The Cognitive Approach Flashcards
What did cognitive psychologists believe was important that behaviourist psychlogists didn’t?
Internal mental processes:
1. Attention
2. Memory
3. Perception
4. Thinking
are too important to ignore.
How are these internal processes studied?
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.
Define what an inference is.
Coming to a judgement or conclusion based on available evidence.
List the 3 key assumptions of the cognitive approach.
- Computer Analogy - Theorectical Models
- Schemas - Scripts
- Cognitvie Neuroscience
What do theoretical models allow us to do?
Study internal processes - they are a diagrammatic representation of the steps involved in internal mental processes.
What is the information processing approach?
A process suggesting information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages including imput, storage and retrieval.
What is the computer model?
The mind is compared to a computer - suggesting there are similarities in how the info is processed.
List the 3 concepts that the computer model uses.
- Central processing unit (the brain).
- Concept of coding (to turn info into a useable format).
- Use of ‘stores’ to hold info.
What have computer models proved useful for?
The development of ‘thinking machines’ or artificial intelligence.
Simply define ‘schema’.
- ‘Packages’ of informaton that develop through experience.
- They act as a metal framework for the interpretation of incoming information recieved by the cognitvie system.
Give one advantage and one disadvantage of schemas.
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.
Summarise what ‘cognitive neuroscience’ is.
The scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes.
What did Paul Broca identify in the 1960 in regards to cognitive neuroscience?
Damage to an area of the frontal lobe could permanently impair speech production.
Give 2 brain imaging techniques that have enabled scientists to be able to systematically observe + describe the neurological basis of mental processes.
- fMRI - Funtional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- PET - Positron Emission Tomography
What have scanning techniques been useful for?
Establishing the neurological basis of some mental disorders.
Give one example of a mental disorder that scanning techniques have proved useful for and why.
OCD - Parahippocampal gyrus which appears to play a role in processing the unpleasant emotion. It leads to more processing of unpleasant emotions.
What led to the development of mind mapping techniques known as ‘brain fingerprinting’?
Computer-generated models designed to ‘read’ the brain.
List the 5 methods used in cognitive neuroscience.
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
- Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
- Electroencephalogram (EEG)
- Event Related Potential (ERP)
What is meant by the term ‘mundane realism’?
The extent to which the experimental findings can be generalised to the real world.
Which key term matches the definition of ‘the influence of genetic factors on behaviour’?
Nature
Which key term matches the definition of ‘the influence of the environmental factors on behaviour’?
Nurture
Define the term ‘interactionism’.
The combined impact of both nature and nurutre on behaviour.
Define the term ‘free will’.
The idea that humans can make choices about their behaviour and are not predetermined by other factors.
Which key term matches the definition ‘an individual behaviour is controlled by internal or external forces, not free will’?
Determinism
What is meant by the key term ‘soft determinism’?
All behaviour has a cause, but can also be determined by conscious choices.
Define ‘holism’.
The individual must be studied as a whole, rather than parts.
Define the key term ‘reductionism’.
Human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into consitutent parts.
Which key term matches the definition ‘explaining the brain as a computer’?
Machine reductionism
List the 2 strengths of the cognitive approach.
- Real Life Application
- Nature-Nurture Debate
List the 3 criticisms of the cognitive approach.
- Mundane Realism
- Soft Determinism
- Machine Reductionism
Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘real life application’.
- 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.
Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘nature-nurture debate’.
- 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.
Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘mundane realism’.
- 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.
Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘soft determinism’.
- 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.
Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘machine reductionism’.
- 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.
