AO3 evaluation points for behaviourism :
Strengths : Limitations :
1. Classical conditioning has been applied to therapy 1. Over-reliance on non-human animals in research
- Classical conditioning has been applied in the - This relates to both Skinner & Pavlov
development of treatments for the reduction of - Critics claim that Skinner’s reliance on rats and
anxiety associated with various phobias pigeons means that his studies tell us little
- Systematic desensitisation is a therapy based about human behaviour → due to the fact that
on classical conditioning which works by humans have free will unlike non-human
eliminating the learned anxious response that animals and therefore human behaviour is not
is associated with the feared object of the solely determined by positive and negative
situation and it is then possible to eliminate the reinforcement
anxiety by replacing it with a relaxation. - Pavlov is also criticised for his use of animals as
- This method has been found to be effective with an attempt of explaining human behaviour with
a range of phobias including with a fear of Barnett claiming that the use of animals to
spiders and fear of flying explain human behaviour is ‘over-simplified and
2. Skinner used the experimental method to investigate outdated’ because humans differ ‘biologically,
operant conditioning socially and cognitively’ from animals
- Skinners reliance on the experimental method, 2. Behaviourism has a limited perspective on behaviour
using controlled conditions to discover a - Behaviourists have been accused of ignoring
possible causal relationship between variables other levels of explanation such as those that
is a strength emphasise the importance of cognitive factors
- An example of these controlled conditions is the or emotional states
‘Skinner Box’ → by manipulating the IV he was - Treating human beings as a product of their
able to accurately measure the effects on the conditioning alone means that we ignore the
DV evidence for the role of other factors in shaping
- This allowed him to establish a cause and effect behaviour
relationship between the consequences of a - For this reason the behaviourist approach is
behaviour and the future frequency of its reductionist due to the fact that it does not take
occurrence biological factors into account
3. Operant conditioning has practical applications 3. Different species have different capabilities to learn
- For example, the principles of operant through classical conditioning
conditioning have been used to treat - Seligman (1970) proposed the concept of
schizophrenic individuals biological preparedness to explain this.
- Alloy found that when token economy was used - Animals are prepared to learn associations that
that patients showed more desirable are significant to them in terms of their survival
behaviours needs. A dog will find it much easier to
- BUT this did not lead to long term change in associate the smell of meat with the presence of
behaviour patterns as Skinner suggested → this food, but harder to associate a sound with the
could therefore be used as evidence that presence of food.
operant conditioning is only effective in
short-term behavioural changes
4. Pavlov used scientific lab settings
- This meant that he was able to control
extraneous variables that would otherwise
interfere with the results
- The tight control of variables means that you
can have a greater certainty that the DV is only
influenced by the IV → helps you to establish a
cause-and-effect relationship between the
variables
- Also, lab studies can be easily replicated and so
are reliable
5. Watson & Raynor conducted their ‘Little Albert’ Study
which support Pavlov’s idea of Classical Conditioning
- They classically conditioned a child to develop
a fear of white rats
- Through classical conditioning he had learned
to show a fear response towards an object that
he has not previously feared → this
demonstrates that the principles of
conditioning can also be applied to humans, it
also demonstrates that phobias are learned
behaviours, therefore supporting the
behaviourist view that all behaviour is learned.
Strengths : Limitations :
1. Classical conditioning has been applied to therapy 1. Over-reliance on non-human animals in research
- Classical conditioning has been applied in the - This relates to both Skinner & Pavlov
development of treatments for the reduction of - Critics claim that Skinner’s reliance on rats and
anxiety associated with various phobias pigeons means that his studies tell us little
- Systematic desensitisation is a therapy based about human behaviour → due to the fact that
on classical conditioning which works by humans have free will unlike non-human
eliminating the learned anxious response that animals and therefore human behaviour is not
is associated with the feared object of the solely determined by positive and negative
situation and it is then possible to eliminate the reinforcement
anxiety by replacing it with a relaxation. - Pavlov is also criticised for his use of animals as
- This method has been found to be effective with an attempt of explaining human behaviour with
a range of phobias including with a fear of Barnett claiming that the use of animals to
spiders and fear of flying explain human behaviour is ‘over-simplified and
2. Skinner used the experimental method to investigate outdated’ because humans differ ‘biologically,
operant conditioning socially and cognitively’ from animals
- Skinners reliance on the experimental method, 2. Behaviourism has a limited perspective on behaviour
using controlled conditions to discover a - Behaviourists have been accused of ignoring
possible causal relationship between variables other levels of explanation such as those that
is a strength emphasise the importance of cognitive factors
- An example of these controlled conditions is the or emotional states
‘Skinner Box’ → by manipulating the IV he was - Treating human beings as a product of their
able to accurately measure the effects on the conditioning alone means that we ignore the
DV evidence for the role of other factors in shaping
- This allowed him to establish a cause and effect behaviour
relationship between the consequences of a - For this reason the behaviourist approach is
behaviour and the future frequency of its reductionist due to the fact that it does not take
occurrence biological factors into account
3. Operant conditioning has practical applications 3. Different species have different capabilities to learn
- For example, the principles of operant through classical conditioning
conditioning have been used to treat - Seligman (1970) proposed the concept of
schizophrenic individuals biological preparedness to explain this.
- Alloy found that when token economy was used - Animals are prepared to learn associations that
that patients showed more desirable are significant to them in terms of their survival
behaviours needs. A dog will find it much easier to
- BUT this did not lead to long term change in associate the smell of meat with the presence of
behaviour patterns as Skinner suggested → this food, but harder to associate a sound with the
could therefore be used as evidence that presence of food.
operant conditioning is only effective in
short-term behavioural changes
4. Pavlov used scientific lab settings
- This meant that he was able to control
extraneous variables that would otherwise
interfere with the results
- The tight control of variables means that you
can have a greater certainty that the DV is only
influenced by the IV → helps you to establish a
cause-and-effect relationship between the
variables
- Also, lab studies can be easily replicated and so
are reliable
5. Watson & Raynor conducted their ‘Little Albert’ Study
which support Pavlov’s idea of Classical Conditioning
- They classically conditioned a child to develop
a fear of white rats
- Through classical conditioning he had learned
to show a fear response towards an object that
he has not previously feared → this
demonstrates that the principles of
conditioning can also be applied to humans, it
also demonstrates that phobias are learned
behaviours, therefore supporting the
behaviourist view that all behaviour is learned.
