COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Cognitive psychology studies our mental processes or cognitions. These mental processes
that cognitive psychologists focus on include memory, perception, thinking and language.
The main assumption of the cognitive approach is that information received from our senses
is processed by the brain and that this processing directs how we behave or at least justifies
how we behave the way that we do.
Cognitive processes are examples of hypothetical constructs. That is, we cannot directly see
processes such as thinking but we can infer what a person is thinking based on how they
act.
Cognitive psychology has been influenced by developments in computer science and
analogies are often made between how a computer works and how we process information.
Based on this computer analogy cognitive psychology is interested in how the brain inputs,
stores and outputs information.
However we are much more sophisticated than computer systems and an important
criticism directed at the cognitive approach is that it often ignores the way in which other
factors, such as past experiences and culture influence how we process information.
Loftus and Palmer's (1974) study of eyewitness testimony demonstrates how the cognitive
process of memory can be distorted by other information supplied after an event. This
highlights that memory is not merely a tape recording but is a dynamic process which can
be influenced by many events such as leading questions. The study also shows that memory
is a dynamic process and changes to make sense of experiences.
When we behave in a particular way towards another person it is likely that we attempt to
understand how the other person is thinking and feeling. Baron-Cohen's (1997) study shows
that our behaviour can be influenced by a cognitive process called a theory of mind. Having
a theory of mind enables a person to appreciate that other people have thoughts and beliefs
that are different from their own. Baron-Cohen's study attempts to demonstrate that the
central deficit of autism is a failure to fully develop this cognitive process of a theory of
mind.
It has been argued that humans are unique in possessing the ability to communicate with
language which involves very sophisticated cognitive skills. However this argument is
challenged by the study from Savage-Rumbaugh et al. (1986) who studied the language
capabilities in pygmy chimpanzees.
A main strength of cognitive psychology is that this approach has tended to use a scientific
approach through the use of laboratory experiments. A strength of using laboratory
experiments is that they are high in control therefore researchers are able to establish
cause and effect. For example Loftus and Palmer were able to control the age of the
participants, the use of video and the location of the experiment. All participants were asked
the same questions (apart from changes in the critical words), and the position of the key
question in the second was randomised. Furthermore, such standardised experiments are
easy to test for reliability. However, as many cognitive studies are carried out in laboratory
settings they can lack ecological validity. When cognitive processes such as memory and
theory of mind are studied in artificial situations it may be difficult to generalise the findings
to everyday life.
A further strength of the cognitive approach is the useful contributions that have arisen
from this approach. For example, many modern types of therapy are based on the cognitive
approach. Understanding cognitive processes allows us to help people to improve their
cognitive processes such as memory and language. The Baron-Cohen et al. study enables
us to better understand the behaviour of people with autism, Loftus and Palmers’ study
highlights the limitations of eye-witness testimonies and the ape research may offer
strategies to help children with language difficulties to develop language or to use strategies
such as the lexigram system. Furthermore the cognitive approach has become the dominant
approach in psychology particularly since it has become allied with neurology. The cognitive
approach nowadays is often called cognitive science and is able to provide a very
sophisticated understanding of how the brain processes information.
A weakness of the cognitive approach relates to the validity of measuring cognitive
processes. We can only infer what a person is thinking and therefore the cognitive approach
relies heavily on self report measures and observation. There are a number of reasons why
we have to question the validity of self report measures and observation. For example we
can only infer that adults with autism have theory of mind difficulties from the results of the
Eyes Task or that pygmy chimps are really using language when they communicate through
a Lexigram. However, because of the developments of brain scanning techniques we are
able to record the active parts of the brain more accurately nowadays and cognitive science
is providing a more and more detailed description of how cognitive processes work. For
example, brain scanning techniques are giving great insights about how memory works.
It has been argued that a weakness of the cognitive approaches reliance on the computer
analogy leads to a reductionist and mechanistic description of experiences and behaviour.
Reductionism is the idea that complex phenomena can be explained by simpler things. The
cognitive approach often takes this narrow focus and ignores social and emotional factors
which may impact on cognition. For example, the autism study investigated just one central
cognitive deficit as an explanation for autism. However the reductionist approach does have
strengths. An advantage of the reductionist view is that by breaking down a phenomenon to
its constituent parts it may be possible to understand the whole. This type of single
mindedness has lead to some great discoveries in psychology as it has in the 'natural'
sciences.
Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology is interested in discovering the psychological processes of
development. The three core studies in this section all focus on how children develop. It is
worth noting that developmental psychologists also study adulthood too.
Samuel and Bryant's (1984) study is an example of a experiment which attempted to
criticise Jean Piaget's cognitive developmental approach to child development. Piaget's
influential approach to child development is also called the structuralist approach.
Piaget argued that younger children do not have the capabilities to think in the same way as
older children. And that children have to go through a process of cognitive development in
order to achieve the abilities of an older child or adult. Piaget believed that there are a
number of stages that all children go through in the same order. Piaget is therefore arguing
that these stages are innate.
Bandura takes a very different approach to developmental psychology. In his study of
aggression, Bandura (1961) demonstrated that children learn development from role
models. Bandura's approach is an extension of behavioural theories which emphasise the
way we learn behaviour from others, our environment, experiences and so on. Bandura was
particularly interested in the way children learn new behaviours through observing and
imitating role models.
Whereas Piaget was mainly interested in cognitive development and Bandura behavioural
development, Freud (1909) was interested in emotional development. Freud's
psychodynamic approach argued that a child's early experiences will shape its personality in
later life. He believed that all children pass through a number of psycho-sexual stages as
they develop. Freud's study of Little Hans provides a detailed account of a young boy
coming to terms with his emotional conflicts.
A main assumption therefore of the developmental approach is that cognitive, emotional
and behavioural development is an ongoing process and that such changes result from an
interaction of nature and nurture.
A strength of the developmental approach is that many studies in this area are longitudinal
which means that they do get to investigate changes and how these changes are influenced.
Freud’ study was a case study carried out over 2 years enabling the emotional development
of a young boy to be investigated in great detail. Samuel and Bryant selected a sample of
children aged from 5 years to 8.5 years old which again allowed the researchers to
investigate developmental changes in the children. Furthermore the developmental
approach enables psychologists to investigate different areas of development such as
cognitive in the Samuel and Bryant study and emotional development in Freud’s study of
Little Hans. However there is a tendency for developmental psychology to neglect adult
development. None of the three core studies in this area take a life span approach. For
example, it would be interesting to discover if adults are influenced by role models to the
same extent as children.
Another strength of the developmental approach is that it can provide useful information
about how we can better understand how children learn and deal with emotional difficulties
and therefore improve the lives of children. For example, the findings of the Samuel and
Bryant study could be used to identify and help children with cognitive developmental
difficulties and Bandura’s findings have massive implications about how adults should act in
the presence of children. Furthermore Freud’s psychodynamic approach has provided
therapies mainly through talking cures that have enabled individuals to cope with earlier
traumatic experiences.
A problem with the developmental approach is a tendency to generalise findings from often
very limited samples. The developmental approach often looks for general patterns of
development based on non representative samples. Freud, for example argued that all
children experience psychosexual stages based on case studies such as the one carried out
on little Hans and his own introspections. Samuel and Bryant generalised their findings
about cognitive development from children in one town in the UK which ignores cultural
differences relating to how children may learn in other parts of the world. However, many
studies such as the one carried out by Bandura have been replicated in other cultures again
showing the importance of role models on shaping children’s behaviour.
A further limitation with the developmental approach is the validity of measuring children’s
behaviour and thoughts. We can therefore question if psychologists are actually measuring
what they are attempting to measure especially as children may have qualitatively different
thoughts to adults. For example, Bandura’s study could be criticised for interpreting the
children’s behaviour towards the Bobo doll as aggression. Perhaps the children interpreted
their own behaviour as play. Similarly we can question Freud’s interpretation of Hans’
behaviour as the case study is really Freud's interpretations of Hans' father's interpretation
of his son's own phobia. Again this seriously reduces the validity of the study. However, the
study by Samuel and Bryant could be seen as a more valid measurement of cognitive
development as they were using tests that children in pre-schools and schools would be
familiar with and such conservation tasks on a number of different materials are recognised
ways of measuring the cognitive development of children.
Individual Differences
Psychology often makes generalisations about people. Depending upon your point of view
this can be seen as a great strength of psychology or a weakness or probably both.
It is important that we recognise that there are as many differences between people as
there are similarities
An issue that is often included in the section of individual differences is what psychologists
refer to as abnormality. However the concept of abnormality is also a highly controversial
issue. The judgement that somebody is abnormal is relative and is based on factors such as
culture, class, religion, sexuality and so on.
The study by Rosenhan (1973) challenges the ability of psychiatrists to classify abnormality.
The study by Thigpen and Cleckley (1954) also illustrates the controversy of diagnosing
multiple personality.
The study by Griffiths (1994) suggests that cognitive distortions underlie the behaviour of
regular gamblers and this may explain why some people take part in addictive behaviour
whereas other people do not.
The main assumption of the individual differences perspective is that to understand the
complexity of human behaviour and experiences it necessary to study the differences
between people rather than those things that we all have in common. For example the
individual differences approach largely focuses on things such as personality differences,
and abnormality.
A main strength of the individual differences perspective is that it can provide useful in
improving the experiences of people with mental health problems. For example the
Rosenhan study led to a revision of the way that people with mental health problems are
both diagnosed and treated. Similarly the study by Griffiths suggests that a type of
cognitive behavioural therapy may be successful with addicted gamblers.
A further strength of the individual differences approach has been the development and use
of psychometric tests to measure the differences between individuals in qualities such as
personality and intelligence. These psychometric tests provide reliable and quantitative data
which can easily be analysed and therefore similarities and differences between individuals
can be discovered. Psychometric tests were used in the study of multiple personality by
Thigpen and Cleckley and have also been used in other studies on this course such as in the
BBC experiment. However, not all tests are reliable and objective. For example, the
projective tests used by Thigpen and Cleckley have little evidence to suggest that they are
reliable and rely upon the subjective interpretation of the researcher.
A weakness of the individual differences approach is a reliance on dispositional explanations
at the expense of situational explanations. That is the individual differences approach
explains individual differences as resulting from a person’s own characteristics or disposition
and has a tendency to ignore external factors such as the situation a person is in. For
example many of Eve’s difficulties could also be explained by the expectations of being a
wife in the US in the 1950s. The study by Rosenhan does highlight the weakness of this
dispositional approach by showing how the behaviour of the pseudopatients was
misinterpreted as being a consequence of their supposed illness when it was in fact a result
of the hospital environment.
A further issue related to the individual differences approach is the ethical issues raised with
labelling people as being different. The tendency to label people as being different,
abnormal and so on can have a negative effect on individuals. Rosenhan was particularly
critical about both the reliability of labelling and the negative effects such labelling has on
the person. Furthermore such labels particularly negative ones can lead to a self fulfilling
prophecy in which expectations about a person (or a group of people) can come true simply
because of those expectations.
Physiological Psychology
Physiological psychology focuses on the relationship between our biological makeup and our
behaviour and experiences.
This area of psychology can be very convincing. For example we do know that the structure
of our nervous system (including our brains) and the action of chemicals can have an effect
on our behaviour. However, an important question is how much does our biology affect us?
Some physiological psychologists take a reductionist argument to answer the above
question. That is, they argue that behaviour and experiences can be explained in terms of
brain structure and chemicals. This reductionist argument has lead to such psychologists
making great discoveries, for example, in the affect of drugs on mood and behaviour.
However, other psychologists (including many physiological psychologists) take the view
that we cannot explain complex human behaviour and experience just in terms of brain
structure and chemicals. There are other psychological variables which need to be
considered, for example, such as how we act alone compared to how we behave in groups.
The study by Magure et al. (2000) investigates the relationship between a structure of the
brain called the hippocampus and memory.
Dement and Kleitman's (1957) study investigates what happens when we sleep and Sperry
(1968) investigates the behaviour and experiences of people who have had their brains
separated into two halves.
The main assumption of the physiological approach is therefore that behaviour and
experience can be explained by physiological changes. This approach investigates the brain,
the nervous system and other biological factors such as hormones.
A main strength of the physiological approach is the use of sophisticated equipment such as
MRI scanners which provide an objective and precise way of measuring brain structure. For
example in the Maguire et al. study the researchers were able to scan living brains using
MRI technology which enabled the researchers to gain lots of quantitative and objective
data about the density of the grey matter of the hippocampus. Furthermore the
physiological approach takes a scientific approach using laboratory type experiments. For
example in the Dement and Kleitman study of sleep and dreaming the participants were
studied under tightly controlled conditions.
A further strength of the physiological approach is the practical applications that it offers.
Much of the research in this area is very useful as it may be used to diagnose and develop
treatments and therapies for illnesses or problems. For example, Maguire et al. suggested
that their study has implications for those who have suffered brain injury or disease because
they demonstrate the plasticity of the brain, and Dement in later studies has demonstrated
the importance of sleep in relation to mental health. However, the main applications of the
physiological approach have been the development of anti-depressant drugs which are more
controversial partly because of the side effects that may occur. Furthermore, the idea that
changing a chemical in the brain will bring about changes in complex emotions is a
reductionist one as depression probably involves other life events.
A problem with the physiological approach is that by using such a scientific approach and
testing behaviour in laboratory conditions the measurement of behaviour often lacks
validity. For example, Dement and Kleitman measured sleep in laboratory conditions which
is not typical of how people normally sleep. Therefore asking people to sleep with electrodes
attached to their scalp and face is low in ecological validity. Similarly Sperry’s participants
were asked to complete unusual tasks which again are not typical of everyday behaviours.
However the use of this laboratory approach does mean that the researchers have more
control of their procedures ensuring that extraneous variables can be controlled
A further problem with the physiological approach is that because such studies can be costly
and time consuming because of the use of sophisticated equipment and lengthy procedures.
This often leads to such studies having small samples such as the Dement and Kleitman
study which only studied 5 participants in depth. It is possible to argue that such a sample
is not representative and therefore we should be careful generalising the results.
Furthermore, Sperry was only able to 11 participants because he had a very limited number
of participants to choose from, that is participants who had undergone disconnection of the
cerebral hemispheres. However the increasing availability of MRI scanners is enabling
researchers such as Maguire to increase their sample sizes and in subsequent studies
Maguire et al. have been able to scan the brains of many more participants enabling the
researchers to have a large database of many more brain scans to choose from.
Social Psychology
Social psychology (or the social approach) is interested in studying individuals in a social
context, such as family, friends, institutions, and wider society. Social behaviour may
involve activity within a group or between groups.
According to social psychologists our behaviour is influenced by the actual, imagined or
implied presence of others.
One of the debates in psychology is whether an individual's behaviour is a result of their
personality or their social context. As you will see from looking at the three core studies in
this section of the course, the authors of the studies emphasise the importance of the social
context in shaping behaviour.
The social influence which the Milgram study (1963) is concerned with is the demands of an
authority figure.
The study by Reicher and Haslam (2006) demonstrates the importance of how social
identity influences our behaviour.
The field experiment carried out by Piliavin, Rodin and Piliavin (1969) examines the social
influences on the decisions we make about whether we help people in emergency situations.
A main strength of social psychology is the attempt to use real life situations when studying
behaviour. Because social psychology is interested in human interaction this is best studied
in real situations where participants have the opportunity to interact such as with the field
experiment method used by Piliavin et al. or a simulated situation such as that carried out
by Haslam and Reicher. Field experiments are experiments carried out in a real world
situation. Field experiments are usually high in ecological validity and may avoid demand
characteristics as the participants are unaware of the experiment. Simulated situations such
as the BBC prison study are high in experimental realism because even though the situation
is not high in ecological validity the participants still did believe in the situation. However
with field experiments it is not possible to have the same level of control as with laboratory
experiments. When laboratory experiments though are used by social psychologists such as
the experiment carried out by Milgram we have to be careful generalising the findings as
participants may behave differently in the real world.
Another strength of the social approach is the contributions it makes about understanding
social behaviour. Social psychology makes useful applications because it can explain and
even offer solutions to problems in the real world. For example, Haslam and Reicher
demonstrate how the breakdown of groups can lead to conditions under which tyranny can
flourish and Milgram identifies many situational factors which can lead to obedience.
However we do have to recognise that studies which measure social behaviour may be
specific to the time they were done. For example obedience rates in the 1960s might be
different to obedience rates in the noughties.
A problem which arises when studying social behaviour relates to ethics. It is difficult to
study social behaviour without negatively affecting the participants in the study. Nowadays
psychologists have strict ethical guidelines which they should follow when conducting
studies. The Milgram study is often criticised for the way in which participants may have
been harmed in the study. For example it can be argued that Milgram did not take adequate
measures to protect his participants from the stress and emotional conflict they
experienced. However, the ethical guidelines that psychologists nowadays must follow were
not introduced when Milgram carried out his study and Milgram did not expect the results
that he found. Reicher and Haslam did anticipate that their study could have a negative
effect on their participants but ensured that their study was monitored by independent
psychologists and believed that their study demonstrates that large scale social
psychological studies can be ethical.
A further problem with the social approach is related to the generalisability of the findings.
The social approach attempts to make generalisations about social behaviour but often the
samples used are very restricted. Both the Milgram study and the study by Reicher and
Haslam were carried out on male participants and therefore we would have to be careful
generalising these findings to females. Furthermore both of these studies used a self-
selected sampling technique which may mean that participants who volunteer may not be
representative of the target population for a number of reasons. For example, they be more
obedient, more motivated to take part in studies and so on. This is in contrast to the Piliavin
et al. study where participants were an opportunity sample of males and females.
