AO3 - Evaluation

• Why is the use of animals a weakness of the behaviorist approach?

  Its reliance on non-human animals is a weakness. Some psychologists claim that Skinner's reliance on rats and pigeons means that we are unable to draw conclusions in relation to human behaviour. These psychologists argue thathumans have free will and that our behaviour is not shaped by classical or operant conditioning. This matters because psychologists may be unable to generalise the findings from animals to humans
• Why is practical applications a strength of the behaviorist approach?

  • Application to the treatments of phobias
  • Example: Systematic desensitization for phobias - a treatment which reduces the anxiety associated with phobias
  • Treatment works by using the principles of classical conditioning to replace the learned response (anxiety) with another response(relaxation)
  • it is an effective treatment for a range of phobias
• Why are scientific methods a strength of the behaviourist approach?


  The use of experimental methods is a strength of operant conditioning. Skinner's research uses controlled conditions to discover the casual relationship between two or more variables . Skinner's use of the skinner box allowed him to manipulate the consequences of the behaviour, the independent variable, to measure the effect on the rats behaviour, the dependent variable. This allowed him to establish a cause and effect relationship between positive and negative reinforcement and the likelihood of future behaviour.
• Why is non-observable behaviour a limitation of behaviourist approach?


  It ignores other psychological explanations. the behaviourist approach ignores cognitive and emotional factors suggesting that humans are a product of conditioning alone. Many psychologists argue that human interaction is far more complicated than a simple stimulus-reinforcement relationship. This matters because the behaviourist explanation may not provide a complete explanation of complex human behaviours e.g love.