cognitive approach

Question 1

What is the cognitive approach?

Answer 1

• believes that internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically.
• all behaviour is a direct result of schemas and scripts.
• revels in the work of Wundt
• internal mental processes are what are studied in cognitive psychology. They are essentially “thoughts” or “thinking processes”.

Question 2

What are inferences?

Answer 2

• guesses or judgements we make about what is going on inside the mind based on behaviour.
• Thoughts are private and cannot be studied directly so psychologists make inferences about them.

Question 3

What is a schema?

Answer 3

• a mental framework of beliefs- a packet of information- that you hold about the world that helps you make sense of it
• They develop through experience
• They are at the root of all mental processes.
• Adults have an entrenched schemas they’ve been present for so many years and are hard to change - This can cause all kinds of information processing/memory problems.

Question 4

What is a script?

Answer 4

a set of schemas

Question 5

What is computer models?

Answer 5

• Cognitive Psychologists sometimes view the mind as a computer- with inputs and outputs.
• e.g. when you get your computer to perform too many tasks… it crashes/freezes/gets too hot and shuts down.
• The mind is similar- if we are trying to process too much, our brains are overwhelmed and do not function well.
• the computer analogy led to the explanation of coding in memory.
• Think of how your computer formats information. Information has got to be stored internally in our brains.
• Coding establishes whether information is acoustic, visual or semantic in the same way.

Question 6

What is theoretical models?

Answer 6

• Cognitive psychologists use models such as the MSM to represent how internal mental processes work - this is helpful as it makes it simple for us to understand
• It allows psychologists to develop ways of intervening as when viewed in this visual format issues and patterns can be clearly identified - so it helps in application

Question 7

What are the positives for the cognitive approach?

Answer 7

• Less determinist
• Application (1)
• Application (2) (CBT)

Question 8

expand on the +ve AO3 point, Less determinist, for the cognitive approach

Answer 8

• The Cognitive Approach is founded on soft determinism.
• it is empowering for the person concerned. We are not totally at the mercy of our thoughts, but have the power to change them.
• Through treatments such as CBT we can learn to have more control over automatic thoughts and we can decide how to respond to them.
• We can change the way we behave by building self-esteem through working on our thoughts and responses.

Question 9

expand on the +ve AO3 point, application (1), for the cognitive approach

Answer 9

• Cognitive psychology has been applied in a vast array of contexts and huge amounts of research support have been found that cognition massively influences behaviour.
• Examples are: cognitive differences in gambling (Griffiths) and cognitive differences contributing to depression (Terry- pregnant women)

Question 10

expand on the +ve AO3 point, application (CBT), for the cognitive approach

Answer 10

• The cognitive approach has produced CBT- the most widely used and successful psychological treatment for mental disorders offered internationally.
• CBT has been used to treat and cure millions of individuals world wide.
• It operates on the premise that thoughts cause maladaptive behaviour, so through changing thinking, we can manage and cure mental disorders.
• The high success rate of this treatment is testament to the validity of the cognitive approach

Question 11

What are the limitations for the cognitive approach?

Answer 11

• Over simplified machine reductionism
• doesn’t give us answers why

Question 12

expand on the -ve AO3 point, over simplified machine reductionism, for the cognitive approach

Answer 12

• Comparing the human mind to a computer is useful in certain circumstances, but hugely oversimplified.
• Computers do not have emotions, for instance, which have been demonstrated to massively effect memory in EWT.
• A computer analogy lacks any validity in these circumstances.

Question 13

expand on the -ve AO3 point, doesn’t give us answers why, for the cognitive approach

Answer 13

• research only tends to confirm that there are cognitive differences in particular groups of people but does not explain why.
• All other approaches offer us explanations of human behaviour- this approach does not (until it is combined with biology to create cognitive neuroscience).