The Cognitive Approach - One Minute Psychology

The cognitive approach is in total contrast to the behaviourist (learning) approach as it looks at internal mental processes rather than behavioural outcomes. 

It makes inferences (conclusions based on study and reasoning) about mental processes and likes to compare these processes to the inner workings computers - computer models.


Schema

The role of schemas are important for cognitive psychologists.

Schemas are a mental framework of beliefs and expectations of how to act and behave in situations. These schemas are built up over time through experience, e.g. babies are born with simple schema with behaviours like sucking or grasping, but as we grow older our schema becomes much more detailed. As adults we have schema (mental representations and expectations) for everything such as what happens at school, what happens at a restaurant or in a shop or airport, or what Christmas decorations look like.

For example, when we see a chair we sit on it because we use our schema to guide our behaviour and expectations. We know from previous experience what a chair is and how it works.

Schema allow us to process a lot of information quickly and prevent us from becoming overwhelmed by environmental stimuli in the way another animal could be overwhelmed. 



Theoretical and Computer Models

Cognitive psychologists see humans as information processors. They use theoretical and computer models to help understand these internal mental processes that take place in the brain.

These models are helpful because they help us understand internal mental processes that cannot be observed.

They also allow psychologists to set up experiments to test the features of the model. Models like computer models are often incomplete and constantly being refined.


Cognitive psychologists believe that the human mind processes information in a similar way to a computer. Both humans and computers have inputs, coding, processes, storage and outputs. This is seen below in the multi-store model of memory.



The emergence of cognitive neuroscience


Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of brain structures on mental processes.

With recent advances in technology and brain scanning/imaging equipment it is now possible to observe and describe neurological basis of mental processes.

For example we can now see what parts of the brain become activated when carrying out specific tasks like remembering numbers or completing simple tasks.



Evaluation

- A strength of the cognitive approach is that it uses objective, scientific methods. Studies are performed in highly controlled lab studies to make inferences and produce reliable data.

- One limitation is machine reductionism, meaning that it assumes that humans are like simple computers and this doesn't take into account human emotions

- Another strength is that it has many applications to real life, mainly in cognitive therapy that is used to treat patients with a range of psychological disorders such as OCD.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Positivism, interpretivism and sociological methods - Theory and Methods topic 1

Image
Specification the relationship between positivism, interpretivism and sociological methods; the nature of ‘social facts’ Lets get thinking with an activity. Each member of the class will come to the board and together we will collect one quantitative data in graph form. Each member will draw a block over the month of their birthday. I will get us started. It will eventually look like the graph below and in the end we will have a 2 axis graph showing us quantitative data related to the what month each member of the class was born.  It will look something like the graph below Lets follow this link to find some more interesting statistics -  https://bestlifeonline.com/crazy-statistics/ The main sociological research methods stem from two opposing theoretical approaches to the study of society. These approaches are called positivism and interpretivism. Both approaches use different methods of studying society and carrying out research. As a result they use different research metho...
Read more

Education (with MIC) Topic 1 - The Role and Function of the Education System

Image
AQA Specification the role and functions of the education system, including its relationship to the economy and to class structure https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/sociology/as-and-a-level/sociology-7191-7192/subject-content-a-level/education-with-theory-and-methods The Functionalist Perspective on Education Let's remind ourselves of some words and concepts associated with Functionalism value consensus organic analogy macro perspective structural perspective consensus Activity Let's get thinking! In pairs, write down 5 functions that the education system could have for wider society.  Think carefully and write them down clearly after discussing as you will be asked to explain! Durkheim - Solidarity and Skills Functionalist Sociologist Emile Durkheim identified two main functions of the education system - Social Solidarity - Specialist Skills Social Solidarity Durkheim claims that education helps to build social solidarity (meaning a sense of community and shared values) and with...
Read more

Theoretical, Practical and Ethical Considerations - Theory and Methods topic 2

Image
Specification the theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing choice of topic, choice of method(s) and the conduct of research Influences on the choice of research topic and method It may not come as a shock to hear this, but most academic sociological researchers choose to research a topic for which they have a deep interest. It is often an area where they work, something that has affected them or something that they have experienced and wish to further research to develop knowledge to share.  Once the topic is chosen there are a range of factors to consider how best to go about researching the topic.  A useful way to remember the influences of choice of research topic and method is PET - Practical issues, Ethical Issues and Theoretical issues. Practical Issues - Accessibility - in some settings accessibility is easy. We are often approached in public places by people conducting surveys and happy to take random people from the street to do it. Other setting...
Read more