Behaviourist Theory Strengths And Weaknesses
There are several theories of criminal behavior and each of these theories have its own strengths and weakness. For instance, the strengths of psychological theory are they focused on the effects that childhood experience have on the developing personality, it takes both nature and nurture into account, this area has worked with other areas of psychology to produce the following: social learning theory, social cognition and artificial intelligence. But, the weakness of psychological theory is that it is unfalsifiable, because the assumption cannot be scientifically measured or proven wrong, it is too simplistic, it ignores the complexity of the human functioning, the biological influences of human functioning, and it ignores emotions, conscious
…show more content…
But, the weakness of cognitive theory is it reductionist, because it reduces human behaviors down to individual processes such as memory and attention, and it is mechanical, it compares human to computers, meaning that humans and computers have similar processes (Flow Psychology). Finally, the behaviorist theory strengths are that it has successfully applied classical and operant conditioning to its theories, many experiments to support it theories, identified comparisons between animals, and it uses scientific methods of research. But, the weakness is it focuses on the nurture side of the nature and nurture debate. It suggests that all behavior is learned, that people learn behavior by observing others (Simply Psychology, 2016). Therefore, the theory that I think is most applicable to the cause of criminal behavior today is psychological, because humans today have a variety of social disorders which need treating, but have not been properly treated, these behaviors come from mental illness in individual who commits violence crimes without the conscious of doing such things. According to Sigmund Freud, “All human have natural drives and urges that are represent in the unconscious, including violent behavior, forces operating within a person’s mind” (Children,
But, the weakness of cognitive theory is it reductionist, because it reduces human behaviors down to individual processes such as memory and attention, and it is mechanical, it compares human to computers, meaning that humans and computers have similar processes (Flow Psychology). Finally, the behaviorist theory strengths are that it has successfully applied classical and operant conditioning to its theories, many experiments to support it theories, identified comparisons between animals, and it uses scientific methods of research. But, the weakness is it focuses on the nurture side of the nature and nurture debate. It suggests that all behavior is learned, that people learn behavior by observing others (Simply Psychology, 2016). Therefore, the theory that I think is most applicable to the cause of criminal behavior today is psychological, because humans today have a variety of social disorders which need treating, but have not been properly treated, these behaviors come from mental illness in individual who commits violence crimes without the conscious of doing such things. According to Sigmund Freud, “All human have natural drives and urges that are represent in the unconscious, including violent behavior, forces operating within a person’s mind” (Children,