Cognitive Approach

What are the 6 key assumptions of the cognitive approach? (6)

human behaviour is caused by internal mental processes, internal mental processes in humans are similar to how computers process information, schemas are mental shortcuts and the basic building blocks of thought, humans must be studied only to understand human behaviour, scientific methods and inferences are used as internal mental processes cannot be observed, human internal mental processes are best represented by theoretical models like the multi-store model of memory

What are the main focuses of study under the cognitive approach? (4)

perception, memory, thinking, problem solving

What are schema? (2)

mental framework to organise information for future recognition, helpful for quickly processing information without getting overwhelmed with individual pieces of information

What are some problems with schema? (2)

can contain unconscious bias, so may treat people in prejudicial ways unaware that we are

What are the problems of negative schema? (2)

negative schema can warp thinking, leading to negative irrational thoughts causing an inaccurate world view

How do human internal mental processes align with computer processing? (4)

input from senses, processed by thinking, stored in memory, output is behaviour

What example could be used to support the cognitive approach?

Peterson and Peterson’s short-term memory study

What is a problem with studies like Peterson and Peterson’s? (3)

they require inference, which is open to bias, as a combination of evidence and professional guesswork

What is a limitation of schemas that is not appropriate as a limitation of the cognitive approach?

schemas contribute negatively to stereotypes