Cognitive perspective

What does cognitive approach ask

how we organise & use information to make sense of the world

Contemporary cognitive psychology

influenced by social learning and phenomenological psychology, focuses on how people interpret and structure their experiences, emphasizing that individuals naturally create goals and are motivated to achieve them. It relies on empirical research and challenges behaviourism's idea that behaviour is directly caused by the environment, instead highlighting that a person's thoughts strongly influence their behaviour and emotions.

Two assumptions

We organise information drawn from the world around us• We make complex decisions, some conscious, some outside awareness, constantly.

Schema development

Schema include information about specific cases. (exemplars), + information about what a generic sense of category is. perceptual images. abstract knowledge. feeling qualities. time sequence information

Effects of schema

Facilitate coding of new information• Fill-in information lacking from events• Influence what information is remembered• Can be self-perpetuating

Semantic memory

memory for knowledge about the world

Episodic memory

memory for one's personal past experiences

Script

prototype of event

Self-schema

beliefs about self that organise and guide the processing of self-relevant information

Attribution

People assess event causes by deciding if they were intentional or accidental and how likely they are to recur. This judgment relies on social schemas—mental shortcuts about others and situations. They also evaluate success or failure based on whether causes are internal and stable or external and changeable.

Activation of memories

bits of information that have a lot to do with each other are strongly linked and vice versa

when memory node is activated, information it contains is in consciousness

as one node activates, partial activation spreads to related nodes

stronger the relation = greater the degree of spreading

Connectionism

a type of information-processing approach that emphasizes the simultaneous activity of numerous interconnected processing units

Conscious processing

a slow deliberative approach to perceiving where we examine and reflect about the stimuli

Intuitive processing

Processing information based on intuition and randomness

Social cognition

Cognitive processes focusing on socially relevant stimuli, varies in content and complexity from person to person depending on experiences.

Expectancy-value theory (Julian Rotter)

Assumes mental representations such as expectancies have a causal effect on behaviour. individuals tendency to do something is a function of their expectancies, reinforcement value (incentive value) of desired outcome) and the particular situation

What role do people play in their own destinies according to social cognitive theory?

People are active agents who can influence their own destinies and achieve within the limits of their biological endowment.

What does situation-specificity emphasize in social cognitive theory?

That behaviour can vary depending on the specific situation.

What is reciprocal determinism?

It is the concept that a person's behaviour both influences and is influenced by personal factors and the social environment.

What does social cognitive theory promote in the study of human behaviour?

It promotes systematic study of human behaviour.

Which theorists extended conditioning theories to include cognitive factors?

Rotter and Bandura.

Locus of control expectancies

feel they can control their lives, while those with an external locus believe their lives are controlled by outside forces beyond their influence. This concept highlights how perceived control affects behavior and motivation.

Efficacy expectancies

Perceived ability to carry out desired action

Selection

High efficacy belief individuals select more challenging goals

Effort, persistance, performance

High efficacy belief individuals show greater effort, persistence and better performance.

Emotion

high efficacy belief individual approach tasks with less anxiety or depression

Coping

high efficacy belief individual scope better with stress or disappointment

Self-regulation reinforcement

self reinforcement of ones own standard.

Social reinforcement

praise, attention, approval, and/or affection from others

Cognitive personality variables

Theories of personality must consider five classes of variables that are influenced by learning:1. Competencies2. Encoding strategies and personal constructs3. Expectancies4. Subjective values5. Self-regulatory systems and plans

Cognitive approaches to personality assessment

Think-aloud procedures, Thought or experience sampling, Event recording/self-monitoring, Interviews, Clinical assessments

Cognitive view of problems in behaviour

Problems in behavior often stem from difficulties in processing information, such as issues with encoding or attention, and from faulty or negative schemas—mental frameworks that view the self, others, and the world negatively.

Change to personality

Altering cognitive distortions- Replacing them with more adaptive and realistic cognitions

Cognitive therapy

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions