A2 issues and debates Flashcards
what is cultural bias?
the tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the lens of ones own subculture
how is psychology culturally bias?
its mainly the study of white American Males but facts are claimed as universal
what is ethnocentrism?
judging other cultures according to norms and values of ones own culture.
How is ainsworth an example of ethnocentrism?
The strange situation procedure said the ideal attachment type was secure so german mothers were seen as cold and rejecting rather than encouraging independence.
what is imposed etic approach?
looks at behaviour from outside a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours that are universal
what is imposed emic approach?
functions within or inside certain cultures and identifies behaviour specific to that culture
what is cultural relativism?
idea that behaviour can only be understood within its cultural context
2 ways that researcher might reduce cultural bias
use researchers who are native to the culture being investigated (indigenous researchers)
carry out cross cultural research rather than research with a sole culture
A03 3 evaluations of cultural bias
- cultural bias can lead to discrimination of groups e.g ethnocentric IQ tests in WW1 where blacks received lowest scores and were deemed mentally unfit
- knowledge of culturally biased research led to the development of indiginous psych where theories are drawn explicitly based on experience of people in diff cultural contexts. e.g afrocentrism- theories of black people must recoginise african context of behaviour
Explain what is meant by the scientific emphasis on causal explanations
All variables are controlled except for _(the iv)
Any change in the _ (dv) must therefore be due to the (iv)
Use of control enables the researcher to infer cause and effect effect
what is socially sensitive research?
studies where there are implications either directly for the ptps in the research or a broader group in society.
this can have an impact on policy
what 3 parts of the research process are socially sensitive?
research question
dealing with participants
the way the findings are used
explain how Yerkes research was socially sensititve
Yerkes argued black americans had a lower iq than whites
between 1907 and 1963 6400 people were forcibly steralized under eugenic legislation
2000 involuntary sterilizations had been performed on poor black women without their knowledge
name 3 ways of dealing with social sensitivity
weigh up the possible costs and benefits before conducting any research
take steps to avoid any prejudicial representations in the media bias
take care when formulating the aim/framing the question as to not misrepresent certain groups
A03 evaluation of ethical implications
- theres benefits to socially sensitive research. SS research can promote greater understanding and reduce prejudice. e.g loftus and palmer on the unreliability of memory, has reduced false imprisonment even though it was seen as victim blaming
- groups like policy makers rely on socially sensitive research such as the government using research with child care laws. such as bowlbys critical period telling us school should begin at age 2
- one limitation is poor research design may lead to flawed findings that have detrimental effects once in public. e.g burt said intelligence was innate so children should be separated based on natural intelligence and it was found burt made up most of his data and 2 research assistants and the 11+ continued to be implemented
explain what is meant by free will
the notion that humans can make decisions and they are not determined by internal or external forces
explain what is meant by determinism
free will has no place in explaining behaviour because we have no choice in our actions. our behaviour is controlled by internal or external forces
explain what is meant by hard determinism
free will is an illusion and every event has a cause because we are governed by internal and external forces that we cannot control
explain what is meant by soft deteminism
the idea that behaviour is to an extent governed by internal and external forces. despite this we still have some element of control over our behaviour
provide examples of free will approaches
the humanistic approach
provide examples of soft determinism approaches
the cognitive approach
social learning theory
provide examples of hard deterministic approaches
the behaviourist approach
the psychodynamic approach
the biological approach
name the 3 types of hard determinism
biological - controlled by genetic and hormonal influences
environmental - governed by rewards and punishment
psychic - behaviour is governed by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood
A03 evaluation for free will and determinism
1.determinism is incompatible with legal responsibility. criminals are held responsible for their crimes because they exercised free will in committing that act. some may appear in court e.g steven mobley who said he was ‘born to kill’ after killing a pizza shop manager because his family had a disposition towards violence.
believing in free will allows patients to feel in control of their mental health conditions. but by giving patient choice we may create a stigma around mental health disorders as people wont see it as a mental condition that requires treatment.
determinism is scientific because it allows for general laws of human behaviour. the prediction of human behaviour has led to development of treatment and drugs e.g SSRI’s used to manage schizophrenia. SZ patients have no free will over thoughts
what is universality
any characteristic that can be applied to all despite differences in upbringing and experiences
explain what is meant by beta bias?
theories that ignore or minimise differences between the sexes
Explain how Asch’s study of conformity is an example of beta bias
Asch’s study of conformity on 123 American males found men conformed to the wrong answer when asked to judge which of the comparison lines match the standard line in 36% of the trials. He generalised his findings to women even though he did not test women. Neto: women are more likely to conform due to their need of affiliation. Asch ignored the differences between genders
explain what is meant by androcentrism
male behaviour is judged to be the norm so when women deviate from them they are seen as abnormal and their traits are less desirable
explain what is meant by alpha bias
research that exaggerates the differences between the sexes. differences are presented as fixed and inevitable
explain how bowlbys study was an example of alpha bias
Bowlby’s claim that mothers needed to stay at home and care for their children or else they would damage their children’s social, cognitive and emotional development, implies that only the mother can fulfil this role. Therefore, reinforcing gender stereotypes.
A03 evaluation of gender bias
- gender bias ignores individual differences. by focusing on how all men differ from all women theres an implication of similarity between genders when there are differences within gender
- Gender biased research creates ,misleading assumptions about female behaviour. not challenging negative stereotypes may lead to scientific justification to deny women opportunities in society e.g promotions at work due to the stereotype women are emotionally unstable
- worrel and remer said in order to avoid gender bias women should be studied in meaningful contexts and genuine ptps in research not just the object of the study. diversity within groups should be explored rather than differences. this gives a deeper insight into women experiences
explain what is meant by holism
focusing on the whole experience rather than individual features and the relationship between them
explain what is meant by reductionism
breaking down or focusing on constituent elements or smaller simpler aspects
explain what is meant by machine reductionism
Explanation based on information processing, e.g attention, memory. human behaviours can only be understood by breaking them down into their individual parts, like the components of a machine
explain what is meant by biological reductionism
we are biological organisms, so we can be explained in terms of our biological make up e.g. chromosome, hormones and neurochemistry
explain what is meant by environmental reductionism
that all behaviour can be explained in terms of a simple stimulus- response interaction or reinforcement and punishment (learning theory)
how is the humanistic approach holistic
it focuses on the individuals experience which cannot be reduced to smaller parts
they use qualitative methods to investigate the self through thematic analysis instead of breaking it down into component behaviour
A03 evaluation of holism and reductionism
reductionism is invalid as it oversimplifies complex behaviour. e.g ocd is caused by low serotonin. explanations like genes and neurotransmitters don’t take into account the social context which behaviour occurs.
holism provides a complete understanding of human behaviour. some behaviours only emerge in a group context and cant be understood individually.e.g conformity to social roles couldnt have been studies without a group as its about interactive behaviour - valid
reductionism is scientific.to create operationalised variables it breaks target behaviour down into small constituent parts so they can be scientifically tested and explained. e.g the strange situation operationalised behaviour like separation anxiety
explain what is meant by the nomothetic approach
the nomothetic approach aims to produce general laws of behaviour which provides a benchmark against which people can be compared
explain what is meant by the idiographic approach
this attempts to describe the nature of the individual by studying people as unique entities
usually qualitative and regarded as more subjective
A03 evaluation for idiographic and nomothetic
idiographic is restricted. e.g Freud’s Oedipus complex was developed from little hans who was a unique individual. generalisations cant be made without more people because there no baseline to compare behaviour to
nomothetic allows general laws to be established because they study groups to explain behaviour e.g ocd is due to low serotonin which allows us to establish treatment to overcome the issues
nomothetic overlooks the richness of the human experience e.g knowing theres a 1% chance of developing SZ tells us nothing about what its like to be a sufferer. understanding the experience of a sufferer can help to devise treatment
provide an example of the idiographic approach
Freuds study of little hand is idiographic. he found little Hans was afraid of horses but this fear was really a fear of his dad. The approach is idiographic because Freud studied behaviour in individuals (such as Little Hans) in case studies.
explain what is meant by the diathesis stress model
behaviour is caused by a biological or environmental vulnerability (the diathesis) which is only expressed when couple with a biological or environmental trigger (the stressor).
provide a study that exemplifies epigenetics?
Dias and Ressler gave male lab mice electric shocks every time they were expose to the smell of acetophenone, a chemical in perfume. the mice showed a fear reaction as soon as the scent was presented. The rats children also feared the smell: even though they had not been exposed to the chemical before or receive any shocks. So did their grandchildren
What are epigenetics?
a change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code. happens throughout life and is caused by an interaction with the environment.
Aspects of our lifestyle and the events we encounter leave epigenetic marks on our DNA.
what is meant by concordance
The degree to which two people are similar on a particular trait can be represented by a correlation coefficient
concordance rate provides an estimate about the extent to which a trait is inherited, called heritability.
explain what is meant by the nature nurture debate
The nature-nurture debate refers to the possibility that behaviour is governed by nature such as genes and by nurture e.g environment and experiences
A03 evaluation of the nature vs nurture debate
- Nvs N debate uses adoption studies so we can separate the influences of nature and nurture. e,g if adopted kids are more similar to bio parents it because of nature. vice versa
- constructivism indicates that genes and environment interact. People create their own nurture by selecting environments that are appropriate for their nature. a naturally aggressive child feels more comfortable around children who are too and will choose their environment accordingly which then affects their development. research cant separate them
- debate has been applied to the real world. ocd is highly heritable. nestadl et al said it was 76%. can inform genetic counselling because high heritability does not mean it is inevitable that the individual will go on to develop the disorder. people who have a high genetic risk of OCD because of their family background can receive advise
provide an example of the nomothetic approach
Behaviourists, such as Pavlov and Skinner, conducted experiments with animals in order to establish laws of learning (classical and operant conditioning) that could be generalised to humans and non-human animals.
provide an example of the nomothetic approach
MIlgram and asch used the nomothetic approach to create general conclusions about human behaviour : that situational factors are responsible for both obedience and conformity
