COGNITIVE APPROACH

Component One: Psychology – Past to Present

2023-24
Leyton Sixth Form College
Tracy Dawson and Iqra Qureshi
CONTENTS

Background Information 02
Section One- Assumptions
Assumptions-Computer Analogy 03
Assumptions- Internal Mental processes 04
Assumptions- Schemas 05
Section Two- Therapy
Therapy- Link to Assumptions 07
Components of CBT 08
Evaluation of Effectiveness 08
Evaluation of Ethics 09
Section Three-Classic Research
Methodology/procedure 10
Results 12
Evaluation 13
Social and Ethical Implications 15
Section Four- Debate
Eye Witness Testimony 17
Leading Questions 17
The role of Emotion 18
Reliability of Children 19
Overall Evaluation/conclusion 21
Section Five- Evaluation of the Cognitive Approach
Strengths & weaknesses of the cognitive approach 22
Sample Questions 25

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 Section One - Background Information

What is an Approach in Psychology?

An ‘approach’ is a way of addressing the problem of explaining behaviour.
Different psychologists prefer different approaches in the same way one
person may be politically liberal and someone else is conservative. We all find
that different things make sense. In terms of psychology, the situation is not
as straightforward, as most people might favour one kind of approach when
explaining, say, aggression, whereas they may favour another approach when
offering an account of why some individuals develop mental disorders.
No single explanation is ‘right’ and no one explanation is right for every
behaviour. Each of them is appropriate in different context and many of them
can be used together. They form part of the psychologist’s ‘toolkit’. In
studying the subject, you may find that you have preferences on certain
approaches based on what makes sense to you.
History of the Cognitive Approach
The emphasis of the cognitive approach is on how thinking shapes our
behaviour quite the opposite of the behavioural approach where the concept
of the mind was banished from any explanations. The cognitive approach is
more recent than other approaches, emerging in the 1950s along with the
information processing/computer revolution. Cognitive psychologists explain
all behaviour in terms of thoughts, beliefs and attitudes, and study how these
direct our behaviour, i.e. they look at the internal processes of the mind. The
cognitive approach does not recognise the influence of nature or nurture in
its assumptions. For example, the cognitive approach has done research into
intelligence but has not looked at the influence of genes in its research or
environmental factors (such as wealth) that could influence intelligence.
Overview of the Cognitive Approach
Key Features Basic Assumptions Areas of Application Methodology
•Internal and external •Computer Analogy •Relationships •Lab Experiments
processes •Internal Mental •CBT •Scans
• Scientist methods Processes •Eyewitness •Ethical
• Nomothetic (studies •Schemas Testimony considerations
the group) • Research • Reliability and
•Reductionist validity of research

All Psychological approaches have assumptions. Assumptions are ideas that

underpin the ideas and beliefs of a certain approach. The following three
assumptions are the ideas that cognitive psychologists argue are true about
human behaviour.

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Section Two - Assumptions

Assumption One: Computer Analogy

Cognitive psychologists suggest that the human mind works in a similar way to a
computer. A computer will receive an input, for example, from a keyboard, process
it, through display and storage, and then output, recalling a document previously
saved. The human mind works in a similar manner.
Our senses work as an input, information is then
stored and then retrieved when needed.

Imagine your teacher is teaching you about the

computer analogy. You listen to their explanation
(input), rehearse it (process), and then when asked a
question by your teacher you recall it (output).
During the process stage, we actively use the
cognitive process of perception, language, attention,
memory and so on. Therefore, the key ideas are
input, process, and output.

Computer Analogy: Psychological Examples

Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968)

devised the multi-store model of
memory. They suggested that
there are three stores of memory.
The first store is sensory memory.
This lasts for only a fraction of a
second and involves input from
your various senses, e.g., hearing
a noise outside the classroom. If
you pay attention to the input,
then the information moves to
short term memory. This lasts for
around 30 seconds and can hold between 5-9 items. If the noise you heard was
interesting or different you may pay attention to it, so it will move to short term
memory. Rehearsing this information will result in the information moving to long
term memory. If you frequently think about the noise you heard, then it will be
moved to long term memory. If information is needed, then it is retrieved from long
term memory. So, the sensory memory works as an input, paying attention and
rehearsal are forms of processing and retrieval is an example of output.

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 Computer Analogy: Link to Human Behaviour – Schizophrenia
(Use these examples in an assumptions question, which asks for ‘link to human
behaviour’)

The computer analogy assumption can be linked to applied to schizophrenia because

it is thought be because of problems with cognitive processes such as, perception,
language or attention. Frith (1979) proposed that core positive symptoms can be
explained by difficulties inhibiting preconscious content. Normally our senses
receive a tremendous amount of information from our environment, this information
reaches our awareness, and we interpret it (in our preconscious). The ‘best fit’ of the
incoming information gets pushed into our consciousness, allowing us to make sense
of the information BUT schizophrenics unable to effectively filter our non-pertinent
information and have inability to focus – causes disordered thought…can also
account for hallucinations, delusions, and disorganised speech.

Assumption Two: Internal Mental Processes

This assumption suggests that humans use cognitive processes to make sense of the
world around them. Cognitive psychologists suggest that we use our senses to collect
information from the outside world, e.g., touch, and then we use internal mental
processes to interpret this information. Examples of these processes are memory,
language, attention, decision making and perception. These processes all work
together for us to understand the world, these processes all occur very quickly and
often are automatic processes. For example, if a friend asks you a question you will
first pay attention to what is being said, use language processing to interpret the
sounds, then call on your memory to recall relevant information and then formulate
an answer.

Internal Mental Processes: Psychological

Examples

To study internal mental processes, psychologists

use introspection, this is when a participant
describes how a task/stimulus makes them feel. To
help you understand the concept of introspection
give yourself a task to complete, e.g., drawing a
picture of a dog. As you are doing this, say aloud
what you are thinking/feeling. This will give you the experience of what introspection
is and the difficulties of using it. Griffiths (1994) asked participants to use
introspection when playing on a fruit machine. Griffiths was interested in the
processes that gamblers and non-regular gamblers made. Participants were asked to
‘think aloud’ (say everything they were thinking). They found that regular gamblers
made more irrational verbalisations than non-regular gamblers.

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 Internal Mental Processes: Link to Human Behaviour – Addictive
Behaviour
(Use these examples in an assumptions question, which asks for ‘link to human
behaviour’)
Internal mental processes can be applied to understand addictive behaviour because
gamblers have more irrational mental though processes compared to non-gamblers.
For example, gamblers have high levels of self-serving bias. this is the tendency of
gamblers to attribute any wins to internal causes such as their own skills, and any
losses to external factors such as bad luck. This helps them to feel it is not their
fault if they lose and they should therefore continue gambling.
In addition, they are likely to have illusion of control bias whereby many gamblers
will falsely believe that if they can control some aspects of the process then their
chances of success will be improved. For example, they believe they might win if
they choose a particular seat at the roulette table or throw the dice in a particular
way.

Assumption Three: Schemas

Schemas can be described as knowledge packets of information. Schemas are how
our mind stores information in long term memory. If you think about any category
of knowledge, then your schema for that subject will be activated. For example, think
about sports. You have now opened your sports schema. Your sports schema is a
changeable filing cabinet of stored information. It may contain types of sport,
memories you have of playing sports, and anything else you think about when you
think about sport. Schemas can change with experience. If you learn a new fact (and
rehearse it, this links back to internal mental processes) than your schema will adapt.
This experience could be based on personal interactions, e.g., a chat with a friend or
interaction with various media. This means that your schemas are not necessarily
factual. Your friend may tell you something that you then store in your schema, but
his information may not necessarily be true, e.g., a false rumour. Schemas come in a
variety of forms. The concept of scripts is a popular idea in schemas. These are how
we expect certain situations to unfold. Most people have very similar scripts for
social situations, e.g., that when entering a restaurant, you first wait to be seated and
it ends by paying the bill.
Schemas: Psychological Examples
The halo effect suggests that if our schema for an individual contains positive
impressions, e.g., the person is friendly, then we are more likely to believe they have
other positive characteristics as well, e.g., they are also intelligent. Dion et al (1972)
famously found that individuals who were judged to be physically attractive were
also judged to be more competent romantic partners, more successful in their careers
and possess other positive attributes. Therefore, the schema assumption would
suggest that we may enter romantic relationship with other people we find physically
attractive as we also believe they have other positive characteristics as well.

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 Schemas: Link to Human Behaviour – Criminal Behaviour
(Use these examples in an assumptions question, which asks for ‘link to human behaviour’)

Hostile Attribution Bias is a form of a Negative Schema

 The assumption of schemas can be applied to understand criminal behaviour as criminals
may have hostile attribution bias which is a form of negative schema. A hostile attribution
bias is when someone has a leaning towards always thinking the worst, such as if someone
smiles at you, you think that the person is thinking bad thoughts about you. Such negative
interpretations lead to aggressive behaviour. This is when events are perceived as hostile
even when they are non-threatening and results in aggressive behaviour. The root cause of
this hostility is negative schemas which lead to misinterpretation of social interactions.

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Section Three – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Applying the cognitive approach to therapy (link to assumption

The cognitive approach suggests that normal behaviour is a result of rational

thoughts. An individual’s internal mental processes will all work together to form a
rational view of the world. Therefore, abnormal behaviour is a result of irrational
thought patterns. It is the processing part of the computer analogy where faulty
thought patterns are created. For example, abnormal behaviour may occur if an
individual overhears a friend saying something negative about them and now the
individual feels that all people dislike them. The aim of CBT is to challenge and
change these irrational thought patterns. A CBT therapist would discuss the
individual’s thoughts and feelings about events. The therapist would help the client
to think rationally about their thoughts, e.g., by asking the client to provide evidence
for an irrational thought. CBT will equip the individual with skills and techniques to
challenge their irrational thoughts with rational ones. Once this is done, then the
individual will replace the abnormal behaviour with normal ones.

MAIN COMPONENTS (PRINCIPLES)

CBT aims to replace faulty thought patterns of clients. CBT

works by trying to combat both the cognitive and the
behavioural aspects of the client’s behaviour.

For the cognitive aspect, the key feature is to replace faulty

thought patterns, this is often done through cognitive
restructuring. For example, if a client said that no one liked
them at work the therapist would challenge this. They may
ask them to provide evidence that this is the case. Might it be
that one isolated incident may be causing the client to think in this irrational way?
This is an example of overgeneralisation, the client may have taken one incident and
overgeneralised to other people/areas of their life.

For the behavioural aspect, a therapist will engage the client in role play or set
homework (reality testing). This allows the client to put into practice the ideas they
have discussed in the cognitive section.

Aaron Beck suggested that CBT could be used to break the negative cognitive triad
that depressed individuals have. The negative triad is a cycle which involves
individuals having a negative view of themselves, the world around them and the
future. CBT aims to break this cycle of negativity.

One technique that CBT uses is the dysfunctional thought diary. This forms part of
a client’s homework. A client will record negative thoughts and the events that have
preceded the negative thoughts. The client will then rate their belief in these
thoughts, this takes the form of a percentage. A rational response is then written
next to this and finally, the client rates their belief again. For example, the client may
record that they are struggling to see success in their future. The events that
preceded this may be a bad day at work due to arguing with a colleague. They may
state they believe this to be 100% true. After some thought a rational response is

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recorded, e.g., conflict at work happens. The belief in these negative thoughts may
now have reduced to 30%.

Relapse prevention strategies: The therapist

and the client identify early warning indications
of relapse. These include the client identifying
thoughts, behaviours, and feelings they
experienced before becoming unwell. They are
also asked to assess how they get on with others
and what significant others may have noticed
about them before they became unwell. The
client and therapist then develop plans that could be employed when these
indicators are observed, including what the client would say to their friends
and family, what their various support options are and what things they can
also do to help themselves.

EVALUATION OF CBT

Studies to support
Support for the use of CBT is provided by Jarrett et al. (1999)
compared the effectiveness of CBT with antidepressants
(specifically Phenelzine) in 108 patients with severe
depression. Participants were randomly assigned to either the
CBT group, the antidepressants group, or the placebo group.
The study lasted 10 weeks and found that CBT was as
effective as the antidepressants and more effective than a
placebo. This supports the effectiveness of CBT as by
challenging negative thought processes had a direct impact
on reducing symptoms of depression and as effective as antidepressants and more
effective than placebos.

Another strength of CBT is that it is different from other psychotherapies in

that it is very structured and mutual and tends to be short-term
(approximately 10-24 sessions, depending on the client). Frequently the
treatment is very problem orientated and prescriptive, and individuals are
active collaborators. The short duration of 5-20 weeks makes this an appealing
therapy for some patients who struggle with a range of complex issues.
Therefore, this further supports the effectiveness of CBT.
Studies to Contradict
However, refuting evidence is provided by Kuyken and Tsivrikos (2009) who found
that therapist competence (how effective a therapist is) is associated with therapy
outcomes. 69 depressed clients were treated by 1 of 18 CBT therapists. Competence
was measured for each and those with higher competence achieved greater outcomes
for their clients. This questions the effectiveness of CBT as it is not consistently
delivered and not as rigorously regulated, in comparison to medication.

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Methodological Issues
CBT has been criticised for only dealing with the present and not examining a
patient’s personal and family history. These may be important areas to
discuss, especially as current research is now suggesting abuse may be the
stress factor that triggers the disorder. Therefore, this implies that unless the
root cause of the disorder is identified CBT is a short-term solution to possibly
treat complex disorders.
OVERALL EVALUATION: ETHICAL ISSUES
Negative Ethical Implication Patient Blame:
 Patient blame may lead to harm. Cognitive psychologists
suggest that psychological disorders are caused by
faulty thinking patterns. This suggests that a client is to
blame, as it is their thought patterns that are
contributing to their psychological issue. This would be
deemed to be unethical as it could make the patient feel worse about
themselves and increase their symptoms.
 Another ethical issue is that CBT could cause psychological harm as
patients feel embarrassed or humiliated as their thoughts might be
deemed to be irrational. This raises questions about who decides what
is rational or irrational? This can be very subjective and depressed
individuals might feel that their way of thinking is inferior. It has been
found that depressed people are far more likely to be able to perceive
things based on reality. The ‘sadder but wiser’ effect suggests that
individuals with depression may be sadder (depressed mood) but are
wiser (more accurate at predicting outcomes). It could be said that non
depressed individuals live their life with rose tinted glasses. Should CBT
be used to change thought patterns that may be more accurate?
Positive Ethical Implications
 While on the one hand, this may be a positive thing in that the therapist is
empowering the patient to change the way they think (i.e., they have free will),
there are also disadvantages to this approach. For example, important
situational factors may be overlooked which are contributing to their disorder,
such as family problems or life events that the client is not able to change.
Therefore ‘blaming’ the individual for the way they think/feel is not
necessarily always helpful because it may take other aspects of their life to
change to help them feel better. This is ethical as it can provide individuals
with some alternative perspectives.
 Another positive ethical issue of CBT is that valid consent is gained from the
patient, and they are fully aware of the structures of the sessions and the
importance of them engaging with these sessions and applying what they learn
in their lives. This is positive as people can make an informed decision of the
suitability of CBT for them. Patients can withdraw from CBT is they do find it
too challenging which reduces the chances of causing psychological harm to
them

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Section Four – Classic Research

Loftus & Palmer (1974) ‘Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction

Eyewitness Testimony: The accuracy of eyewitness is important because
their testimony can be vital to the conclusions of a jury and the outcome of
court cases. This study is about the way that the memory of an event is
influenced by the form of questions that follow the formation of that memory.
Research in the USA has shown that inaccurate eyewitness memory is the main
factor leading to false convictions. The Innocence Project claims that
eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful
convictions in the USA, playing a role in more than 75% of convictions that
were subsequently overturned through DNA testing questions.

AIM
 Loftus and Palmer’s aim was to investigate the accuracy, or inaccuracy
of memory.
 They wished to investigate the effect of leading questions on the
estimate of speed. To see if the estimates given by participants about
the speed of vehicles in a traffic accident would be influenced by the
wording of the question asked. For example, participants who were
asked how fast the cars were travelling when they ‘hit’ each other would
give different speed estimates and have different expectations from
participants asked the same question with the word ‘smashed’ instead.
 The second experiment investigated whether leading questions simply
bias a person’s response or alter the memory that is stored.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology used was an experiment conducted in a laboratory. Both

experiment 1 and experiment 2 used an independent groups/measures
design. The independent variable (IV) was the verb used (in both experiments)
and the dependent variable (DV) was estimate of speed (experiment 1) and
whether the participants saw broken glass (experiment 2). There were 45
participants in experiment 1 and 150 participants in experiment 2.

PROCEDURE

Experiment One
 45 students participated in the study
 Seven films were shown of a traffic accident, and the length of the film
segments ranged from 5-30 seconds.
 Participants received a questionnaire in which they were asked, "Give an
account of the accident you have just seen".

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  Participants were then divided into five groups of nine participants.
Each group was given a slightly different specific question about the
accident
The specific questions were
 About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?
 About how fast were the cars going when they smashed each other?
 About how fast were the cars going when they collided with each other?
 About how fast were the cars going when they bumped into each other?
 About how fast were the cars going when they contacted with each
other?
Participant estimates of speed in each group were recorded in miles per hour.

Experiment Two
The second experiment investigated whether leading
questions bias a person’s response or alter the memory
that is stored.
Part 1:
150 participants were shown a film of a multiple car crash. The actual accident
lasted less than 4 seconds. They were then divided into three groups and
asked the following:
 50 participants were asked, "How fast were the cars going when they
smashed into each other?"
 50 participants were asked "How fast were the cars going when they hit
each other?"
 The final 50 participants were a 'control' group and were not exposed
to any question.
Part 2:
One week later the participants returned and answered various questions
about the accident.
The critical question that all participants were asked was "Did you see any
broken glass?” There was no broken glass in the film but, presumably, those
who thought the car was travelling faster might expect there to have been
broken glass.

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FINDINGS
Experiment One
The mean speed estimation was calculated each
experimental group, as shown in the table below. The
group given the word ‘smashed’ estimated a higher
speed than the other groups (40.8 mph). The group given the word ‘contacted’
estimated the lowest speed (31.8).
Verb Mean Speed Estimation (mph)
Smashed 40.8
Collided 39.3
Bumped 38.1
Hit 34.0
Contacted 31.8
Experiment Two
Part 1
The findings of experiment 2 are shown in the table below. Participants gave
higher speed estimates in the ‘smashed’ condition, just like the participants
in experiment one.
Part 2
Participants returned a week later and answered further questions about the
filmed accident. The findings are shown in the table below. Participants in the
smashed condition were more than twice as likely to report seeing broken
glass as those in the group given the word ‘hit.

Broken Glass Smashed Hit Control

Yes 16 7 6
No 34 43 44

‘Yes’ and ‘No’ response to the question about broken glass

CONCLUSIONS
Leading questions (in this case a single word) can distort a witness's memory
for an event. Loftus and Palmer propose two explanations for this result:
 Response-bias factors – the different speed estimates occur because
the critical word (‘smashed’ / ‘hit’) influences or biases a person’s
response.
 The memory representation is altered – the critical word changes a
person’s memory so that their perception of the accident is affected.
Some critical words would lead someone to have a perception of the
accident having been more serious. This seemingly small change had
consequences for how questions are answered a week after the original
event occurred.

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If the second conclusion is true, we would expect participants to ‘remember’
other details that are not true. Loftus and Palmer tested this in their second
experiment. In the ‘smashed’ condition, the two pieces of information combine
to form a memory of an accident that appears quite severe and therefore
generates certain expectations, for example there is likely to be broken glass.
The findings from experiment two suggest that the effect of leading questions
is not the result of response-bias but because leading questions alter the
person has of the event.

EVALUATION

Strengths of the Method

 One strength of Loftus and Palmer research is that conducted their

research using laboratory experiments. This is a strength because high
levels of precision can be achieved because the researcher is in control
of what variables are being studied and cause and effect can be
determined. By deliberately manipulating the independent variable (the
verb used to describe the impact) we can see the causal effect on the
dependent variable (estimate of speed) and draw a causal conclusion.
 Another key strength was that that the internal reliability of this
research was high as systematic procedure was used. All students were
shown the same video clips for the same length of time, and they were
randomly allocated to different conditions of the experiment (different
verbs) therefore making the research scientific and objective and
reducing the range of confounding variables that could have impacted
the speed estimations.
 There has been considerable support for research on the effect of
misleading information. Loftus & Pickrell (1995) conducted a study
referred to as ‘lost in the mall’. They interviewed participants about
childhood events, implanting a memory about having been lost in a
shopping mall when younger (participants were told a close relative had
reported the incident). About 20% of the participants came to believe
in their false memories to such an extent that they still clung to them
even after being debriefed. This provides support for Loftus and
Palmer’s research as it demonstrated how easily memory was
manipulated which were the original findings of Loftus and Palmers
work.
 There have been positive social implications as a result of Loftus and
Palmer’s research and other evidence that has shown how easily false
memories are created has led to the development of the cognitive
interview. The interview is structured in such a way as to avoid leading
questions, and to maintain the accuracy of the EWT. In contrast to many
traditional forms of police interview a cognitive interview is interviewee
led as opposed to interviewer- led.

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Weaknesses of the Method
 One issue with Loftus and Palmer’s research is laboratory experiments
are prone to demand characteristics. These occur when the participants
try to make sense of the situation, they find themselves in or do not
want to ruin the experiment so do what is expected of them. Demand
characteristics are especially prominent during laboratory experiments
because the experimenter will stick to a tight regime, which could begin
to get monotonous. Participants in Loftus & Palmer’s study argued that
they did not want to ruin the experiment therefore they continued. This
calls into questions the internal validity of the study as changes in speed
estimations may not be due to manipulation of verbs, but rather
demand characteristics.
 By rigorously controlling the variables, an experimenter might be in
danger of creating an environment that is too artificial and therefore
lacks ecological validity. Loftus & Palmer’s research was criticised as
most types of eyewitnesses occurs in a natural environment; therefore,
it can be argued that the research lacks ecological validity. In real life
eyewitness testimony may be more accurate. For example, Foster et al
(1994) found that if participants thought they were watching a real-life
robbery, and thought their responses would influence the trial, their
identification of a robber was more accurate.
The Sample: American Students were used in each part of the study; students
may not be representative of the general population, and it is hard to
generalise results from this study to other types of people. Other groups of
people may be more/less prone to misleading information than others. For
example, they may be age differences. This may be a consequence of source
monitoring. An eyewitness typically acquires information from two sources:
from observing the event itself and from subsequent suggestions (misleading
information). Several studies (e.g., Schacter et al, 1991) have found that,
compared to younger subjects, elderly people have difficulty remembering the
source of the information, even though their memory for the information
itself is unimpaired. As a result, they become more prone to the effects of
misleading information when giving testimony.
Ethical Issues
Lack of Valid Consent: Loftus and Palmer did
not gain valid consent from their participants.
If participants had been aware of the aims of
the study this would have affected their
behaviour. They could have been aware that
the questions were ‘leading’ and more careful
in the response they gave. Therefore, the
behaviour would not reflect EWT in everyday
life and would not provide useful insights. The issue is whether such
deception is acceptable; the researchers can justify in terms of the importance
of this research. It had profound effect of our understanding of the inaccuracy
of EWT. From the participants point of view the deception can be considered
‘mild’.
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Protection from psychological harm: One of the criticisms of this study is
that the participants did not witness a real accident but, instead, watched film
clips of an accident. This meant that they may not have responded to the task
in a way an eyewitness would in a real accident. One alternative might have
been to expose participants to have a real accident. However, this might have
been very distressing, leading to psychological harm which would not
necessarily be diffused by debriefing. The emotional impact might have been
long lasting. So, this study avoided the ethical issue of psychological harm by
using film clips.

Social and Ethical Implications of Loftus & Palmer (1974) ‘Reconstruction of

Automobile Destruction

OVERVIEW
Loftus and Palmer’s research found that leading questions and use of
language effect peoples recall of information. Use of language can alter a
person’s recall of events. This has several potential social and ethical
implications.
SOCIAL POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS
Cognitive Interview
As a result of Loftus and Palmer’s research and other evidence that has shown
how easily false memories are created has led to the development of the
cognitive interview.
This is a special type of interview used by the police. The interview is
structured in such a way as to avoid leading questions, and to maintain the
accuracy of the EWT. In contrast to many traditional forms of police interview
a cognitive interview is interviewee led as opposed to interviewer- led.
Furthermore, the cognitive interview is easy to implement, as it can be taught
in a few hours, requires little theoretical knowledge and is easy to administer
(Fisher, Geiselman & Amador, 1989).
Changes in Evidence Collection
As a result of this type of research the courts and legal systems recognise that
people’s eyewitness testimony is susceptible to distortion so less importance
is placed on it. This has led police investigations to focus more on hard
evidence to help secure a conviction. The use of forensic evidence is vital and
the increased use of CCTV systems in the UK means that the unreliability of
eyewitnesses is likely to become less of a problem in the future.
Although a case could go to trail based on one eyewitness testimony, it is
unlikely to happen as research like Loftus and Palmer has demonstrated how
fragile individuals’ recollection of events are and easily distorted by false
information.

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SOCIAL NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS
Police Questioning
You can use Loftus and Palmer’s research to show how language can impact
recall. This has real implications with how police conduct interviews and may
coherence information out of individuals. Although techniques like the
cognitive interview have tried to address these problems, the share nature of
police investigations makes them vulnerable to ask misleading questions or
use certain types of words to engage the desired response. This could have
real social implications as it could lead to false convictions and perhaps the
biggest implication for unreliable eye-witness testimony is not financial, but
rather the risk society faces as the real perpetrator of the crime has been
allowed to remain free. The Innocence Project claims that eyewitness
misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions in the
USA, playing a role in more than 75% of convictions that were subsequently
overturned through DNA testing.

Financial Implications
This possibility that the use of language and misleading questions can lead
to false convictions has financial implications.
Unreliable EWT has big costs in terms of retrials and compensation to those
wrongly convicted.
The economic cost of crime in the UK are vast. Recent estimates indicated
about £124 billion per year (Institute for Economics and Peace, 2013); this
equates to 7.7% of the UK’s GDP. Some of this economic cost is due to re-trails
or compensation and this could be because of inaccurate eyewitness
testimony because of leading questions.

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Section Four – Debate: The Reliability of Eye-Witness Testimony

Background Information

The accuracy of eyewitness is important because their testimony can be vital to the
conclusions of a jury and the outcome of court cases. Howitt (2006) argues that EWT
is a highly unreliable source of information and research in the USA has shown that
inaccurate eyewitness memory is the main factor leading to false convictions. The
Innocence Project claims that eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest
cause of wrongful convictions in the USA, playing a role in more than 75% of
convictions that were subsequently overturned through DNA testing. Consequently,
it is important that sound empirical research informs the practices of the criminal
justice system to enhance the reliability of EWT (Wells, 1978). The evidence seems to
suggest that EWT is unreliable.

LEADING QUESTIONS –

One factor that could influence the reliability of EWT is the use of leading questions
by police/investigators.

Support for leading questions making EWT unreliable:

 Support is provided by Loftus & Palmer (1974) who found that the use of
language can have an impact on peoples recall. The group given the word
‘smashed’ estimated a higher speed than the other groups (40.8 mph). The
group given the word ‘contacted’ estimated the lowest speed (31.8).
 Loftus and Zanni (1975) showed participants a film of a car accident. Some
participants were asked “Did you see a broken headlight?” whereas others
were asked “Did you see the broken headlight?” 7% of those asked about a
broken headlight reported seeing one, whereas 17% asked about the headlight
reported one. (There was not one in the video). This research demonstrates
that leading questions can cause participants to remember something that was
not there.
Contradictory Evidence

 A big problem with a lot of the research into leading questions is that much
of it is highly artificial as it takes place under lab conditions. This may lead to
issues of generalizability. Yullie and Cutshall (1986) interviewed 13 people
who had witnessed a real armed robbery in Canada four months after. They
included two misleading questions. They found that the participants were not
led by the leading questions, and the accounts that they gave were very similar
to those in their initial witness statements. This possibly suggests that the
effect of leading questions is diminished in real life situations where there are
great personal consequences for the individual.

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The use of leading questions has real implications in the legal system. One
explanation offered for the inaccuracy of EWT is that questioning by police or other
officials after a crime may alter witnesses’ perception of the events and therefore
affect what they subsequently recall. When investigators or police are asking
questions of eyewitnesses it maybe that the meaning of certain words may influence
our recollection of an event and as a result it may corrupt our memory. Information
received after an event can have a retroactive interfering effect on our recollection;
in other words, retroactive interference occurs when later learning interferes with
previous learning, i.e., incoming information gets integrated and confused with our
existing knowledge.

COGNITIVE INTERVIEW-SOCIAL IMPLICATION

One positive social implication of research into leading questions is that it has led to
the development of the cognitive interview. This is a special type of interview used
by the police. The interview is structured in such a way as to avoid leading questions,
and to maintain the accuracy of the EWT. In contrast to many traditional forms of
police interview a cognitive interview is interviewee- as opposed to interviewer- led.
A review of literature suggests that the cognitive interview can produce more
accurate information compared to traditional interviews (Geiselman, 1999).
Furthermore, the cognitive interview is easy to implement, as it can be taught in a
few hours, requires little theoretical knowledge and is easy to administer (Fisher,
Geiselman & Amador, 1989). However, it takes longer to administer than traditional
interviews so the police may decide that the extra time is not warranted given the
ever-increasing demands made on them (Ainsworh, 1998).

THE ROLE OF EMOTION

When someone either witnesses or is the victim of a crime, they are liable to feel a
great deal of intense emotions, fear and anger being two main ones. These high levels
of emotion may impede or maybe improve the memory for the event.

We might expect to find that crimes where the witness is under a great deal of stress
to lead to poorer recall than lower stress crimes. However, Deffenbacher et al (2004)
performed a meta-analysis on studies of eyewitness recall and found that high stress
had a negative impact on accuracy, supporting this theory. Other evidence suggests
that recall can be improved by high levels of emotion. Further support is provided
by Christianson and Hubinette (1993) who found that witnesses to real bank
robberies who had been threatened had better recall than onlookers who were not
involved.

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Weapon Focus
The effect of emotion can be clouded if weapons are
present. Research has suggested that witnesses often focus
on a weapon at the expense of other details such as face or
clothes. This is known as weapon focus (or the weapon
effect). Loftus first proposed the weapon effect after
noticing that in a crime where a weapon is involved, it is not
unusual for a witness to be able to describe the weapon in
much more detail than the person holding it.

Support for weapon focus making EWT unreliable:

 Support is provided by Hope & Wright (2007) who

showed participants a series of slides depicting a
man entering a grocery store and withdrawing a wallet (control condition), a
feather duster (unusual condition) or a gun (weapon condition). Although
participants in the weapon condition were able to provide a more accurate and
detailed description of the object, they were less accurate at describing other
details of the event.
 Further support is provided by Johnson and Scott (1978) who found that
participants recall of an offender was impaired by the presence of a bloody
knife.
Contradictory Points

However, there are a great many ways in which people react to shocking events. Some
get angry, some are scared, and others may feel no emotion until the event is over,
remaining calm throughout. As there are such great individual differences between
people, can we really come to any overall generalisations about the effect of emotion
on memory? What do we mean by emotion? Many of the studies look at emotion and
memory without really specifying what they mean by emotion. As mentioned above,
not everyone would react in the same way to witnessing a crime, so when referring
to high levels of emotion, do we mean fear, anger etc.

In conclusion, there are great individual differences when it comes to how emotion
can impact memory and therefore we could argue that EWT is unreliable. In addition,
weapons can negatively affect our memory for an event. Unreliable eyewitness has
ethical implications, for example, Huff et al (1986) reported that nearly 60% of 500,
mainly American, cases of wrongful convictions involved EWT errors. Thereby
demonstrating that we place too much reliance on EWT and this can lead to major
ethical implications.
The Devlin Committee was set up in 1973 to review the process of the identification
and prosecution of crimes. It was found that of the 347 cases where prosecution
occurred when EWT was the only evidence, 74 were convicted. This shows the
overwhelming weight given to EWT by juries. Subsequently, the Devlin Committee
recommended that the trial judge be required to instruct the jury that it is not safe
to convict on a single EWT alone.

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 THE RELIABILITY OF CHILDREN AS ACCURATE EYEWITNESSES

Children as eyewitnesses are often regarded as unreliable

because they are prone to fantasy and their memories may
be especially affected by suggestions made by others.
Therefore, researchers have been interested in finding out if
children are accurate eyewitnesses, for example when
identifying a perpetrator from the line-up.

Support for children make unreliable witnesses:

 Kent & Yuille (1987) asked children to identify from a set of photographs a
person they had seen earlier. They found that 9-year-old children were far
more likely than 14-year-olds to identify someone from the photo set even
when the target person was not present - in other words younger children were
less likely to say that the person they had seen earlier was not present in the
photo set. This followed earlier research that showed children as young as 5
were as able to correctly identify people they had seen earlier, and so it is not
a problem with children’s memories that causes them to identify wrong
people, but it is more likely that they feel less able to admit to an adult that
they cannot do the task and so they just pick any photo when the target one
is not there.

Contradictory Evidence

 Davis et al (1989) reviewed the literature discussing children used as

witnesses and came to some interesting conclusions. Children between the
ages 6 and 7, and 10 and 11, are fairly accurate in their memories of the event,
they did not usually ‘make things up’. In addition, their memory for important
details is not significant altered by adult suggestions after the event. These
conclusions challenge many of the claims made by other researchers.

In conclusion, as a result of unreliable EWT, there are safeguards in place to ‘protect’

child witnesses and perpetrators from potential harm from the community.
However, if EWT is unreliable it can lead to inaccurate convictions and the cost of
retrials and compensation for those wrongfully imprisoned creates economic
implications for inaccurate and unreliable EWT. Berkeley Law, at California
University, estimates that just 607 faulty convictions (between 1989 and 2012) cost
taxpayers $221 million via prosecution, incarceration, and later settlement (costs
adjusted to inflation at 2015). Whilst these monetary costs are astronomical, one
could argue that the 2186 years served in custodial sentences by those wrongfully
convicted is a cost that far outweighs this.

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Overall Conclusion
To conclude, it is difficult for psychologists to prove that eyewitnesses are not
reliable. This area of research has been helpful in that it has led us to be more critical
of the recollection of eyewitnesses. Instead of relying on EWT evidence, we should
rely on DNA, digital forensics and CCTV to corroborate EWT. The increased use of
CCTV systems in the UK means that the unreliability of eyewitnesses is likely to
become less of a problem in the future because it could be used alongside other forms
of evidence to verify a witness’s account of events. A 2017 study from Nottingham
Trent University found that CCTV proved useful to police in 65% of crime
investigations. Furthermore, digital forensic evidence is also being used more
frequently, 90% of criminal cases uses digital forensics (House of Lords, 2019).

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Section Four – Evaluating the Cognitive Approach

Is the cognitive approach deterministic?

The assumptions made by the cognitive approach state that human behaviour is
largely determined. However, the approach does also have some elements that
suggest that we have control over our behaviour (free will).
Schemas play a large role in how our mind works. These schemas are frequently
changing, often the cause of these changes are interactions with others; changes
could come from conversations with friends or watching media coverage, like the
news. Therefore, the people you socialise with and the media you choose to watch
may determine your schemas, and consequently, your behaviour.
The free will element of cognitive psychology comes from the ideas suggested by
both therapies. The therapies suggest that thoughts are changeable and that we can
make these changes. Clients’ thoughts are challenged, and through various
processes, the client works to change irrational thoughts into rational ones.

Although there are elements of free will in the approach (e.g., the idea of changing
our thought processes in the therapies) it is more accurate to argue that the
cognitive approach falls on the determinism side of the debate. This could be
considered both a strength and weakness of the approach. It has allowed the
development of influential therapies such as CBT and REBT. However, it may be a
weakness as people may not take responsibility for their own thoughts and
behaviours.

Is the cognitive approach reductionist?

The cognitive approach suggests that human behaviour derives from internal mental
processes. It is these processes (e.g., memory) that are the cause of human behaviour.
If this is the case, then it is likely that the approach is considered reductionist. It can
be argued that the approach ignores other factors that may impact our behaviour,
e.g., emotion.

A good example of this is in addictive behaviour, where the cognitive approach

believes that heuristics and cognitive biases are the reasons why an individual
engages in gambling. However, there is also likely to be an influence from social
factors involved in gambling becoming addictive. If someone is struggling with
money the prospect of an easy win gives a solution to the problem. This may affect
the desire to gamble in the first place. The cognitive approach does not focus on this
aspect so perhaps a more complete explanation would be to combine cognitive and
social factors. The cognitive approach is a reductionist approach. This can be seen
as both a strength and a weakness – It can be a strength as it can help to identify
cognitive factors that impact our behaviour and investigate them in scientific manner.
For example, Loftus’s was able to be operationalised variables as they have been
reduced to ‘verbs’ to observe the impact it has on speed estimation. This is form of
reductionist is positive as it can impact future questioning techniques used by police
to prevent suggestive questioning. However, it can be a weakness as it ignores a
range of biological and social factors that can be linked to behaviour. For example,
the cognitive approach would argue that aggressive behaviour may be due to hostile

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attribution bias which is a form of a negative scheme. This is reductionist as the
cognitive approach ignores the factor that aggressive behaviour could be learnt (as
demonstrated by Bandura with the Bobo doll study) or due to genetic factors such as
the shortened version of the MAOA gene.

Is the cognitive approach applied successfully to the real world?

The cognitive approach is one of the most successful approaches in psychology.
Many of the theories and research studies from the cognitive approach have
drastically impacted all aspects of society.

The work of Loftus & Palmer has aided our understanding of memory and the
unreliability of eyewitness testimony. The Innocence Project (an organisation that
campaigns on the behalf of wrongly imprisoned prisoners) found that mistaken
eyewitness identifications contributed to approximately 69% of more than 375
wrongful convictions that were overturned by post-convictions DNA evidence. It is
thanks to the work of cognitive psychologists that we now can challenge such
wrongful convictions.
The therapies that are based on cognitive theories have been influential in helping
millions of people. CBT (and similar cognitive therapies) are one of the frequently
used therapies within the NHS. The flexibility of these theories allows people to
engage with them in different ways and the therapies can be used on a variety of
psychological disorders. This is therefore a major strength of this approach.

Is the cognitive approach nomothetic?

Atkinson & Shiffrin’s (1968) multi store model of memory (an example of an internal
mental process) suggests that memory works this way for all individuals. This would
suggest that the cognitive approach is nomothetic. Likewise, the idea that our minds
work in a similar way to that of a computer (computer analogy) is a theory that
explains all behaviour and so suggests the approach is nomothetic.
Although schemas may seem personal to you, and could argue this is idiographic, the
way that schemas work is a concept that applies to everyone. Despite some minor
support for being idiographic, it is more accurate to argue that the approach is
nomothetic, it creates general laws of behaviour. This could be considered both a
strength and a weakness of the approach – it is important that you argue your
point clearly – would need to discuss why it is a strength and weakness here…

Is the cognitive approach nature or nurture?

The discussion of whether the cognitive approach is nature, nurture, or both
(interactionist) is a complex one and is often debated by psychologists.

Most agree that the approach, to some extent, considers factors on both sides but it
may not fully consider all aspects of nature and nurture. For example, the cognitive
approach supports the nature side of the argument by suggesting that many of the
internal mental processes are innate (language acquisition being a prime

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example). However, the cognitive approach does not explore the role that genetics
play in our behaviour.
In terms of nurture, the cognitive approach suggests that your environment does
play a role in how our schemas develop. However, many of the theories do not go
far enough when considering the way that social factors such as culture and
education play in our cognition.

Due to the cognitive approach considering both sides of the debate, it is safest to say
that it is interactionist, although psychologists still debate this. It can be considered
a strength of the approach as it gives a more complete explanation of human
behaviour.

Is the cognitive approach scientific?

The cognitive approach frequently uses experimental methods to test its theories.
Loftus & Palmer used an experiment in a laboratory setting to test the reliability of
eyewitness testimony. This study had many controls (e.g., the standardised way of
asking the questions) and so the research is less likely to be affected by extraneous
variables, and the study is easy to replicate. This is a good example of how the
cognitive approach scientifically tests its theories.
However, one criticism of the cognitive approach is its use of introspection to study
internal mental processes. Due to concerning itself with these internal processes,
cognitive psychologists have to rely on participants self-reporting their thoughts and
feelings. This may not be objective. More modern cognitive research uses scientific
equipment such as MRI scans to study internal processes. The equipment can help
support the self-reported comments made by participants. This has led to the
creation of a more modern version of cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience.
The cognitive approach can be considered scientific. Although there are some
criticisms, the approach generally studies behaviour in a scientific manner. This
could be considered a strength of the approach as the use of scientific methods
adds credibility and support to the key concepts of the approach.

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 SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Assumptions
 Describe the assumptions of the cognitive approach. [12]
 Using examples from psychology explain two assumptions of the
cognitive approach. [4+4]
 Describe one human behaviour using one of the assumptions of the
cognitive approach. [4]
 Outline the ‘computer analogy’ and ‘schemas’ assumptions of the
cognitive approach. [4 + 4]
 Identify three assumptions of the cognitive approach. [3]

Therapy- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

 Describe how the assumptions of the cognitive approach are applied in
cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) OR rational emotive behaviour
therapy (REBT). [8]
 Describe the main components (principles) of CBT. [12]
 ‘Cognitive restructuring’ is one principle of CBT. Describe two other
principles of CBT. [8]
 Evaluate ethical issues raised in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) OR
rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT). CBT. [8]
 Evaluate cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) OR rational emotive
behaviour therapy (REBT). [10]
Classic Research-Loftus and Palmer (1974)
 ‘The methodology used in Loftus & Palmer’s (1974) research
‘Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction: An example of the
interaction between language and memory’ offers us a valuable,
scientific insight into eye-witness testimony.’ Discuss the extent to
which you agree with this statement. [8]
 Describe the conclusions made by Loftus & Palmer (1974) in their
research ‘Reconstruction of automobile destruction: an example of the
interaction between language and memory.’ [6]
 Outline the findings and conclusions of Loftus & Palmer’s (1974)
research ‘Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction: An example of the
interaction between language and memory’. [10]
 ‘However interesting or valuable the findings offered in Loftus &
Palmer’s research are, the research is limited by both methodological
and ethical problems.’ Evaluate Loftus & Palmer’s (1974) research
‘Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction: An example of the
interaction between language and memory’. [16]
Social and Ethical Implications Questions

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  Discuss the ethical and social implications of Loftus & Palmer’s (1974)
research ‘Reconstruction of automobile destruction: an example of the
interaction between language and memory’. [8]
 Identify two social implications of Loftus & Palmer’s (1974) research
‘Reconstruction of Automobile Destruction: An example of the
interaction between language and memory’ offers us a valuable,
scientific insight into eye-witness testimony.’ [8]

Debate- Reliability of Eye-Witness Testimony

 ‘The reliability of eye-witnesses is so poor that no conviction should
happen if the only evidence is eye-witness testimony’. With reference
to the quote, discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement.
[24]
 Discuss the view that eye-witnesses are reliable. [24]

Evaluation
 Evaluate two strengths and two weaknesses of the cognitive approach.
[12]
 Discuss the weaknesses of the cognitive approach. [8]
 ‘In order to change human behaviour we need to understand conscious
thinking patterns, and this can be achieved through scientific
observation.’ With reference to this quote, compare and contrast the
cognitive and psychodynamic approaches in psychology. [12]

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