Approaches: Evaluation

Question 1

Origins of Psychology AO3

Answer 1

• unreliable methods: relied on ‘nonobservable’ responses
  + scientific: tests assumptions about behaviour by establishing causality + correcting theories
• not all psychologists believ human behaviour can be explored using scientific methods: much is unobservable and relies on inferences from data

Question 2

Behaviourist AO3

Answer 2

+ classical has been applied to therapy eg treatment of phobias
- classical only appropriate for some forms of learning eg concept of preparedness (Seligman)
+ operant based on experimental work: allows establishment of cause-effect relationships

Question 3

Social Learning Theory AO3

Answer 3

+ useful applications: offers way of understanding criminal behaviour (Ulrich)
+ research support for identification: learning more effective from similar than dissimilar model (Fox and Bailenson)
- problem of causality: criticism of view of criminal behaviour due to exposure to deviant models
- problem of complexity: advocates of SLT disregard other potential influences on behaviour

Question 4

Cognitive AO3

Answer 4

+ applications eg cognitive approach to psyhcopathology
+ scienitfic: uses scientific method
- computer models: many differences between computer and human processing eg computers don’t make mistakes
- ignores emotion and motivation: irrelavant to computer but not to human
- studies lack ecological validity: most research uses tasks that are relatively meaningless in real-life settings

Question 5

Biological AO3

Answer 5

+ uses scientific method: makes replication easier
+ provides clear predictions which can be tested
- reductionist

Question 6

Fight or Flight AO3

Answer 6

• tend and befriend response in females
• negative consequences eg heart disease
• doesn’t tell whole story: ‘freezing’ precedes both fight and flight

Question 7

Psychodynamic AO3

Answer 7

+ pioneering approach - Freud the first to demonstarte the potential of psychological treatments for disorders
+ scientific support - Fisher and Greenberg found support for many psychoanalytic claims
- gender biased - based on male rather than female sexuality
- culture biased - little relevance for people from non-Western cultures
- comprehensive theory, including use as a form of literary criticism

Question 8

Humanistic AO3

Answer 8

+ Maslow’s hierachy linked to economic development
+ research support for conditions of worth eg Harter et al
- humanistic research methods produce data that is mostly correlational
- represents overly idealised and unrealisitic view of human nature
- cross-cultural evidence that in some cultures needs appear in a different order