cognitive approach

• The cognitive approach looks at information processing within the brain
• Studies mental processes, including how people perceive, think remember, learn solve problems, and make decisions
• Assumes that psychology should be studied scientifically
• Assumes that information received from our senses is processed by the brain, and this processing directs how we behave
• Assumes that the mind/ brain processes information like a computer. We take information in, and then it is subjected to mental processes. There is input, processing, and then output
• Assumes that mediational processes (thinking, memory) occur between stimulus and response
• strengths-

  • objective measurement, which can be replicated and peer-reviewed
  • real-life applications
  • clear predictions that can be scientifically tested
• limitations-

  • reductionist, (ignores biology)
  • experiments have low ecological validity
  • behaviourism- can't objectively study unobservable internal behaviour
• Dissatisfaction with the behaviourist approach in its simple emphasis on external behaviour rather than internal processes
• The development of better experimental methods
• Comparison between human and computer processing of information. Using computers allowed psychologists to try and understand the complexities of human cognition by comparing it with computers and artificial intelligence
• the mind has an innate capacity to acquire knowledge without being taught or trained
• Cognitive psychology is concerned with how we process information from our environment through perception, attention, memory and language.