Section B

• What debates does the approach link to

  • determinism = assumes our behaviour is predetermined by factors such as biological stages in development or changes in our experiences in the environment
  • nurture = developments in behaviour are learned or accquired through changes in our experience of the environment
  • nature = looks to innate biological factors to explain clear, identifiable developments in behaviour as people progress through different stages of life
• Strengths of the approach

  • useful
  • longitudinal research
  • scientific
• Weaknesses of the approach

  • deterministic
  • unethical
  • low ecological validity
• Practical application: Bandura

  WHAT = implement a 9pm watershed on TV to avoid children being exposed to violence in the media

  HOW = ensuring no aggressive scenes are shown on TV before 9pm to avoid exposing children to inappropriate behaviour that we know they may imitate once observing, such as Peaky Blinders

  WHY = this will be effective because SLT teaches us that children are likely to copy behaviour observed by a RM and as a result may copy behaviour that is seen
• Practical application: Chaney

  WHAT = implement positive reinforcement in medical regimes

  HOW = distributing the 'Funhaler' - which provides positive reinforcement through a whistle and spinning top - to all asthmatic children across the world as well as educating teachers + parents how to properly administer it to children

  WHY = we learn from operant conditioning that by manipulating a child's experience in their environment we can improve behaviour e.g. the integration of positive reinforcement into their medical regimes makes medication more incentivising, improving adherence