Cognitive approach

• Schema


  Useful - they allow us to take shortcuts when interpreting huge amounts of info - they fill in the gaps when we don't know the full info about a situation

  Not useful - we may develop stereotypes that are hard to get rid of as schemas focus on things that conform to our preexisting beliefs or ideas.
• Multi store memory model and working memory model


  Representations based on research

  boxes +arrows

  models can be incomplete and informal
• Computer models


  focus on the way in which sensory information is processed 'coded':

  inputted through the senses

  coded into memory

  combined with previously stored info to complete a task
• Strength


  Controlled methods of study

  Lab experiments

  Credible scientific basis: psychology and biology come together
• weakness


  tasks in studies have little to do with everyday life situations

  unlikely that we can generalise findings to everyday situations
• Strength 


  It is founded on soft determinism (allows behaviour to be controlled and freedom of choice).

  Recognises that 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.

  Reasonable and interactionist.

  more flexible than the behaviourist approach.