Transcript Contemporary Issues - psychlotron.org.uk

Contemporary Issues
The Cognitive Approach
www.psychlotron.org.uk
Aidan Sammons
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
processing
 Schema driven processing
 Reconstructive memory
 False memory syndrome
Information Processing
Input
Processing
Storage
Output
Input Processes
Computer

Keyboard
 Mouse
 Scanner
 Camera
 Microphone
Mind

Vision
 Hearing
 Touch
 Smell
 Taste
Output Processes
Computer

Screen
 Projector
 Printer
 Loudspeaker
Mind

Behaviour
 Speech
Human Information
Processing
Senses
Cognition
Memory
Behaviour
Cognitive Processes
Memory
Perception:
Attention:
Thinking:
interpreting
incoming
sensory
information
selecting
information
for further
processing
sorting,
combining,
modifying
information
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
Computer

Processes
information
passively
 Nonsense in,
nonsense out
Mind

Processes
information actively
 Tries to make sense
of information
 Nonsense in, sense
out
Computer Information
Processing
Can you
wreck a
nice
beach?
BANG!
Human Information
Processing
Can you
wreck a
nice
beach?
Yes. I can
recognise
speech.
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
Input
Schema
‘Pickaxe’
‘Turf cutter’
Bartlett (1932)
Output
Reconstructive Memories
 Schemas
are used to reconstruct
memories
 We attempt to recall things so they
make as much sense as possible
 Biases, 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 Stories
 Abductees
have probably not been
kidnapped by aliens
 They do not appear to be lying
 Therefore, it is possible that they have
constructed false memories of alien
abduction
Creating False Memories
 Requires
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 Paralysis
 Occurs
on waking from REM sleep
 Body remains paralysed after waking
 30% of population experience it at some
time
 5% of people also experience
hypnopopic hallucinations
 They continue dreaming, despite being
awake
Alien Abduction Memories
Frightening
experience of
sleep paralysis
Attempt to make
sense of
experience
Construction of
alien abduction
memory
Prior belief in
alien abduction
(schemas)
Input from other
believers &
‘abductees’
McNally (2003)
Alien Abduction Memories
 The
person experiences sleep paralysis
 They also experience hypnopopic
hallucinations
 They are motivated to make sense of a
frightening experience
 To do so, they draw on schematic ideas
of alien abductions
Alien Abduction Memories
Or are they?
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
