The Cognitive Approach - Schema, Internal Mental Processes, Computer Analogy, Multistore Model of Memory by Atkinson and Shiffrin, Wilhelm Wundt

Who proposed the Multi-Store Memory model in 1968?

Atkinson and Shiffrin

What coding, capacity and duration does the sensory memory store have?

based off senses, very large as accounts for all sensory experiences, 0.25 milliseconds - 2 seconds

What coding, capacity and duration does the short-term memory store have?

mainly auditory and phonemic(based on sounds), 5-9 items, 15-30 seconds(if it is not rehearsed)

What coding, capacity and duration does the long term memory store have?

mainly semantic, visual or auditory, unlimited, unlimited as it can be a whole lifetime

What are 3 key assumptions about the Cognitive Approach?(3)

Human behaviour is caused by their thoughts (known as internal mental processes), internal mental processes in humans are similar to how computers process information, we must study humans alone in order to understand human behaviour

What are schemas?(2)(brief definition)

mental shortcuts and the basic building blocks of thought

What happens if a schema is irrational?

it will lead to faulty processing

Why can’t scientific methods be used to study internal mental processes and explain the alternative method used by researches in the Cognitive Approach?(3)

internal mental processing cannot be observed, therefore scientific methods would not be effective, instead researches make inferences about the way people process information

How can human internal mental processes be represented?

theoretical models

What method did Wilhelm Wundt (1979) develop?

introspection, a method including standardisation and replicating materials

What was Wilhelm Wundt’s aim?(2)

to break thought down into its constituent parts, now known as schemas

What is a schema?(2)(actual definition)

a mental framework to organise information, like a filing system e.g. to recognise cocker spaniels, great danes and chihuahuas all as dogs

How are schemas useful?

schemas allow you to rapidly process information without getting overwhelmed by the individual pieces of information

How are schemas not useful and why?

they may contain unconscious bias e.g. that a ‘cleaner’ is female, they may lead you to treat people in prejudicial ways

How are schemas potentially harmful to yourself?(2)

you can have a schema of your ‘self’ e.g. that you are useless, this may lead to negative and irrational thoughts that creates an inaccurate worldview

Give a brief explanation of the Computer Analogy and how it provides structure for the Cognitive Approach (2)

human processing is similar to the way a computer processes information, using computing language provides structure for the Cognitive Approach

What is ‘thinking’ the equivalent of according to the Computing Analogy?

informational processing

How does the Computer Analogy explain human information processing and an example? (3)

using flow diagrams or simple models e.g. the Multistore Model of Memory uses a theoretical model

What did Peterson and Peterson discover through experimenting with the Multistore Model of Memory?(2)

participants could only hold information for 18-30 seconds when they weren’t allowed to rehearse it, so it couldn’t transfer to their long-term memory

What is inference a combination of?(2)

evidence and professional guesswork

Why is professional guesswork required alongside evidence from scientific methods in the Cognitive Approach?

thought cannot be directly observed

What have some psychologists argued about inference?(2)

inference is open to bias, therefore the approach is not properly scientific