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ESSAY Outline and evaluate the cognitive approach
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Outline and evaluate the cognitive approachThe cognitive approach focuses on how our mental processes (i.e. thoughts, attention and
perception) affect our behaviour. Our cognitive processing is influenced by personal schemas that have
developed from past experiences. A schema provides a mental framework outlining the expectations of
how a situation will proceed, helping us to interpret the world around us quickly. They act as mental
shortcuts as they reduce mental processing.
Theoretical models, such as the multi-store model of memory, are created to provide pictorial
representations of mental processes based on current research. The information processing approach
suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages that include input,
storage and retrieval. This is further developed in the computer model, which suggests that our brains
are comparable to a central processing unit of a computer, encoding information into usable formats
and stores. To test this experimentally, participants are given specific stimuli (the input), and their
output response is measured. The processing that has occurred is then inferred based on evidence and
reasoning.
A limitation of the approach is that it can be seen as unscientific. The theoretical models of the
approach are based on introspection and inferences, both of which are measured as objectively as
possible but are still subjective. On the other hand, cognitive neuroscience has provided credible
evidence that different mental processes occur in different parts of the brain; e.g. PET scans have found
that the Broca’s area is responsible for speech production. This empirical, physiological evidence
strengthens the approach as it helps to increase the credibility of psychology as a science.
A limitation of the cognitive approach is that it is machine reductionist. Humans are much more
complex than computers, because we have individual personality differences due to varying emotions
and motivation. Also, humans often make cognitive mistakes; for example, Gabbert’s investigation on
post-event discussion showed that 75% of the participants’ memories became contaminated simply by
talking to a ‘co-witness’. The theoretical models of the cognitive approach do not reflect the complexity
of the human mind and therefore lack validity and explanatory power; however they should not be
discredited as simplifying mental processes in this way has had practical applications to the
development of artificial intelligence systems.
A strength of the approach is that it exhibits soft determinism, offering a logical, interactionist
position within the determinism-freewill debate. It recognises that we can exercise freewill within the
limits of what we know, and that we can think about our behaviour before responding to a stimulus.
However, Libet’s research contradicts these ideas of the cognitive approach, as he found that there is
brain activity up to ten seconds before an action is consciously chosen, challenging the idea of freewill.
Despite this, determinism is not accepted within our society, and therefore the cognitive approach is
preferable to hard determinism approaches such as behaviourism.
Word count: 173 + 301
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