One strength of the cognitive approach is?

• A. It has led to useful applications in everyday life, e.g. CBT treatment for depression
• B. It has no imaging evidence
• C. It cannot be tested
• D. It ignores schemas

Answer: (A)

A major strength of the cognitive approach is its real-world impact through treatments like cognitive-behavioral therapy. By treating thinking processes as something that can be studied, measured, and changed, it provides a clear route from theory to practical help. CBT specifically targets how people think, identifying distorted or unhelpful automatic thoughts, testing their accuracy, and substituting more adaptive beliefs. This structured, evidence-based approach has been shown to help with depression and many other issues, making the cognitive view highly applicable in everyday life.

Imaging studies and experiments do support cognitive processes, showing that we can observe how attention, memory, and problem-solving unfold in the brain and behavior. Schemas are not ignored in this view; they are central mental structures that shape interpretation and memory, guiding how information is processed. So the strength isn’t just that thinking can be studied, but that understanding thinking leads to effective, practical interventions.