US High School Psychology Practice Exam 2025 - Free Practice Questions and Study Guide

The cognitive approach is centered around understanding the internal mental processes that influence behavior. This approach emphasizes the study of how people think, learn, remember, and solve problems. Key themes within this approach include the examination of perception, memory, language, and reasoning, focusing on how individuals process information and how that processing impacts their actions and decisions.

In contrast, the humanistic approach prioritizes personal growth and the concept of self-actualization, suggesting that individuals have an innate drive to achieve their full potential. Behaviorism, on the other hand, focuses solely on observable behaviors and the external stimuli that affect those behaviors, largely ignoring internal mental processes. The evolutionary approach examines psychological traits from a biological perspective, considering how aspects of human thought and behavior may have been shaped by natural selection over time, but it does not primarily focus on the mechanics of mental processes like memory or perception. Thus, the cognitive approach is uniquely positioned to analyze and explain the complexities of human thought.