EVALUATION

• EVALUATION OF THE COGNITIVE APPROACH?

  + real world application

  -machine reductionism

  +/- experimental methods

  + soft determinism
• REAL WORLD APPLICATION?

  • schemas help explain why two eyewitnesses to same event have different details (different aspects for attention/ interpretations)
  • theoretical models can explain behaviour of amnesiac patients (e.g. MSM on Clive Wearing)
  • computer analogy used in CBT to treat depression
  • improved by therapist
• MACHINE REDUCTIONISM?

  • limited
  • computers do not forget things as humans do
  • computers do not have emotions
  • allow us to decide how humans process information but not why
  • not full account of human behaviour
• EXPERIMENTAL METHODS?

  • mainly laboratory experiments
  • e.g. Baddeley's dual task study
  • highly controlled
  • replicable
  • results are reliable
  • but lack mundane realism
  • do not reflect everyday life
  • lack ecological validity
• SOFT DETERMINISM?

  • only operate within limits of how we process information
  • argues we have free will over how we decide to respond to stimulus
  • more flexible than hard determinism