COGNITIVE APPROACH

• COGNITIVE APPROACH 


  focuses on how mental processes:perception, attention and memory affects behaviour. It argues that mental processes can and should be studied scientifically. Behaviour is influenced by thoughts that are both conscious and unconscious.
• Cognitive psychologists


  make use of theoretical models. These models represent the complex conceptual processes so that their components can be better understood. An example of this comes from the multi store model which explains how memory is based on an information processing analogy.
• COMPUTER MODEL 


  human mind represents a computer.
• SCHEMA THEORY - information processing model 


  emphasises how perception and memory are shaped by cognitive frameworks built from experience that organise and interpret information in the brain.
• SCHEMAS 


  allow us to make sense of an often ambiguous world by filling in the gaps in our knowledge and thus enable us to act comfortably even when our information is incomplete.
• COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE 


  scientific study of biological structures that underpin cognitive processes. With modern brain imaging techniques and procedures, cognitive neuroscience started to emerge. Brain imaging techniques allow psychologists to discover when and where things happen in the brain in relation to people’s behaviour.
• 3 MAJOR TYPES OF BRAIN SCANS

  • computed tomography (CT)
  • magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
  • positive emission tomography (PET).
• (+) STRENGTH - COGNITIVE

  D'ESPOSITO =

  Techniques such as fMRI allows researchers to work out precisely which brain areas are activated during performance of a task. They found that the prefrontal cortex was activated when verbal, not when performed separately. Moreover, brain areas are to be associated with the workings of central executives. This suggests that behaviours can therefore be studied using brain scans as it allows us to see how mental processes are received in the brain. 
• (-) WEAKNESS - contrast COGNITIVE

  compared to computer model,

  undermines the complex process in humans as it can be seen as reducing human personality and overlooking the impact of emotion on behaviour. Computers also do not make mistakes or forget information, which limits the appropriateness of explaining human thought and behaviour. This suggests that the cognitive approach does not take into consideration emotions or feelings. 
• (+) STRENGTH - COGNITIVE

  psychology has been able to explain dysfunctional behaviour in terms of faulty thinking processes. This means that their conditions are based on far more common sense and introspection, which can give a misleading picture. As such, the approach can be seen as a systematic, objective and rigorous way for reaching accurate conclusions about how the mind works.
• (-) WEAKNESS - COGNITIVE

   it attempts to establish general laws of mental processing by emphasising the biological similarities of genetic makeup. However, it often uses idiographic methods such as case studies to support its claims. This can lead to an in depth analysis of an individual’s psychology, but also raises issues around whether the results can then be generalised to the rest of the world. Thus, there are questions surrounding how useful cognitive methods are.