Weakness

• :( Nature + Nurture

  • Does consider the influence of both internal + external factors on behaviour
  • e.g. processes within the mind are internal' + the role of experience in the formation of schemas is external'
  • Fails to consider important elements of n+n
  • Example - the role of genes in human cognition is ignored, yet research into intelligence has looked at influence of genes, through use of twin studies.
  • Social + cultural factors are ignored, which seems unrealistic
  • Example - theorists such as Piaget failed to consider the role of gender + culture on the development of thinking in children.
• :( Determinist Approach

  • Schemas are an important assumption of the cognitive approach
  • People acquire such schemas through direct experience.
  • For example, Piaget suggested that cognitive development is essentially the development of schemas. At a young age a child might call everything with four legs and hair a dog. Later the child learns various related schemas - one for a dog and one for a cat and so on.
• :( Mechanistic Approach

  • The approach portrays human behaviour as being like that of a machine
  • Based on the behaviour of computers, so it is inevitable that the outcome would be a rather mechanistic view of human behaviour
  • The main objection to is that they ignore social and emotional factors
  • Also ignores the important role that emotions play in influencing cognitive processes + this is a problem with humans being likened to computers
  • A computer is not influenced by emotion, a computer will recall information exactly as it is inputted; not the same for human beings