Evaluate Two of the Cognitive Approaches Strengths and Weaknesses Essay

The cognitive approach has two main strengths. These two strengths are that the cognitive approach is scientific and that it has an application of therapies. The first strength that the cognitive approach has is that it is scientific this is because it is done within the laboratory. This is called lab studies. We can rely on the findings because it is done under a controlled environment. Which makes this a strength. The second strength that the cognitive approach has is the application of these therapies. We know that this is strength because it has a very high success rate and is very effective. This is why the NHS uses this approach. The cognitive approach helps people across the world. The Cognitive approach also has two weaknesses, these two weaknesses that I am going to evaluate are that it is difficult to prove and the mechanistic reductionism. The cognitive approach is difficult to prove that it works because thoughts are not observable and are not measurable. This is a weakness because physiologist have to rely on the truthfulness of patients because there is no solid evidence what the patient thoughts are. The second weakness I am going to evaluate is the fact that the cognitive approach has a mechanistic reductionism; this means that the mind is compared to a computer. This is a weakness because the mind is much more complex that a computer e.g. the mind can guess and understand someone’s feelings. So Mechanistic reductionism suggests that psychologist are downgrading the mind’s capability.