Strengths and Weaknesses of approaches

Strengths:

• Shows that childhood is a critical period in our development. Bandura
• Shows how ageing and maturation can affect out behaviour. Samuel and Bryant

Weaknesses

• Samples often use children which can lead to ethical issues. Bandura
• Samples can often be culturally biased or too small to generalise to the rest of the population. Freud and Samuel and Bryant

Strengths

• Provides support for the Is psychology a science debate as it often used scientific methods such as laboratory experiments which have high control and allow for replicability. Loftus and Palmer
• Provide further information into cognitive impairments and may help to find practical applications in the form of treatments and therapy. Baron-Cohen

Weaknesses

• May lack ecological validity due to the scientific methods of laboratory experiment. Loftus and Palmer
• Collects mainly quantitative data which does not give reasons for results. Savage-Rumbaugh

Strengths

• Studies factors that are relevant to our society. Reicher and Haslam
• Demonstrates the way situational factors affect our behaviour. Milgram

Weaknesses

• Can often raise ethical issues due to deceit. Piliavin
• Deterministic. Assumes that all people will respond to their social situation in the same way. Ignores any free will the person has to over ride it. Milgram.

Strengths

• Provides a better understanding about mental illness which can lead to treatments. Griffiths and gambling addiction or MPD from thigpen and cleckley
• Can reduce prejudice and discrimination against people who have a mental illness. Rosenhan

Weaknesses

• Data collected is often qualitative and can be very subjective making it susceptible to researcher bias. Thigpen and Cleckly
• Raises many ethical issues. Thigpen and Cleckly or Rosenhan

Strengths

• Uses reliable scientific methods such as MRI scans and EEG. Dement and Kleitman and Maguire
• Provides support for the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate. Maguire shows plasticity of the brain

Weaknesses

• Can lack ecological validity due to scientific measures. Sperry and his specialised equipment.
• Hard to determine cause and effect. Maguire showed only a correlational relationship between variables.

Strengths

• Shows that childhood can determine who we become in later life. Thigpen and Cleckly
• Data collected is often qualitative so provides rich in depth data. Freud

Weaknesses

• Because data is often qualitative it is very subjective and open to researcher bias. Freud
• Often uses small ungeneralisable samples. Freud and little Hans