BEHAVOURIST: overall evaluation

Question 1

Scientific

Answer 1

• strength
• behaviourism introduced by Watson. He noted that Pavlov work on conditioned reflexes could be used to create objective and therefore scientific psychology
• continues scientific approach by studying behaviour that is observable and directly measurable
  —> feelings and thoughts operationalised in terms of stimulus and response behaviours ie little Albert
• distinguish beliefs from facts by conducting experiments
• enables evidence to demonstrate success ie improvement of patient as they progress through SD
  —> scientific

Question 2

Nomothetic

Answer 2

• strength
• patterns of behaviour that can be generalised
• research applied and generalised to everybody ie rats, dogs and Little Albert as a template
• Skinners rats with pellets applied to humans with token economy in education and prison
• principles of operant and classical developed from animals and used in treatments globally
  —> nomothetic

Question 3

Successful applications

Answer 3

• strength
• behaviourist principles successfully applied in the real world, in particular in education and mental disorders
• classical and operant both applied to SD to help those with phobias. Operant used in education to control classroom behaviour and punishments (reinforcement v punishment)
• beneficial for various people in different places of life

Question 4

Nurture

Answer 4

• weakness
• focuses on nurture and doesn’t take into account the influence of nature ie would not consider genetic makeup
• behaviourists like Dr Watson believe we are born as blank slates, tabula rasa, and so criminals and geniuses are solely shaped by their environments. This sort of influence would mean that, for example, anyone could be a surgeon
• doesn’t take into account that internal factors also influence behaviour, such as motivation, emotion and innate abilities
• too simple to suggest solely influenced by external factors

Question 5

Deterministic

Answer 5

• weakness
• based on assumption many of our behaviours are influenced almost totally by associations we make (classical - Pavlov) or rewards/punishments provided by our environments (operant - skinner)
• does not take into account thought processes that occur before we behave in a certain way, suggesting we don’t have free will
• implications are that people won’t be held responsible for any wrongdoings and that they should simply be punished to change their behaviour, not taught to think differently

Question 6

Reductionist

Answer 6

• weakness
• reduce complex behaviour to simple stimulus-response links
• does not acknowledge vast complexities between humans and animals as animal research applied to humans - Skinner and Pavlov
• believe phobia is a stimulus response, and don’t consider genetics or complex psychological factors
• exclusion of others influences on behaviour and assumption that all behaviour is determined by aoroiach means the approach is very reductionist