A2 issues and debates

Question 1

what is cultural bias?

Answer 1

the tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the lens of ones own subculture

Question 2

how is psychology culturally bias?

Answer 2

its mainly the study of white American Males but facts are claimed as universal

Question 3

what is ethnocentrism?

Answer 3

judging other cultures according to norms and values of ones own culture.

Question 4

How is ainsworth an example of ethnocentrism?

Answer 4

The strange situation procedure said the ideal attachment type was secure so german mothers were seen as cold and rejecting rather than encouraging independence.

Question 5

what is imposed etic approach?

Answer 5

looks at behaviour from outside a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours that are universal

Question 6

what is imposed emic approach?

Answer 6

functions within or inside certain cultures and identifies behaviour specific to that culture

Question 7

what is cultural relativism?

Answer 7

idea that behaviour can only be understood within its cultural context

Question 8

2 ways that researcher might reduce cultural bias

Answer 8

use researchers who are native to the culture being investigated (indigenous researchers)

carry out cross cultural research rather than research with a sole culture

Question 9

A03 3 evaluations of cultural bias

Answer 9

1. 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
2. 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

Question 10

Explain what is meant by the scientific emphasis on causal explanations

Answer 10

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

Question 11

what is socially sensitive research?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

what 3 parts of the research process are socially sensitive?

Answer 12

research question

dealing with participants

the way the findings are used

Question 13

explain how Yerkes research was socially sensititve

Answer 13

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

Question 14

name 3 ways of dealing with social sensitivity

Answer 14

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

Question 15

A03 evaluation of ethical implications

Answer 15

1. 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
2. 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
3. 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

Question 16

explain what is meant by free will

Answer 16

the notion that humans can make decisions and they are not determined by internal or external forces

Question 17

explain what is meant by determinism

Answer 17

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

Question 18

explain what is meant by hard determinism

Answer 18

free will is an illusion and every event has a cause because we are governed by internal and external forces that we cannot control

Question 19

explain what is meant by soft deteminism

Answer 19

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

Question 20

provide examples of free will approaches

Answer 20

the humanistic approach

Question 21

provide examples of soft determinism approaches

Answer 21

the cognitive approach

social learning theory

Question 22

provide examples of hard deterministic approaches

Answer 22

the behaviourist approach

the psychodynamic approach

the biological approach

Question 23

name the 3 types of hard determinism

Answer 23

biological - controlled by genetic and hormonal influences

environmental - governed by rewards and punishment

psychic - behaviour is governed by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood

Question 24

A03 evaluation for free will and determinism

Answer 24

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

Question 25

what is universality

Answer 25

any characteristic that can be applied to all despite differences in upbringing and experiences

Question 26

explain what is meant by beta bias?

Answer 26

theories that ignore or minimise differences between the sexes

Question 27

Explain how Asch’s study of conformity is an example of beta bias

Answer 27

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

Question 28

explain what is meant by androcentrism

Answer 28

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

Question 29

explain what is meant by alpha bias

Answer 29

research that exaggerates the differences between the sexes. differences are presented as fixed and inevitable

Question 30

explain how bowlbys study was an example of alpha bias

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

A03 evaluation of gender bias

Answer 31

1. 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 2. 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 3. 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

Question 32

explain what is meant by holism

Answer 32

focusing on the whole experience rather than individual features and the relationship between them

Question 33

explain what is meant by reductionism

Answer 33

breaking down or focusing on constituent elements or smaller simpler aspects

Question 34

explain what is meant by machine reductionism

Answer 34

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

Question 35

explain what is meant by biological reductionism

Answer 35

we are biological organisms, so we can be explained in terms of our biological make up e.g. chromosome, hormones and neurochemistry

Question 36

explain what is meant by environmental reductionism

Answer 36

that all behaviour can be explained in terms of a simple stimulus- response interaction or reinforcement and punishment (learning theory)

Question 37

how is the humanistic approach holistic

Answer 37

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

Question 38

A03 evaluation of holism and reductionism

Answer 38

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

Question 39

explain what is meant by the nomothetic approach

Answer 39

the nomothetic approach aims to produce general laws of behaviour which provides a benchmark against which people can be compared

Question 40

explain what is meant by the idiographic approach

Answer 40

this attempts to describe the nature of the individual by studying people as unique entities usually qualitative and regarded as more subjective

Question 41

A03 evaluation for idiographic and nomothetic

Answer 41

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

Question 42

provide an example of the idiographic approach

Answer 42

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.

Question 43

explain what is meant by the diathesis stress model

Answer 43

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).

Question 44

provide a study that exemplifies epigenetics?

Answer 44

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

Question 45

What are epigenetics?

Answer 45

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.

Question 46

what is meant by concordance

Answer 46

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.

Question 47

explain what is meant by the nature nurture debate

Answer 47

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

Question 48

A03 evaluation of the nature vs nurture debate

Answer 48

1. 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 2. 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 3. 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

Question 49

provide an example of the nomothetic approach

Answer 49

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.

Question 50

provide an example of the nomothetic approach

Answer 50

MIlgram and asch used the nomothetic approach to create general conclusions about human behaviour : that situational factors are responsible for both obedience and conformity