Approaches

• What is a strength of the cognitive approach?

  It is scientific as the methods used are controlled and rigorous and allow for replication. This is because cognitive neuroscience techniques are used objectively to identify where in the brain different processes occur, like PET scans show cocaine addicts have reduced activity in frontal lobes. This shows merging biology and cognitive psychology together means the study of the mind has established a credible scientific basis.
• What is a strength of the cognitive approach?


  It has practical applications as the cognitive approach can be put into practice outside laboratory settings in real life. It has been dominant in contribution to the development of cognitive behavioural therapy to treat depression, OCD, and anxiety. Therefore this explanation translates well into a successful therapy.
• What is a limitation of the cognitive approach?

  It is machine reductionist as it suggests the human mind works in a similar way to computers which is simplistic and flawed. Humans can forget things and are subject to emotions, unlike computers, which may affect the quality of processing. This means the approach oversimplifies human cognition and ignores important aspects that influence performance.
• What is a strength of the biological approach?

  It is scientific as the methods it uses are controlled and rigorous and allow for replication. It uses scientific methods such as scanning techniques, twin studies, genetic testing, and drug trials meaning it is possible to measure biological and neural processes not open to bias so the foundations of the approach are reliable.
• What is a strength of the biological approach?

  It has practical applications as it can be put into practice outside laboratory settings in real life. Psychoactive drugs successfully treat health disorders including depression by adjusting levels of serotonin meaning the approach helps patients manage conditions and live relatively normal lives.
• What is a limitation of the biological approach?

  It is biologically determinist as it suggests behaviour is caused by internal biological factors only. It says behaviour is directly caused by genetics, brain structure, neurochemistry, and evolution which we can’t control but this is at odds with the legal system which sees offenders as responsible for their own actions. This causes us to question the validity of the approach as an explanation for human behaviour.
• What is a strength of the behaviourist approach?

  It is scientific as it uses methods that are controlled and rigorous and allows for replication. It focuses on measuring observable behaviour in structured and controlled laboratory settings which brings language and methods of natural sciences into psychology giving it greater credibility and status.
• What is a strength of the behaviourist approach?


  It has practical applications as it can be put into practice outside laboratory settings in real life. Children have star charts when they are younger to be given a star as a reward for good behaviour which makes them more likely to repeat the behaviour so is positive reinforcement. Therefore it is clear humans behave as the theory predicts which contributes to our understanding of human behaviour.
• What is a limitation of the behaviourist approach?

  It is environmentally determinist as it suggests human behaviour is caused by external environmental factors only. However not all children stop undesirable behaviours after being punished for them which suggests humans have free will and are not just a sum of reinforcement history so we question the theory’s assumptions.
• What is a strength of social learning theory?

  It recognises the importance of cognitive factors in learning as it factors in mediational processes when explaining behaviour. Classical and operant conditioning don’t offer an adequate account of learning on their own but SLT recognises thought processes occur between observation of behaviour and the decision to imitate it. This means it provides a more complete explanation of human learning than the behaviourist approach.
• What is a strength of social learning theory?

  It is culturally universal as it argues behaviour is the same across all groups regardless of culture. It suggests children learn in the same way from people around them and understand gender roles by imitating role models. Therefore it is clear we behave in the way SLT predicts regardless of culture.
• What is a limitation of social learning theory?

  It is environmentally determinist as it suggests behaviour is caused by external environmental factors only. In Bandura’s study not all children behaved aggressively after observing an aggressive role model which shows humans have some free will and causes us to question SLT explanations.
• What is a strength of the psychodynamic approach?

  It has practical applications as it can be put into practice outside laboratory settings in real life. Psychoanalysis uses hypnosis and dream analysis to access unconscious content and help treat disorders like depression, OCD, and anxiety meaning treatments based on Freud’s assumptions help patients manage conditions.
• What is a strength of the psychodynamic approach?

  There is research evidence form Freud who found Little Hans showed a fascination with his ‘widdler’ in his father’s diary, which shows the phallic stage, and resentment towards his father after long periods of time away, showing the oedipus complex. This suggests unresolved childhood conflict can contribute to the development of abnormalities later in life.
• What is a limitation of the psychodynamic approach?

  It is psychic determinist as it suggests behaviour is caused by unconscious childhood conflicts only. Freud suggests the development of OCD is caused by fixation at the anal stage in childhood but this doesn’t consider biological or environmental factors. Therefore we question the validity of the approach in explaining behaviours.
• What is a strength of the humanistic approach?

  It is holistic as it considers the whole person with their past, present, and future when explaining behaviour. This rejects any attempts to break up behaviour into smaller components meaning it may have more validity than alternatives by considering meaningful human behaviour within real life context.
• What is a limitation of the humanistic approach?

  It has limited practical applications as it can’t be effectively applied to real life settings. It has had some impact on counselling and partly explains motivation in the workplace but has had little impact in psychology as a whole. This may be due to lacking strong supporting evidence and has been described as a ‘loose set of abstract concepts’.
• What is a limitation of the humanistic approach?

  It is culturally biased as it inappropriately judges behaviour from a particular cultural perspective. Many ideas are associated with individualist cultures but collectivist cultures may not identify with these ideals as they believe in the importance of interdependence. Therefore we question the validity of the approach as it doesn’t explain all human behaviour fairly or as a product of cultural context.