the cognitive approach

Question 1

what does the cognitive approach study

Answer 1

the information processing, i.e. ways in which we extract, store and retrieve information that helps to guide our behaviour. Many different kinds of mental processes contribute to information processing. Which includes:

• selecting important info (attention)
• using it to solve problems (thinking)
• storing it in memory and retrieving it as and when it is needed

Question 2

what does the cognitive approach have to do, due to the nature of the studies

Answer 2

infer what goes on as a result of measuring the behaviour. This is because the mental processes cannot be studies directly but must be studied indirectly.
As a result it enables cognitive psychologists to develop theories about the mental processes that led to the observed behaviour

Question 3

what is a schema

Answer 3

a cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret information in the brain. For example, schemas for specific events are based on expectations of how to behave in different situations or in different roles.
- They help us fill in the gaps in the absence of full information about a person, event or thing.

Question 4

what is the role of theoretical models

Answer 4

in cognitive psychology such as the MSM or WWM are simplified representations based on current research evidence. Models are often pectoral in nature, represented by boxes and arrows that indicate cause and effect or the stages of a particular process.

Question 5

what is the role of computer models

Answer 5

refers to the process of using computer analogies as a representation of human cognition

Question 6

what is cognitive neuroscience

Answer 6

an area of psychology dedicated to the underlying neural bases of cognitive functions

Question 7

how does neuroimaging techniques such as PET scans help psychologists

Answer 7

by showing what parts of the Brian become active in specific circumstances. It has provided supportive evidence for their theories.

Question 8

what is the positive evaluation for the cognitive approach

Answer 8

• It has applications to many areas of psychology. In social psychology, research in social cognition has helped psychologists better understand how we form impressions of other people, as well as the errors and biases that influence out interpretation of the cause of their behaviour.
• The cognitive approach emphasises on scientific methods is a particular strength of this approach. The use of the experimental method provided researchers with a rigorous method for collecting and evaluating evidence in order to reach accurate conclusions.

Question 9

what are the limitations of the cognitive approach

Answer 9

• The cognitive approach uses computer models to explain human coding. For example, terms such as ‘encoding’,’storage’ and ‘retrieval’ are borrowed directly from the field of computing, and so is argued whether this aspect of the approach is appropriate to be applied to the explanations of the human mind.
• the cognitive approach also ignores emotion and motivation, as it can tell us how the different cognitive processes take place but not why. This is criticised as we know that motivation and emotion play a large role in the behaviour of the human mind, which doesn’t occur in computers.
• Furthermore studies may lack ecological validity, as the theories have little in common with participants natural everyday experiences.