Psychology - Discuss the cognitive approach? (16 marks)

The cognitive approach assumes that internal mental processes can and should be studied scientifically, therefore it looks at areas that are neglected by the behaviourst approach such as memory, thinking and perception. the approach studies information proccessing ( ways in which we extract, store and retrieve information that helps to guide out behaviour). Many different kinds of mental processes contribute to information processing. These include selecting important information (attention), using it to solve problems (thinking) and storing it in memory and retrieving it as and when it's needed. However these are internal and are private and cannot be observed therefore cognitive psychologists study these indirectly by inferences about what's going on in a person's mind on the basis of their behaviour.

A schema is a cognitive framework that helps to organise and interpret information in the brain. A schema develops through our own personal experiences. However, babies are born with simple motor schema for innate behaviours such as sucking and grasping but as we age our schema gets more sophisticated. Schemas help us fill in the gaps in the absence of the full information and allow us to take shortcuts when interpreting the huge amount of information we deal with on a daily basis. However, schemas also cause us to exclude anything that does not conform to our established ideas about the world, focusing instead on things that confirm our pre-existing belief and ideas. This can lead us to develop stereotypes that are difficult to disconfirm, even when faced with new information that conflicts our pre-existing beliefs.

One way to study internal process is through the use of theoretical models. One important theoretical model is the information processing approach, which suggests that information flows throught the cognitive system in a series of stages that include input, storage and retrievel. The cognitive approach also uses a computer model, where the mind is compared to a computer by suggesting that there are similarities in the way information is processed. These models use the concept of central processing unit (the brain), the concept of coding (to turn the information in to a usable format) and the use of stores to hold information.

A strength of the cognitive approach is that it has many applications. For example, the cognitive approach to psychopathology has been able to explain dysfunctional behaviour in terms of faulty thinking processes. This has led to the development of treatments for illnesses such as depression with cognitive-based therapies. These treatments, which aim to change dysfuctional ways of thinking, have been shown to be successful in some mental disorders, which suggests that the emphasis on mental processes for explaining mental disorders is valid.

Another strength of the cognitive approach is that it can be considered a scientific approach. Although cognitive psycholgists create theories and models of behaviour, they do this as a result of experimentation with human participants. This means that their conclusions are based on far more than common sense and intropsection, which can give a misleading picture. As such, the approach can be seen as a systematic, objective and rigorous way for reaching accurate conclusions about how the mind works.

One major limitation of this approach is the use of computer models. For example, the approach uses terms such as 'encoding' and 'storage' for the mind which are borrowed from this field. However, there are important differences between the human mind and computer programmes. For example, human minds make mistakes, can forget, and are able to ignore available information when necessary. These are all fundamental differences.

Supporting research for the cognitive approach lacks ecological validity. Experiments in memory use artifical test materials that do not ry to understand how memory is used in everyday life. This means that it is unlikely that the findings can be generalised to real-life situations. Therefore, supporting research for the cognitive approach reduces in credibility.

A further problem is that the cognitive approach appears to ignore important factors. Although the cognitive approach tells us how cognitive processes take place, it doesn't tell us why they take place. The role of emotion and motivation are largely ignored. This may be a result of the computer analogy and the over-dependence of this approach on information-proccessing analogies. Humans possess motivation and emotion, whereas information-proccessing machines do not.