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 because of a belief that your culture is the best and most superior.

Question 4

How is ainsworth an example of ethnocentrism?

Answer 4

belief in the superiority of ones own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination of other’s culturees

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

“When a theory or technique developed in one culture is applied inappropriately to another culture.”

an emic approach looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal
e.g ainsworth studied behaviour inside 1 culture and (america) and then assumed the ideal attachment type and the method of assessing it could be applied universally

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

3 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

study a single culture to understand that culture (emic)

Question 9

A03 3 evaluations of cultural bias

Answer 9

1. cultural bias can lead to ethnic stereotyping. psychologists used WW1 to pilot the first IQ test on millions of soliders. discrimination of groups e.g ethnocentric IQ tests in WW1 where blacks received lowest scores and were deemed mentally unfit and were denied education and professional opportunities compared to the whites.
2. knowledge of culturally biased research led to the development of indigenous 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 since all black people have their roots in Africa.

3.cultural bias is not always applicable. not all behaviours are culturally relative. there are universal human behaviours like sadness, anger joy and fear. interactional synchrony is a behaviour that all babies and caregivers experience. should be cautious when critiquing Ainsworth as some attachment behaviours are actually universal.

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 and an example of it?

Answer 11

studies where there are implications either directly for the ptps in the research or a broader group in society.

Bowlby suggesting that the absence of a mother can lead to low IQ and affectionless psychopathy reinforces stereotypes that the mother should stay home when field found the father can be the primary caregiver.

this can have an impact on policy

Question 12

what 3 parts of the research process are socially sensitive?

Answer 12

research question. The way that questions are phrased and investigated may impact the way that findings are interpreted.

dealing with participants: ethical issues are important. Participants may provide informed consent last first but not fully understand what’s going on. e.g domestic violence

the way the findings are used. researchers should consider how they may be used

Question 13

explain how Yerkes research was socially sensititve

Answer 13

Yerkes argued black americans had a lower iq than white Americans

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 (admitted by the US Senate Committee)

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. scar says despite the ethical implications SS research can promote greater understanding and reduce prejudice. e.g loftus and palmer on the unreliability of memory(was deemed highly socially sensitive e.g victim blaming), has reduced false imprisonment and reduced the risk of miscarriages of justice
2. groups like policy makers rely on socially sensitive research such as the government using research with decisions related to child care, education and poverty laws. such as bowlbys critical period telling us school should begin at age 2. psychologists socially sensitive research play an important role.
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. this put many children who couldn’t complete these difficult exams

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.

biological and environmental influences may exert some influence to an extent but we can reject these forces as masters of our own destiny.

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.

as a result we should be able to identify cause and effect.

Question 19

explain what is meant by soft deteminism and example of soft apporaches

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

for example, social learning theory and the cognitive approach

Question 20

provide examples of free will approaches

Answer 20

the humanistic approach

Question 21

provide examples of hard deterministic approaches

Answer 21

the behaviourist approach

the psychodynamic approach

the biological approach

Question 22

name the 3 types of hard determinism

Answer 22

biological - behaviour is controlled by genetic and hormonal and involuntary influences

environmental - behaviour is governed by the environment e.g systems of rewards and punishment that we can’t control

psychic - behaviour is governed by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood

Question 23

A03 evaluation for free will and determinism

Answer 23

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 24

what is universality

what is gender bias

Answer 24

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

when psychologists offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience of both men and women

Question 25

explain what is meant by beta bias and how does it happen?

Answer 25

theories that ignore or minimise differences between the sexes which can lead to the misrepresentation of behaviour often occurs when female participants aren't included as part of the research and its assumed findings apply equally to both men and women

Question 26

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

Answer 26

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 27

explain what is meant by androcentrism

Answer 27

consequence of beta bias: male behaviour is judged to be the norm and acceptable so when women deviate from them they are seen as abnormal and their traits are less desirable

Question 28

explain what is meant by alpha bias

Answer 28

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

Question 29

explain how bowlbys study was an example of alpha bias

Answer 29

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 30

A03 evaluation of gender bias

Answer 30

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 genders that are being ignored e.g race, religion, sexuality. we may inaccurately generalise findings to a whole population. 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. damaging consequences that affect the lives of real women e.g The statistic that women are 2x likely to be diagnosed with depression than men this can be used to deny women opportunities like promotions at work due to the stereoetype that women are emotionally unstable 3. worrel and remer have put forward criteria 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 between groups. There should be a greater emphasis on collaborative research methods that collect qualitative data this gives a deeper insight into women experiences.

Question 31

explain what is meant by holism

Answer 31

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

Question 32

explain what is meant by reductionism

Answer 32

attempting to understand human behaviour by breaking it down or focusing on constituent elements or smaller simpler aspects

Question 33

explain what is meant by machine reductionism

Answer 33

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 34

explain what is meant by biological reductionism

Answer 34

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

Question 35

explain what is meant by environmental reductionism

Answer 35

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

Question 36

how is the humanistic approach holistic

Answer 36

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 37

A03 evaluation of holism and reductionism

Answer 37

**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. e.g cromer et al found over half OCD patients had a traumatic incident and their OCD was more severe **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 - provides a complete and global understanding of 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 for research into attachment. can study factors that influence human behaviour in a controlled manner and get cause and effect. would be too complex to study all the factors at once. holistic explanations that combine many different perspectives. e.g if we accept there are many factors that contribute to depression it becomes hard to establish treatment because we dont know which one is more influential

Question 38

explain what is meant by the nomothetic approach

Answer 38

the nomothetic approach aims to produce general laws of behaviour which provides a benchmark against which people can be compared and measured so future behaviour can be controlled or predicted.

Question 39

explain what is meant by the idiographic approach

Answer 39

this attempts to describe the nature of the individual by studying people as unique entities with their own experiences and motivations. no attempts to make comparisons to a larger group. they dont believe that objectivity in research is possible and people's unique contexts are important. generates qualitative data from case studies, unstructured interviews and self report using open ended questions

Question 40

A03 evaluation for idiographic and nomothetic

Answer 40

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. also methods associated with it like case studies tend to be the least scientific and rely on subjective interpretation that's open to bias. 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 e.g SSRIs increase the level of serotonin in the synapse by blocking reuptake 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. when we are focused on establishing general laws we are losing the whole person idiographic provides detailed qualitative data. develop complete and global accounts of the individual. This may compliment the nomothetic approach by shedding further light on general laws by challenging them. e.g case study into amnesia - KF (shalice and warrington) challenged the idea that we only have one store for STM. even though the focus is on few individuals it may still help form scientific laws of behaviour.

Question 41

provide an example of the idiographic study

Answer 41

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 42

explain what is meant by the diathesis stress model

Answer 42

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). e.g A person who inherits the genetic vulnerability for OCD may not inherit the disorder but combined with the psychological trigger like a traumatic experience this may lead to the disorder appearing

Question 43

provide a study that exemplifies epigenetics?

Answer 43

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 44

What are epigenetics?

Answer 44

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 45

what is meant by concordance

Answer 45

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. 1%=environment 100% = genes eg nested et al ocd mz twins = 68% dz twins = 31%

Question 46

explain what is meant by the nature nurture debate

Answer 46

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 the debate attempts to assess the relevant contribution of each of these influences on human behaviour

Question 47

A03 evaluation of the nature vs nurture debate

Answer 47

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 genetic factors. similar to adopted parents = the environment 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 exhibit the same behaviours 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 at how to prevent this e.g managing stress 4. There is research to support epigenetics. In WW2 the Nazis blocked distribution of food to dutch people and 22000 people died of starvation. was reported that women who became pregnant during the famine went on to have low weight babies who were 2x likely to develop SZ when they grew up compared to control group. life experience of prior generations can leave epigenetic markers that affect the health of offspring

Question 48

provide an example of the nomothetic approach

Answer 48

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. biological approach - sperry split brain research was the basis for understanding hemispheric lateralisation. milgram obedience study

Question 49

how is determinism scientific?

Answer 49

it suggests that behaviour is determined by either internal or external causes so we can establish a cause and effect relationship and predict human behaviour. this can be tested scientifically through lab experiments which allow us to control extraneous variables which will allow us to establish cause and effect between the Iv and the Dv creating general laws of human behaviour .

Question 50

what methods would a nomothetic approach use

Answer 50

experiments: conducted on large samples to establish a cause and effect relationship that can be generalised to the entire population via quantitative data. this is because methods of assessment must be standardised in order to establish general laws so we can replicate across a large sample

Question 51

example of an idiographic approach in psychology

Answer 51

humanistic: rogers explained self development including the role of the unconditional positive regard. This was derived from in depth conversations in therapy. psychodynamic: Freuds investigations of individuals were the basis of his explanation of human nature. freud used detailed qualitative data from one individual to understand phobias and