The Cognitive Approach

• Define 'cognitive approach'

  The term 'cognitive' has come to mean 'mental processes', so this approach is focused on how our mental processes (e.g. thoughts, perceptions, attention) affect behaviour.
• Define 'internal mental processes'

  'Private' operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response.
• Define 'schema'

  A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from experience.
• Define 'inference'

  The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour.
• Define 'cognitive neuroscience'

  The scientific study of those biological structures that underpin cognitive processes.
• Assumptions of the cognitive approach

  - Directly contrasting to the behaviourist approach, the cognitive approach argues that internal mental processes can, and should be studied scientifically.

  - As a result, the cognitive approach has investigated those areas of human behaviour that were neglected by behaviourists such as memory, perception and thinking.

  - These processes are 'private' in the sense that they cannot be observed, so cognitive psychologists study them indirectly by making inferences about what is going on inside people's minds on the basis of their behaviour.
• The role of schema

  - Cognitive processing can often be affected by a person's beliefs or expectations, which are often referred to as schema. These are packages of ideas and information developed through experience. They act as a mental framework for the interpretation of incoming information received by the cognitive system.

  - Babies are born with a simple motor schema for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping.

  - As we get older, our schema become more detailed and sophisticated. Adults have developed mental representations for everything they've encountered in their lifetime.

  - Schema enable us to process lots of information quickly and this is useful as a mental shortcut that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.

  - However, schema may distort our interpretations of sensory information, leading to perceptual errors.
• Theoretical and computer models

  - Cognitive psychologists use both theoretical and computer models to help them understand internal mental processes. In reality, there are overlaps between these two models but theoretical models are abstract whereas computer models are concrete.

  - One important theoretical model is the information processing approach, which suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages. These include input, storage and retrieval, as in the MSM.

  - This information processing approach is based on the way that computers function, but a computer model would involve actually programming a computer to see if such instructions produce a similar output to humans. If they do, we can suggest that similar processes are going on in the human mind.

  - Such computational models of the mind have proved useful in the development of 'thinking machines' or artificial intelligence.
• The emergence of cognitive neuroscience

  - The scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes.

  - Mapping brain areas to specific cognitive functions has a long history in psychology. In the 1860s, Broca identified an area of the brain associated with speech production that we now refer to as Broca's area, by investigating damage to the frontal lobe and how this impaired speech production.

  - However, in the last 25 years, with advances in brain imaging techniques such as fMRI and PET scans, scientists have been able to systematically observe and describe the neurological basis of mental processes.

  - For example, Buckner and Petersen (1996) were able to show how different types of LTM may be located on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex. Braver et al. (1997) thought that the central executive of working memory is located in a similar region. Scanning techniques have also enabled us to make a link between the parahippocampal gyrus and OCD.

  - The focus of cognitive neuroscience has expanded recently to include the use of computer models that are designed to 'read' the brain. This has led to the development of mind-mapping techniques known as brain fingerprinting. A possible application of this could be to analyse brain patterns of eyewitnesses to determine whether they are lying in court.
• Evaluating the cognitive approach: Scientific methods (with counterpoint)


  - A strength is that the approach uses objective scientific methods.

  - Cognitive psychologists employ highly controlled and rigorous methods of study so researchers are able to infer cognitive processes at work. This has involved using lab studies to produce reliable and objective data.

  - Moreover, the emergence of cognitive neuroscience has enabled the fields of biology and cognitive psychology to come together to enhance the scientific basis of study.

  - This means that the study of the mind has a credible scientific basis.

  
  

  - Counterpoint: As cognitive psychology relies on the inference of mental processes, rather than direct observation of behaviour, it can occasionally suffer from being too abstract and theoretical in nature. Similarly, research studies of mental processes are often carried out using artificial stimuli (such as in memory research) that may not represent everyday experience.

  - Therefore, research on cognitive processes may lack external validity.
• Evaluating the cognitive approach: Real-world application


  - The cognitive approach also has practical application.

  - It is probably the dominant approach in modern psychology and has been applied to a range of physical and theoretical contexts.

  - For example, cognitive psychology has made essential contributions to AI and the development of thinking machins like robots.

  - Cognitive principles have also been applied to the treatment of depression and has helped to improve the reliability of eyewitness testimony.

  - Therefore, the cognitive approach has value.
• Evaluating the cognitive approach: Machine reductionism

  - A limitation of the cognitive approach is that it is based on machine reductionism.

  - There are similarities between the human mind and the operations of a thinking machine such as a computer. However, this analogy has been criticised. Machine reductionism ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system, and how this may affect our ability to process information.

  - Research has found that human memory may be affected by emotional factors such as the influence of anxiety on an eyewitness.

  - This suggests that machine reductionism may weaken the validity of the cognitive approach.
• Evaluating the cognitive approach: Soft determinism

  - The cognitive approach is founded on soft determinism, i.e. the view that human behaviour may be determined by internal and external factors, but we can also exert our free will at times.

  - The hard determinism view says all behaviour is determined by factors other than our will such as conditioning and genes.