1. Get started on this straight away!
KEY WORD BINGO
Choose 16 key words from this list:
Cognition
Cognitive Processes
Perception
Input
Coding
Information processing theory
Storage
Memory
Cognitive approach
Schema
Stimulus
Response
Internal mental processes
Senses
Retrieval
Output
Computer Analogy
Behaviourist Approach
Social Learning Theory
Learning
Mediate
Schemata
Behaviour
Inference
Objective
Fill in your bingo grid.
Listen to the clues.

2. I’ve never been so offended in all my life!
Ok so it’s large, it’s hairy, it has four legs and a tail. It must be a horse!
Ok so it’s large, it’s hairy, it has four legs and a tail. It must be a horse!
I’ve never been so offended in all my life!
What’s going on here and how does it link to the cognitive approach?

3. WHAT IS THE COGNITIVE APPROACH?B J E C T I V ES
WHAT IS THE COGNITIVE APPROACH?
Lesson Objective:
E – D To define the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach, including schema.
C – To elaborate on the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach providing real-life examples.
B upwards – To discuss the possible implications and evaluative points for the Cognitive Approach.

4. Assumptions of the cognitive approach
The cognitive approach was developed as a reaction against the behaviourist stimulus-response approach.
For cognitive psychologists, it is the events within a person that must be studied if behaviour is to be fully understood.
These internal events that occur between stimulus and response, are known as internal mental processes.
Unlike behaviourists, cognitive psychologists believe that it is possible to study internal mental processes in an objective way and that insight into mental processes may be inferred from behaviour.
The cognitive approach is concerned with how thinking shapes our behaviour.
AO1 – To define the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach.

5. Schema Examples
For example, a young child may first develop a schema for a horse. She knows that a horse is large, has hair, four legs and a tail. When the little girl encounters a cow for the first time, she might initially call it a horse. After all, it fits in with her schema for the characteristics of a horse; it is a large animal that has hair, four legs and a tail.
Once she is told that this is a different animal called a cow, she will modify her existing schema for a horse and create a new schema for a cow.
Now, let's imagine that this very young girl encounters a miniature horse for the first time and mistakenly identifies it as a dog. Her parents explain to her that the animal is actually a very small type of horse, so the little girl must this time modify her existing schema for horses. She now realises that while some horses are very large animals, others can be very small. Through her new experiences, her existing schemas are modified and new information is learned.
The processes through which schemas are adjusted or changed are known as assimilation and accommodation. In assimilation, new information is incorporated into pre-existing schemas. In accommodation, existing schemas might be altered or new schemas might be formed as a person learns new information and has new experiences.

6. AO1 – To define the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach.
Behaviourism S R
Behaviourists aren’t interested in what happens in between S and R. They don’t think you need to know.
AO1 – To define the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach.

7. Social learning theory
Social Learning Theorists say that things take place within the organism that mediate between S and R.
You do need to know about the person’s mental processes.
AO1 – To define the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach.

8. AO1 – To define the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach.IP R
Cognitive psychologists extend this idea and say that our behaviour is determined by the way we process information taken in from our environment.
AO1 – To define the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach.

9. The Information Processing Model
COGNITIVE PROCESSES
SENSES
BEHAVIOUR
INPUT
STORAGE
RETRIEVAL
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).
AO3 – To elaborate on the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach providing real-life examples.

10. Information manipulation processes
Input processes
Information manipulation processes
Output processes
Information storage
AO3 – To elaborate on the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach providing real-life examples.

11. Schemata
Part of the mental processes identified by the cognitive approach are schemata (singular: schema).
These are mental structures that represent an aspect of the world, such as an object or event.
Schemata help us to make sense of the world, by providing short cuts to identifying things that we come across (our building blocks of knowledge).
AO3 – To elaborate on the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach providing real-life examples.

12. A C T I V Y
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. You don’t need to have seen this particular cooker before to identify it. 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.
AO3 – To elaborate on the basic concepts of the Cognitive Approach providing real-life examples.

13. Developing your understanding

14. Your tasks Using your hand outs answer the following question:
1) What does Piaget suggests happens to our schemata as we develop, and how does this process take place?
You need to use the terms accommodation, assimilation and equilibrium in your answer.
2) Exam questions: Explain what is meant by:
internal mental process
Schema
The computer model
(2 marks each)

15. Now colour code (or draw a symbol) your bingo grid:
Green: I completely understand this concept
Orange: I understand it but find it hard to explain
Red: I’m really confused about this concept
Discuss your grid with the others on your table

16. Cognitive Approach = Focuses on how our mental processes affect behaviour.
Internal Mental Processes = Operations of the mind such as perception and attention that mediate between stimulus and response.
Schema = A mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing, developed from experience.
Inference = The process whereby cognitive psychologists draw conclusions about the way mental processes operate on the basis of observed behaviour.
Social Learning Theory = A way of explaining behaviour that involves both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning with the role of cognitive factors.
Coding = To turn information into a useable format.
Information Processing Approach = Suggests that information flows through the cognitive system in a sequence of stages including input, storage and retrieval.
Computer Analogy = The mind is compared to a computer where the brain is the hardware and the cognitive processes are the software.
Behaviourist Approach = A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning.
Cognition = This word means ‘knowing’.
Cognitive Processes = This refers to the way in which knowledge is gained, used and retained.
Schemata = Part of the mental processes identified by the cognitive approach.
Output = The behaviour that is produced from information processing.
Perception = A single unified awareness derived from sensory processes while a stimulus is present.
Objective = Not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased.
Retrieval = To recover from memory.
Sense = Any of the faculties, as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, by which humans and animals perceive stimuli originating from outside or inside the body.
Storage = Capacity or space for something.
Memory = The mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, impressions, etc., or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences.
Input = The act or process of putting something in such as information.
Stimulus = Something that incites interest.
Response = Any behaviour of a living organism that results from an external or internal stimulus.
Learning = The modification of behaviour through practice, training, or experience.
Mediate = To act between parties to effect an agreement or compromise.
Internal Mental Processes = The performance of some composite cognitive activity.
Behaviour = Observable activity in a human or animal and the aggregate of responses to internal and external stimuli.