LEARNING APPROACH

EVALUATION SAMPLE ANSWERS

1) Evaluate the study by Bandura (aggression) in terms of two strengths and

two weaknesses. At least one of your evaluative points must be about
observations. (10 marks)
The aim of the study is to test the social learning theory and see if children learn
aggression through imitation and observation of an adult model. One strength of
the study is that the research method used was a structured observation where a
behavioural checklist was used to record the aggressive acts of the children. A
behavioural checklist allows for standardization as it can be replicated to test for
reliability. Furthermore, through time sampling, such as in this study, observers can
record the number of acts displayed by the children as per the checklist which
allows for quantitative data to be collected. The study was also a controlled
observation as it was conducted in the highly controlled environment of a lab. For
example, the toys the children were exposed to in each phase were always the
same, with the behaviour of the models in each respective condition being
standardized, which further allows us to replicate the study to test for reliability.
A second strength of the study is validity. The pre-existing levels of aggression were
tested before the participants were allocated to the three groups. This ensures that
there would not be individual differences which may interfere with the results of
the study, and the researcher can be more confident that it is the IV of the condition
of the model that is affecting the DV of aggressive acts displayed by the children,
hence improving validity. A weakness however is, that as it is conducted in a highly
controlled and artificial setting of a lab, the study lacks ecological validity. The
actions of the model were also not something children experience in their daily
lives, as adults do not usually play aggressively around children with children’s toys,
which suggests that the study also lacks mundane realism. A second weakness of
the study is the sample is not representative of a wider population as the sample
size is only 72 children of a particular age range of 3 to 5 years, all part of the same
Stanford nursery, suggesting they may have some similar characteristics. This
means the findings cannot be applied to older children or perhaps to children of
other nurseries, which limits the generalisability of the study.
2) Evaluate the study by Silverman and Saavedra (button phobia) in terms of
two strengths and two weaknesses. At least one of your evaluative points must be
about case studies. (10 marks)
The aim of the study is to test the role of classical conditioning in the development
of a phobia of buttons in a 9 year old boy, and ways to treat it through exposure
and imagery based therapies. A strength of the study is that it used the research
method of a case study which allows for rich in-depth detailed qualitative data to
be collected. The boy along with his mother were interviewed to understand the
origin of his phobia, and this information is useful to not only make a valid and
correct diagnosis of the child’s condition, but also treat him accordingly. The
development of his behaviour can also be studied overtime as the researchers are
able to see how his distress ratings towards buttons increase or decrease with the
passage of time following various sessions of exposure-based and imagery-based
therapies. At a 6 and 12 month follow up post assessment, he no longer met the
DSM criteria of a phobia of buttons, which shows us the effectiveness of the
treatment over time. Another strength of the study is that it has ecological validity
as the study was conducted in the clinic of the researchers which is a natural
setting, and it is common for people to seek therapy to treat their phobias, as was
the case in this study, which increases mundane realism. However, a weakness of
the study is, by using the case study research method, it means the sample of the
study is one single participant who is a 9 year Hispanic-American boy with a specific
phobia of buttons, and therefore, generalisations cannot be made as the sample is
not representative at all of a larger population, such as to older children, children
of other ethnicities, or even children with other forms of phobias. Another
weakness of the study is ethics. Although consent was provided by both mother
and child, and they were ensured their confidentiality would be maintained, it can
be argued that the child was not protected from psychological harm. He was
physically exposed to buttons in the exposure-based treatment phase, and
although he managed to complete all sessions, his distress levels increased on the
fear/disgust hierarchy, suggesting that he went through high levels of distress and
experienced psychological harm.
3) Evaluate the study by Fagen (elephant learning) in terms of two strengths
and two weaknesses. At least one of your evaluative points must be about use of
animals in psychological research. (10 marks)
The aim of the study by Fagen was to investigate whether SPR could be used to
train elephants to voluntarily complete a trunk wash to allow them to be tested for
TB. One strength of the study is the use of animals in psychological research. This
suggests that studies on animals should follow ethical guidelines. For example, the
guideline of numbers was maintained as only 5 elephants were part of the sample.
They were not deprived of water or food, and were not made to go through any
pain or distress in the procedure. The guideline of species and strain was also
maintained as the elephants chosen for this study were selected specifically
because they were docile. Furthermore, by conducting such studies on elephants,
it helps us to train them behaviours that would benefit their well-being such as a
trunk wash technique so that they can be tested for diseases such as TB, without
the need for techniques such as punishment. Another strength of the study is that
it was a controlled observation, which means there were high levels of controls. All
elephants belonged to the same stable, and were made to go through the same
SPR training steps using techniques such as lure, capture and shaping. The checklist
of behaviours that made up the trunk wash was also standardized. This allows for
the procedure to be easily replicated to test for reliability. A weakness, however,
of the study is that is lacks generalisability as the sample size is very small of only 5
elephants. The fact that they were all captive elephants, from the same stable,
meant they are not representative of a wider population of elephants, such as
those in the wild, and therefore, the findings cannot be applied to a wider
population. Another weakness of the study is ecological validity, as these are not
behaviours that elephants are typically exposed to in the wild and their natural
habitat, but rather, were trained through a technique called SPR in a controlled
environment, and therefore, the study also lacks mundane realism.