Cognitive Flashcards
(19 cards)
What has the cognitive approach been influenced by? What is cognitive psychology interested in? What has this led to?
Cognitive psychology has been influenced by developments in computer science, and analogies are often made between how a computer works and how we process information. Based on this computer analogy, cognitive psychology is interested in how the brain inputs, stores, and retrieves information. This has led to models that show information flowing through the cognitive system, such as the multi-store model of memory.
What is the main assumption of the cognitive approach? What does this mean?
The main assumption of the cognitive approach is that information received from our senses is processed by the brain and that this processing directs how we behave. These internal mental processes cannot be observed directly, but we can infer what a person is thinking based on how they act.
What is a schema?
A schema is a ‘packet of information’ or cognitive framework that helps us organize and interpret information. They are based on our previous experience.
A strength of schema? Two weaknesses?
Schemas help us to interpret incoming information quickly and effectively, preventing us from being overwhelmed by the vast amount of information we perceive in our environment. However, they can also lead to distortion of this information, as we select and interpret environmental stimuli using schemas that might not be relevant. This could be the cause of inaccuracies in areas such as eyewitness testimony. It can also explain some errors we make when perceiving optical illusions.
What does neuroscience intend to do? How does it achieve that?
Neuroscience aims to find out how brain structures influence the way we process information and map mental cognitive functions to specific areas of the brain. This is done using brain imaging techniques such as fMRI and PET scans.
A study to support this? What did it find? Suggesting?
Examples of brain mapping: Braver et al. (1997) found that when their participants were performing activities involving the central executive while being scanned, the prefrontal cortex showed greater activity. This suggests that the central executive is situated in the prefrontal cortex.
What are the three main research methods used by the cognitive approach?
Laboratory experiments, case studies, and brain imaging.
A strength and a weakness of lab experiments?
In these experiments, extraneous variables are tightly controlled, so they can be replicated, but they lack ecological validity as they take place in artificial environments and the tasks are also artificial. For example, in real life, if you were a witness to a car crash, you would not be interviewed by a psychologist but by a police officer, and you would know that there would be consequences to what you say, so you might be more careful about the way you answer the questions. Participants could also be influenced by demand characteristics.
What are case studies used for? A disadvantage? An advantage?
Case studies are used to study rare conditions that provide insight into the workings of some mental processes, e.g., Clive Wearing and HM. Although case studies deal with very small samples, meaning the results cannot be generalized to the wider population as they are influenced by individual characteristics, they allow us to study cases that could not be produced experimentally due to ethical and practical reasons.
How do we image brains? Why? A study to support this? What does it find?
Brain imaging: fMRI and PET scans are used to map areas of the brain to cognitive function because the processing of information by brain centers can be seen directly. Such processing causes the area of the brain involved to increase metabolism and ‘light up’ on the scan, e.g., Braver et al. (1997).
Two applications of the cognitive approach?
The study of memory has led to the development of the cognitive interview, which has decreased the inaccuracy of eyewitness memory and should reduce wrongful convictions. It has also helped us understand the causes of depression, and the approach proposes cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which has been shown to be effective for a range of mental disorders and, unlike drugs, has no side effects.
A study showing the disadvantages of using lab experiments? Why does it support this idea?
For example, Baddeley (1966) used lists of words to find out the encoding used by long-term memory (LTM). However, these words had no meaning to the participants, so the way they used their memory in this task was probably very different than how they would have used it if the words had meaning for them. This is a weakness, as the theories might not explain how memory really works outside the laboratory.
Three strengths of the cognitive approach?
The cognitive approach has a wide range of practical applications. For example, schemas can be used to explain how eyewitness memories of events can be distorted and therefore inaccurate. The study of memory processes such as cue-dependent forgetting has led to a strategy to improve eyewitness testimony: the cognitive interview. By highlighting the importance of cognitive processing, the cognitive approach can offer an explanation for mental disorders such as depression, where Beck argues that negative schemas about the self, the world, and the future lead to depression rather than external events. The cognitive approach is less deterministic than the learning approach, as although it argues that our thinking is limited by the way we process information, it does not deny the influence of moral values and social norms.
Two weaknesses of the cognitive approach?
It does not take into account genetic factors, which seem to be involved in mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Furthermore, although this approach has led to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is an effective way to deal with depression and, unlike drugs, has no side effects, it is reductionist. The approach does not take into account emotions and motivation, which influence the processing of information and memory. For example, according to the Yerkes-Dodson law, anxiety can influence our memory.
Where is the cognitive approach in terms of free will and determinism? Why?
The position of the approach is unclear. On one hand, it argues that the way we process information is determined by our past experiences (schemas). On the other hand, in therapy derived from the approach (CBT), it argues that we can change the way we think.
Where is the cognitive approach in terms of nature/nurture? Why?
The cognitive approach takes an interactionist view of the debate as it argues that our behavior is influenced by learning and experience (nurture), but also by some of our brain’s innate capacities as information processors, e.g., language acquisition (nature).
Where is the cognitive approach in terms of holism/reductionism? An issue with this?
The cognitive approach tends to be reductionist, as when studying a variable, it isolates processes such as memory from other cognitive processes. However, in our normal life, we use many cognitive processes simultaneously, so it lacks validity.
Where is the cognitive approach in terms of idiographic/nomothetic?
It is a nomothetic approach as it focuses on establishing theories on information processing that apply to all people.
How is the cognitive approach scientific? How is it not?
The cognitive approach uses lab experiments, which are highly controlled and therefore replicable. However, it measures non-observable behaviors, so it could be argued that it is not as scientific as the behaviorist approach.
