Evaluative Points Flashcards
Strength and weakness of pavlov
High internal validity
Conducted on dogs doesn’t appy to human
Strength and weakness of classical conditioning
Pavlov and Watson
Only explains a small range of behaviours
Strength and weakness of Watson and rayner
High internal validity
Counterpoint
Strength and weakness for operant conditioning/ schedules of reinforcement
Skinner
Only explains how existing behaviour can be strengthend or weakened
Bandura 61 63 65
High internal validity
Does show how long term aggression is maintained
Strength and weakness for social learning theory
Bandura 65
Kendler et al
Strength and weakness for phobia
Watson and rayner
Seligman
Strength and weakness for flooding
Kaplan and tolin
Not effective for social phobias
Strength and weakness for systematic desensitisation
Gilroy
Doesn’t treat all phobias
Strength for pavlov
High internal validity
Soundproof box prevent Sounds from distracting dog
Collection of saliva in cannula prevents the loss of saliva providing objectives measurement
Demonstrate a cause effect relationship between bell and salvation
Weakness of pavlov
Humans are more complex than dogs
Human have larger cerebral cortex
More complex cognitive processes
Whereas animals driven by instinct
Therefore doesn’t apply to humans as we are different from dogs
Strength of classical conditioning
Pavlov
Shown by having dog associate a bell to food
Watson and rayner
Shown by human baby conditioned to fear rat
There for studies demonstrate that there is classical conditioning in human and animal
Weakness of classical conditioning
Only explains a small range of behaviours
Can explain why someone learns to fear dog
But can’t explain how someone Maintains the fear of dogs
Therefore doesn’t fully account for learning behaviours
Strength of operant conditioning
Skinner box
Rat press button > get food
> PR > so they voluntarily press button
Rat press button> stops getting shocked > NR > continue pressing button
Animals learn via reinforcement and punishment
Weakness for operant conditioning/ schedules of reinforcement
Counterpoint
Skinners studies mainly focus on rats as humans are more complex as they are affected by complex reasoning and culture
Therefore the findings can’t be applied to human behaviour
Or operant conditioning only focuses on how behaviour can be strengthend or weakened but not the origins of the behaviour suggesting that its explanation for learning is limited
Strength for reinforcement
Skinner
Skinner box
Rat press button > get food
> PR > so they voluntarily press button
Rat press button> stops getting shocked > NR > continue pressing button
Strength of Watson and rayner
High internal validity
Wooden blocks = makes sure that’s Albert’s responses are due to furry objects not just a general increase of fear
Diff rooms = makes sure that Albert’s fear isn’t due to the particular environment but the furry animal
Therefore showing that Albert was conditioned to fear rats
Weakness of Watson and rayner
Counterpoint
Not all aspects were controlled
Rabbit was suddenly placed down in front of Albert
And dog was pushed towards him
These sudden actions may have startled and triggered Albert’s fear than the animals themselves
Strength for bandura 61 63 65
High internal validity
Kept children in different rooms when observing models
Children were observed covertly to prevent demand characteristics
They used the same frustration which as saying that’s they couldn’t played with toy
Showing that aggression displayed was due to imi
Weakness of bandura 61 63 65
doesn’t provide an explanation for long term aggression
only observed immediate effects of observing aggression in children, and no explanation for if there’s long term effects
therefore, the study doesn’t show how aggression is maintained only how it’s learned
Strength for social learning theory
Bandura 65
Models get rewarded for aggression- child more likely to out of aggression to get same reward
M.C +M.m = highest aggression due to same gender
Showing behaviour can be acquired via imitation
Weakness for social learning theory
Kendler et al
Found that identical twins had higher concordance rates in aggression than non identical twins
Slt maybe an incomplete explanation for learning aggression
Strength for phobia
Watson and rayner
Little Albert learned to fear white furry objects through classical conditioning therfore showing that learning does take place fore some cases of phobias
Weakness of phobias
Seligman
Found that
Easy to learn > evolutionary fears I.e snakes
Hard to learn> modern fears I.e cars
Suggesting that species preprogrammed to be afraid of certain things
