Approaches: Evaluation Flashcards
What are the six common evaluation points that we use for approaches?
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS?
(has it been useful in wider society to look at psychology this way? E.g. have therapies, treatments, laws, policies been affected/ created?)
RESEARCH EVIDENCE
(what research supports the approach)
NATURE/ NURTURE
(does the approach only focus on the role of biology or the environment. By ignoring the other, they are ignoring important influences on behaviour)
SCIENTIFIC?
(psychology strives to be scientific, so using scientific approaches e.g. laboratory experiments, high levels of control etc.. is seen as a strength).
DETERMINISTIC?
(opposite of free will. We have no control over our behaviour, which is often seen as a limitation of an approach).
REDUCTIONIST?
(behaviour is reduced to such small components that we lose the complexity of the behaviour).
Other than the six main evaluation points, what other point can we look at to evaluate an approach?
Their use of animal studies:
(may be more ethical/ unethical to use animals.)
(harder to generalise results from animals to humans as humans are much more complex.)
