Cognitive Approach

Question 1

Cognitive Approach

Answer 1

• Focuses on the internal mental processes
• Behaviourists rely on external observations e.g the environment and behaviour, cognitive psychologists are more concerned with how the brain deals with information
• Research should be carried out on a scientific basis
• The focus has to be thought process

Question 2

Information - Processing Approach

Answer 2

• The mind operates like a computer that pulls in all of the information from the senses. (sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch) These are inputs.
• After this an output is created e.g a set of behaviours or language
  **INPUT ——> PROCESSING ——-> OUTPUT **
  1. Info comes in from environment and is encoded
  2. After encoding, info is processed and put into schemas
  3. A behaviour/ response is the outcome

Question 3

Schemas

Answer 3

Schema- Packages of knowledge about a particular event or object that act as cognitive frameworks to help us organise and interpret information
* Based on our experiences
* We build them throughout our lifetime - longevity + complexity
* Help us to understand world around us and to make sense of others
* Act as a good guide on how we should behave
* Based on expectations and what we learn to categorise
+ Process information quickly and predict whats going to happen
**- ** Can also lead to interpretations being distorted and incorrect

Question 4

Emergence of Cognitive Neuroscience

Answer 4

Cognitive neuroscience- scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental processes
* We map brain areas to a specific cognitive function e.g.
1860s- Paul Broca identified how damage to an area of the lobe (Broca’s area) could permanently impair speech production
* Last 20 years, advances in brain imaging techniques e.g FMRI and PET scans, has been useful for establishing the neurological basis of some mental disorders
* Includes the use of computer generated models that are designed to read the brain leading to the development of mind-mapping techniques known as brain fingerprinting
* Future application: it could be used to analyse the brain wave patterns of eyewitness to determine whether they are lying in court

Question 5

Inferences

Answer 5

• Drawing conclusions on whats going on inside someones mind, based on their observed behaviour using assumptions

Question 6

Evaluation

Answer 6

+ Scientific Methods
- Machine Reductionism
+ Real world application
+ Soft determinism

Question 7

+ Scientific Methods

Answer 7

• Approach uses objective scientific methods that are highly controlled and rigorous methods of study so researchers can infer cognitive processes at work
• Lab studies produce reliable data
• Enabled cognitive psychology and biology to enhance the scientific basis and make it credible
  COUNTERPOINT: -
  - It relies on inference on mental process (not direct observation of behaviour) so its sometimes too abstract + theoretical
• Artificial stimuli may not recognise everyday experience so it may lack ecological validity

Question 8

Real world application

Answer 8

• Approach has practical apllication
• Applied to a wide range of practical and theoretical contexts e.g development of AI and robots
• Revolutionise how we live in the future
• Applied to the treatment of depression and the reliability of EWT
• Supports the value of the cognitive approach

Question 9

Machine Reductionism

Answer 9

• Approacch is based on machine reductionism
• Similarities between human brain and robots e.g input, output and storage
• Analogy has been criticised for ignoring the influence of human emotion and motivation that can affect our ability to process information
• Weakens the validity of the approach

Question 10

Soft determinism

Answer 10

• Approach is founded on softe determinism, the view that behaviour may be determined by internal and external factors
• However, we can also exert our free will at times