Evaluation

• P - Strength , objective , scientific methods

  Enables inference with more accuracy , more reliable

  Cognitive neuroscience is biology and cognitive psychology which boosts reliability

  D - However , reliance on inference rather than direct observation may make it suffer from being too abstract and thus lack external validity
• P - Strength , real world application

  Likely to be dominant approach today , has helped in a variety of different contexts

  Important contributions in artificial intelligence and thinking machines

  Supports value of cognitive approach and hugely increases validity

  D - Furthermore , cognitive principles have helped in treatment of depression , Beck's CBT relies on identifying the ' faulty ' mental processes which is heavily based upon cognitive ideas
• P - Limitation , Machine reductionism

  Similarities do exist between humans and computers in terms of processing however computers do not account for emotion

  May weaken validity of cognitive approach

  D - Furthermore , research has been done that validates claim of human emotion affects processing in the form of the effects of anxiety on eyewitnesses

  Machine reductionism definitely cannot fully explain human cognition
• P - Limitation , founded on soft determinism

  Belief that human behaviour is determined by internal and external factors as well as our free will

  Limitation due to hard determinists existing who only believe in internal factors so the theory will always have some disagreeable elements

  Potential loss of credibility

  D - However , due to biological and cognitive approaches having their downfalls , the hard determinist view can be seen as inaccurate as there are some things that neither approach can explain

  Means the potential loss of credibility doesn't really exist