Comparison of Approaches Essays

Outline the key features of the cognitive approach in psychology. Compare the cognitive approach with the psychodynamic approach: (16 marks)

The cognitive approach is focused on how our mental processes affect our behaviour. It argues that internal mental processes should be studied scientifically. Cognitive psychology has been influenced by developments in computer science and analogies are often made between how a computer works and how we process information. Based on this computer analogy, cognitive psychology is interested in how the brain inputs, stores and retrieves information. The main assumption of the cognitive approach is that information received from our senses is processed by the brain and this processing directs how we behave. These internal mental processes cannot be observed directly, but we can infer what a person is thinking based on how they act. This can make the question of whether cognitive studies are scientific debatable, as on one hand brain scans are heavily used to form conclusions, which is objective, reliable data. However, a certian level of inference is required, due to never being able to fully link this processing to the way we behave.

Cognitive processing can often be affected by schemas (a mental framework of beliefs and expectations developed from experience). Although schemas can help us organise and interpret information, they can also lead to distortion, as we may use schemas that are not relevent in certain situations. This has links to inaccuracies in eyewitness testimony. Cognitive neuroscience, is a practice that has stemmed from both the cognitive and biological approaches, as it focuses on the influence of brain structures on our mental processes. This is done through brain scanning techniques, such as PET scans and fMRI. Alongside brain scanning, lab experiments and case studies are also methods of research used in cognitive psychology. This helps to keep the approach scientific, yet also provide information about the individual. The cognitive approach has many applications, such as leading to the development of the cognitive interview, as well as assisstance in understanding the causes of depression and subsequently providing treatments such as CBT.

The main difference between the cognitive approach and the psychodynamic approach is that cognitive psychology views people as conscious thinkers, aiming to delve into these mental processes to see their impact upon behaviour. This ultimately makes the approach less deterministic than approaches such as the learning approach, as it also does not deny the influence of moral values and social norms, as well as CBT stating that we can change the way we think. However, the psychodynamic approach focuses on unconscious thought, due to its view of behaviour being dictated by the superego and id (working in the unconcious and pre-conscious mind), as well as childhood experiences having an unconscious effect on our inner workings. The psychodynamic approach is also very strongly determinist due to the believed role of these unconscious factors, of which we have no control.

The cognitive approach has a view that damage to the brain and mental processes are an explanation for abnormal behaviour, however the psychodynamic approach blames this on an unconscious imbalance of the tripartiate personality, forcing the use of defence mechanisms such as repression, denial and displacement, which may cause atypical behaviour. Additionally, psychodynamic psychology is much more interested on the impact of emotions on our behaviour, specifically in childhood, whereas this computer analogy present in cognitive psychology almost entirely removes emotions from this model of information processing.

Similarly, they both take an interactionist approach, as the psychodynamic approach argues that we are driven by innate biological instincts (nature), but the way these are expressed is shaped by our social and cultural environment (nurture), and the cognitive approach argues our behaviour is influenced by learning (nurture), but also by some of our brains’ innate capacities (nature). They also, both try to state that behaviour is governed by universal processes, establishing generalised laws through studies carried out. Case studies are also seen as support for both approaches, which presents a contrasting idiographic perspective, and focus on the individual.