Summary of the Area
Principles of the Cognitive Area    
  • Internal mental processes are important in understanding behaviour.
  • Humans are like information processors; input, process, output. The output or behaviour is due to the mental processing which occurs.
  • Mental processing can be tested scientifically.
 
Types of Behaviour Studied
  • Memory – is it reliable? How should we study?
  • Attention – what will get our attention and what won’t?
 
Practical Applications
  • Issues of Mental Health – using CBT to think differently (cognitive) about the problems being faced.
  • Child Psychology – how do you get students to learn and revise better?
  • Criminal Psychology – how can you stop judges & juries being prejudiced?
 
Debate it strongly links with
It illustrates that psychology is a science because experiments are used and its research is highly standardised and so replicable.
 
Strengths
  • Scientific & provides accurate unbiased data.
  • Quantitative data
  • Useful – lots of practical applications e.g. when interviewing witnesses the police should avoid using leading questions
 
Weaknesses
  • Reductionist - ignores biological causes of behaviour
  • Usually studied through laboratory experiments which may lack mundane realism and ecological validity
  • The only way to study mental processes is through self-report or the behaviours that are shown because of it.
 
Research Methods
  • Laboratory experiments - high control of variables
  • Case studies (e.g. of brain damaged patients in memory
 
Methodological Issues
  • Reliability is usually good due to high control of variables
  • Experiments are replicable due to standardised procedure
  • Validity is good as IV can be isolated and measurement is objective e.g.:
  • Low ecological validity and mundane realism as the setting/tasks are often artificial
  • Snapshot studies
 
Core Studies