Critical Evaluation An obvious advantage of behaviorism is its ability to clearly define behavior and to measure changes in behavior. According to the law of parsimony, the fewer assumptions a theory makes, the better and the more credible it is. Behaviorism, therefore, looks for simple explanations of human behavior from a very scientific standpoint. However, Humanism (e.g. Carl Rogers) rejects the scientific method of using experiments to measure and control variables because it creates an artificial environment and has low ecological validity. Humanistic psychology also assumes that humans have free will (personal agency) to make their own decisions in life and do not follow the deterministic laws of science. Humanism also rejects the nomothetic approach of behaviorism as they view humans as being unique and believe humans cannot be compared with animals (who arent susceptible to demand characteristics). This is known as an idiographic approach. The psychodynamic approach (Freud) criticizes behaviorism as it does not take into account the unconscious minds influence on behavior, and instead focuses on external observable behavior. Freud also rejects that idea that people are born a blank slate (tabula rasa) and states that people are born with instincts (e.g. eros and than atos). Biological psychology states that all behavior has a physical / organic cause. They emphasise the role of nature over nurture. For example, chromosomes and hormones (testosterone) influence our behavior too, in addition to the environment. Cognitive psychology states that mediational processes occur between stimulus and response, such as memory, thinking, problem solving etc. Despite these criticisms behaviorism has made significant contributions to psychology. These include insights into learning, language development, and moral and gender development, which have all been explained in terms of conditioning. The contribution of behaviorism can be seen in some of its practical applications. Behavior therapy and behavior modification represent one of the major approaches to the treatment of abnormal behavior and are readily used in clinical psychology
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 22:36:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015