behaviourism

• explaining behaviour - mental processes are not worthy of study (not as important as the role of environment)
• scientific method - psychology is scientific, observable and measurable phenomena
• animal research - assume humans are animals, so behaviourists generalise
• free will - believe we have no free will, its an illusion
• +scientific

  focuses on measuring observable behaviour in controlled lab settings. importance of objectivity and replication, giving it greater credibility and status

  -lacks ecological validity, unrealistic

  missing out on unobservable aspects - limited way of looking at behaviour
• +real world applications

  operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems used in institutions e.g. prisons and psychiatric hospitals

  rewarding behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges

  application to phobias - treatments have advantage of requiring less effort from a client because the client doesn't have to think about their problem

  gives it practical value, real world utility
• -use of animals

  behaviourists tend to generalise from animals to humans, which ignores the differences

  however mammals are usually used, which are arguably more similar to humans

  ethics - not ethical to use animals
• -reductionist

  environment causes behaviour

  other factors are not included: biology, emotions etc