The Cognitive Approach

Assumptions
1. Behaviour can be explained by mental processes
  1. We are information processors
  2. Cognitive processes help us understand the world
  3. L -Learning A -Attention M -Memory P -Perception
  4. Schemas
    1. mental structure that represents something in the world.
2. Human mind is compared to a computer
  1. We take in information, change/store it then recall when necessary
    1. Input, process, output
  2. Multistore model of memory
    1. Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)
    2. Info enters through the senses, moves to the STM, then the LTM until it's needed for recall
Attribution Theory
1. Real World Applications
  1. Storms and Nisbett (1970)
    1. Given a pill that would either arouse or sedate. Those who expected arousal attributed it to the pill and went to sleep
2. We constantly attribute behaviour, as we always look for ways to explain people's behaviour
  1. Internal/Dispositional
    1. We explain behaviour in terms of the person
  2. External/Situational
    1. We explain behaviour through social norms or luck.
3. Heider (1944)
  1. Silent film of triangles. Asked P's to describe what had happened, and think they were humans, and they attributed personality traits to inanimate objects
  2. 1958 - decided that people are 'naive scientists' trying to understand people's behaviour
  3. FAE
    1. We are more likely to attribute internally
      1. Not always the case, in COLLECTIVIST cultures, they attribute externally, in INDIVIDUALISTIC cultures (USA) they tend to attribute internally
    2. Fundamental Attribution Error
    3. Ross (1977) - quiz show. asked to attribute the contestants on ability. P's knew questions were made up but still rated contestants highly
4. Covariation Model
  1. Kelley (1967)
    1. Covary: things that tend to happen simulateneously
  2. Consistency
    1. Behaving in the same way all the time.
  3. Distinctiveness
    1. Behaving the same to unique stimuli
  4. Consensus
    1. Everyone reacts the same to stimuli
  5. Internal (HLL)
  6. External (HHH)
  7. McArthur (1972)
    1. 12 P's were asked to attribute sentences. They followed the model shown -->
      1. However, people often behave irrationally and not mechanistically
5. Errors and biases
  1. Actor/Observer bias
    1. Nisbett et al (1973
      1. Asked P's to say why they and a friend wanted to study a course. P's attributed externally, and attributed their friend internally
        Shows that we attribute ourselves externally and others internally
  2. Self-serving bias
    1. Jones et al (1968)
      1. P's had to teach two pupils, they attributed pupil improvement internally, but blamed their failure on the pupils (externally)
        We take credit for successes but disassociate failure.
Strengths and Weaknesses
1. Weaknesses
  1. Mechanist Approach
    1. Portrays the mind as a machine
      1. Ignores social and emotional factors
        Reductionist as it simplifies our behaviour
        Our behaviour is far more complexed than a computer as we can feel emotion etc
        Irrational behaviour
  2. Nature and Nurture
    1. Although it explains behavior internally and externally, it still doesn't consider important elements of nature/nurture
      1. The role of genes is ignored, yet research into intelligence usually looks into genes
        Social and cultural factors are ignored.
        Piaget didn't consider social and cultural factors in developmental psychology
2. Strengths
  1. Mediational Processes
    1. Looks at the 'black box' and focuses on important processes
      1. Behaviourists do not look at this 'black box'
        Cognitive psychologists explain mediational processes
        For example, how memory and perception are important in understanding the world.
        Helped explain practical elements, for example why we make shopping lists
  2. Important Contributions
    1. Influenced many areas of Psychology such as treating depression via CBT
      1. Applied to Developmental Psychology
        Piaget (1970) suggested children's thinking is not the same as adults.
        Teachers now use concrete problems with children as they are unable to understand abstract problems
        Social Psychology - much of it is cognitive as it looks at mental processes.
        Why we form stereotypes etc
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
1. Used for mental disorders but also smaller things like marriage counselling
  1. Doesn't involve searching for deep meaning
    1. Cognitive and Behaviourist approaches
  2. Real world applications
    1. Ryan Babel: was booed by fans, which knocked his confidence. Rafa told him they were doing it out of fear, and soon his confidence came back
2. The Cognitive Approach
  1. Key influence is how people think of a situation
    1. Attempts to change maladaptive thoughts
    2. Beck (1976): "dysfunctional automatic thoughts"
      1. Meichenbaum (1977): "counterproductive self-statements"
      2. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones
        Does consider the causes of behaviour; faulty thinking. However not focused on finding the cause
3. The Behaviourist Approach
  1. Undesirable behaviours are learnt, so therapy reverses the learning process
    1. Rewards desirable behaviours
      1. Problem: do not consider causes of behaviours, only replace them.
        Symptom substitution: undesirable behaviours could return
4. Beck's Cognitive Therapy (1967)
  1. Believed depression was caused by a negative view of the world
    1. Negative view of ourselves Negative view of the world Negative view of the future
      1. Cognitive Triad
    2. Pessimistic
  2. Dysfunctional Thought Diary
    1. As 'homework' P's are asked to record any events prior to unpleasant emotions
      1. rate how much they believe these thoughts (0-100%)
    2. Clients are asked to give a rational response for the event, and then whether they believe the rational response is true
      1. Asked to rate beliefs in these automatic thoughts again
  3. Therapy during therapy
    1. Taught to challenge dysfunctional automatic thoughts by asking themselves questions to challenge it
      1. Replaced with more constructive thoughts; new ways of behaving
    2. Where's the evidence this happened? What's the worst than can happen if it's true?
5. Meichenbaum's SIT (1985)
  1. Deals with stress
  2. We cannot change the causes of stress, but we can change the way we think about the stressor
  3. Negative thinking may lead to negative outcomes and vice versa
  4. Meichenbaum believed that you could almost inject yourself with negative thoughts, and replace them with positive thoughts via 3 ways
    1. Conceptualisation Phase
      1. P's taught to think of threats as problems to be solved.
    2. Skills Acquisition Phase
      1. Positive thinking, relaxation, social skills.
        These are cognitive as they encourage the client to think in a different way
    3. Application Phase
      1. Opportunities to apply their new skills in situations which become gradually more stressful
        Techniques such as modelling are used
6. Research evidence for CBT
  1. David and Avellino (2003)
    1. reported CBT has highest success rate
  2. Wampold et al (2002)
    1. disagrees with David
  3. Kuyken and Tsivrikos (2009)
    1. 15% of variance may be attributable to therapist competence
Methodology
1. Lab Experiments
  1. Weaknesses
    1. Lacks ecological validity and mundane realism
      1. Loftus and Palmer - didn't witness a real accident, how can we be sure it applies to everyday life
        Foster et al - found that if P's believed they witnessed a real robbery, and were at a real trial, then they'd ID the perp.
        P's are likely to act unnaturally as they do not want to ruin the study, or will try and guess the aims of the study
        Demand Characteristics
        Experimenter bias - could convey behaviour that influences P's
  2. Strengths
    1. Best way to study causal relationships as extraneous variables are controlled
      1. Objective, standard procedures increases validity
        Easy to analyse; quantitative data
  3. Cognitive Psychologists believe that psychology is a pure science so should be measured objectively and scientifically
  4. Cognitive psys believe they can make inferences about thought processes by observing behaviour in controlled conditions
    1. Lab experiments, questionnaires
  5. Loftus and Palmer, memory, leading questions
    1. Weapon effect, understanding memory
      1. We focus on more threatening things, such as a knife covered in blood, than a pen in grease
        49% pen 33% knife
2. Case Studies of Brain Damaged Indivudals
  1. Weaknesses
    1. Almost impossible to replicate
      1. Lacks generalisability
        Results can be subjective to bias as qualitative data is obtained
  2. Strengths
    1. A true insight into behaviour can be gained, as you spend a lot longer with the P
      1. Qualitative data is obtained, so we can draw more conclusions about behaviour
  3. In-depth investigations of a person, group or event
  4. HM
    1. Permanent memory loss as a result of brain damage
    2. Could remember things before the operation, but not after
    3. Supports the Multistore model of memory, that we process STM and LTM

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The Cognitive Approach

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