Cognitive approach

• Assumptions

  • Internal mental processes used to explain human behaviour
  • Investigates memory, perception and thinking 
  • these private processes can’t be observed so they have to be inferred
• Role of schema

  • a cognitive framework that helps to organise and interpret information in the brain
  • enables us to process lots of information quickly, prevents us from being overwhelmed
  • Babies born with simple motor schema, as we get older they become more detailed and sophisticated and we have developed schemas for everything
• Theoretical models

  • As mental processes can’t be observed, simplified representations of mental processes are used, often as pictures 
  • e.g. info processing approach - info flows through stages - input, storage and retrieved
• Computer models

  • software simulations of internal mental processes
  • you program a computer to carry out a mental process an see the outcome
• Cognitive neuroscience

  • the study of the biological processes that are responsible for the cognitive processes
  • mapping brain areas to specific cognitive function has a long history in psychology 
  • This is done using brain imaging techniques such as fMRI and PET scans.
• A03 - Scientific but lacks external validity

  • The cognitive approach uses a very scientific method - mainly lab experiments.
  • These are controlled and replicable so the results are reliable
  • however they lack ecological validity because of the artificiality of the tasks and environment
  • it might not reflect the way people process information in their everyday life.
• A03 - real world application

  • It has been applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical contexts
  • for example, has made an important contribution to the field of artificial intelligence and the development of thinking machines
  • Cognitive principles have also been applied to the treatment of depression and improvement of reliability of eyewitness testimony
• A03 - Limitation - machine reductionism 


  The computer set analogy has been criticised as it ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and how this may influence how we process things