Describe the behaviourist approach in psychology and evaluate the research methods used by behaviourist psychologists.

This essay has been taken from a recent PSYB1 paper.

Describe the behaviourist approach in psychology and evaluate the research methods used by behaviourist psychologists.

Mark allocation, [AO1 = 5, AO2 = 5]

Here are some comments and suggestions from the mark scheme. I suggest that you incorporate these ideas into your answer:

AO1
Up to five marks for a description of the behaviourist approach in psychology.
Features may include
all behaviour is learned and can be best understood in terms of associations between stimulus and response.
Behaviour is determined by our interactions and experiences in the environment. Candidates may refer to the principles of both classical and operant conditioning in their response.
Classical conditioning temporal associations between neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus (credit diagrammatic representation).
Operant conditioning the use of consequences /reinforcement to shape behaviour.

Credit up to three marks for description of studies and/or research methods.

AO3
Up to five marks for an evaluation of the research methods used by behaviourist psychologists.

Candidates are likely to refer to the controlled experimental methods and use of animals by behaviourists in their response.
Controlled experimental methods:
Strengths
establish cause and effect;
manipulate IV;
control for extraneous variables;
scientific methods;
objectivity, etc.
Limitations
artificiality of controlled experiments;
lacks ecological validity;
representativeness, etc.

Use of animals:
Strengths
short gestation period;
more ethical than using humans;
generalisability to human behaviour, etc.
Limitations
crude to extrapolate findings to explain human behaviour;
lacks generalisability;
representativeness, etc.

Make sure that you do not simply copy these bullet points down, you need to say what they mean. For example, what does it mean when we say that one of the limitations of using animals in research is that it lacks generalisability?

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