The Key Approaches - The Cognitive Approach

Question 1

What is the background information of the cognitive approach?

Answer 1

• It became the dominant approach in psychology during the 1950s and 1960s
• It grew out of a dissatisfaction with the way the behaviourist approach only focused on studying observable behaviour
• They argued that to fully understand behaviour we should study what occurs between a stimulus and a response

Question 2

What are the assumptions of the cognitive approach?

Answer 2

• Thoughts and other internal mental processes cause behaviour. Processes such as memory, language, decision-making and perception all need to be fully understood because it is process such as these that cause us to behave the way we do
• Internal mental processes should be and can be studied scientifically. In this way, cognitive psychologists are influenced by Wundt’s earlier views on the importance of studying the conscious mind in an objective, scientific way

Question 3

What is an inference?

Answer 3

• Making assumptions about the processes occurring inside someone’s head by measuring behaviour or speech

Question 4

How do cognitive psychologists study internal mental processes?

Answer 4

• They very carefully design tasks that allow a process to be measured
• Large groups of participants will carry out these tasks under highly controlled conditions
• All participants will follow exactly the same procedure and usually numerically data is obtained so that trends and patterns can be easily identified
• Cognitive psychologists then replicate their findings many times so that they cane be confident and that the inferences they are making about internal mental processes are accurate

Question 5

How do cognitive psychologists explain internal mental processes?

Answer 5

• They use models to explain and describe internal mental processes
• A model in this context is a way of representing an abstract, unobservable process in a concrete, testable way
• Cognitive psychologists use computer models and theoretical models to explain internal mental processes

Question 6

How are computer models linked to the cognitive approach?

Answer 6

• Cognitive psychologists suggest that humans are ‘information processors’ and it is this ability to process and make sense of the information from our environment that causes us to behave the way we do
• The human-computer analogy states that the human mind works in a similar way in which computers process information
• It states that both have input, both encode and store information and both have an output

Question 7

What are a theoretical model used for?

Answer 7

• A way of explaining how a specific mental process ‘works’, seen through a series of stages

Question 8

How do cognitive psychologists explain the way internal mental processes influence behaviour?

Answer 8

• They argue that we construct our knowledge through experience. This knowledge is stored in the brain in schemas

Question 9

What are schemas?

Answer 9

• Internal mental representations of our world
• Cognitive framework that helps organise and interpret information
• Schemas are developed through experience, the knowledge stored in them will start out quite basic but develops as we have more experiences
• They allow us to take “cognitive short-cuts” when interpreting large amounts of information on a daily basis

Question 10

What is cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 10

• It is an area of psychology that has developed over the past 20-30 years
• It assumes that all internal mental processes have a physical location within the brain
• It is supported by advances in technology enabling brain imagining techniques, such as fMRI and PET scans, to aid in case studies

Question 11

What is the Broca case study?

Answer 11

• In the 1960’s Dr Paul Broca identified how damage to part of the frontal lobe could permanently damage speech production (mental processes)
• His patient was named ‘Tan’ and Broca studied him for many years to try and uncover the cause of his speech difficulties
• After Tan died, Broca carried out a post-mortem on his brain and discovered damage to a specific area of his brain

Question 12

How are scientific and objective methods strengths of the cognitive approach?

Answer 12

• Cognitive psychology employs control and rigour when carrying out methods of study, e.g. lab studies, in order to infer cognitive processes at work
• This has enabled the two fields of biology and cognitive psychology to come together (cognitive neuroscience). This means that the study of the mind has established a creditable, scientific basis
• The approach is based on research that lacks external validity, research is often carried out using artificial stimuli, which creates artificial conditions

Question 13

How is application of everyday life a strength of the cognitive approach?

Answer 13

• The cognitive approach is dominant in psychology today and has been applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical contents
• For example, it has made vital contributions to the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and the development of robots
• These exciting advances are likely to revolutionise how we live in the future
• However, the approach is based on machine reductionism, as the computer analogy has been criticised. The cognitive approach oversimplifies human cognitive processes and ignores important aspects that influence performance

Question 14

How is being less deterministic a strength of the cognitive approach?

Answer 14

• The cognitive approach is based on soft determinism, recognising that our cognitive system can only operate within certain limits, but that we are free to think before responding. to a stimulus
• It takes a more reasonable and flexible middle-ground position in the free-will determinism debate and is more in line with our subjective sense of free will
• This is in contrast to the behaviourist approach which suggests that we are passive ‘slaves’ to the environment and lack free choices in our behaviour