The Cognitive Approach

Question 1

What did cognitive psychologists believe was important that behaviourist psychlogists didn’t?

Answer 1

Internal mental processes:
1. Attention
2. Memory
3. Perception
4. Thinking
are too important to ignore.

Question 2

How are these internal processes studied?

Answer 2

These processes are ‘private’ and cannot be observed - they are studied indirectly by making inferences about what is going on inside people’s minds on the basis of their behaviour.

Question 3

Define what an inference is.

Answer 3

Coming to a judgement or conclusion based on available evidence.

Question 4

List the 3 key assumptions of the cognitive approach.

Answer 4

1. Computer Analogy - Theorectical Models
2. Schemas - Scripts
3. Cognitvie Neuroscience

Question 5

What do theoretical models allow us to do?

Answer 5

Study internal processes - they are a diagrammatic representation of the steps involved in internal mental processes.

Question 6

What is the information processing approach?

Answer 6

A process suggesting information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages including imput, storage and retrieval.

Question 7

What is the computer model?

Answer 7

The mind is compared to a computer - suggesting there are similarities in how the info is processed.

Question 8

List the 3 concepts that the computer model uses.

Answer 8

1. Central processing unit (the brain).
2. Concept of coding (to turn info into a useable format).
3. Use of ‘stores’ to hold info.

Question 9

What have computer models proved useful for?

Answer 9

The development of ‘thinking machines’ or artificial intelligence.

Question 10

Simply define ‘schema’.

Answer 10

• ‘Packages’ of informaton that develop through experience.
• They act as a metal framework for the interpretation of incoming information recieved by the cognitvie system.

Question 11

Give one advantage and one disadvantage of schemas.

Answer 11

A - Schema enables us to use process lots of information quickly - useful as a mental shortcut that prevents us being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.

D - Schema may distort out interpretations of sensory info; leading to perceptual errors.

Question 12

Summarise what ‘cognitive neuroscience’ is.

Answer 12

The scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes.

Question 13

What did Paul Broca identify in the 1960 in regards to cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 13

Damage to an area of the frontal lobe could permanently impair speech production.

Question 14

Give 2 brain imaging techniques that have enabled scientists to be able to systematically observe + describe the neurological basis of mental processes.

Answer 14

1. fMRI - Funtional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
2. PET - Positron Emission Tomography

Question 15

What have scanning techniques been useful for?

Answer 15

Establishing the neurological basis of some mental disorders.

Question 16

Give one example of a mental disorder that scanning techniques have proved useful for and why.

Answer 16

OCD - Parahippocampal gyrus which appears to play a role in processing the unpleasant emotion. It leads to more processing of unpleasant emotions.

Question 17

What led to the development of mind mapping techniques known as ‘brain fingerprinting’?

Answer 17

Computer-generated models designed to ‘read’ the brain.

Question 18

List the 5 methods used in cognitive neuroscience.

Answer 18

1. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
2. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
3. Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
4. Electroencephalogram (EEG)
5. Event Related Potential (ERP)

Question 19

What is meant by the term ‘mundane realism’?

Answer 19

The extent to which the experimental findings can be generalised to the real world.

Question 20

Which key term matches the definition of ‘the influence of genetic factors on behaviour’?

Answer 20

Nature

Question 21

Which key term matches the definition of ‘the influence of the environmental factors on behaviour’?

Answer 21

Nurture

Question 22

Define the term ‘interactionism’.

Answer 22

The combined impact of both nature and nurutre on behaviour.

Question 23

Define the term ‘free will’.

Answer 23

The idea that humans can make choices about their behaviour and are not predetermined by other factors.

Question 24

Which key term matches the definition ‘an individual behaviour is controlled by internal or external forces, not free will’?

Answer 24

Determinism

Question 25

What is meant by the key term ‘soft determinism’?

Answer 25

All behaviour has a cause, but can also be determined by conscious choices.

Question 26

Define ‘holism’.

Answer 26

The individual must be studied as a whole, rather than parts.

Question 27

Define the key term ‘reductionism’.

Answer 27

Human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into consitutent parts.

Question 28

Which key term matches the definition ‘explaining the brain as a computer’?

Answer 28

Machine reductionism

Question 29

List the 2 strengths of the cognitive approach.

Answer 29

1. Real Life Application
2. Nature-Nurture Debate

Question 30

List the 3 criticisms of the cognitive approach.

Answer 30

1. Mundane Realism
2. Soft Determinism
3. Machine Reductionism

Question 31

Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘real life application’.

Answer 31

• Beck’s cognitive theory of depression suggests that depression is caused by faulty information processing + negative schema - led to CBT.
• CBT has successfully been used to treat depression (+ other disorders) by identifying the patient’s maladaptive thought processes + teaching them alternaitve processes to reduced symptoms.
• Allows for people’s lives to be improved.

Question 32

Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘nature-nurture debate’.

Answer 32

• Interactionist stance on the debate.
• Approach argues that individuals develop schemas based on their interactions with the world BUT also use neuroscience to examine what parts of the brain are involved in different mental processes.
• Considers the role of nurture + the role of nature; therefore can form a complete understanding of human behaviour.

Question 33

Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘mundane realism’.

Answer 33

• The studies lack mundane realism.
• Many studies in the cognitive approach tend to use tasks that have little in common with everyday life.
• E.g Experiments in memory that use artificial test materials are relatively meaningless in everyday life.
• Much of the cognitive approach research lacks ecological validity; fails to reflect real-life behaviour.

Question 34

Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘soft determinism’.

Answer 34

• This approach believes that the goals of an individual’s behaviour are determined BUT individuals are free to choose how they reach this goal.
• E.g The goal of memorising info for a test may be determined HOWEVER how an individual chooses to achieve this goal is freely chosen.
• The fact that an individual has some free will can be seen as a strength as it considers the effect this may have on an individual’s behaviour.
• HOWEVER, the approach is still deterministic; meaning that it is also a limitation as it does not consider how this fully influences an individual’s behaviour.

Question 35

Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘machine reductionism’.

Answer 35

• The approach assums that the human brain is like a computer; therefore can be explained in the same way.
• However, humans are different frm computers in many ways; e.g they experience emotions.
• Therefore, the approach is reductionist as it aims to explain behaviour through computer processes + theoretical models; fails to consider the limitations of this.
• Reductionism is trying to explain the behaviour through breaking it into simpler component parts; cognitive approach is an example of machine reductionism.