The Cognitive Approach Flashcards
What is the Cognitive Approach?
this approach is 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.
How are these internal mental processes studied?
cognitive psychologists study them indirectly by making inferences about what is going on inside people’s minds on the basis of their behaviour.
What are inferences?
Drawing conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour
What is cognitive processing affected by ?
Schemas
What are schemas?
A mental framework for incoming information received by the cognitive system, framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing.
They are developed from experience.
What Schema are babies born with?
Babies are born with a Motor schema for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping.
What happens to our schema as we get older?
As we get older our schema becomes more detailed and sophisticated.
What is one theoretical and computer model?
information processing approach,
which suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages.
These include input, storage and retrieval, as in the multi-store model.
This information processing approach is based on the way that computers functions.
If they are similar we can suggest that similar processes are going on in the human mind.
Such computational models of the mind have proved useful in the development of ‘thinking machines’ or artificial intelligence (e.g. machines that can have a conversation with you).
What is Cognitive neuroscience?
The scientific study of the influence of brain structure on mental processes.
What did Broca find about Brain structure?
Damage to an area of the frontal lobe (Brocas area) could permanently impair speech production.
What allowed cognitive psychologists to progress in neuroscience?
Advances in brain imaging techniques such as fMRI and PET scans, that scientists have been able to systematically observe and describe the neurological basis of mental processes.
State an example of advances in cognitive neuroscience.
Research involving tasks in the use of episodic and semantic memory,
Buckner and Petersen (1996) were able to show how these different types of long-term memory may be located on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex.
One strength of the cognitive approach is that it uses objective, scientific methods.
Cognitive psychologists employ highly controlled and rigorous methods of study so researchers are able to infer cognitive processes at work.
This has involved the use of lab studies to produce reliable, objective data. In addition, the emergence of cognitive neuroscience has enabled the two fields of biology and cognitive psychology to come together to enhance the scientifc basis of study.
This means that the study of the mind has a credible scientific basis.
Counterpoint : The approach lacks external validity due to inferences.
As cognitive psychology relies on the Inference of mental processes, rather than direct observation of behaviour, it can occasionally suffer from being too abstract and theoretical in nature.
Similarly, research studies of mental processes are often carried out using artificial stimuli (such as tests of memory involving word lists) that may not represent everyday experience.
Therefore, research on cognitive processes may lack external
validity.
Another strength of the cognitive approach is that it has practical application.
The cognitive approach is probably the dominant approach in psychology today and has been applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical contexts.
For example, cognitive psychology has made an important contribution in the field of artificial intelligence (Al) and the development of thinking machines’ (robots).
These are exciting advances that may revolutionise how we live in the future. Cognitive principles have also been
applied to the treatment of depression through CBT and improved the reliability of eyewitness testimony.
This supports the value of the cognitive approach.
One limitation of the cognitive approach is that it is based on machine reductionism.
There are similarities between the human mind and the operations of a ‘thinking machine’ such as a computer (inputs and outputs, storage systems, use of a central processor). However, the computer analogy has been criticised.
Such machine reductionism ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system, and how this may affect our ability to process information. For instance, research has found that human memory may be affected by emotional factors, such as the influence of anxiety on eyewitnesses.
This suggests that machine reductionism may weaken the
validity of the cognitive approach.
