Definitions Flashcards
Define the term ‘determinism’
The view that our behaviour is controlled by factors out of our control which are either biological or environmental
Define the term ‘free will’
The view that a person has the mental capacity to chose how to behave so as a result we are responsible for our own actions
Define the term ‘reductionism’
the idea that to explain human behaviour it should be broken down into its simplest form in order to explain it
Define the term ‘holism’
the view that human behaviour is complex and should be studied as a whole rather than being reduced to singular explanations
Define the term ‘nature’
the view that behaviour is a product of our inherited or biological factors, therefore i determined by our biology and not our experiences
ie. genes or brain chemistry
Define the term ‘nurture’
the idea our behaviour is learned through our experiences in the environment
ie. upbringing, learning
Define the term ‘individual’
the view that our behaviour is the result of factors from within
ie. personality and disposition
Define the term ‘situational’
the view that our behaviour results from factors within the situation the person is in
ie. other people and the social situation
Define the term ‘socially sensitive’
refers to psychological research that has ethical implications that go beyond the research and effect society in terms of stigma, political consequences or harm.
Define the term ‘usefullness’
measuring to what extent the research has practical applications or theoretical usefulness, whilst also considering factors that may detract from usefulness i.e validity, reliability, ethnocentrism
Define the term ‘ethics’
judging whether a piece of research adheres to moral principles, which inform the research guidelines, protection of participants, right to withdraw, deception, informed consent, confidentiality, debrief
Define the term ‘psychology as a science’
the extent to which research adheres to the scientific principles ie, follows scientific method, quantifiable measurements, controlled, replicability, cause and effect etc.
Define in term of psyc as a science ‘quantitative data’
Quantifiable measurements
ie. numerical ones help to ensure that the DV is being assessed in an objective way
Define in term of psyc as a science ‘objective data’
taking an unbiased external perspective that is not effected by individual or personal viewpoints, so should be consistent between researchers
Define in term of psyc as a science ‘controls and standardisation’
essential so that extraneous variables could not account for changes in the DV, which would make any apparent effect on the IV invalid, the use of set procedures for collecting data across different conditions and participants to limit the effect of uncontrolled variables
Define in term of psyc as a science ‘replicability’
being able to repeat the procedure in exactly the same way
Define in term of psyc as a science ‘falisifiability’
being able to demonstrate something is not the case
i.e that a hypothesis is false
Define in terms of psyc as a science ‘cause and effect’
a link between two variables such that a change in one variable can be demonstrated to be responsible for a change in the other variable
Define in terms of psyc as a science ‘induction’
a scientific method that uses observations to generate a testable hypothesis , which are developed into theories
Define in terms of psyc as a science ‘deduction’
a scientific method that develops hypotheses from theories, then tests theses hypotheses by observation
Define in terms of ethics ‘protection of participants’
Risk to psychological and physical health should be no more than in participants everyday life
Define in terms of ethics ‘informed consent’
researchers should tell participants anything that may affect their willingness to take part in the study before they do
Define in terms of ethics ‘deception’
researcher should not withhold information from or mislead participants during or after the research has taken place
Define in terms of ethics ‘right to withdraw’
participants can withdraw their data at any tie within or after the study and for any reason
Define in terms of ethics ‘confidentiality’
all participants should be anonymous and unidentifiable
Define in terms of ethics ‘debrief’
after the research has just taken place the researcher must inform participants of the true nature of the research they have just taken part in
Define in terms of socially sensitive ‘stigma’
psychologists should be aware that individuals or groups may experience feeling of shame and exclusion due to sensitive issues explored in research
ie. gender, culture, illness
Define in terms of socially sensitive ‘harm’
investigating some issues may be controversial for participants as they are too private or cause distress
Define in terms of socially sensitive ‘political consequences’
in some circumstances the outcome of a piece of research may have implications for the government policy and change the lives of people involved with or affected by research
Define in terms of usefulness ‘practical applications’
the extent to which the results from a piece of research can be used in real life situations to improve behaviour
Define in terms of usefulness ‘theoretical usefullness’
the extent to which results from a piece of research can add to our existing knowledge to explain behaviour
Define in terms of usefulness ‘ecological validity’
the extent to which the results from a piece of research can be generalised to real life behaviour in terms of the setting and the task
Define in terms of usefulness ‘population validity’
the extent to which the results from a piece of research can be generalised to the target population/ the sample used is representative of the target population
Define in terms of usefulness ‘internal validity’
the extent to which the researcher is measuring hat they set out to measure through appropriated operationalisation of the DV and control of extraneous variables
Define in terms of usefulness ‘ethnocentrism’
the tendency to perceive the world from our own cultural or ethnic group and in doing so to view others who behave differently as inferior
Define in terms of usefulness ‘reliability’
the extent to which the measure used in a piece of research is consistent within itself a produces consistent experience for all participants
