Cognitive psychology is study of how people perceive, think, remember, speak and solve problems. It is rather new discipline in psychology, than the behavioral psychology. The main aim of Cognitive Approach is to explain people’s behavior with reference to their internal mental processes.
Until the 1950s, behaviorism was the dominant school of thought in psychology. Between 1950 and 1970, the tide began to shift against behavioral psychology to focus on topics such as attention, memory, and problem solving. Often referred to as the cognitive revolution, this period generated considerable research including processing models, cognitive research methods and the first use of the term cognitive psychology.
Early psychologist in the 19th century, such as Wundt, used subjective methods to explain behavior. He believed that psychology was the science of conscious experience and that trained observers could accurately describe thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
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Peer Reviews
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Quality of writing
The Quality of Written Communication is good. There is a sound appreciation of good grammar and spelling and there is a strong, confident use of complex terminology, each one being spelt correctly also. Other than that, there is very little else to say with regards to QWC because it is clear this candidate can proof-read their coursework to ensure clarity in their written expression.
Level of analysis
The Level of Analysis is quite poor. The candidate shows an extensive knowledge of the birth of cognitive psychology and does well to briefly compare it to the previous stronghold of psychological research, behaviourism. But there is not enough emphasis on the strengths and limitations of the cognitive approach, such as, for example, the reductionist tendencies of the cognitive approach due to studies being conducted under this approach collecting primarily quantitative data; or as a strength, the candidate could use the high control most studies have, due to be conducted under laboratory conditions. Without this analysis of the approach, only points for AO1 can be awarded, and they themselves can be considered quite poor due to the lack of the poor elaboration of the studies. I recommend that the candidate take a little more time on the studies that use the cognitive approach and slightly less context so that more time can be invested where the real marks are.
Response to question
This candidate responds well to the question, which asks about the rise and development of cognitive psychology. The candidate has shown clear knowledge of the practice of psychology, though more effort could be expended on the theories, as well as the evidence for these theories. Simply mentioning the computer metaphor and touching on the studies that validate it's assumptions is not enough to get much higher than a middle/high C grade. The two studies are not explained clearly enough and are not tied to the cognitive approach explicitly enough, and there is not a sufficient amount of effort expended on the strengths and limitation of the cognitive approach. I would recommend re-evaluating what it is a question like this asks, and how it would be best to structure an answer that satisfies this.