How to Evaluate: Generic Evaluation Points

Against

Artificiality- Majority of the studies are conducted in unfamilar settings that do not reflect everyday real life so this questions whether the theory can be applied to other settings or not.

Against

Generalisability- Some theories are based on research from laboratory experiments. Because some of the task used lack realism and are artifical they are hard to generalise to all the different situations and therefore this questions the ecological validity of the studies.

Against

Extrapolation- Some research on human behaviour is based on animal research and so extrapolation is an issue as there are qualitative differences between humans and animals. Cultural transmission plays a much greater role in human behaviour then animals and so the generalisability of the explanations may be limited.

Againist

Individual Differences- Some research and theories can be questioned as they assume all humans are like

Against

Descriptive rather than explanatory- Some research/ theory describe the situation and human behaviour but does not explain the causes of these behaviours.

Against

Oversimplified- Some theories are oversimplified as they only focus on one aspect of behaviour without any regards to other aspects that other explanations may consider.

Against

Ethical Issues- some studies have been conducted whilst deceiving the participants or causing some form of personal distress.

Against

Unrepresentative Sampling- Because some studies just use students or small samples this can question the application of the theory to the rest of the population.

Against

Conflicting Evidence- Most research has evidence supporting and also evidence against theories and explanations, so these can be used as A02 mark.

Against

Observations- Studies in which participants know they are being observed and this might affect the results as participants might behave in the way they think the experimenter expects them to behave (demand characteristics).

Against

Dated- Some of the studies that have been conducted to initially support and propose the theories, models and explanations in psychology have been conducted almost 60-70 years ago. Therefore one could argue that these may not be easily reflect the nature of human behavior in our era, as behaviour not only changes between cultures but also over time.

For

Well controlled- Lab studies are often well controlled and therefore can be easily replicated.

For

Experimental Studies- Most theories, models and explanations have evidence to support them so use these as A02 by effectively explaining what their findings implyt in relation to the theory.

For

Applications- Apply the model, theory to real life situations and provide examples.

For

Attempts to explain- Majority of the time you can make an ahrument that there is no single theory to explain a certain aspect of human behaviour, so they all contribute to attempting to understand the complexity of human behaviour.