Evaluations

• Behaviourist approach strengths

  Scientific credibility as it focuses on observable behaviour in highly-controlled lab conditions- however they may have over simplified the learning process and have ignored influences of human thought (cogntive approach looks at mental processes)

  Real-world application- operant conditioning created the Token Economy System, and classical conditioning can be used to treat phobias.
• Limitations of the behaviourist approach

  Lack of ecological validity- issues with generalisability.

  Ethics- animals in harsh conditions and deliberately kept below their natural weight , they also may not act the same way as humans.
• Social learning theory strengths

  Well controlled which makes it replicable and reliable also there are control variables to make it more valid.

  Clear real-world applications as it can explain behaviour of children imitating behaviour they watch on TV (James Bulger Case).

  They used inter-rater reliablility as observational methods were used = more valid.
• Social learning theory limitations

  Low ecological validity as the parents were not present which is not the usual circumstance of modelling (artificial setting) and the actions of the model was not punished.

  Possibility of demand characteristics which makes it less valid.

  Lack of generalisability because all 72 children were from the same nursery with the same culture.
• Cogntive approach strengths

  Uses objective scientific methods that are highly controlled so the study of the mind has credible scientific basis- however it can suffer from being too abstract due to the inferences.

  Many useful real-world applications for example Piaget investigating cognitive development in children and Beck investigating mood disorders like depression- supports the value of cognitive psychology.
• Cognitive approach limitations

  Lack of external validity as the studies of mental processes use artificial stimuli.

  Machine reductionism which ignores the influence of human emotion and motivation on the cognitive system, computer models are also simplistic and reductionist.
• Biological approach strengths

  Highly scientific and well controlled.

  Real life applications- psychoactive drugs.
• Biological approach limitations

  Biological determinism.

  Lack of ecological validity.
• Psychodynamic approach strengths

  Forerunner for 'talking therapies'- psychoanalysis (cannot treat schizophrenia).
• Psychodynamic approach limitations

  Unfalsiable.

  Highly unscientific.

  Research bias.
• Humanistic approach strengths

  Not reductionist (holism)- more validity as it considers meaningful human behaviour.

  Optimistic- put person back into psychology.

  Application- Rogerian therapy.
• Humanistic approach limitations

  Reductionist appraoches usually scientific- short on empirical evidence.
• Origins of psychology evaluation

  Strength- some methods were systematic, all introspections in controlled environments.

  Limitations- some aspects would be considered unscientific today as Wundt relied on participants self-reporting (subjective).