Argues that internal mental processes can , and should be studied scientifically and is focused on how mental processes affect behaviour
Internal mental processes
‘Private’ operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response
Schema
A ‘package‘ of beliefs and expectations on a topic that come from prior experience and are useful by helping us to take shortcuts in thinking
Inference
Processes whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour
Role of theoretical models
Simplified representations based on current research evidence. These are often in picture form and represented by boxes and arrows that represent flow direction and stages
Machine reductionism
Ignores influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and how this may affect our ability to process information
Soft determinism
The view that human behaviour may be determined by internal and external factors but we can also excerpt our free will at all times
Cognitive neuroscience
Study the influence of the brain structure on mental processes
