Cogntive Approach Flashcards
(15 cards)
What does the cognitive approach argue?
(Internal mental processes, inferences, behaviour based)
The cognitive approach argues that internal mental processes can be studied scientifically.
Since the processes are private,cognitive psychologists study them indirectly by making inferences about what is occurring in the mind, basing it on behaviour
What can cognitive processing be affected by?
Cognitive processing can often be affected by a person’s beliefs or expectation, referred to as schemas
What are schemas?
Schemas are packets of information or cognitive framework that are based on previous experience
What is the role of a schema?
Schemas help us to
1) interpret incoming information quickly and effectively
2) prevents us from being overwhelmed by vasts amounts of information we receive from our environment
Additional info about schemas (pertaining to babies)??
HINT: type they are born with
Babies are born with simple motor schemas for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping
What happens to our schemas as we grow older?
As we grow older, our schemas become more detailed and sophisticated
Downside of schemas??
Schemas can also distort our interpretations of sensory information, leading to perceptual errors
What do cognitive psychologists use to explain mental processes?
Computer models
Give a description of the computer model that explains mental processes
They are programmes that can be run on the computer to imitate the human mind
By running such programmes psychologist can test their ideas about information processing
What is the cognitive neuroscience?
The cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes, which is done through the use of brain scanning techniques
What are the aims of cognitive neuroscience?
Cognitive neuroscience aims to:
> find how brain structures influence the way we process information
> map mental cognitive functions to specific areas of the brain
What is a strength of the cognitive approach? (scientific and objective methods)
The cognitive approach has always employed highly controlled methods of study in order to infer cognitive processes at work.
In addition. the emergence of cognitive neuroscience has enable the two fields of biology and cognitive psychology to come together
As a result, the study of the mind has established credible scientific basis
What is a limitation of the cognitive approach? (limited application to every day life)
Cognitive psychologists are only able to infer mental processes from the behaviour they observe.
As a result, cognitive psychology occasionally suffers from being too abstract and theoretical in nature.
Similarly, experimental studies of mental processes are often carried out using artificial stimuli that may not represent everyday memory experience.
Therefore, research on cognitive processes may lack external validity
What is a limitation of the cognitive approach? (machine reductionism)
Although similarities between the human mind and operations of a computer are apparent, the computer analogy has been criticised by many.
Such machine reductionism ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and it’s affect on our ability to process information.
For instance, research has found that human memory can be affected by emotional factors, such as the influence of anxiety on eyewitness
As a result the validity of the approach is weakened
What is a strength of the cognitive approach? (soft determinism + behaviourist approach contrast)
The cognitive approach recognises our cognitive system can only operate within the limits of what we know, but that we are free to think before responding to a stimulus.
This is in contrast to the behavioural approach which suggest we are at the mercy of our environments and lack free will.
This suggests that the approach takes a more flexible middle ground position and aligns itself more with the world’s see subjective sense of free will
