The Cognitive Approach

• key focuses of the cognitive approach

  • examination of internal mental processes such as perception, memory, attention and consciousness
  • makes inferences using theoretical models and computer models
• what are internal mental processes?

  • operations that occur during thinking
• how are internal mental processes studied?

  • using inferences as a means of understanding human experiences from observable behaviours as psychologists appreciate that these concepts cannot be directly observed
• what are schemas?

  • mental framework of information that we use to organise past experiences and to interpret and respond to new situations
• how do cognitive psychologists use theoretical models?

  • visual representations of internal mental processes that are used to help researchers simplify and study complex processes.
  • Theoretical models are typically diagrams or flowcharts that show how information is passed between the different systems that manipulate it.
• strengths of cognitive approach (1)

  • The cognitive approach has many real-world applications. For example, cognitive research into memory and the effects of misleading information has reduced the use of eyewitness testimony in court cases, and led to major reforms in police procedure, like the use of the cognitive interview. This indicates that cognitive research has made concrete contributions to contemporary society and has developed professional understanding in many fields.
• strengths of cognitive approach (2)

  • The cognitive approach pays respect to both the nature and nurture element of this debate. It recognises that behaviour is the result of information processing which occurs in the brain and is of biological origin (nature), while concepts such as schema are modified by experience in the environment (nurture).
  • Furthermore, the cognitive approach straddles both the nomothetic and idiographic approaches in psychology since it utilises both experimental methods to generate universal laws to explain behaviour and draws on the findings of individual case studies
• limitations of cognitive approach (1)

  • A speciality of the cognitive approach is its recognition of the complexity of human behaviour, and thus its hesitation to assert a reductionist explanation of mental processes. There can be no doubt that all cognition rests on a biological foundation since it occurs in the brain and is made possible by its operation. But the precise nature of consciousness and memory and perception are not easily reducible to purely biological outcomes, as the lived experience of all human beings seems to demonstrate consistently.
• limitations of cognitive approach (2)

  • not all human behaviour can be captured under the cognitive umbrella; the research in this field has tended to neglect other significant dimensions of behaviour such as emotion and motivation which may be linked to cognition, but are not the same. The cognitive approach is careful to insist that we are more than biological machines but often overlooks the equally important fact that we are not only cognitive creatures.
• what is cognitive neuroscience?

  • investigation how cognitions are produced by interaction of neural mechanisms, chemistry and brain structure
  • uses new technology e.g. fMRIs to explain mental processes
  • more recently use computer-generated models that are designed to read the brain leading to brain-mapping techniques
• strength of cognitive neuroscience

  • real-life application: used in children with dyslexia studying children who many have risk factors and looking for neural differences
  • cognitive neuroscience could help pinpoint children in need of early intervention before they start down a path of struggling in school
• limitations of cognitive neuroscience

  • machine reductionism: humans more complex and unpredictable so cannot be compared to inanimate objects