Cognitive Approach

• Assumptions


  - argues internal mental processes can be studied scientifically.

  - has investigated those areas of human behaviour that were neglected by behaviourists, such as memory, perception and thinking

  - processes are 'private' and can't be observed, so cognitive psychs study them indirectly by making inferences about what is going on inside people's mind on the basis of their behaviour

  - mental processes can be scientifically studied using lab experiments
• Study of Internal Mental Processes

  operations that occur during thinking.

  e.g. how we turn the info from our eyes into a usable form [perception]. how we choose what to think about [attention], how we store info to use in the future [memory], how we construct meaningful sentences to communicate with others [language], how we construct new solutions [problem solving]

  cognitive psychs appreciate these concepts can't be directly observed and use inferences as a means of understanding human experience from observable behaviours
• Role of Schemas


  cognitive processing can often be affected by a person's beliefs or expectations, which are often referred to as a schema

  schemas are 'packages' of ideas and info developed through experience

  act as a mental framework for the interpretations of incoming info received by the cognitive system

  schemas enable us to process lots of info quickly and is useful as a sort of mental short-cut that fills in the gaps in our knowledge and prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli

  babies are born with simple motor schema for innate behaviours

  e.g. grasping schema consists of moving a hand towards an object and shaping the hand around the object in co-ordination with visual input

  as we put older, out schema becomes more detailed and sophisticated.

  adults developed mental representations for everything from the concept of psych to a schema for what happens in a restaurant
• Understanding schema can be useful

  understanding the role of schemas is useful in explaining symptoms of psychological illness

  negative schemas of the self, future and world can be demonstrated in individuals suffering from depression and could explain the low mood experienced by suffered of this condition

  can then be challenged in methods in CBT to help the client develop more positive schemas to help treat negative or distorted thinking

  info that doesn't fit our schema could be ignored or distorted which can lead to perceptual errors such as prejudice and discrimination

  can cause us to exclude anything that doesn't conform to our established ideas about world, focussing instead on things than confirm our pre-existing beliefs and ideas
• Use of computer models

  development of the compute in the 1960s led to computer models emerging within psychs to explain different mental processes.

  computer models suggests the mind works like a computer: inputting, storing and retrieving data

  e.g. analogy of LTM being the hard disk and STM being viewed as computer's RAM has been applied to human brain
• Role of Theoretical Models

  - theoretical models in cognitive psychology are simplified representations based on current research evidence

  - models are often represented as pictures with boxes and arrows that indicate the transfer of info or the stages of a particular mental process e.g. MSM

  - in MSM, info is processed in a linear manner through a sequence of stages
• Emergence of cognitive neuroscience

  resulted from development of techniques for scanning the living brain while it's actively processing info

  only in last 20yrs, with advances in non-invasive brain imaging techniques such as fMRI and PET scans, scientists have been able to understand which parts of the brain are active while specific internal mental processes are being used.
• Cognitive neuroscience


  new field that tries to bridge the gap between the cognitive and biological approaches

  field has resulted from development of techniques for scanning the living brain while actively processing info

  research supporting the cognitive neuroscience approach demonstrates how memory has a biological basis in the brain - Tulving et al able to show types of LTM are localised in different areas

  scanning techniques have also proved useful in establishing a neurological basis of some symptoms of psychological disorders e.g. OCD

  most recently, computer-generated models have been designed to 'read' the brain leading to development of mind-mapping techniques known as 'brain fingerprinting'.

  possible future explanation -> analyse the brain wave patterns of eyewitnesses to determine whether they're lying in court
• Double Dissociation


  this occurs when 2 patients show a 'mirror' image of impairment

  Shallice + Warrington - KF very poor STM, fully functioning LTM, following damage to the left parietal occipital lobe of his brain from a motorcycle accident

  Milner - HM - undergone surgery for epilepsy - hippocampus has removed, unable to put info LTM, STM was completely normal

  2 cases represent double dissociation + reasonable conclusion - STM + LTM - located in different areas
• Strength - Scientific


  cognitive psychologists employ highly controlled and rigorous methods of study so researchers are able to infer cognitive processes at work

  has involved the use of lab studies to produce reliable, objective data.

  emergence of cognitive neuroscience has enabled the 2 fields of biology and cognitive psychology to come together to enhance the scientific basis of study.

  strengthens the argument the cognitive approach to study the mind is based on sound scientific ground
• Strength - real world applications

  cognitive approach has many applications

  e.g. cognitive research into memory and the effects of misleading info has reduced the use of eyewitness testimony in court cases, and led to major reforms in police procedure, like use of cognitive interview

  additionally, a better understanding of thinking patterns has helped professionals understand and treat mental illnesses such as depression through the use of therapies such as CBT

  indicates that cognitive research has made concrete contributions to contemporary society and developed professional understanding in many fields.

  cognitive approach has made an important contribution in the field of AI and development of 'thinking machines'

  provides support for the versatility of the cognitive approach to understand different aspects of human behaviour
• Weakness - research lacks ecological validity

  many experiments are based in a lab which can change the behaviour and not mimic what happens in the real world.

  e.g. use of memory tests don't use the brain for same functions of how memory in the real world works e.g. memory/word lists and remembering isn't realistic

  fail to consider how memory is used in everyday life such as forgetting and repressing traumatic experiences.

  computers don't make mistakes, nor do they ignore available info or forget anything that has been stored on their hard drives

  weakness - conveys the argument the cognitive approach lacks real life application and has low external validity
• Weakness - limitation of computer models

  based on machine reductionism. there are similarities between the human mind and the operations of a 'thinking machine' such as a computer

  HOWEVER, the computer analogy has been criticised by many.

  such machine reductionism ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation in the cognitive system, and how this may affect our ability to process info.

  e.g. research has found human memory may be affected by emotional factors, such as influence of anxiety of EWT

  suggests machine reductionism may weaken the validity of cognitive approach