Cognitive Approach

• :) soft determinism

  > sees human behaviour as being caused by internal factors (internal mental processes) but would suggest that individuals have some choice over their behaviour

  > could be beneficial as individuals may feel more in control, and feel it is possible to alter faulty thought processes, such as those with depression

  > more positive approach
• :) scientific methods

  > based on objective and empirical techniques, such as brain scans and lab experiments, to investigate internal mental processes and inferences - high control over extraneous variables

  > allows us to establish cause and effect between internal mental processes and behaviour

  > increases internal validity and raises psychology's scientific status
• :( lacks ecological validity and mundane realism

  > uses controlled experiments - difficult to generalise the findings to how our internal mental processes operate in everyday life

  > uses artificial tasks (such as Miller's digit span technique - theoretical models) - may not be representative of internal mental processes in the real world

  > reduces external validity
• :) practical applications

  > the principles of the theory, that behaviour is caused by internal mental processes, had led to the treatment of CBT

  > effective in treating disorders, such as depression, by helping the individual to dispute irrational thoughts and negative schemas

  > important part of applied psychology

  discussion - economic implications
• :( based on machine reductionism

  > while there are similarities between the human mind and the operations of a thinking machine such as a computer (inputs and outputs), this analogy has been criticised

  > ignores the influence of human emotion on the cognitive systems, such as the effect of anxiety on recall in EWT

  > computer analogy may weaken the validity of cognitive approach