OUTLINE AND EVALUATE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROCHES. (COGNITIVE AND HUMANISTIC) - Essay Example

Individuals like Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow felt existing (psychodynamic) theories failed to adequately address issues like the meaning of behavior, and the nature of healthy growth. However, the result was not simply new variations on psychodynamic theory, but rather a fundamentally new approach.” Some of the major weaknesses of the two approaches overlap, such as the fact that in all psychological perspectives—including both the cognitive and humanistic approaches—identifying practitioners that are any good in their field is rather difficult and sometimes impossible.

For the purpose of treating psychopathy, the humanistic approach is simply not appropriate. It is not possible to have a great deal of emotional contact with psychopaths, and that step would be necessary if one were to engage in the humanistic approach. Furthermore, humanism is simply not suited for dealing with emotional damage that is extensive (Wilderdom, 2003). One strength of the humanistic approach is that it caters to unprecedented areas of psychology than other approaches. It is simply a newer, more eclectic approach at looking at the fundamentals of older ideas that were presented by previous psychologists (Wilderdom, 2003).

Case studies and laboratory experiments are usually used as tools or instruments during investigations involving the cognitive approach. These studies are often conducted via computer and on people who are brain damaged. The entire idea behind the process is to analyze their thought processes and to draw a conclusion (Burgoon, 2008). There is one main weakness of this type of methodology, say some psychologists. One claims, for instance, that the testing environment is artificial and fair sets of data, therefore, cannot be collected.

However, the thought processes of a human can be accurately recorded by a computer at any given time through the utilization of