cognitive apporach

• the cognitive approach argues that internal mental processes can be studied scientifically and focuses on memory, perception and thinking.
• cognitive psychologists study processes indirectly by making inferences.
• cognitive psychologists use both theoretical and computer models to help them understand internal mental processes.
• theoretical model

  information processing approach

  • suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages
  • multi-store model
• What is the difference between a computer model and a theoretical model?

  a computer model would involve programming a computer to see if such instructions produce a similar output to humans
• computer models

  proved useful in the development of 'thinking machines' or artifice intelligence
• what are the key points of the cognitive approach?

  • theoretical and computer models
  • the role of the schema
• what is a schema?

  A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. developed from experience
• 3 strengths of the cognitive approach:

  • scientific and objective methods
  • application to everyday life
  • less determinist
• how does the cognitive approach have a scientific and objective method?

  the studies of the mind have established a credible scientific basis

  • highly controlled and rigorous methods of study to enable researchers to infer cognitive processes
  • involved lab experiments producing reliable data
  • allowed biology and cognitive psychology to come together
• How is the cognitive approach applicable to everyday life?

  the dominant approach is probably the dominant approach and is applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical contexts

  • an important contribution to the field of AI and robots
• what is the counter-point to the cognitive approach's application to real life?

  cognitive psychologists are only able to infer from behaviour

  • cognitive psychologists occasionally suffer from being too abstract and theoretical
  • studies are often carried out using artificial stimuli

  there research may lack external validity
• How is the cognitive approach less deterministic than other approaches?

  founded on soft determinism

  • recognises that our cognitive system can only operate within the limits that we know, but we are free to think before responding to a stimulus
• 1 limitation of the cognitive approach

  • machine reductionism
• how is the cognitive approach machine reductionist?

  machine reductionism ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation

  • research has found that memory may be affected by emotional factors (anxiety and eyewitnesses)