How does the cognitive approach explain behaviour through internal mental processes, the computer analogy and schemas?
The cognitive approach: assumptions (information processing/computer analogy, internal mental processes, schemas), the named therapy (cognitive behavioural therapy), application to behaviour, and evaluation. AS content.
An Eduqas A-Level Psychology answer to the cognitive approach in Component 1. Covers the assumptions (the computer analogy, internal mental processes and schemas), cognitive behavioural therapy as the named treatment, applications to behaviour, and a balanced evaluation for the Past to Present paper.
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What this dot point is asking
The cognitive approach is the fourth of the five approaches in Component 1, and it is AS content. You must know its assumptions, its named therapy (cognitive behavioural therapy), how it applies to behaviour, and how to evaluate it.
The answer
Assumptions
The named therapy: CBT
Application to behaviour
The approach explains behaviour through cognition. Depression can be explained by Beck's negative triad (negative views of the self, the world and the future) and by faulty schemas. Eyewitness memory can be distorted by schemas and leading questions (linking to Bartlett and to the eyewitness-testimony debate). The approach underpins cognitive explanations and CBT-based treatments across Component 3 behaviours such as addiction and criminal behaviour.
Evaluation
- Scientific. Controlled experiments test models of memory, attention and thinking, giving replicable evidence.
- Useful applications. CBT is the leading treatment for depression and anxiety.
- Allows for the mind. Includes the mental processes behaviourism ignored, giving a fuller account.
- Mechanistic. The computer analogy can ignore emotion and motivation, oversimplifying the mind.
- Artificial and inferred. Lab tasks (word lists) lower ecological validity, and mental processes are inferred rather than observed, so the inferences may be wrong.
Examples in context
Example 1. Why CBT follows from the assumptions. Because the approach assumes faulty internal thinking causes distress, the therapy works by changing that thinking. CBT is a direct application of the internal-mental-processes assumption, which is why Eduqas pairs each approach with a matching therapy.
Example 2. The contrast with the behaviourist approach. The behaviourist approach treats the mind as a black box and explains depression through learning and reinforcement; the cognitive approach opens the box and explains the same depression through faulty schemas and the negative triad. Comparing them shows the shift from explaining behaviour by external conditioning to by internal cognition.
Try this
Q1. Explain the computer analogy used in the cognitive approach. [3 marks]
- Cue. The mind is modelled as an information processor: information is taken in (input), processed and stored, and turned into a response (output), like a computer.
Q2. Explain how CBT is used to treat depression. [3 marks]
- Cue. CBT identifies negative automatic thoughts and cognitive distortions, challenges them with evidence, and replaces them with more realistic thoughts, supported by behavioural tasks.
Q3. State one weakness of the cognitive approach. [2 marks]
- Cue. It can be mechanistic (the computer analogy ignores emotion and motivation) or it relies on artificial lab tasks with low ecological validity, and mental processes are inferred rather than observed.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC Eduqas exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Eduqas 20188 marksDescribe the assumptions of the cognitive approach. [8 marks]Show worked answer →
A description item (AO1). Eduqas rewards each assumption named and explained.
The cognitive approach assumes behaviour is governed by internal mental processes. Three assumptions:
(1) The computer analogy: the mind works like a computer, taking in information (input), processing it, storing it, and producing a response (output), so human cognition can be modelled as information processing.
(2) Internal mental processes mediate behaviour: between a stimulus and a response, the mind actively processes information through attention, perception, memory and thinking, so behaviour cannot be explained by stimulus-response alone.
(3) Schemas: we organise knowledge into mental frameworks (schemas) built from experience, which guide how we interpret and remember information; schemas aid efficiency but can cause distortion and bias.
Markers reward each assumption named, explained and ideally illustrated.
Eduqas 202112 marksEvaluate the cognitive approach in psychology. [12 marks]Show worked answer →
A balanced evaluation (AO3) reaching a judgement.
Strengths: it is scientific, using controlled experiments to test models of memory, attention and thinking, and it has produced reliable, replicable evidence; it has highly successful applications, especially CBT, the leading treatment for depression and anxiety; and it allows for mental processes that behaviourism ignored, giving a fuller account of behaviour.
Weaknesses: it can be reductionist and mechanistic, comparing the rich human mind to a computer and ignoring emotion and motivation; it often relies on artificial laboratory tasks (for example word lists), lowering ecological validity; and because mental processes are inferred rather than observed, the inferences may be wrong.
A strong answer concludes that the cognitive approach is rigorous and clinically powerful but risks oversimplifying the mind and uses artificial tasks. Markers reward developed points with a judgement.
Related dot points
- The biological approach: assumptions (genes, brain structure and localisation, neurochemistry, evolution), the named therapy (drug therapy/chemotherapy), application to behaviour, and evaluation. AS content.
An Eduqas A-Level Psychology answer to the biological approach in Component 1. Covers the four assumptions (genes, brain structure and localisation, neurochemistry and evolution), drug therapy as the named treatment, applications to behaviour, and a balanced evaluation for the Past to Present paper.
- The behaviourist approach: assumptions (blank slate, classical conditioning, operant conditioning), the named therapy (aversion therapy/systematic desensitisation), application to behaviour, and evaluation. AS content.
An Eduqas A-Level Psychology answer to the behaviourist approach in Component 1. Covers the assumptions (blank slate, classical conditioning via Pavlov, operant conditioning via Skinner), aversion therapy as the named treatment, applications to behaviour, and a balanced evaluation for the Past to Present paper.
- The psychodynamic approach: assumptions (unconscious mind, tripartite personality, psychosexual stages, defence mechanisms), the named therapy (psychoanalysis/dream analysis), application to behaviour, and evaluation. A2 content.
An Eduqas A-Level Psychology answer to the psychodynamic approach in Component 1. Covers the assumptions (the unconscious, the id-ego-superego, psychosexual stages and defence mechanisms), psychoanalysis as the named treatment, applications to behaviour, and a balanced evaluation for the Past to Present paper.
- The positive approach: assumptions (free will and the good life, focus on the positive, the three pillars, signature strengths and the role of flow), the named applications (mindfulness, building signature strengths), and evaluation. A2 content.
An Eduqas A-Level Psychology answer to the positive approach in Component 1. Covers the assumptions (free will, the good life, the three pillars and signature strengths), mindfulness and strengths-based interventions as the named applications, and a balanced evaluation for the Past to Present paper.
- Classic research for the cognitive approach: Bartlett (1932), War of the Ghosts (reconstructive memory and schemas). Aim, method, results, conclusions and evaluation.
An Eduqas A-Level Psychology answer to the classic cognitive research, Bartlett (1932), War of the Ghosts. Covers the aim, the repeated and serial reproduction method, how recall was distorted by schemas, the conclusion that memory is reconstructive, and a balanced evaluation.
Sources & how we know this
- Eduqas GCE A Level in Psychology (A290) specification — Eduqas (2015)