Psychology - Cognitive Approach

Assumptions

• Internal thought processes explain behaviour

• Must acknowledge thought process between stimulus and response

• Internal mental processes studied scientifically via lab experiments or brain scanning

• Mind like a computer, has an input (from senses) which it then processes then produces an output (e.g. language/behaviours)

• Schema is a framework/package of beliefs and expectations about a person or situation formed via experience which helps individuals understand, perceive, interpret

Study of internal mental processes

• Private processes (e.g. how people store, manipulate, perceive info) cannot be observed, so studied indirectly via making inferences about the workings of people’s minds on the basis of their behaviour

• Inference = process to draw conclusions on operation of mental processes based on observable behaviour (e.g. via lab experiement’ on healthy individuals, experiments on brain damaged patients)

The use of models

• Simplified pictorial, computational or verbal representations of particular mental processes - useful to conceptualise unseen things, built on idea that mind has an input, processes info and provides output

• E.g. MSM attempts to explain how information is handled/lost and how it is stored in the brain as a memory

The role of schema

• Cognitive representation/framework helping organisation and interpretation of info of world around us, developed via personal experience (e.g. parents tell you family is going to a new restaurant, you would start to consider things associated with restaurant, e.g. waiters, menu, food) 

• Useful as allow us to take shortcuts when interpreting large amounts of info on a daily basis (e.g. when reading listening) 

• However can cause us to exclude anything unconforming to our established ideas of the world, instead focusing on things that confirm our pre-existing beliefs and ideas 

Evaluation of Cognitive Approach

• Strength: Uses scientific methods, e.g. lab experiments + brain scans to reach inferences on workings of the mind (e.g. lab experiments assess how much info can be held in short term memory) so conclusions on mind workings based on more than just common sense as this provides a misleading picture of mental processes

• Strength: Cognitive principles have been successfully applied + contributed to understanding of psychological disorders e.g. depression (Beck’s model of depression; specific patterns of thinking linked to emotional experiences which lead to faulty thinking) so with this insight cognitive therapies (e.g. CBT) developed + applied, effective in treating depression

• Limitation: Computer/theoretical models present an oversimplified view on human cognition, so approach considered reductionist - takes complex mental processes (e.g. how memory works, referring to MSM or WMM) and reduces them to simple explanations - computer models don’t consider significance of emotions, which may be causal or mediating agents in behaviour, yet largely overlooked in cognitive theories