Behaviourist Approach

• A strength of the behaviourist approach is that it gave psychology scientific credibility.
• For example, the approach focused on the careful measurement of observable behaviour within controlled lab settings. Both Pavlov and Skinner conducted highly controlled lab experiments which meant they were able to draw accurate cause and effect conclusions.
• By emphasising the importance of scientific processes, such as objectivity, this brought the language and methods of the natural sciences into psychology.
• This strengthens both the reliability and support for the behaviourist approach in explaining human behaviour as it gives the subject greater credibility and status.
• Another strength of the behaviourist approach is that the principles of learning have been applied to a broad range of real-world behaviours and problems.
• For example, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems whereby inmates or patients are rewarded with tokens for behaving appropriately which can be exchanged for privileges in institutions such as prisons and psychiatric wards.
• Treatments like these are suitable for patients who lack 'insight' into their condition and are not capable of talking about their problems.
• This strengthens both the applicability and support for the behaviourist approach in explaining human behaviour given that it has led to successful rehabilitation of inmates and patients.
• A limitation of the behaviourist approach is that it portrays a mechanist view of behaviour.
• For example, animals are seen as passive and machine-like responders to the environment, with little conscious insight into their behaviour. Whereas other approaches, such as SLT and the cognitive approach, have emphasised the importance of mental events that occur during learning.
• These processes, which mediate between stimulus and response, suggests people may play a much more active role in their own learning.
• This weakens both the generalisability and support for the behaviourist approach in explaining human behaviour as it may apply less to human than to animal behaviour.