Cognitive and Behaviorist Approach Comparative

¶ … Cognitive and Behaviorist Approach

Comparative Explanations, Theoretical Frameworks, and Research Methods

Behaviorism

The behavioral approach to psychology explains human behavior exclusively on the basis of externally observable actions. It does not consider biological or internal mental processes involved in behavior but relies strictly on an objective comparison of externally observable actions and responses to stimuli.

In principle, the theoretical framework underlying behaviorism is that human psychology is understandable by virtue of external behavior and that any factors relating to internal processes are irrelevant to that understanding except to the extent they manifest themselves in externally observable behavior.

Typical experimental research methods used in behavioral psychology consist of monitoring and recording subjects' responses to various external stimuli and postulating theories of behavior based on hypotheses of the patterns revealed by those observations.

Cognitive Psychology

The cognitive psychology approach explains human behavior as a function of internal processes and states of mind. It considers external behavior to be substantially determined by cognitive processes such as hormonal activity, neural patterns of perception and responses to external stimuli, as well as by genetic differences between individuals and patterns of unconscious responses attributable to prior experiences and conditioning.

The cognitive behavioral theoretical framework considers external behavior to be little more than the observable manifestation of internal states of mind and patterns of responses dictated by mental processes. Some of those internal processes and states of mind are common to members of a species; others are strictly functions of the cognitive effects of prior experiences and the changes in neural architecture and other biological factors attributable to conditioned responses to external stimuli.

Typical experimental research methods relied upon in the cognitive approach to psychology include measuring patterns of neural activity in response to specific stimuli and of the effect on external behavior of other internal processes such as hormonal activity.

Personal Preference