Component 2: Debates

Question 1

What is the nature debate?

Answer 1

Nature is the view that all our behaviour is determined by biology, our genes.

Question 2

What is the nurture debate?

Answer 2

Nurture is the opposite view to nature, stating that all behaviour is learnt and influenced by external factors such as environment etc.

Question 3

What are the strengths and weaknesses of nature

Answer 3

Strengths - can help establish cause and effect, may lead to practical applications
Weaknesses - Limited usefulness as it may be impossible to change a person’s nature, it is reductionist as it fails to account for the effects of nurture and may be socially sensitive as it may lead to ideas of genetic superiority.

Question 4

What are the strengths and weaknesses of nurture?

Answer 4

Strengths - Can be useful as it may help to change a child’s behaviour by changing the way they are brought up.
Weaknesses - Reductionist as it misses out on the role of nature, ethnocentric as cultures may vary in how children are brought up and it is socially sensitive leading to parents being blamed for society’s problems.

Question 5

What is determinism?

Answer 5

All behaviour has a cause and is predictable. Free will is an illusion, and our behaviour is governed by internal or external forces over which we have no control.

Question 6

What is free will?

Answer 6

The idea that we can make choices about our behaviour.

Question 7

What is hard vs soft determinism?

Answer 7

Hard determinism sees free will as an illusion and every event and action ha a cause.
Soft determinism represents a middle ground, people do have a choice but that choice is constrained by internal or external factors.

Question 8

What are the strengths and weaknesses of determinism?

Answer 8

Strengths - deterministic principles can be studied using systematic, scientific methods (measurable), predictable, cause and effect relationships allow scientists to develop prac apps such as drug therapies.
Weaknesses - lacks usefulness as it prevents people taking responsibility for their own actions and does not fit into ideas of personal responsibility (legal system), and appears counter intuitive as we experience making choices everyday.

Question 9

What are the strengths and weaknesses of free will?

Answer 9

Strengths - accounts for individual differences and values human behaviour, appears to match with our everyday experience of living as we make free choices everyday and it fits with the idea of personal responsibility for our actions (legal system.)
Weaknesses - lacks usefulness as ideas cannot be studies in a systematic and scientific way.

Question 10

What is holism?

Answer 10

The idea that to understand behaviour we must consider all the different factors that contributes to that behaviour.

Question 11

What is reductionism?

Answer 11

It is reducing complex behaviour into basic explanations.

Question 12

What are the strengths and weaknesses or holism?

Answer 12

Strengths - increase the validity as the interaction of many factors is much more reflective of real life , it considers cultural differences which decreases ethnocentrism.
Weaknesses - fails to identify any single cause for human behaviour which reduces the usefulness in the real world, it is often difficult to study lots of explanations at once which can mean it gathers little data on lots of explanations and it is difficult to establish cause and effect.

Question 13

What are the strengths and weaknesses of reductionism?

Answer 13

Strengths - can help establish cause and effect, may lead to practical applications
Weaknesses - deterministic, socially sensitive

Question 14

What is the individual (dispositional) explanation?

Answer 14

This explains behaviour according to some feature or characteristic of the person. E.g. personality.

Question 15

What is the situational explanation?

Answer 15

This explains behaviour according to the wider context of the environment.

Question 16

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the individual explanation?

Answer 16

Strengths - helps us to understand why people behave the way they do and it is useful as we can try placing people in jobs or even romantic relationships based on their personality.
Weaknesses - limited usefulness as if a person’s personality is the reason they behave the way they do, it is not easy to change their disposition and it is reductionist as it misses out on situational factors.

Question 17

What are the strengths and weaknesses or the situational explanation?

Answer 17

Strengths - helps us to understand or explain why people behave the way they do and it is useful as we can alter behaviour by altering the situations that create it.
Weaknesses - socially sensitive as it could be used as an excuse to explain bad behaviour and it is reductionist as it misses out on individual factors.

Question 18

What is socially sensitive research?

Answer 18

There are three main areas of research that raise issues of social sensitivity. These are culture & ethnicity, sex & gender and research that causes distress to participants.

Question 19

What are the strengths and weaknesses of socially sensitive research?

Answer 19

Strengths - carrying out this type of research often means the researcher can develop a personal relationship with the participants which can help them gain insightful data and building an understanding of these sensitive topics can allow useful application by finding out information that would not usually be accessible.
Weaknesses - building relationships with participants can lead to bias and subjectivity, interviewing participants about sensitive topics may induce painful emotions which may cause harm and results may lead to discrimination of vulnerable groups.

Question 20

What classes psychology as science?

Answer 20

When it is objective, falsifiable and replicable.