Cognitive Approaches

Psychological Approaches

  • Focus on the Cognitive Approach

Cognitive Psychology Assumptions

  • Key Assumptions:

    • Individuals actively interpret their environment and cognitively construct their world.

    • Behavior is influenced by:

    • External events (stimuli/reinforcements regulating behavior)

    • Internal events (individual’s perceptions/thoughts about the world and their behavior within it)

Influences on Behavior

  • Behavioral Influences:

    • Influenced by one's perception and thoughts regarding:

    • Self

    • Personal experience

    • Environment

  • Problem Behavior:

    • Results from:

    • Faulty perceptions

    • Irrational beliefs

Key Features of the Cognitive Approach (1)

  • Free Will:

    • Rejects determinism, emphasizing the importance of free will.

  • Positivism Rejection:

    • Rejects positivism, which views the investigation of others as detached, objective observation.

  • Subjective Experience:

    • Investigates phenomena from the individual's subjective experience.

  • Holism:

    • Emphasizes the necessity to study the whole person.

Key Features of the Cognitive Approach (2)

  • Experimental Psychology:

    • Main approach in areas such as memory, language, perception, problem-solving; applicable to other fields (e.g., social, developmental).

  • Mental Processing:

    • Emphasizes active mental processes; views the brain as an information processor (analogy: mind as a computer).

    • Outlines that mental processes utilize discrete modules.

  • Research Methods:

    • Employs experimental methods along with computer modeling and neuropsychology.

Cognitive Theory Overview

  • Dominance and Versions:

    • Cognitive theory has been dominant since the 1980s and includes various versions (e.g., Bandura, Piaget, Vygotsky, Seligman).

  • Impact of Thoughts:

    • According to cognitive theory, an individual's thoughts and expectations significantly influence their attitudes, beliefs, values, assumptions, and actions.

  • Human Development:

    • Serves as a grand theory focusing on how thinking evolves over time.

Understanding Behavior through Thinking

  • Psychologists can understand behavior by comprehending the individual's thinking.

  • Piaget's Thesis:

    • Central thesis by Piaget claims children's thinking evolves with time and experience, influencing behavior.

  • Learning and Thinking:

    • Thinking is essential in the learning process.

  • Information-Processing Theory:

    • Organizes and adapts experiences through two processes:

    • Assimilation:

      • New experiences are reinterpreted to fit existing ideas.

    • Accommodation:

      • Old ideas are restructured to incorporate new experiences.

Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development

  • Piaget identified four major age-related periods of cognitive development:

    1. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years):

    • Exploration through sensory and motor contact; development of object permanence and separation anxiety.

    1. Preoperational Stage (2-6 years):

    • Symbolic thought represented by words/images; egocentrism; lack of logical reasoning.

    1. Concrete Operational Stage (7-12 years):

    • Logical thinking about concrete objects; understanding of conservation; ability to perform basic operations (e.g., addition, subtraction).

    1. Formal Operational Stage (12 years-adult):

    • Ability to reason abstractly and think hypothetically.

Bandura's Cognitive Theory

  • Reciprocal Relationships:

    • Bandura posited a reciprocal relationship among behavior, cognition (thinking and planning), and personal characteristics (beliefs in control over experiences).

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Cognitive Theory

  • Interaction and Development:

    • Vygotsky argued that children's cognitive development heavily depends on interactions with more skilled adults and peers.

Beck's Cognitive Distortions

  • Faulty Thinking:

    • Aaron Beck suggests that cognitive distortions lead to psychological issues.

    • Examples of impacts:

    • Depression:

      • Negative schema leads to hopelessness (e.g., selective focus on gloomy information).

    • Anxiety:

      • Distorted anticipation of danger (e.g., viewing neutral events as threats).

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

  • Principle of CBT:

    • Works on the principle that negative and unhelpful beliefs (cognitive distortions) need testing for accuracy and truthfulness.

    • These beliefs should be replaced with positive ones.

    • Reinforces positive actions.

Martin Seligman's Contribution

  • Positive Psychology Founder:

    • Seligman is known for proposing that happiness can be a learned behavior.

  • Learned Helplessness Theory:

    • Suggests that repeated failures lead to depression when attempts to overcome adversity fail.

  • Learned Optimism Theory:

    • Involves challenging negative thoughts to regain control over experiences.

Learned Helplessness Explained

  • Definition:

    • "Learned helplessness is the giving up reaction, the quitting response that follows the belief that whatever you do doesn't matter."

  • Explanatory Style:

    • Refers to how individuals habitually explain events.

    • Optimistic style counters learned helplessness, while pessimistic style promotes it.

Evaluation of the Cognitive Approach (1)

  • Impact on Psychology:

    • Significant influence on experimental psychology.

    • Led to practical applications, notably cognitive therapy.

    • Introduced various rigorous research methods, allowing comparison of results and enhancing confidence in findings.

Evaluation of the Cognitive Approach (2)

  • Critique:

    • Lacks ecological validity due to reliance on artificial laboratory research; concerns about real-world applicability.

    • No overall framework; the existence of separate theories without a unified explanation for cognition is a limitation.

    • Challenges surrounding the metaphor of the mind as a computer; questioning if this analogy is accurate.

References

  • Barkway, P. (2009). Psychology for Health Professionals. Elsevier, Australia.

  • Berger, K. S. (2006). The Developing Person: Through Childhood and Adolescence, 7th edition. Worth Publishers, New York, USA.

  • Millon, T. (Ed.) (1973). Theories of Psychopathology and Personality. W. B. Saunders Co, Philadelphia, USA.

  • Neeb, K. (2006). Fundamentals of Mental Health Nursing, 3rd edition. S.A. Davis Company, Philadelphia, USA.

  • Raynor, M., & England, M. (2010). Psychology for Midwives: Pregnancy, Childbirth and Puerperium. McGraw Hill, Berkshire, UK.