(1) Unit 1 - Cognitive Approach One - Internal Mental Processes

What is cognitive psychology concerned with?

How internal mental processes can explain behaviour.

What does the assumption of ‘internal mental processes’ suggest?

That humans use cognitive processes to make sense of the world around us, using our senses to collect information from the outside world.

What are some examples of these internal mental processes?

Memory, language, attention, decision-making and perception.

What is meant by ‘attention’?

Focusing on certain stimuli or aspects of the environment around us whilst tuning out other details.

What is meant by ‘memory’?

The process of encoding, storing and recalling information.

What is meant by ‘perception’?

Taking in and intercepting information from our environment via our senses.

What is meant by ‘language’?

Using words and images to communicate with others and understanding the communication of others.

What is meant by ‘problem-solving’?

Manipulating information to reach a conclusion, make decisions and form judgements.

What are these processes?

Automatic. They work together to help us understand the world.

What may happen if our internal mental processes are impaired?

This may lead to abnormal behaviours like cognitive biases.

What are cognitive biases?

Cognitive biases are systematic errors in thinking that occur when people process and interpret information in their surroundings, influencing their decisions and judgements.

What research suggests that internal mental processes determine our behaviour?

Griffiths’ (1994) Gambler’s fallacy research shows that gamblers experience cognitive biases, suggesting that their internal mental processes are impaired.

What were participants asked to do by Griffiths?

To describe how a task/stimulus makes them feel (a technique called introspection) whilst playing on a fruit machine. He was interested in the process that gamblers and non-regular gamblers made, so they were asked to ‘think aloud’.

What did Griffiths find?

That regular gamblers were more likely to have cognitive biases, specifically the illusion of control where they believed themselves to be more skilled than occasional gamblers. Some gamblers also believed that if they were familiar with a specific machine, they were more likely to win. Some refused to play on their allocated machine at first, and others personified and were talking to the machines.