Six Approaches to Psychology COGNITIVE APPROACH

 Cognition is the process by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered, and used. WHAT IS COGNITION?

 Emphasizes the use of mental processes to handle problems (Behavior is influenced by more than just a response to a stimulus)  Attention Attention  Memory  Language  Perception  Metacognition (what you think about your thoughts)  How people understand, diagnose & solve problems  Jean Piaget & E.C. Tolman  Advantages  Analyzes how thoughts affect behavior  Good thoughts = Good behavior  Disadvantages  Does not include feelings & emotions COGNITIVE APPROACH

 Thought Processes: Can infer mental processes from observable behavior  Gestalt Psychology:  means “whole pattern” or “configuration.”  Studies how people interpret sensory information in order to acquire knowledge.  Perception is more than the sum of its parts” COGNITIVE THEORY

 Downplays emotion, too mentalistic, hard to decide between competing cognitive explanations.  Strong approach today. COGNITIVE THEORY: CRITICISMS

 Thinking: how mental thoughts affect behavior. Humanism gives rise to the Cognitive Theory. Studies how we attend, perceive, think, remember, solve problems and arrive at beliefs. Know what’s going on in people’s heads first, then applies it to their behavior.  Jean Piaget: studies children’s cognitive development. COGNITIVE THEORY