Behaviourist Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths 

One strength of the behaviourist approach is that is has made a positive contribution to society. Behaviourist principles have been successfully applied to the real world, most notably in the treatment of mental disorders and in education e.g. classical conditioning principles have been applied in systematic desensitisation to help people suffering from phobias. This is a strength as it is a direct approach and the therapist doesn’t have to look at deep meanings for phobias, the removal of the symptoms is the main aim.  

A second strength is that this method is highly scientific and uses objective, experimental methodology e.g. Pavlov’s work on conditioned responses in relation to dogs. This approach has continued to use this scientific approach and further evidence is the research by Bandura and the social…