Cognitive approach

• Cognitive approach


  Argues that internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically
• Schema

  Mental frameworks for interpreting information, developed through experience
• Theoretical models

  Abstract models of cognitive processes
• Computer models

  Concrete models that program computers to simulate cognitive processes
• Strengths of cognitive approach


  • Uses objective, scientific methods
  • Real-world application
• Limitations of cognitive approach

  • Can be too abstract and lack external validity
  • Based on machine reductionism that ignores emotion and motivation
• Cognitive neuroscience is the study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
• The computer analogy has been criticised as it ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system, and how this may affect our ability to process information
• Research has found that human memory may be affected by emotional factors, such as the influence of anxiety on eyewitnesses
• This suggests that machine reductionism may weaken the validity of the cognitive approach