Cognitive Approach

• What is the cognitive approach?

  It focuses on how our mental processes affect behaviour.

  
  

  Direct contrast to behaviorist approach
• What are assumptions of cognitive approach?

  Internal processes can n should be studied scientifically.

  
  

  
  

  It investigates areas of human behaviour neglected by behaviourists (memory, perception, thinking) These r 'private' n cannot be observed so they're studied indirectly by making inferences.
• What is the schema?

  They're 'packages' of information n ideas that influence cognitive processing, developed thru experience.
• Role of Schema?

  Acts as a mental framework for the interpretation of incoming information. It allows us to process info quick, n prevents us from getting overwhelmed by environmental stimuli. But, it may distort our interpretations of sensory info, leading to perceptual errors.

  
  

  Babies r born w simple motor schema for innate behaviours (sucking, grasping)

  
  

  A schema for a chair would be - something w 4 legs u can sit on. But it gets more developed n sophisticated as u get older.
• Two types of models used to help understand mental processes?

  Theoretical n Computer
• Explain theoretical n computer models and how r they used in psychology?

  These two models overlap, but theoretical models r abstract whereas computer models r concrete.

  
  

  One theoretical model is the information processing approach, which suggests info flows thru cognitive system in a sequence of stages. This includes INPUT,STORAGE,OUTPUT as in multi-store model. This is based on how computers function. If we programmed a computer to see if instructions produced a similar output to humans, we can suggest a similar process is going on in the human mind.

  
  

  These thinking models r useful in AI.
• What is cognitive neuroscience?


  The scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes.
• emergence of cognitive neuroscience?

  • Pauls Broca identified how damage to an area of the frontal lobe (Brocas area) could permanently impair speech production.

  
  

  • fMRIs n PET scans help systematically observe n describe the neurological basis of mental processes.

  
  

  • Cognitive neuroscience also expanded to include the use of computer generated models that r designed to read the brain, which has lead to the development of mind mapping techniques known as 'brain fingerprinting'. This could b used to analyse the brainwave patterns of eyewitnesses to determine whether they lying or not.
• Strengths of Cognitive approach?

  • Scientific methods : objective data so can be replicated. Cognitive neuroscience enabled biology n cognitive psychology to mix 2 enhance scientific basis of study.
  • Real-world application : development of AI , cognitive principles applied to treatment of depression n improved reliability of eyewtiness testimony.
• Limitations of cognitive approach?

  • Relies on the inference of mental processes, so can suffer from being too theoretical n abstract.
  • Lacks external validity: Research studies of mental processes r often carried out using artificial stimuli (memory tests using word lists) that may not represent everyday experience.
  • Machine Reductionism: A computer analogy can be critisised. Machine reductionism ignores the influence of human emotion n motivation on cognitive system n how it affects processing, so it weakens validity.