Contemporary Issues

The Cognitive Approach

Aidan Sammonswww.psychlotron.org.uk

Contemporary Issues

‘Students should be able to…explain one contemporary issue or debate using terminology or ideas drawn from the cognitive approach’.

Edexcel AS Psychology Specification

Identify key concepts from the approach

Be able to explain them

Be able to apply them to real world situations or problems

Cognitive Concepts Information processingSchema driven processingReconstructive memoryFalse memory syndrome

Information Processing

OutputInput Processing

Storage

Input Processes

Keyboard Mouse Scanner Camera Microphone

Vision Hearing Touch Smell Taste

Computer Mind

Output Processes

Screen Projector Printer Loudspeaker

Behaviour Speech

Computer Mind

Human Information Processing

BehaviourSenses Cognition

Memory

Cognitive Processes

Perception:

interpreting incoming sensory

information

Attention:

selecting information for further processing

Thinking:

sorting, combining, modifying

information

Memory

The Importance of Memory Not just a store for

information Influences what is

selected How it is interpreted Actively involved in

all aspects of cognition

Limits of the Computer Metaphor

Processes information passively

Nonsense in, nonsense out

Processes information actively

Tries to make sense of information

Nonsense in, sense out

Computer Mind

Computer Information Processing

BANG!Can you wreck a

nice beach?

Human Information Processing

Yes. I can

recognise speech.

Can you wreck a

nice beach?

Schema Driven Processing Knowledge is

organised into schemas

Schemas allow us to make sense of information

Making sense of information can distort it

Schema Driven Processing

‘Pickaxe’

‘Turf cutter’

Input OutputSchema

Bartlett (1932)

Reconstructive MemoriesSchemas are used to reconstruct

memoriesWe attempt to recall things so they

make as much sense as possibleBiases, errors and alterations in

schemas can result in distortions of memory

Reconstructive Errors Loftus conducted

research in which people were deliberately misinformed about what they had seen

She showed that it was possible to alter people’s memories

Key Cognitive Ideas The mind is compared to a computer, with

inputs, processes and outputs Unlike a computer, the mind is both active

and selective in the way it processes information

Schemas are used to interpret experiences and reconstruct memories

Alterations and biases in schemas can affect the accuracy of memory

Alien Abduction

The Truth Is In There

Alien Abduction Experiences

Abduction occurs at night

Abductee is conscious but immobilised

Aliens carry out medical investigation

Elements of sexual molestation

Three Possibilities ‘Abductees’ have

really been kidnapped by aliens.

‘Abductees’ are lying.

‘Abductees’ believe themselves to have been kidnapped by aliens when they actually haven’t.

Occam’s Razor

‘When two competing theories purport to explain the same phenomenon, in the absence of evidence, prefer the simpler one’

McNally (2003) Tested abductees’

physiological responses to hearing about trauma.

Increased heart rate, sweating etc.

Same responses as combat veterans, car crash survivors victims of violent crime.

Abductees are genuinely traumatised.

Abductee StoriesAbductees have probably not been

kidnapped by aliensThey do not appear to be lying Therefore, it is possible that they have

constructed false memories of alien abduction

Creating False MemoriesRequires a person to believe that

something happened, when it did not.This understanding becomes part of

that person’s schematic understanding.As a result, they may spontaneously

‘recall’ a memory that is actually false.

Loftus & Pickrell (1995) PPs’ relatives

interviewed to help construct a plausible story about getting lost on a shopping trip

PPs interviewed (twice) and asked to recall additional information about the event

Loftus & Pickrell (1995)With repeated discussion, the ‘memory’

was accepted as true by some of the PPs

7 out of 24 accepted the memory and were able to ‘recall’ additional information

Loftus (2001) PPs shown fake advert

of Bugs Bunny at Disneyland

Asked if they remembered meeting ‘Bugs’ on childhood visits to Disneyland

35% reported doing so Impossible, because

Bugs Bunny is a Warner Bros character

Characteristics of Abductees Pre-existing ‘New

Age’ beliefs (astral projection, tarot cards etc.)

Score highly on measures of fantasy/absorption

Episodes of sleep paralysis

McNally (2003)

Sleep ParalysisOccurs on waking from REM sleepBody remains paralysed after waking30% of population experience it at some

time5% of people also experience

hypnopopic hallucinationsThey continue dreaming, despite being

awake

Alien Abduction Memories

Construction of alien abduction

memory

Frightening experience of

sleep paralysis

Prior belief in alien abduction

(schemas)

Input from other believers & ‘abductees’

Attempt to make sense of

experience

McNally (2003)

Alien Abduction MemoriesThe person experiences sleep paralysisThey also experience hypnopopic

hallucinationsThey are motivated to make sense of a

frightening experienceTo do so, they draw on schematic ideas

of alien abductions

Alien Abduction Memories Contact with other ‘abductees’ reinforces their

belief in the experience and encourages the development of detail in the memory

In some cases, therapists facilitate this process. The resulting memory is real enough to cause

trauma, even though it does not correspond to real events.

Alien abduction experiences are an example of false memory syndrome

Or are they?