cognitive approach

• what does cognitive mean?

  mental processes
• does our mental process effect our behaviour 


  yes
• what does this approach focus on?

  aspects that were rejected by behaviourists
• what is a theoretical model 


  • likens the human to computers
  • uses theoretical models to understand how information processing takes place
• what does theoretical models suggest?


  info flows through the cognitive system through input storage and retrieval
• what is an example of a theoretical model?


  memory model
• what is a computer model 


  compares the mind to computers
• what is a schema 


  packages or building blocks of knowledge that helps organise and interpret info in the brain
• a schema also reduces cognitive overload
• schemas help info make more sense of the world and they're


  constantly developing through experience
• what is cognitive neuroscience 


  scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
• who is the psychologist within cognitive neuroscience 


  paul broca
• what is hard determinism 


  human behaviour is determined by external factors which means there’s no free will

  e.g behaviourist approach
• what is soft determinism?


  human behaviour is constrained by the environment but only to a certain extent

  e.g cognitive approach
• what is a strength of the cognitive approach 


  scientific and uses objective methods
• what is a weakness of this approach?

  lacks ecological validity
• what is a weakness of this approach?

  based on machine reductionalism