Approaches Flashcards
What are the 4 main assumptions of the Cognitive approach?
- The mind uses rules to interpret new information, this is known as the schema.
- The mind is like a computer, it inputs, stores and then retrieves information, this is known as the information processing approach.
- Models of memory like the WMM have been made to help us better understand these processes.
- These models have been analysed using brain scanning techniques.
What are internal mental processes?
Internal mental processes are the way in which information is used in the mind, this included conscious and unconscious thoughts. Typical areas of research for cognitive psychologists are attention, perception and memory.
What are schemas?
Mental representation of situations, people, events and objects that we store in the LTM and provides us with a guide for action in future events. They help us organise and interpret the world.
What does schema theory suggest?
That the act of remembering things is the reconstruction of all the bits stored.
What are the positives of schemas?(2)
- Schemas allow us to engage with the world around us without becoming overwhelmed by the sensory information. Assigning an object to a schema like a chair, means that we dont have to consciously work out exactly what each object is.
- They also help us predict the future.
What are the negatives of schemas? (2)
- Schemas can cause inaccurate recall.
Assumptions due to schemas can influence memory which is a big problem for EWT. People feel that they are remembering correctly but their recall has actually been altered by leading questions. - Negative schemas can lead to poor mental health.
Beck argued that people with depression have faulty schemas that bias the way they view themselves, others and the future. For example, they always view themselves as being inadequate or unworthy.
What is the evaluation for schemas leading to real life applications?
Research into schema theory has led to useful real life applications.
Loftus found that people’s EWT’s were heavily influenced by their schemas. For example, she found that participants recalled the speed a car was travelling in a video differently depending on which verb was used to describe the speed. This means that the verb changed their mental representation.
This research has influenced courts to rely less heavily on EWT’s as it was understood that they may be flawed. Therefore, less people are now wrongly imprisoned.
What is disequilibrium?
This occurs when our schemas do not allow us to make sense of something new, so we must adapt to a new situation by exploring and learning something new.
What is assimilation?
This is when new information does not radically alter our understanding of a topic so we incorporate it into an already existing schema.
What is accommodation?
This is a form of learning that takes place when a new piece of information changes our understanding of a topic so one or more schemas need to be formed and we radically alter existing schemas to deal with new information.
What are theoretical and computer models used for?
To explain and make inferences about unseen mental processes.
What are theoretical models?
Models like the WMM (Baddeley and Hitch) and the MSM are simplified representations based on current research evidence. They are often pictorial using arrows and boxes to indicate cause and effect or the stages of a mental process.
Experiments are usually conducted to test the predictability of a model and results are used to draw inferences about the process.
What has the MSM done?
Furthered our understanding of encoding, capacity and duration of the SM, STM, and LTM
What are computer models?
Computer models are analogies between the operation of a computer’s central processing unit running software, and the human brain conducting internal mental processes.
What are the 4 stages of the computer analogy for memory?
- Information is input through the senses like a keyboard and encoded into memory.
- RAM (random access memory) is similar to working memory. Like RAM, working memory is a temporary workspace where information is cleared after the task is completed.
- Storage: The LTM is like how a computer stores information in a hard drive, they both have potentially unlimited duration.
- Output: processes are responsible for preparing appropriate responses.
What is the first part of the double cognitive approach eval about scientificness.
An advantage to the cognitive approach is that it is considered a scientific approach.
This is due to the highly controlled experiments for example, many of the studies supporting models of memory were conducted in lab settings, with large sample sizes and standardised materials. This means that claims made by cognitive psychologists are backed up with evidence of high internal validity.
What is the second part of the double eval for cognitive approach about scientifiness?
However, internal mental processes can not be directly observed which means that sometimes, cognitive psychologists must go beyond the research evidence and make inferences.
Inferences are essentially educated guesses which may be wrong. This reliance on assumptions means that the cognitive approach can sometimes be viewed as less scientific than others like behaviourism and biological psychology. This is because their theories are directly based on observable behaviours and physical processes. However, inferences allow cognitive psychologists to explore areas inaccessible to other approaches like problem solving, memory, attention and perception.
Therefore, although internal mental processes are not directly observable, advances in neuro-imaging have led to many inferences being supported.
What is the computer model eval about machine reductionism?
Computer models have been criticised for being overly simplistic (machine reductionism).
Critics argue that the human brain is significantly more complex than a computer and the human mind is capable of consciousness and emotions. Additionally, the human memory is flawed and reconstructive whereas the memory of a computer stores and retrieves information with perfect accuracy.
Therefore, they may not be able to explain the complexities of the human brain.
What is the evaluation for theoretical models generating testable hypotheses?
Theoretical models generate testable hypotheses which allow each assumption to be systematically and scientifically tested.
If the behaviour matches the model´s prediction, it suggests that the model is valid. If the behaviour does not match the predictions, then the model can be adjusted or rejected.
What is the aim of cognitive neuroscience?
Aims to scientifically identify and examine neurological structures and chemical processes in the brain that are responsible for internal mental processes.
What 2 types of scans does cognitive neuroscience use and example?
- PET scan- Tulving et al (1994) asked participants to do various different tasks whilst using a PET scanner. He found that episodic memories were recalled from the right PFC and semantic memories were recalled from the left PFC.
- FMRI= measures Brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow.
- Supports Broca 1860 who found that damage to the frontal lobe impaired speech production, this is now known as Broca’s area.
What is the evaluation for cognitive neuroscience scanning techniques showing neural correlates?
A strength of scanning techniques is that they can indicate neural correlates associated with different disorders.
For example, high dopamine levels and low serotonin levels have been implicated with OCD.
This is useful as treatments can be indicated like OCD drugs which lower dopamine and increase serotonin have been developed.
What are the three main assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
- The origin of mental illness is psychological
- A person’s unconscious is crucial in determining behaviour
- Childhood experiences are an important part of adult development. Distressing events may be a part of the unconscious which can be expressed as abnormal behaviours.
What are the 3 levels of consciousness?
Conscious, preconscious and unconscious
