cognitive approach

• Assumes that the scientific and objective study of internal mental processes is possible. However, as these private processes cannot be directly observed, cognitive psychologists formulate conclusions of their workings, through making inferences, based upon observable behaviours.
• The cognitive approach sees mental processes as being separate from the brain. Cognitive psychologists use computer models and theoretical models to better understand and model cognitive processes, through the use of analogies.
• An example of a theoretical model would be the working memory model, which is a diagram of STM, made up of the following cognitive components, through which information flows: Central executive, phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer.
• Analogies can also be made between how a computer works and the functions of the human brain. For example, both carry out 3 processes: input, the use of a processor (e.g. the brain) and the production of a output (computer code or human language). The invention of the computer in the 1960s was crucial in the development of cognitive psychology, as psychologists now had a metaphor for the mind
• Schemas are ‘packages’ of ideas and knowledge about a certain person, place, object or time. They are generated through experience, becoming more sophisticated through time.
• act as mental frameworks, providing us with ‘mental shortcuts’ so we can process large volumes of data quickly and efficiently, thus avoiding sensory overload.
• Cognitive neuroscience focuses on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental processes
• Brain Mapping in the 1870s = Wernicke, based on case studies of patients who all had damage to a specific area of the brain and all suffered from the same type of aphasia (Wernicke’s), inferred that Broddman’s area must be involved in language comprehension.
• Brain Localisation Theory in the 1970s = Advances in technology meant that it was possible to systematically measure and observe the neural processes which coincide with specific brain functions. Using a PET scan Petersen et al (1988) found evidence of Wernicke’s area being activated during a listening task and Broca’s area being activated during a reading task.
• a positive= The emergence of cognitive neuroscience has increased the scientific credibility of psychology. This is due to the emphasis on objectively collecting reliable data through direct observation of the neural processes underlying cognition, as seen in PET, CT, MRI and fMRI scans.
• weakness= Cognitive psychology uses schemas and analogies too much as ways of indirectly studying and inferring the cognitive basis of behaviour. However, this reliance of inference means that some ideas in cognitive psychology may seem too unclear and not have enough supporting empirical evidence of such mechanisms being observed. Therefore, this reduces the potential practical applications of cognitive research, as it remains mainly theoretical.
• positive = uses soft determinism. The cognitive approach sees humans as being able to reason and make conscious decisions within the limits of what they know. This is more flexible than the behaviourist hard determinism stance because it allows for humans to have some conscious insight into their behaviour: a complexity which differentiates us from animals, and so provides a better explanation for human behaviour than behaviourism.