Disadvantages Of The Scientific Method Flashcards
First paragraph
Lacks internal validity: fraught with problems such as subjective bias and demand characteristics.
WITAD: Results may not be due to the IV but instead due to extraneous variables therefore the study is not valid.
Example: in Milgrams study the pps may have worked out the setup was fake.
Second paragraph
Ignores idiographic differences: science takes the nomothetic approach aiming to make generalisations and find similarities.
WITAD: Because theories tend to ignore gender, age and culture.
Example: Ashe claimed that everybody conformed. Later studies have shown that some cultures are more likely than others e.g. Less likely in individualistic cultures such as Uk and USA more likely in collectivistic cultures such as India and Africa.
Third paragraph
Reductionist: Behaviour must be reduced to a set of individual operationalised variables. Especially true of experiments and observations where behaviour categories are operationalised.
WITAD: Because the main aspects that make up human behaviour are classed as extraneous variables. Human nature isn’t quantifiable.
Example: langer and Rodin operationalised poor well being of elderly are those that stay in. Kristen and Haughe found that elderly people stayed inside not because of we’ll being but because this is where they had the most control.
Fourth paragraph
Lacks internal validity: psychological experiments are not always supported by real life. Behaviour in an artificial environment cannot be generalised.
WITAD: because it takes place in an artificial settings its not representative of real life.
Example: Asches study on conformity pps might have conformed because it was a trivial task.
