Cognitive Approach Psycholgy set 1
The cognitive approach assumes
The mind actively processes information from our senses (touch, taste etc.).
Between stimulus and response are complex mental processes, which can be studied scientifically.
Humans can be seen as data processing systems.
The workings of a computer and the human mind are alike – they encode and store information, and they have outputs.
Cognitive Approach in Psychology
The cognitive approach is a psychological perspective that focuses on how people think, perceive, remember, and solve problems.
It emphasizes the role of mental processes in shaping behavior and understanding the mind.
Key concepts in the cognitive approach include information processing, attention, memory, perception, and problem-solving.
Cognitive psychologists use experimental methods to study mental processes and gather empirical evidence.
The approach is influenced by the computer analogy, suggesting that the mind operates like a computer, processing information through various stages.
Cognitive psychologists propose that mental processes involve acquiring, storing, and manipulating information.
They believe that internal mental representations, such as schemas and scripts, influence how individuals interpret and respond to the world.
Cognitive therapy, a popular form of psychotherapy, is based on the cognitive approach and aims to identify and change maladaptive thought patterns.
The cognitive approach has been applied to various areas, including education, language acquisition, decision-making, and problem-solving.
Critics argue that the cognitive approach oversimplifies complex mental processes and neglects the influence of emotions and social factors.
Despite criticisms, the cognitive approach has significantly contributed to our understanding of human cognition and has practical applications in various fields.
The Computational model similarly compares with a computer, but focuses more on how we structure the process of reaching the behavioural output (i.e. the aim, strategy and action taken), without specifying when/how much information is dealt with.
The Connectionist model takes a neural line of thought; it looks at the mind as a complex network of neurons, which activate in regular configurations that characterize known associations between stimuli.