Cognitive Approach in Psychology

Cognitive Approach in Psychology
By Saul McLeod, updated 2020
Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of the mind as an information

processor. It concerns the way we take in information from the outside world,
how we make sense of that information.
Cognitive psychologists try to build up cognitive models of the information
processing that goes on inside people’s minds, including perception, attention,
language, memory, thinking, and consciousness.
Cognitive psychology became of great importance in the mid-1950s. Several

factors were important in this:
1. Dissatisfaction with the behaviorist approach in its simple emphasis on

external behavior rather than internal processes.
2. The development of better experimental methods.
3. Comparison between human and computer processing of information.
The emphasis of psychology shifted away from the study of conditioned

behavior and psychoanalytical notions about the study of the mind, towards the
understanding of human information processing, using strict and rigorous
laboratory investigation.
Basic Assumptions
Mediational processes occur between stimulus and
response:
Behaviorists rejected the idea of studying the mind because internal mental
processes cannot be observed and objectively measured.
However, cognitive psychologists regard it as essential to look at the mental
processes of an organism and how these influence behavior.
Instead of the simple stimulus-response links proposed by Behaviorism, the
mediational processes of the organism are important to understand. Without
this understanding, psychologists cannot have a complete understanding of
behavior.
Psychology should be seen as a science:
Cognitive psychologists follow the example of the behaviorists in preferring
objective, controlled, scientific methods for investigating behavior.
They use the results of their investigations as the basis for making inferences
about mental processes.
Humans are information processors:
Information processing in humans resembles that in computers, and is based
on based on transforming information, storing information and retrieving
information from memory.
Information processing models of cognitive processes such as memory and
attention assume that mental processes follow a clear sequence.
For example:
• Input processes are concerned with the analysis of the stimuli.

• Storage processes cover everything that happens to stimuli internally in
the brain and can include coding and manipulation of the stimuli.
• Output processes are responsible for preparing an appropriate response
to a stimulus.
Information Processing
The cognitive approach began to revolutionize psychology in the late 1950sand
early 1960’s, to become the dominant approach (i.e., perspective) in psychology
by the late 1970s. Interest in mental processes had been gradually restored
through the work of Piaget and Tolman.
Tolman was a ‘soft behaviorist’. His book Purposive Behavior in Animals and
Man in 1932 described research which behaviorism found difficult to explain.
The behaviorists’ view had been that learning took place as a result of
associations between stimuli and responses.
However, Tolman suggested that learning was based on the relationships which
formed amongst stimuli. He referred to these relationships as cognitive maps.
But it was the arrival of the computer that gave cognitive psychology the
terminology and metaphor it needed to investigate the human mind.
The start of the use of computers allowed psychologists to try to understand the
complexities of human cognition by comparing it with something simpler and
better understood, i.e., an artificial system such as a computer.
The use of the computer as a tool for thinking how the human mind handles
information is known as the computer analogy. Essentially, a computer codes
(i.e., changes) information, stores information, uses information, and produces
an output (retrieves info).
The idea of information processing was adopted by cognitive psychologists as a
model of how human thought works.
The information processing approach is based on a number of assumptions,

including:
1. Information made available from the environment is processed by a series

of processing systems (e.g., attention, perception, short-term memory);
2. These processing systems transform, or alter the information in systematic
ways;
3. The aim of research is to specify the processes and structures that underlie
cognitive performance;
4. Information processing in humans resembles that in computers.
The Role of Schemas
Cognitive processing can often be affected by schemas (a mental framework of
beliefs and expectations developed from experience). As you get older, these
become more detailed and sophisticated.
A schema is a “packet of information” or cognitive framework that helps us
organise and interpret information. They are based on our previous experience.
Schemas help us to interpret incoming information quickly and effectively, this
prevents us from being overwhelmed by the vast amount of information we
perceive in our environment.
However it can also lead to distortion of this information as we select and
interpret environmental stimuli using schemas which might not be relevant.
This could be the cause of inaccuracies in areas such as eyewitness testimony.
It can also explain some errors we make when perceiving optical illusions.
Mediational Processes
The behaviorists approach only studies external observable (stimulus and
response) behavior which can be objectively measured. They believe that
internal behavior cannot be studied because we cannot see what happens in a
person’s mind (and therefore cannot objectively measure it).
In comparison, the cognitive approach believes that internal mental behavior
can be scientifically studied using experiments. Cognitive psychology assumes
that a mediational process occurs between stimulus/input and
response/output.
The mediational (i.e., mental) event could be memory, perception, attention or

problem solving, etc. These are known as mediational processes because they
mediate (i.e., go-between) between the stimulus and the response. They come
after the stimulus and before the response.
Therefore, cognitive psychologists’ say if you want to understand behavior, you
have to understand these mediational processes.
History of Cognitive Psychology

• Kohler (1925) published a book called, The Mentality of Apes. In it he
reported observations which suggested that animals could show
insightful behavior. He rejected behaviorism in favour of an approach
which became known as Gestalt psychology.
• Norbert Wiener (1948) published Cybernetics: or Control and
Communication in the Animal and the Machine, introducing terms such
as input and output.
• Tolman (1948) work on cognitive maps – training rats in mazes, showed
that animals had an internal representation of behavior.
• Birth of Cognitive Psychology often dated back to George Miller’s (1956)
“The Magical Number 7 Plus or Minus 2.”
• Newell and Simon’s (1972) development of the General Problem Solver.
• In 1960, Miller founded the Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard with
the famous cognitivist developmentalist, Jerome Bruner.
• Ulric Neisser (1967) publishes "Cognitive Psychology", which marks the
official beginning of the cognitive approach.
• Process models of memory Atkinson & Shiffrin’s (1968) Multi Store
Model.
• The cognitive approach is highly influential in all areas of psychology
(e.g., biological, social, Behaviorism, developmental, etc.).
Critical Evaluation
B.F. Skinner criticizes the cognitive approach as he believes that only external
stimulus-response behavior should be studied as this can be scientifically
measured.
Therefore, mediation processes (between stimulus and response) do not exist
as they cannot be seen and measured. Skinner continues to find problems with
cognitive research methods, namely introspection (as used by Wilhelm Wundt)
due to its subjective and unscientific nature.
Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers believes that the use of laboratory
experiments by cognitive psychology have low ecological validity and create an
artificial environment due to the control over variables. Rogers emphasizes a
more holistic approach to understanding behavior.
The information processing paradigm of cognitive psychology views that minds
in terms of a computer when processing information. However, although there
are similarities between the human mind and the operations of a computer
(inputs and outputs, storage systems, the use of a central processor) the
computer analogy has been criticized by many.
Such machine reductionism (simplicity) ignores the influence of human
emotion and motivation on the cognitive system and how this may affect our
ability to process information.
Behaviorism assumes that people are born a blank slate (tabula rasa) and are
not born with cognitive functions like schemas, memory or perception.
The cognitive approach does not always recognize physical (re: biological
psychology) and environmental (re: Behaviorism) factors in determining
behavior.
Cognitive psychology has influenced and integrated with many other
approaches and areas of study to produce, for example, social learning theory,
cognitive neuropsychology and artificial intelligence (AI).
Another strength is that the research conducted in this area of psychology very
often has applications in the real world.
For example, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been very effective for
treating depression (Hollon & Beck, 1994), and moderately effective for anxiety
problems (Beck, 1993). The basis of CBT is to change the way the persons
processes their thoughts to make them more rational or positive.

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What are some of the criticisms of the cognitive approach?

What are some of the assumptions of cognitive psychology?

Cognitive Approach in Psychology

By Saul McLeod, updated 2020

Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of the mind as an information

Cognitive psychology became of great importance in the mid-1950s. Several

1. Dissatisfaction with the behaviorist approach in its simple emphasis on

The emphasis of psychology shifted away from the study of conditioned

• Input processes are concerned with the analysis of the stimuli.

The information processing approach is based on a number of assumptions,

1. Information made available from the environment is processed by a series

The mediational (i.e., mental) event could be memory, perception, attention or

History of Cognitive Psychology

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