behaviourist AO3

• Evaluation points 🙂x3, 🙁x3

🙂

• supporting evidence

• High quality scientific supporting evidence

• Practical applications

🙁

• Reductionist

• Environmentally deterministic

• Alternative explanations

🙂supporting evidence

Pavlov (classical conditioning) and skinner (operant conditioning).

This supports the main assumption of operant conditioning that consequences and actions lead to learning. It is important to support theory with evidence because psychology is a science.

Therefore this increases the credibility of the behaviourist approach.

🙂high quality scientific supporting evidence

Pavlov and skinner conducted experiments in labs with tight control of extraneous variables. Furthermore, behaviourist approach is only focused on observable behaviour, so no inferences were made.

This means cause and effect relationships can be established between IV and DV, increasing internal validity.

Therefore, given psychology is a science it is desirable attribute that it has empirical evidence.

🙂practical application

Principles have been used in a number of therapies, e.g. exposure therapies like flooding and systematic desensitisation based on CC and token economy programmes based on OC.

This means fewer people will need to live with phobias and children will learn positive behaviours.

Therefore, it has practical benefits that extend beyond academia.

🙁reductionist

Behaviourists only studied simple stimulus response associations, which doesn’t reflect complex behaviours like mental illness.

This means that although being easier to study simple behaviours, it may not be useful when generalising to real life behaviour.

Therefore this decreases the credibility and mundane realism of the approach.

🙁environmentally deterministic

According to the behaviourist approach, behaviour is conditioned by past experience from associations and consequences.

This means people aren’t operating via free will which goes against anecdotal evidence where people have control over their behaviour.

Therefore this reduces the credibility of the approach.

🙁alternative explanations

The main assumptions of the biological approach are that behaviour is a product of inherited characteristics and nothing to do with learnt experience,

This means behaviourist approach alone is not a comprehensive explanation of behaviour.

Therefore, given alternative explanations exist, this undermines the credibility of the approach.