Cognitive Approach

• The mind actively processes info 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 + the human mind are alike - they encode and store info and they have outputs.

• Cognitive Approach - An approach focused on how our mental processes affect behaviour.
• Internal Mental Processes - Private operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response.
• Schema - A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from past experience.
• Inference - The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour.
• Cognitive Neuroscience - The scientific study of biological structures that underpin cognitive processes

• Models are often used by cognitive to explain unobservable processes in a concrete, testable way. 
• Often represented as a diagram that includes boxes and arrows that shows the stages of a particular mental process.
• They investigate thinking by manipulating what people take into their minds (info) and observing what comes out (behaviour).
• We can develop theories about how people's minds work by comparing input + output. Good theories will allow us to predict the output from the input. 
• Key point:
  • Humans are often influenced by emotional and motivational factors -computers aren't. 

Strengths:

• Considers mind
• Studies mind in scientific way - e.g. brain scans (FMRI).
• Practical applications have developed from approach e.g. CBT.
• Less deterministic than other approaches - acknowledges we are "free to think" before responding to a stimulus. 

Weaknesses:

• Doesnt take into account individual differences.
• A lot of the studies use artificial stimulus e.g. Peterson + Peterson - not realistic.
• Suffers from MACHINE REDUCTIONISM - views brain as a machine but doesnt take into account emotions e.g. memory/anxiety.