach scientific?
The cognitive approach has always employed rigorous methods of study to enable researchers to infer cognitive processes. This has involved the use of lab experiments to produce reliable, objective data.
What is machine reductionism?
The computer analogy has been criticised for its machine reductionism: ignores the influence of emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and how this affects our ability to process information.
What is soft determinism?
Recognises that our cognitive system can only operate within the limits of what we know, but that we are free to think before responding to a stimulus.
