The Cognitive Approach

• Internal mental processes (IMPs) = unobservable/'private' operations of the mind mediating between stimulus and response
• IMPs include:

  • Perception
  • Attention
  • Language
  • Memory
• According to cognitive psychology:

  • IMPs can and should be studied scientifically
  • Not directly observable
  • BUT because the mind works like a computer, INFERENCES can be made from behaviours
• Inference = making an assumption about mental processes that go beyond the immediate (research) evidence of what can be directly observed
• According to cognitive psychology:

  • Computer = mind
  • Input -> processing -> output
• IMPs scientific study:

  
  

  • Tightly controlled lab experiments
  • Input = stimulus/IV (cause)
  • Output = behaviour/DV (effect)
• Use of theoretical models to explain + make inferences from IMPs:

  • Represent behaviour/processing in abstract terms
  • Provide simple way of representing current evidence
  • Often pictorial
  • Indicate sequence of flow of info through 'system'
  • Key model: information processing approach
• Use of computer models to explain + make inferences from IMPs:

  • Based on 'computer analogy'
  • Focus on similarities/differences between brain + computer
  • Focus on coding of info passing through systems
  • Enables computer programming + helps develop AI
• What is the role of schemas in cognitive processing?

  Mental framework/'package' of info developed through experience to help mind to organise + interpret info
• Schemas:

  • Present from birth -> simple motor schemas = innate
  • Grow in complexity
  • e.g.:
  • Stereotypes
  • Social/work roles
  • Cultural norms
  • Scripts
  • Concepts
• How schemas can have a positive role in cognitive processing:

  
  

  • Provide mental shortcuts
  • Help simplify complex situations/scenarios
  • Enable predictions
  • Allow us to 'fill in the gaps' in info

  = they make processing more swift + stop us from being overwhelmed
• How schemas can have a negative role in cognitive processing:

  • Perceptual errors = missed/distorted info
  • Jumping to conclusions
  • Developing stereotypes we struggle to disconfirm
  • 'Fills in gaps' in info

  = they can lead to poor processing/judgement
• Cognitive approach A&E point 1: cognitive approach strengthened by scientific research methodology

  • Highly controlled + nomothetic studies = theories built on falsifiable, replicable + objective experiments
  • Jacobs, Peterson + Peterson, Baddeley + Hitch memory studies
  • Our knowledge is more in-depth + accurate -> e.g. WMM replaced simplistic STM
  • Would have been difficult to make progress if psychology drew on more subjective research methods (e.g. psychodynamic approach)
• Cognitive approach A&E point 2: cognitive approach weakened by ignoring role of emotion + motivation in human behaviour (!!!)

  • Machine reductionism = cognitive approach less applicable to humans -> comparing mind to computer = inaccurate
  • Humans' motivation + emotion affects behaviour (computers don't have any) -> closest thing computer has = malfunctions (not the standard of computerised function)
  • Humans make mistakes, e.g. in memory (Johnson + Scott 1976 anxiety study -> high anxiety = low recall accuracy)
  • Human minds make mistakes due to motivation too (Bandura's SLT mediational processes)
• Cognitive approach A&E point 3: cognitive approach has successful real-life applications indicating that it's a strong explanation for human behaviour

  • Cognitive therapies (e.g. CBT) = reframing 'faulty thinking' into healthier thought patterns
  • Ellis (1957) claimed 90% effectiveness for depression, March et al. (2007) found CBT to be as effective as drug therapy for acute depression (81% success rate + no side effects)
  • If cognitive approach didn't work -> therapies would be unsuccessful
  • This approach does explain human behaviour well