Cognitive approach

The Cognitive approach

• Studies info processing i.e. ways in which we extract, store and retrieve info that helps to guide our behaviour

• Recognises that mental processes cannot be directly studied – have to be inferred

The Role of Schemas

• “a package of beliefs and expectations on a topic that comes from prior experience

• They allow us to take shortcuts when interpreting large amounts of info

• We are born with basic ones, but we develop them over time

• Can lead to faulty conclusions and unhelpful responses

Theoretical Models

• Used to explain mental processes

• E.g. the information processing model

• Simplified representations - usually pictorial

  • E.g. the Working Memory Model – often incomplete and informal, often changed, updated and refined 

• Based on existing evidence

Computer Models

• Development of computers = led to a focus on the way in which sensory info in ‘coded’ as it passes through the system

• Using a…