Today’s Lesson  You will leave being able to answer the following exam question to your MTG or above  Outline two assumptions of the cognitive approach [4]

Which question will this be on the exam? Cognitive

What is the marking guide for this question?

The cognitive approach  The cognitive approach is concerned with how thinking shapes our behaviour.  Compare this to the biological and psychodynamic approach...

The cognitive approach  Cognitive psychologists explain all behaviour in terms of thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and study how these direct our behaviour.  Cognitive psychologists are looking at the internal processes of the mind.

1: Internal mental process HHumans are basically seen as information processors. HHow information received from our senses is processed by the brain and how this processing directs how we behave. AAlso looks at how various cognitive functions work together to help us make sense of the world.

Mental processes studied by cognitive psychologists  Mental processes studied by cognitive psychologists  Perception -  Attention -  Memory-  Language-  Thinking- How would they work together to identify a dog?

Schemata  Part of the mental processes identified by the cognitive approach are schemata (singular: schema).  Mental structures that represent an aspect of the world, such as an object or event (expectation).  Help us to make sense of the world, providing short cuts to identifying things that we come across.

Schemata  For example,  It has a large metal door  Buttons and knobs  Gets hot inside  Has hot metal rings on top  It’s probably a cooker!  Your schema for “cooker” allows you to be able to identify all cookers so long as they don’t veer too far from your mental schema.

Schema for a “psychology lesson”  On the post it notes, write down what you think would be your schemata for a psychology lesson.

Assessment check assumption 1 of the cognitive approach is...  Complete half of the assessment question  Outline one Assumption of the Cognitive Approach (2marks)

2: The computer analogy  Cognitive psychologists often compare the human mind to a computer.  It compares how we take information (input) store it or change it (process) and then recall it when necessary (output). PROCE SS INPUT OUTPUT Me asking you to complete the assumption Q You accessing info and planning how to put it into you answer Writing your answer.

The computer analogy  In this analogy, hardware would be ________and software would be the __________________  What are inputs?  What are outputs?  Why are we not completely like computers? the brain cognitive processes

Example of the computer analogy Multi-Store Model of Memory (Atkinson and Shriffrin 1968) Sensory Memory Short Term Memory Long Term Memory Stimuli attention Retrieval Elaborative rehearsal Maintenance Rehearsal

Assessment check assumption 2 of the cognitive approach...  Complete half of the assessment question  Outline one Assumption of the Cognitive Approach (2marks)

3: Psychology is a science  Scientific approach towards studying behaviour.  We can not directly observe the inner workings of the mind. However, scientific and controlled experiments allow psychologists to infer what is happening.  Laboratory studies

Laboratory experiment  We are going to have a go at scientifically testing memory.  You need a scrap piece of paper and a pen.  I will read out some digit strings (a set of numbers) of varying lengths, at the end of each list write down the numbers in the correct order.  I can’t repeat the list, so if you miss it, continue with the next list.

Digits will appear here

8

1

3

0

End of list

2

5

3

6

8

3

7

9

2

5

6

0

7

1

8

4

5

3

1

2

7

5

3

6

3

4

1

0

8

3

2

3

7

5

4

4

6

9

7

3

4

6

1

2

7

Laboratory experiment  How many numbers were in your last fully correct digit string?  Collate to the board and class to work out the mean.  What can we infer about the mental process of memory from the result of our study?  How would we check to see if our results were accurate ?

 Differentiated learning task – Miller’s Magical Number 7+/or –2–’s Magical Number 7+/or –2  magical_number_seven.html magical_number_seven.html

Another example … cognitive research

Homework  Describe two assumptions of the cognitive approach (4 marks)  Remember to read the guidance