Strengths of the cognitive
approach:
• Mediational Processes : It does not ignore mediation
of cognition in between stimulus and response – it
tries to explain what is happening in the mind between
stimulus and response.
• Important Contributions: The approach has numerous
useful applications, including: advice about the validity
of eyewitness testimony, Cognitive behaviour therapy,
how the thinking of children develops (Piaget).
• It is a scientific approach using mostly experimental
methods. This is an advantage because it can provide
experimental data to test its theories.
Explaining Mediational
Processes
• The approach focuses on Mediational Processes : the
processes that happen “inside” the mind. This is a
strength COMPARED TO BEHAVIOURISM because
Behaviourists ignored what happens in the mind
because it is not DIRECTLY MEASURABLE
• The cognitive approach tries to explain what is
happening in the mind between stimulus and
response.
• By doing this we understand more about how memory
works.
Important Contributions
• Important Contributions: The approach has numerous
useful applications, including: advice about the validity
of eyewitness testimony, Rational Emotive therapy,
how the thinking of children develops (Piaget).
• These are strengths because they provide useful
explanations of behaviour and effective ways of
dealing with individuals who have problems.
Scientific Approach
• It is a scientific approach using mostly experimental
methods. This is a strength because it can provide
experimental data to test its theories, experiments
using standardised procedures can be replicated to
check for reliability and validity.
• A good example is attribution theory – this is
supported by experimental data.
Strengths of the cognitive
approach:
In Pairs Write 50 words on why each bullet is a
strength
• Mediational Processes
• Important Contributions
• Scientific approach
Weaknesses of the cognitive
approach:
• Nature and Nurture: Despite taking both into account it
fails to take into account some biological factors (nature)
and cultural influences (nurture)
• Determinist Approach: It is deterministic saying we are
determined by schemas, although we may have some
choice in how to interpret information.
• Reductionist: It is reductionist- ignoring the huge
complexity of human functioning compared to computer
functioning.
• Mechanistic: Too cold and mechanistic assuming that
all behaviour is the result of rational thought processing.
Nature v Nurture
• Despite taking both into account it fails to take into
account some biological factors (nature) and cultural
influences (nurture).
• This is a weakness because compared to the Biological
Approach it ignores the influence of genes on behaviour
eg Bouchard & McGue’s work on IQ.
Mechanistic
• Machine Reductionism: The approach reduces a
human being with feelings and emotions to a “thinking
machine”.
• This is a weakness because it ignores the role of social
and emotional factors in our behaviour.
• For example Kelley’s Covariation model suggests that
people follow certain rules in making attributions. Many
of us are not even aware that we are using rules.
Determinist approach:
• It is deterministic saying our behaviour is determined by
schemas.
• Schemas are the result of experience we can’t control
(the environment we grow up in) and the social
interactions we have as we get older.
• This process leads to CULTURAL STEREOTYPES that
may determine the way we interpret situations.
• This is a weakness because it ignores the individual’s
ability to ignore cultural stereotypes.
Weaknesses of the cognitive
approach:
• In Pairs Write 50 words on why each bullet is a
weakness
Nature and Nurture: Despite taking both into account it
fails to take into account some biological factors (nature)
and cultural influences (nurture)
• Determinist Approach: It is deterministic saying we are
determined by schemas, although we may have some
choice in how to interpret information.
• Mechanistic: Too cold and mechanistic assuming that
all behaviour is the result of rational thought processing.