The Cognitive Approach Flashcards
What does the cognitive approach state
Mental processes should and can be studied scientifically.
what does the cognitive approach look at?
This approach looks at areas that human behaviour was neglected by the behavioural approach
The role of inference in the study of mental processes
Mental processes are private and cannot be observed so psychologists study them by making inferences (assumptions)
Theoretical models
One way to study internal processes is by the use of theoretical models. An important theoretical model is the
-Info processing approach
Info processing approach
Suggests that info flows through a sequence of stages that involves
-input
-storage
-retrieval
The use of computer models in the cognitive approach
Suggests that computers and human minds process info in the same way.
- central processor (brain) that stores information
the role of schema’s
Schemas are ‘packages’ of info developed through experience, they are useful because they allow us to take quick short cuts when interpretation the huge amounts of information we deal with day to day.
Babies and schemas
Babies are born with simple motor schemas for innate behaviours such as sucking as we get older our schema becomes more detailed and sophisticated
cognitive neuroscience
scientific study of the biological basis for mental processing, specifically how neurons behave during those processes.
strengths of cognitive approach
- Uses scientific and objective methods so the study of the mind has a credible scientific basis
- Cognitive approach is dominant in psychology today and has been applied to many practical and theoretical concepts so it applies to real life
limitations of cognitive approach
Their research is based on behaviour observed in labs so the approach lacks validity
