Final answer:
Behavioral psychology posits that behaviors are learned through conditioning and environmental interactions, while cognitive psychology emphasizes the role of mental processes like thought and memory in influencing behavior.
Step-by-step explanation:
The behavioral approach in psychology assumes that all behaviors are learned through interactions with the environment and can be explained by principles such as conditioning. This includes both classical conditioning, where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus, and operant conditioning, where behaviors are influenced by rewards and punishments.
On the other hand, the cognitive approach assumes that psychological processes like thinking, memory, and problem-solving significantly influence how we behave. This viewpoint asserts that our behavior is not just a response to environmental stimuli but also a product of our internal mental processes.
Behavioral psychologists appreciate the important role that behaviorism has played in psychology’s history but recognize that it does not account for all aspects of learning. The emergence of neuroscience and computer science during the cognitive revolution helped shift the focus back to mental processes. Cognitive psychologists investigate how our thought processes influence behaviors and are concerned with how we perceive, remember, think, and solve problems.