WJEC A Level Psychology Cognitive Approach Exam Questions

About WJEC A Level Psychology Cognitive Approach

In WJEC Unit 1 the cognitive approach treats thinking as the key to behaviour: how we take in, interpret, store and retrieve information. Beyond the three assumptions, WJEC wants you to use one of them to explain the formation of a relationship, for example how a schema about the ideal partner filters who we notice. You also evaluate either rational emotive behaviour therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy, and analyse Loftus and Palmer (1974), 'Reconstruction of automobile destruction: an example of the interaction between language and memory'. Questions tend to probe the design of both experiments, their numbers, and whether lab-based memory research tells us much about real witnesses.

What you need to know

• Schemas Organised packages of knowledge about people, objects, events and roles. They speed up processing and let us predict what will happen, but they also lead us to fill gaps with what we expect, which can distort perception and recall.
• Internal mental processes Attention, perception, memory and language happen between stimulus and response. Although they cannot be observed directly, cognitive psychologists infer them from performance in carefully controlled tasks.
• Computer analogy Like a computer, the mind receives input through the senses, processes and stores it, and produces output as behaviour. Information-processing models of memory follow this input, storage and retrieval sequence.
• Applying it to relationships Using the computer analogy: information about a new person is the input, it is processed by comparing it with stored schemas and weighing up rewards against costs, and the output is a decision to pursue the relationship. Thibaut and Kelley's (1959) social exchange theory describes this kind of mental cost-benefit calculation and the comparison level we bring from past relationships.
• Loftus and Palmer: experiment 2 150 students watched a one-minute film containing a short multiple-car crash. 50 were asked the speed when the cars 'smashed' into each other, 50 heard 'hit' and 50 were not asked about speed. A week later all were asked whether they had seen broken glass (there was none): 16 'smashed', 7 'hit' and 6 control participants said yes.
• Loftus and Palmer: experiment 1 45 students saw seven film clips of traffic accidents, then answered a critical question using one of five verbs. Mean estimates ran smashed 40.5, collided 39.3, bumped 38.1, hit 34.0 and contacted 31.8 mph, showing that wording altered the estimate.
• Rational emotive behaviour therapy Ellis argued it is not events that upset us but our beliefs about them. The ABC model links an Activating event to irrational Beliefs (often absolute 'musts') and their emotional Consequences; the therapist then Disputes the belief so the client reaches an Effective new philosophy.
• Cognitive behavioural therapy Beck's CBT targets negative automatic thoughts and the cognitive triad (negative views of self, world and future). Therapist and client work collaboratively, testing thoughts against evidence through thought diaries and behavioural experiments.

Common mistakes in Cognitive Approach

• Thinking the 'hit' group was the control in experiment 2. The control group was not asked about speed at all; 'hit' was a second experimental condition.
• Claiming experiment 1 on its own proves memory was changed. The verb might simply have biased how people answered, which is why experiment 2 was needed to show a lasting change to the memory.
• Describing schemas as purely a source of error. They are usually helpful shortcuts, and distortion happens mainly when information is ambiguous or incomplete.
• Taking the computer analogy literally. Unlike computers, people are influenced by emotion, motivation and fatigue, and the brain processes a great deal in parallel.
• Saying the CBT therapist tells clients what to think. Beck's approach relies on collaborative empiricism, with the client gathering evidence to test their own thoughts.

Try three Cognitive Approach exam-style questions