Cognitive approach revision guide

Reliability of cognitive processes

Emotion and cognition

For each of the following questions, be able to do the following:

1. Think about which terms and/or theories would be necessary to define or explain.
2. Provide 2 - 3 studies that could be used to answer the question.
3. How would you demonstrate critical thinking relevant to the question?
4. How would different command terms lead to different responses? (SAQ: Outline,
describe, explain); ERQ (Discuss, evaluate, contrast, to what extent)

Question 1. Discuss research on reconstructive memory.

Key vocabulary /
description of theory Reconstructive memory, schema, misinformation effect

Research Brewer & Treyens (1981), Loftus & Palmer (1974), Loftus & Pickrell (1995),
Neisser & Harsch (1992), Yuille & Cutshall (1986)

Critical thinking
research is often low in ecological validity; there are ethical concerns about
instilling false memories; the research has been applied to courtrooms; not all
types of memory appear to be open to distortion; the process of "accessing
schema" cannot be observed.

Different command SAQ’s: outline, describe explain one study….

terms ERQ’s: Evaluate

Question 2. Discuss one or more biases in thinking and decision making.

Key vocabulary / Cognitive bias – systematic error in thinking that affects the decision-making
description of theory Dual process model – human cognition postulates that decision-making can
be described as a function of system 1 and system 2.
System 1 – An intuitive, experiential, affective and automatic system
System 2 – An analytical, rational system
 (Framing effect, Peak-end rule)
Anchoring bias – the tendency to rely heavily on the first piece of information
offered when making decisions.
Research Anchoring bias – Study by Tversky and Kahneman (1974)
Aim) To demonstrate the power of anchoring bias on decision-making.
Sample) High school students
Procedure) Participants in ascending condition were asked to estimate the
value of 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8 in 5 seconds and participants in descending
condition were asked to estimate the value of 8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1 in 5 seconds.
Result) Ascending group answered 512 as median, and they used 1 as an
anchor and predicted a lower value. Descending group answered 2250 as
median, and they used 8 as an anchor and predicted the bigger value. The
answer was 40320.

Critical thinking Strength) It is simple lab experiment, so it can be easily replicated.

Independent sample design was used and it reduced practice effect and
fatigue effect.
Limitation) It is highly artificial, so it has low ecological validity.
The median of data can be affected by researchers.
Use of independent sample design can cause participant variability.

Much of the research is very simplistic and lacks ecological validity; it is not clear
how an individual chooses a specific heuristic in a specific situation; there may be
factors that influence whether a heuristic is employed (e.g. expertise or self-
confidence); research is not carried out in naturalistic settings; much thought is
unconscious, so we are not aware of what we are thinking when we are doing
something - so being asked what we were thinking may result in demand
characteristics.

Different command SAQ’s: outline, describe explain one study….

terms ERQ’s: Evaluate research on….

Question 3. Discuss the influence of emotion on one cognitive process.

Key vocabulary /
description of theory Flashbulb memory, reconstructive memory

Research
Brown & Kulik (1977), Kulkofsky et al (2011), Neisser & Harsch (1992),
Sharot et al (2007),
Critical thinking There are cultural differences in flashbulb memory; it is important that
memories can be verified - it may be that the strongest memory is the
emotion, rather than the details; research is inconclusive; there is some
biological evidence for highly emotional memories being processed
differently in the brain.

Different command SAQ’s: outline, describe explain one study….

terms ERQ’s: Evaluate research on….

Question 4. Discuss ethical considerations in the study of the reliability of cognitive processes.

Key vocabulary /
description of theory You should be able to "unpack" each of the ethical considerations that you
discuss - e.g. what does "informed consent" mean?

Research Any research listed above for the reliability of memory may be used for this
question.

Critical thinking the balance between informed consent and controlling for demand
characteristics; the question of "psychological harm" in cognitive research;
the importance of debriefing when using deception.

Different command SAQ’s: outline, describe explain one ethical consideration...

terms ERQ’s: This question may only be asked with Discuss.

Question 5. Discuss the use of one or more research methods in the study of the reliability of
cognitive processes.

Key vocabulary /
description of theory You should be able to define any research methods that you choose:
experiments, observations, interviews, questionnaires, or case studies.

Research Any study could be used - for example, Loftus and Palmer for
experiments; Neisser and Harsch or Yuille & Cutshall (1986) for a case
 study; Loftus and Pickrell for interviews.

Critical thinking
The strengths and limitations of different research methods in investigating
cognition; the issue of ecological validity vs internal validity; the problem of
not being able to observe cognition directly; the ethical concerns of creating
false memories.

Different command SAQ’s: outline, describe explain one research method...

terms ERQ’s: Evaluate, Contrast

Question 6. Discuss ethical considerations in the study of emotion and cognition.

Key vocabulary / You should be able to "unpack" each of the ethical considerations that you
description of theory discuss - e.g. what does "informed consent" mean?

Research
Any research listed above for flashbulb memory may be used for this
question

Critical thinking
the balance between informed consent and controlling for demand
characteristics; the question of "psychological harm" in cognitive research;
the importance of debriefing when using deception.

Different command SAQ’s: outline, describe explain one ethical consideration.

terms ERQ’s: This question may only be asked as a discuss question.

Question 7. Discuss the use of one or more research method in the study of emotion and cognition.

Key vocabulary /
description of theory You should be able to define any research methods that you choose:
experiments, observations, interviews, questionnaires, or case studies.

Research
Any study could be used - for example, McGaugh and Cahill for an experiment;
 Brown and Kulik or Kulkoffsky for questionnaires.

Critical thinking
The strengths and limitations of different research methods in investigating
cognition; the issue of ecological validity vs internal validity; the problem of not
being able to observe cognition directly; the inability to measure the level of
emotion experienced while a memory is being created; being able to rule out
demand characteristics; the validity of fMRI scanning.

Different command SAQ’s: outline, describe explain one research method...

terms ERQ’s: Evaluate, Contrast