Cognitive area

• key principles


  • our behaviour is driven by internal mental processes (such as attention, memory, perception and language) so we need to study these processes to understand behaviour
  • the mind processes information like a computer with inputs from the senses, storage and processing of information and then retrieval
• key concepts 


  • context-dependent memory
  • reconstructive memory
  • schema theory
  • inattentional blindness
  • the cocktail party effect
• strengths 


  • research has practical applications
  • research is often scientific as it is highly controlled and replicable
  • findings are unlikely to be ethnocentric (the mind can be expected to work in the same ways in all cultures
• weaknesses


  • research often lacks ecological validity
  • cognitive processes cannot be studied directly, and the reliance on self-report can raise problems with demand characteristics or socially desirable answers