cognitive approach

assumptions of the cognitive approach

• focuses on the examination of internal mental processes e.g memory, perception and consciousness

• their operation must be inferred from observation and measurement of visible human behaviour

• the human mind works in a similar way to a computer

role of schemas

• packages of information developed through experience

• act as a mental framework for the interpretation of oncoming information

• babies are born with simple motor schema that become more detailed as we get older

strength of schemas

they allow us to take shortcuts when interpreting huge amounts of information

limitation of schemas

they can lead to harmful stereotypes and expectations

theoretical models

• visual representations of internal mental processes, used to help researchers study and simplify complex processes

• an example is atkinson and schiffrins multi store model of memory

computer models

• suggest that the mind and a computer process in a similar way

• input -> storage/processing -> output

• useful in the development of AI

strength of cognitive approach - psychopathology

P- it has made a substantial contribution to psychopathology and our understanding of psychological disorders

E- many types of therapy are based on the cognitive approach such as CBT which is used to treat depression

T- it can provide a very sophisticated understanding of how the brain works

limitation of cognitive approach - validity

P- validity of measuring cognitive processes

E- we can only infer what a person is thinking. the approach heavily relies on self report measures and observation

T- may lack validity

limitation of cognitive approach - machine reductionism

P- based on machine reductionism

E- computer analogy has been criticised, machine reductionism ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and our ability to process information

T- reduced validity

emergence of cognitive neuroscience

brings together brain scanning techniques used by biopsychologists, and cognitive processes such as memory and attention