Topic 2- Cognitive Approaches

Question 1

What are 3 assumptions of the Cognitive Approach?

Answer 1

1. Thought processes should be studied scientifically and
   introspection is too unscientific.
2. The mind works like a computer with an input from the senses,
   which is processed and produces an output.
3. The thought process between stimulus and response must be
   considered.

Question 2

What is the aim and method of the Simon and Chabris Research (1999)

Answer 2

Aim:

It was designed to see how much individuals could be unaware of in their visual field.

Method:

1 There were 228 observers who watched the films shown. The films showed two teams of 3 basketball players, one team wearing white T-shirts and the other wearing black. An orange basketball was passed between the players and observers were asked to keep a tally of the number of passes. In one condition, the easy one, they were asked to keep a mental score of the number of passes. In the difficult condition they were asked to tally the number of throws and the number of bounces from player to player.

2. There were two types of video, transparent and opaque. Half the observers watched films where a woman holding an umbrella walked in among the basketball players while they were playing. The other half watched films with a man in a black gorilla suit walking among the players.

There were therefore four film types:
Transparent/Umbrella Woman
Transparent/Gorilla
Opaque/Umbrella Woman Opaque/Gorilla

3. Observers were then asked to immediately write their counts on paper and were also asked several questions. Some results were discounted if the counting was inaccurate or the observer was aware of what the experimenters were testing.

Question 3

What were the Results and Conclusion for SImon and Chabris (1999)

Answer 3

1 Only 54 per cent of the observers noticed the gorilla or the umbrella-carrying woman (unexpected event)

2. More observers noticed the unexpected event in the opaque condition

3.When the task was harder slightly less of the observers noticed the unexpected event.

Conclusion:

This seems to indicate that we miss most of what we see in our visual field

Question 4

What is the evaluation for the Simon and Chabris Research (1999).

Give me 1 advantage and 1 disavantage

Answer 4

Advantage:

The results are reliable as the expirement has been modified and rerun many times with similar results

Disadvatnage:

The experiment lacks ecological validity as this task is unlikely to happen in an everyday scenario

Question 5

What is the role of schemas in misinterpreting information?

Answer 5

Schemas are used to aid us in making predictions about what we
expect to happen. They are packages of information, which we
build up in our memories based on experiences. They lead us to
see our own version of reality.