The cognitive approach Flashcards
When was the cognitive approach developed?
The cognitive approach was first developed in the 1960s.
Why was the cognitive approach developed?
The cognitive approach developed as a response to the behaviourists’ failure to acknowledge mental processes.
How did the development of computers influence cognitive psychologists?
The development of the first computers gave cognitive psychologists a metaphor for describing mental processes.
What is the cognitive approach?
The term ‘cognitive’ has come to mean ‘mental processes’. This approach is therefore focused on how our mental processes affect behaviour.
How does the cognitive approach directly contrast the behaviourist approach?
In direct contrast to the behaviourist approach, the cognitive approach argues that internal mental processes can, and should, be studied scientifically. As a result, the cognitive approach has investigated those areas of human behaviour that were neglected by behaviourists, such as memory, perception and thinking.
The cognitive approach argues that internal mental processes can, and should, be studied scientifically. What are internal mental processes?
Internal mental processes are ‘private’ operations of the mind that mediate between stimulus and response. Examples of internal mental processes include perception and attention.
How are internal mental processes studied?
Internal mental processes are ‘private’ and cannot be observed. Cognitive psychologists therefore study them indirectly by making inferences about what is going on inside people’s minds on the basis of their behaviour.
Cognitive psychologists study internal mental processes indirectly by making inferences about what is going on inside people’s minds. What is an inference?
The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour.
Which two models are used by cognitive psychologists to study internal processes of the mind?
Theoretical models and computer models are used to study internal mental processes of the mind.
How can theoretical models be used to study internal processes?
One important theoretical model is the information processing approach. This suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages that include input, storage and retrieval, as in the multi-store model.
How can computer models be used to study internal processes?
The cognitive approach uses computer models, where the mind is compared to a computer (‘computer analogy’) by suggesting that there are similarities in the way information is processed. These models use the concepts of a central processing unit (the brain), the concept of coding and the use of stores to hold information. Such computational models of the mind have been proved useful in the development of ‘thinking machines’ or artificial intelligence.
What can cognitive processing be affected by?
Cognitive processing can be affected by a person’s beliefs or expectations, often referred to as schema.
Schema can affect cognitive processing. What are schema?
Schema are ‘packages’ of ideas and information developed through experience. They act as a mental framework for the interpretation of incoming information received by the cognitive system.
Are babies born with schema?
Babies are born with simple motor schema for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping. For example, the grasping schema consists of moving a hand towards an object and shaping the hand around the object in co-ordination with visual input.
What happens to our schema as we get older?
As we get older, our schema become more detailed and sophisticated. Adults have developed mental representations for everything from the concept of psychology to a schema for what a typical zombie looks like.
