Social approach

Question 1

name 2 assumptions of the social approach

Answer 1

1. behaviour occurs in a social context
2. wider culture and society influence people’s behaviour

Question 2

name 1 overall strength of the social approach

Answer 2

1. the approach has practical application so is useful. eg, programs have been created to increase contact/ cooperation between different social groups to help stop prejudice.

Question 3

name 2 overall limitations of the social approach

Answer 3

1. its an incomplete explanation because it focuses only on how other people, wider society and culture influence behaviour. it does not consider the influence of other factors such as brain structures, biochemistry and genes.
2. not as scientific as other approaches because many of the studies are field experiments and so the environment is less controlled than laboratory experiments.