The Cognitive Approach - Internal Mental Processes Flashcards
What are internal mental processes?
internal mental processes are the unobservable ‘operations’ that occur in the brain and they are studied scientifically by cognitive psychologists
What do cognitive psychologists propose that internal mental processes do?
cognitive psychologists propose that these internal mental processes are what cause a response (ie our behaviour) to a stimulus
What does this assumption see human beings as?
this assumption sees human beings basically as information processors, where essential cognitive processes all work together (HOLISTICALLY) to enable us to make sense of, and respond to, the world around us
What are some of the areas that cognitive psychologists have researched?
- attention
- perception
- memory
- language
- thinking
What is attention?
looks at how we take in information from the environment
What is perception?
looking at how we interpret information from our senses
What is memory?
the process by which we retain and recall information
What is language?
the study of communication and thinking in relation to language
What is thinking?
how we manipulate information in the mind to reason, solve problems, make decisions and otherwise make judgements
How do cognitive psychologists study internal mental processes?
cognitive psychologists use INFERENCE to better understand internal mental processes
What is inference?
inference can be defined as understanding unobservable internal processes by measuring observable outward behaviours
When cognitive psychologists study internal mental processes, what do they carefully design?
- cognitive psychologists will very carefully design tasks that allow a process to be measured and then large groups of participants will carry out these tasks under highly controlled conditions
- all participants will follow the same procedure and numerical data is obtained so that trends and patterns can be easily identified
When studying internal mental processes, why do cognitive psychologists replicate their findings?
cognitive psychologists then replicate their findings many times so that they can be confident that the inferences they are making about internal mental processes are accurate.
What do cognitive psychologists suggest that many common mental illnesses such as depression are linked to?
cognitive psychologists suggest that many common mental illnesses such as depression are linked to “faulty” information processing, or to put it more technically, “cognitive distortions”
For cognitive psychologists, what do thoughts cause?
- for cognitive psychologists, thoughts cause behaviour
- therefore, dysfunctional behaviours such as depression are caused by dysfunctional ways of thinking and processing information
