Areas (definitions, strengths and weaknesses) Flashcards
What are the defining characteristics of the social area?
Investigates how the social context, including the presence and behaviour of other people, impacts on how people behave
What are the strengths of the social area?
Practical applications
Can help to improve our understanding of human behaviour, particularly to the extent which it is affected by other people
What are the weaknesses of the social area?
It can be difficult to stay within ethical guidelines due to the socially sensitive nature of the area and is not always true for all places (ethnocentric)
What are the defining characteristics of the cognitive area?
Investigates how we think, perceive, pay attention, problem solve and remember things
What are the strengths of the cognitive area?
Extremely useful and favours a scientific method (objective data and reliability)
What are the weaknesses of the cognitive area?
Findings often lack EV as highly controlled lab experiments and there are limitations into studying as relies heavily on observation and self report
What are the defining characteristics of the developmental area?
Investigates how our thinking changes as we mature and grow older, the development of the personality and how we learn
What are the strengths of the developmental area?
Useful applications
Can study P’s over time to reduce P variables
What are the weaknesses of the developmental area?
Research with children may raise ethical issues (e.g. consent and protection) and may be constrained by time or culture due to changes in environment and differences in child rearing
What are the defining characteristics of the biological area?
Investigates the relationship between biology and behaviour - specifically how neurobiology affects behaviour and how behaviour can affect biology
What are the strengths of the biological area?
Research leads to a greater understanding of how the brain words and how it impacts behaviour
Favours a scientific method
What are the weaknesses of the biological area?
Methods used to measure the brain are limited because we are limited in our interpretations of findings (e.g. MRI scans) and often leads to simplistic explanation as it doesn’t account for other factors which may influence behaviour
What are the defining characteristics of the individual differences area?
Investigates the differences between people, such as abnormality and mental disorders
What are the strengths of the ID area?
Enables psychologists to found out about a wider range of human behaviour
Can have great social benefit in helping to find treatments
What are the weaknesses of the ID area?
Socially sensitive and the tools used to measure differences may not always be valid