The Cognitive Approach Flashcards
What is the cognitive approach?
The approach focused 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
What are schemas?
A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from experience.
What is inference?
The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour
What is cognitive neuroscience?
The scientific study of those biological structures that underpin cognitive processes
What does the cognitive approach argue?
That internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically
What can cognitive processing often be affected by?
A persons beliefs or expectations - often referred to as schema
What schemas are babies born with?
Simple motor schema for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping
What happens to our schema as we get older?
They become more detailed and sophisticated
What do schemas enable us to do?
Process lots of information quickly which is useful as a mental short cut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli
What may schemas distort and what can this lead to?
Our interpretations of sensory information, leading to perceptual errors
What models do cognitive psychologists use to help them understand internal mental processes?
Theoretical and computer models
What is the information processing approach?
Suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages. Input, storage and retrieval
What techniques have helped with the emergence of cognitive neuroscience?
Brain scanning techniques such as fMRI and PET.
Evaluate the cognitive approach (scientific methods P)
One strength of the cognitive approach is that it uses objective, scientific methods
