Transcript The Cognitive Approach - Stmaryspsyweb's Weblog

The Cognitive Approach
Cognitive Psychology is made up
of 3 areas.
Cognitive
Psychology
Human
Experimental
Psychology
Memory Attention
Problem Solving
Language
Computer
Analogies
A.I.
Cognitive
Neuroscience
Computer
Simulation
Brain Damage and
effects on
cognition
Assumptions of the cognitive
approach
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Mental processes can be studied
scientifically.
Mental processes can be regarded as
information processing.
The mind operates in a similar way to a
computer analogy to throw light on
cognition.
Introspection can be a valid scientific
method of studying cognitive processes.

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Aspects of the organism, including
conscious and unconscious thought, act
as mediational processes between
stimulus and response.
Findings and methods of cognitive
psychology can be applied to other areas
of psychology such as child
development, abnormal psychology and
applied areas such as sport and the law.
Scientific study of mental
processes
Sternberg (1996) Illustrates the scientific
process in the experiment below.
Aim: To determine whether or not people
retrieve info from a list by scanning all
information, in sequence, until they come
across the piece of information they are
looking for.
Method: Participants were asked to
memorise a list of words of different
lengths. Following this participants were
asked to say whether or not the words
they had learnt were on two other lists of
words. With these two lists, one was twice
as long as the other.
Findings: Participants took longer to identify
words they had learnt from the longer list
compared to the shorter list.

Conclusions: Because participants take
longer to recognise words not on the
longer list, they must be scanning the list
in a sequential, rather than a random way.
Modern Introspection
Farthing (1992) regards the use of
introspection as essential for the study of
consciousness. Contemporary cognitive
psychology remains uncertain. (Why?)
 Modern introspection falls into 2
categories.

Retrospective phenomenological assessment
 Think aloud reporting
(Ericsson and Simon 1980)
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Evaluation and Evidence
Attempts have been made to quantify the
phenomenological reporting. This is an
attempt to enter the scientific realm.
 However, some psychologists have
questioned whether or not a person can
have access to higher mental processes,
particularly those to do with making
judgements and decisions.

Cognitive Neuropsychology
Over the past 20 years cognitive
psychologists have become interested in
how damage to different parts of the brain
affects both behaviour and cognitive
functions.
 Essentially, it was realised that people who
suffered cognitive deficits, such as loss of
speech or inability to read the printed
word, could provide insights into cognitive
functions in normal people.
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Assumptions
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They assume that any cognitive system
(reading, writing) is made up of a number
of component parts which are called
modules (Marr 1982). Each module has a
specific function and together they perform
larger operations.
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These modules are located in different
parts of the brain. This means that the
whole function is not damaged, just a
component part. (i.e.) Reading Allowed.
Evaluative Comment
This is a complex area of study and one
that requires psychologists with a high
level of knowledge of the brain.
 The idea of ‘modules’ is a complex one
because in reality brain damage is a
complex problem that can be quite
extensive. Because of this it is difficult to
localise the problems and discover what is
the route cause of cognitive deficit.
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Criminological
Psychology
Child
Development
Psychology of
Ageing
Cognitive
Psychology
Social
Cognition
Abnormal
Psychology
Health
Psychology
Psychology of
Work
Strengths
Adds cognitive processes to behaviourist
ideas.
 Less deterministic than other approaches.
 Takes middle position in nature-nurture
debate.
 Uses rigorous methods, e.g. experiment.
 Ideas applied in cognitive behavioural
therapy.
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Limitations
Not possible to see cognitive processes at
work.
 Not good at explaining why cognitive
processes happen as they do.
 Reductionist.
 Too much emphasis on brain as a
computer.
 Limitations of using experiment.
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