Individual / Situational

Question 1

What is situational?

Answer 1

Caused by environmental factors outside of the person

Question 2

Strengths of situational 1

Answer 2

Useful to psychology as it improves our understanding/knowledge of how behaviour may be affected by the environment- which could explain why people behave the way they do- Useful

Question 3

Strengths of situational 2

Answer 3

Useful to society as it may be easy to modify behaviour by making changes to the environment - so effective practical applications could be used to help change/manage behaviour.

Question 4

Weaknesses of situational 1

Answer 4

Reductionist as it ignores the influence of internal factors that may affect behaviour - therefore any practical applications may not be effective as they only focus on the situational environmental factors.

Question 5

Weaknesses of situational 2

Answer 5

Deterministic as it suggests that behaviour could be due to external factors beyond a person’s control - which could cause problems for who we punish for behaviours - giving people an excuse for their behaviour.

Question 6

Individual

Answer 6

Caused by something within the person

Question 7

Strengths of individual 1

Answer 7

Useful to psychology as it improves our understanding/knowledge of how behaviour may originate from within the person - which could explain why people behave the way they do - useful

Question 8

Strengths of individual 2

Answer 8

Useful to society as interventions can be created to help manage the individual factor to control behaviour - effective practical applications could be used to help change/manage the behaviour of the person

Question 9

Weaknesses of individual 1

Answer 9

Reductionist as it ignores the influence of external factors that may affect behaviour - therefore any practical applications may not be effective as they only focus on individual factors.

Question 10

Weaknesses of individual 2

Answer 10

Deterministic as it suggests that behaviour could be due to factors beyond a persons control - which could cause problems for who we punish for behaviours - giving people an excuse for their behaviour.