cognitive approach on views on development: children form complex schemas as they age (intellectual development)
cognitive approach on nature vs nurture: schemas are innate but are refined through experience, MIXTURE
cognitive approach on reductionism: MACHINE REDUCTIONISM - shows people are info processing machines and ignores emotions
cognitive approach on determinism: we are choosers of our own thoughts and behaviours, SOFT
cognitive approach on explanations and treatment of abnormal/typical behaviour: good especially combined to behavioural (CBT), it treats depression
Cognitive approach assumptions:
all human behaviour can be explained using internal mental processes such as memory, attention, perception, and thinking
internal processes are private and cannot be observed, therefore, inferences must be made to study them
Inference: the process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour
Theoretical models:
often represented in boxes and arrows that indicate cause and effect
models are simplified, usually pictorial, representations of a particular mental process based on a current research
Information processing approach: information is mentally processed through a sequence of input, storage, and retrieval (e.g Atkinson and Shiffrin multi-store memory model)
Multi-store memory model
Computer models:
refers to the use of computer analogies as a representation of the human mind
the mind can be compared to a computer because there are similarities between them
Computer model comparisons:
area responsible for storing informations:
COMPUTER: central processing unit
MIND: the brain
the process of turning storage into usable format:
COMPUTER: coding
MIND: encoding a memory (visual, auditory)
Schema: a mental representation that enables us to organise our knowledge into categories. The older we get, the more detailed and sophisticated they become
Strength of schemas:
they allow us to process information quickly and act as mental shortcuts that prevent us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli
Weakness of schemas:
make us develop stereotypes or distort our interpretation of sensory information
Cognitive neuroscience:
mapping brain areas to cognitive functions has been done for a long time
1860s Paul Broca linked damage to the Broca‘s area to difficulties with speech production
brain techniques such as FMRIs have allowed us to observe the neurological cause of mental disorders
cognitive neuroscience is now it’d own field
Cognitive neuroscience: the scientific study of the influence of the brain structured on mental processes
Strength of cognitive approach:
POINT: one strength of the cognitive approach is it has always employed highly controlled and rigorous methods of study in order to enable researchers to infer cognitive processes at work
EVIDENCE: this has involved the use of lab experiments, which are highly controlled, to produce reliable, objective data
EXPLAIN: this method is scientific as it has objective data, it’d systematic, replicable, and falsifiable as it doesn’t involve any human bias as it’s a machine that calculates the results. This is why the cognitive approach supports psychology as a science