THE COGNITIVE

APPROACH
PA P E R 1
COGNITIVE APPROACH
Three Topics
• Cognitive Processing
• Reliability of Cognitive
Processes
• Emotion and Cognition
COGNITIVE PROCESSING

•Models of Memory
•Schema Theory
•Thinking and
Decision-Making
 MODELS OF MEMORY
• Clarification document says you could be asked about
MSM or WMM as an SAQ from 2020 so for 9 AO1.
This is unlikely in practice.
• As an ERQ they should not ask about MSM or WMM
separately so legitimate question might be…
– SAQ: Describe the multistore model of memory
with reference to one research study. (9)
– SAQ: Explain the working memory model with
reference to one research study. (9)
– SAQ: Outline one model of memory with reference
to one research study. (9)
– ERQ: Contrast two models of memory. (22)
– ERQ: Evaluate/Discuss one or more models of
memory. (22)
MULTISTORE MODEL – 5 MINUTES!
• Essay planner sheet
• Give out the how to write a killer introduction (can you cut this down from 335 to 125?)
• 375 words of description – 11 sentences?
– Three stores each with three things to say about them (coding, capacity and duration)
– Two control processes: attention and rehearsal
• Over to you, make the model from mini whiteboards and coloured paper arrows, write as
much as you can on your ‘store’ about: coding, capacity and duration
• Which research study to use in an SAQ
• Glanzer and Cunitz - Serial Position Curve.
• Original paper on my website for more APFC detail.
• Let’s look at the writing sample from John’s website: how could it be improved at all??
• How much extra information would you need to know about the study in order to use this for
an ERQ? Think what would your chains be about? What would your second study be?
WORKING MEMORY MODEL (5 MINS)
• They can name the models in SAQs only (so need enough description plus one study)
• In an essay you could be asked to evaluate/discuss two models meaning you would need half
the usual amount of AO3 ( so one study and accompanying evaluation)
• If asked about one model of memory in an ERQ, choose MSM ( you can bring WMM as
evaluation but would not need much on it)
• The toughest option would be contrast two models of memory: consistently discuss
differences between two models throughout the essay.
• This requires careful consideration of the two studies used as evidence; personally I would
choose…
– KF: which shows that STM is not one unitary store (e.g. difference between MSM and WMM)
– Robbins et al (1996) WM in chess (p. 118 psychology sorted.) STM is an active processor
capable of multi-tasking so long as the tasks require different parts of the system and not the same
part;
HOW TO LEARN A STUDY: ROBBINS ET
AL (1996)
• Make an APFC poster (see my example) using
textbook; if not enough information you may
need the original paper – see sci hub (also on
my website)
• Create a set of revision question cards to
practice (3 envelopes technique)
• Practice chains of reasoning on strips of paper;
sequence the strips, write your own etc.
• Robbins could be perfect for an IA!
SCHEMA THEORY (10 MINS)
• Questions can use the phrase ‘cognitive schema’
when formulating questions from 2020
• Can you define schema? What is schema theory?
• Do you know what is meant be assimilation and
accommodation? Paper cut activity
• Helps to give context to confirmation bias 
for later.
• Looking out at the world through our socio-
cultural lens (schema glasses)
• Re studies: don’t do Bartlett for an SAQ (too
old and details unclear)
• SAQ: Bransford and Johnson, Andersen and
Pichert
• Improving your writing: editing cognitive
paragraph’s exercise on JC’s website (one on
Bartlett and schema theory).
THINKING AND DECISION MAKING
• Let’s talk about AND in the guide and in the exams.
• ‘and’ as part of a content point such as this one; here
“thinking and decision-making” are taken to be
part of the same thing, therefore you can answer on
thinking or on decision-making and both would be
fine.
• The IB will NEVER separate these two terms in the
exam, e.g. you will never see a question that asks
“Describe one study of decision-making. “ (9) or
“Discuss one theory of thinking.” (22)
• This is true throughout the guide except in a few key
places relating to paper 2, to be discussed on Day 3.
THINKING FAST AND SLOW
Reading this book will help you
understand this section and the
research included. Well worth it
and its also available as kindly
talking book too so listen to on
the go!

The book is all about system 1 and

2 thinking:

Complete this basic mix and match to

show me what you understand so far!
POSSIBLE SAQS
• The IB released specialist terms for 2020 and beyond also include:
– Intuitive thinking (aka System I thinking)
– Rational thinking (aka System II thinking)
• Again it is hard to see how these could be incorporated into legitimate questions however it
does point us toward recognising that System 1 and 2 thinking is probably the best way
forward for this content point.
• Ignore theories of reasoned behaviour, planned action etc and go for something simple!
• Possible SAQ is: Describe one theory of thinking and/or decision-making with reference to
one research study. (9)
• John’s SAQ example used the strop effect as the example study:
• http://www.onlinestrooptest.com/stroop_effect_test.php
 T AND D STUDY: DIJKSTERHUIS (2004)
• System 1 seen as leading to problems/jumping to wrong
conclusions
• We chose this study as it showed that intuitive non-
conscious thinking is sometimes quite helpful
• My students read from the original study; created APFC
study notes et and then completed the following quizizz.
• Lets look at what the study asked Pps to do (see sheet)
• Your teacher can set you quizzes or you can make them
yourself; when you do this it then gives you the option to
play the question as flashcards as a way of revising between
tests
• Give out my SAQ on system 1 and 2 and Dijksterhuis
 T AND D AS AN ESSAY
• We have used a study that supports the merits of system
1 so it would be good to have a partner study that shows
the problems of system 1 and merits of system 2.
• In an essay I would show the problems with S1 first using
Wason’s card sort, then go onto look at social version
of the problem (drinking) and the tattoos and
cassava root problem (see my T and D PowerPoint).
• John says many students got in a pickle with Wason in the
exam not surprising as its quite tricky, therefore might be
better to use one of your studies of thinking biases and
show why such biases occur using dual processing model.
RELIABILITY OF COGNITIVE
PROCESSES
• Reconstructive memory (15 minutes)
• Biases in thinking and decision-making (15 minutes)
 RECONSTRUCTIVE MEMORY (15
MINUTES)
• This came up as an SAQ already so quite
unlikely to come up again
• Describe one study investigating reconstructive
memory. [9]
• Notice the focus of this SAQ is on the study, in
the aim of the study you would talk briefly about
reconstructive memory theory and then again at
the end on the conclusion
• Read question carefully to get the measure of
where the focus should be, i.e. theory or study.
• Reconstructive memory theory ties in a lot with
schema theory which we have already covered;
Bartlett’s War of the Ghosts is invariably vague in
student answers, don’t fall into this trap; learn all
terminology regarding the results with care.
POSSIBILITIES & HOW TO ANSWER
THEM
• SAQ
– Describe reconstructive memory with reference to one
research study. (9)
– e.g. Loftus and Palmer
• ERQ:
– Discuss reconstructive memory with reference to
research evidence. (22)
– Evaluate research into reconstructive memory. (22)
– To what extent can one cognitive process be considered
to be reliable. (22)
• Evidence that memory is unreliable : Loftus and
Palmer, Evidence memory can be reliable: Yuille
and Cutshall, blatantly incorrect info Loftus (1979),
Christianson and Hubinette (1993)
BIASES IN THINKING AND DECISION-
MAKING
• Came up already in TZ2 HL as ERQ: Everyone got
very cross! 
• “Discuss two more biases in thinking and decision-
making”. (22)
– 2019 HL TZ2
• The guide states ONE or more of the following
should be studied.
– Confirmation bias
– Cognitive dissonance
– Optimism bias
– Selective attention
– Illusory correlations
• Other biases are also accepted from column three or
otherwise!
LEARN TWO!

• Confirmation Bias – as it
helps with abnormal and its on
the list! Look at this on Day 3
• Peak End Rule – Kahneman
et al. (1993) the freezing water
study; handy for methods and
ethics – Look at this on day 2:
EMOTION AND COGNITION
• The Influence of Emotion on Cognitive
Processes (30 minutes!)
• Hooray! This topic area only has one
content point 
• This has come up once already in the HL
and SL TZ 1 exam as ERQ: ‘Discuss the
influence of emotion on one cognitive
process.’ [22]
• We will focus on flashbulb memory –
also interesting links back to the
hormones and localisation topics from
the Bio App
 FLASHBULB MEMORY:
BROWN & KULIK (1977)
• strong emotional experiences lead to FBMs which
are…
– detailed, vivid, durable and people feel very
confident that they are accurate
• The theory is that there is a ‘special mechanism’ that is
triggered when events
– are unexpected/surprising
– have personal meaning
• They believed this had survival value as it helped our
ancestors to learn about experiences which could be a
danger to them in the future; at the time the link between
adrenaline and the amygdala was not understood
SAQ: RESEARCH STUDY
• So many amazing studies to learn about but for SAQs
I also like to stick to ones which have an obvious research
methods, most often lab experiment!
• This gives them a dual purpose as they can be used as
examples in methods questions too
• This dual processing (!!) means you are more likely to
remember them and analysing them in terms of IV, DV and
controls etc for the methods questions means you know
the study inside and out and should be able to evaluate it
effectively in ERQs too.
• So which one for this content point?
• I choose Cahill and McGaugh although I find Sharot
and Phelps fascinating is hard to place as to which
methods it is.
CAHILL & MCGAUGH
• See biological factors and memory ppt on my website plus handout.
COGNITIVE
EXTENSION
H L O N LY
COGNITIVE EXTENSION HL ONLY
• In the HL paper it is likely that one question
per year will relate to one of the extension
topics.
• Last year was biological, so likely to be cog or
soc
• But there is a November exam so
worthwhile trying to find out what came up in
November ;)
• Remember you have a choice of essays in
Section B, so as long as you have studied at
least of the options
 COGNITIVE PROCESSING IN THE DIGITAL
WORLD
• For all three topics in the cognitive approach, and with
reference to research studies, HL students should study the
following.
– Discuss the influence of digital technology on cognitive
processes.
– Evaluate research into positive and negative effects of modern
technology on cognitive processes.
– Discuss the use of two research methods used to study the
interaction between digital technology and cognitive
processes.

– Cognitive processes - Discuss/Evaluate/TWE – Memory, Schema, T

and D (system 1 and 2)
– Reliability of cognitive processes - Discuss/Evaluate/TWE –
Reconstructive Memory and Cognitive Biases
– Emotion and Cognition - Discuss/Evaluate/TWE Influence of
emotion on cognitive processes
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
• We have been told that they will not narrow
cog extension questions down to the topic
level (i.e. they will all just reference cognitive
processes/cognitive approach) since all the
three cognitive topics are interlinked.
• They also cannot separate positive and
negative effects meaning you could not get a
whole 22 marker on positive/negative; this is
important in terms of how much you have to
study.
• Questions could use ‘and/or’ or ‘and’;
– if it says and you are expected to cover both
– if it says and/or, you could just cover one (e.g.
negative)
THE CONTENT POINTS
• To my mind content point 1 and 2 are the same thing
– the influence of digital technology on cognitive
processes.
– positive and negative effects of modern technology
on cognitive processes.
• Modern technology includes digital technology
• The effect of one variable (technology) on another
(cognitive processes) is the same as saying influence and
influences can be positive or negative.
• What we seem to have here is one content point
expressed in two different ways ;)
• The same materials could be used however the question
is phrased!
THE CONTENT POINTS
• The third content point is: Methods used to study
the interaction between digital technology and
cognitive processes.
• Choosing research studies that use different
methods to show positive and negative effects of
digital technology we should be fine!
PRACTICAL TIME!
• Let’s watch a short clip (3 mins) about digital technology and memory:
https://ed.ted.com/featured/7S4PHeYg#watch
• IV: Half of you will create notes using laptop/tablet/phone the other half will take pen and
paper notes
• Let’s randomly assign you to the two groups! Why?!
• DV: An MCQ test on the content on the clip
• What do we need to control to ensure that only note-taking medium affects recall?
• What and method and design are we using ?
• What are the pros and cons of this?
• This was a small scale replication of the study conducted by Muller and Oppenheimer (2014)
• Count the number of words in your notes; what is the average for each group?
• What stats test would we do on this data?
QUIZ TIME
• Where was the plane flying from? New Jersey
• Where was the plane flying to? Buffalo, New York
• What height was the plane cruising at when it hit the storm? 16000 ft
• What did the pilot do which caused the plane to stall? Pulled back on the controls
• What did the plane hit? A house
• When she was talking about declarative memory she talked about the capital of Australia, the
largest animals and which significant life event? First kiss
• Which recording artist’s name was written on the CD? Celine Dion
• Which scientist claimed that he didn’t need to remember certain things as ling as he knew which
books to find them in? Einstein
• Which brain scanning technique did she mention? fMRI
• What year was tumblr created according to her timeline? 2007
MUELLER AND OPPENHEIMER
REPLICATION
• What were the averages for the MCQ test for each group?
• Do the findings replicate Muller and Oppenheimer?
• What differences were there in the procedure of our study and their study?
PRACTICAL 2: HENKEL (2014)
• Take a tour round my mini art gallery.
• You will find 10 numbered ‘exhibits’.
• You will have 15 seconds to look at each exhibit.
• The screen will tell you whether you need to …
–observe (just look at) the item
–photograph the item
ITEM 1

OBSERVE
ITEM 2

OBSERVE
ITEM 3

PHOTO
ITEM 4

OBSERVE
ITEM 5

PHOTO
ITEM 6

PHOTO
ITEM 7

OBSERVE
ITEM 8

PHOTO
ITEM 9

PHOTO
ITEM 10

OBSERVE
NOW ANSWER THE QUESTIONS ABOUT
THE OBJECTS YOU HAVE JUST OBSERVED
SAMPLE ESSAY: DISCUSS THE POSITIVE
AND/OR NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF MODERN
TECHNOLOGY ON COGNITIVE PROCESSES.
(22)
• Sample answer for marking on John’s website:
https://www.thinkib.net/psychology/page/28724/erq-marking-effect-of-
technology
• Use the mark bands, what mark do you think it should have got?
• Go through my essay and colour code the paragraphs to see how it
meets the rubric and where it could be edited/improved.
• Command term: Discuss: considered, balanced review, range of
arguments, factors or hypotheses. Opinions/conclusions clear and
substantiated
WEIRD STUDY ALERT!
• Gomez et al (2019): Pokemon study BPS Research Digest:
https://digest.bps.org.uk/2019/06/14/adults-who-played-pokemon-extensively-in-childhood-
have-a-pokemon-sensitive-region-in-their-visual-cortex/