issue and debates

Question 1

gender bias

Answer 1

-differences can raise questions about universality of explanations
-differences may lead to bias and behaviours which are typical+atypical for men+ women

Question 2

androcentrism

Answer 2

history has been male dominated therefore theories proposed come from the male perceptive and led to a judgement in social norms resulting in either alpha or beta bias

Question 3

alpha bias in gender

Answer 3

exaggerate differences between males and females which may devalue one gender for example the role of the father states that men are emotionally incapable of being a parent which isn’t the case for single dads etc

Question 4

beta bias in gender

Answer 4

The tendency to minimise or ignore differences between men and women resulting in people assuming men and women act the same when this is not the case for example the traditional flight to fight response Taylor found was inaccurate and women “tend and befriend” response which meant that the female behaviour went undiscovered and not fully understood real differences were ignored

Question 5

who developed the ides of cultural bias

Answer 5

mustin and marecek

Question 6

alpha bias in culture

Answer 6

An exaggeration of differences between cultures or an assumption that there are real or enduring differences between cultures. For example in obedience it would be expected that individualist cultures would be less conformist die to less oriented on groups and collectivist to be more obedient. Takano and Osaka reliever 15 cases 14/15 didn’t support this judgement therefore there may be be a real distinction between cultures

Question 7

beta bias in culture

Answer 7

To ignore or minimise cultural differences by assuming that theories/methods apply to all cultural groups. For example in psychopathology definitions of abnormality causing mental illnesses are said to be universal however different cultures may be seen to have a mental illness which is not applied to their norms + assumes universality of mental health

Question 8

define ethnocentrism

Answer 8

The tendency to view the beliefs customs and behaviours of our own group as “normal” or even superior and other groups as deviant or abnormal to social norms

Question 9

define cultural relativism

Answer 9

the idea that all cultures are worthy of respect and that we need to understand the specific behaviours of cultures

Question 10

define imposed etic

Answer 10

A technique or theory developed in one culture and the used to study the behaviour of people in another culture with a different norms and values and experiences For example IQ testing seen in some cultures a method of testing intelligence however other cultures see intelligence as shared knowledge and may produce results which suggest inferiority

Question 11

define indigenous psychologies

Answer 11

A psychological movement which emphasises the importance of using researchers who are from a specific culture to study peoples behaviour from that culture.

Question 12

define universality

Answer 12

the aim to develop theroies that apply to all people which may include real differences

Question 13

define determinism

Answer 13

refers to explanations based on the premise that behaviour id based on factors beyond ones control due to external or internals factors acting upon the individual

Question 14

hard determinism

Answer 14

proposes all behaviour can be predicted and there is no free will for example have a gene MAOA you will be an impulsive aggressive person

Question 15

soft determinism

Answer 15

some element of free will for example the meditational process in SLT

Question 16

biological determinism

Answer 16

proposes that biological factors eg genes and hormones predispose a person to behave in a certain way for example the role of dopamine in schizophrenia Joseph et al

Question 17

environmental determinism

Answer 17

behaviour determined by environmental factors eg phobias develop through association between a previous neutral stimulus (dog) and an unconditioned stimulus (bite)

Question 18

psychic determinism

Answer 18

all mental processes are not spontaneous but are driven by the unconscious mental processes for example frauds psychodynamic approach proposes that behaviour is driven by unconscious and primitive drives such as the ID

Question 19

free will

Answer 19

individuals have the capacity to self determine and take an active role in controlling their own behaviour for example psychologists Maslow and rogers argue that self-determination is required for healthy development of the self and actualisation rogers claimed as long as people feel controlled by others prevents them taking responsibility and making changes

Question 20

nature vs nurture

Answer 20

surronds relative importance of heredity and environment in determining behaviour and to what extent it is determined by innate as opposed to environmental factors

Question 21

interactionist approach

Answer 21

explains the development of psychological traits, disorders, and behaviour as a product of both biological and environmental influences. It recognises that to explain and predict behaviour, we need to account for the interaction between both the influence of hardwired systems such as genes and experiences.

Question 22

nature

Answer 22

behaviour is seen to be a product of innate abilities present at birth for example Joseph found concordance rate for schizophrenia 40% for identical twins (share 100% genes) in comparison to non identical twins 7% for 50% shared genes the closeness in similarity for MZ twins shows that nature has a major contribution to the disorder

Question 23

nurture

Answer 23

-environmental influences acquired through interactions with the environment including both physical and social world. for example behaviourists assume behaviour is placed off experiences only and that attachment could be explained through classical conditioning (food is mother who feeds the baby) and operant conditioning (food reduces discomfort of hunger and therefore is rewarding)

Question 24

holism

Answer 24

perceives a persons whole experience and assumes and the essence of behaviour cannot be predicted on individual features and the relations between them for example humanistic psychologists looking at depresion would look at factors such as emotional (regulating emotions) social (family expressed emotion) biological (dopamine gene) and psychological (dysfunctional belief)

Question 25

reductionism

Answer 25

based of parsimony that breaks complex phenomena into simpler underlying components that can explain the principles of complex behaviours

Question 26

levels of explainations

Answer 26

explanations begin at the highest level and progressively look at more reductionist elements

Question 27

list the levels of explanation

Answer 27

highest level (least reductionist) = cultural and social explanation eg how our social groups affect our behaviour
middle level = psychological eg becks negative triad for depression
lowest level (most reductionist) = biological explanations eg how genes and hormones affect behaviour eg adrenaline and flight or fight

Question 28

biological reductionism

Answer 28

since all animals are made up of atoms we should all be able to explain behaviour on a physical level through hardwired biological functions such as genes, hormones, nuerotransmitters for example schizophrenia is thought to be caused by an excess of dopamine or excess of D2 receptors

Question 29

environmental reductionism

Answer 29

-proposes behaviour can be explained through stimulus + response links eg skinner proposed that due to conditioning consequence and reinforcement can inhibit behaviour

Question 30

experimental reductionism

Answer 30

reducing behaviour into isolated variables these can be manipulated and measured to determine casual relationships

Question 31

social sensitive research

Answer 31

research/ studies which may have potential social consequences or implications either directly from the participants in research or the group that they present

Question 32

what are ethical implications

Answer 32

ethical implications are the consequence in wider society resulting from a study

Question 33

what were the main 4 aspects of the research that seiner and Stanley identified where at the potential for social consequences to occur

Answer 33

-research question = simply questioning theories such as if there are racial differences in IQ may be damaging to the particular group involved and may perpetuate prejudices
- conduct of research and treatment of pps = confidentiality of the information collected eg if pps confesses a crime should it be maintained
- institutional context = research could be funded by private organisations for example in drug trials selective publication has been accused of
-interpretation + application of findings = research may be misused for example role of father in primary caregiver

Question 34

idiographic approach

Answer 34

-involves the study of individuals and unique insight each individual contributes to explanations to behaviour
-it is qualitative because it studies individuals in depth techniques such as interviews case studies and thematic analysis
-for example HM, little Albert
-humanistic approach favours as they focus on the whole person + seeing world from their perspective
-eg rogers development of self worth through congruence between 3 selves

Question 35

nomothetic approach

Answer 35

-studies large samples of people seeks to make generalised laws about behaviour
-therefore collects quantitative data and uses measures such as central tendency, statistical tests and measures of dispersion
-biologicsl psychology has generated laws about mental disorders such as schizophrenia and the role of excess dopamine levels

Question 36

pros and cons of idiographic approach

Answer 36

+idiographic methods may acknowledge uniqueness of individuals in much more depth
+more rich information
-hard to analyse
-methods are unscientific

Question 37

pros and cons of nomothetic approach

Answer 37

+easy to analyse
+can make predictions
-less rich info

Question 38

evaluate gender bias

Answer 38

• one consequence is that gender bias can lead to stereotypes and prejudice for example research into fathers being primary attachment states men aunt emotionally equip in comparison to men TMB generalises male behaviour assumes men are bad fathers devalues men and isn’t the case for lots
  +feminist psychology approach eg wore criteria to adhere to eg women used be studied in meaningful context rather than being an object. TMB reserch will become more female centred and led to real understanding of all genders in research
  + ways to overcome gender biased research eg recognition/ polarise gender differences by adopting qualitative data.

Question 39

evaluate cultural bias

Answer 39

+using stratifies sampling eg used to identify subgroups that may affect the IV for example individualist vs collectivism on secure attachment TMB important sampling method ensures proportional representation in a target population rather than random and unrepresentative
+methods to counteracting ethnocentrism eg indigenous psychologies make theories more relevant and valid and promotes the need for more research TMB understand values therefore know native methods to use to investigate
-bias can lead to harmful stereotypes eg western IQ tests a sign of intelligence applied to Ugandan society who see intelligence as shared knowledge appeared less intelligent therefore inferior

Question 40

evaluate free will vs determinism

Answer 40

-ethical implication of deterministic theory eg Bradley Waldrop received reduced sentence due to gene and abusive childhood suggesting he had limited responsibility for murder TMB large impact on society upset victims families and taken advantage of in court
-research challenges idea of free will eg Chun song soon found brain activity whether to push a button 10 seconds before being conscious of the decision TMB most basic free will choices are already predetermined before we are aware
+ biological determinism has useful applications to treatments eg ocd eg sort and comt gene

Question 41

evaluate nature vs nurture debate

Answer 41

+reserch has supported idea of nurture
Maguire studied taxi drivers in London in Mri scans larger posterior hippocampus in comparison to normal group TMB suggests job spatial awareness can have a direct impact on brain plasticity suggesting nature affected behaviour
+importance of the interaction between nature and nurture eg group of Finnish adoptees most likely to develop SZ if bio family history (heritidery) of SZ and dysfunctional family (trigger) TMB both equally important and one can affect the other
-Overemphasis on nature implicates stereotypes eg Goddard issues iq tests to immigrants claiming they were “feeble minded” although there was a needed to understand English TMB harmful claims can be made about our hereditary genes and where we come from that may simply not be true

Question 42

evaluate holism and reductionism

Answer 42

+useful application of biological reductionism to real world eg OCD broken down to simple biological components such as COMT and SERT gene can help produce treatments such as SSRI’s TMB treatment can be life changing improve quality of life treatments developed.
-environmental reductionism is based on non human animals eg skinner rat and pavlovs dog that support s-R links TMB results can’t be extrapolated to explain complex human conscious behaviour
-danger in low level of explanations eg wolpe given systematic desensitisation for fear of insects didn’t work real problem was marriage status and husband nickname TMB may overlook real explanations behaviour by assuming a reductionist approach

Question 43

evaluate ethical implications

Answer 43

+there are some benefits from social sensitive research eg can lead to greater understanding in the justice system eg Loftus and misleading info TMB therefore more justice within the system
-could be manipulated by public eg vance Packard published false findings of significance of subliminal messages of Coca Cola in cinema
TMB raises question if researchers seek to manipulate public to promote findings to marketing companies who benefits from this and when published what can be done to change it
-studies can damaged psychologists reputation and promote sterotypes Eg milgram may concern or upset general public of the findings

Question 44

evaluate idiographic and nomothetic approach

Answer 44

-more appropriate to use idiographic methods for example in classical conditioning nomothetic would assume a bite from a dog would create a phobia however this isn’t the case for everyone TMB the idiographic approach recognising individual human uniqueness
+nomotheric approach are able to make prediction eg nomothetic useful for predicting criminal behaviour with SLT of viewing aggressive behaviour and developing drug treatments TMB useful
-idiographic can be time consuming eg thematic analysation are very laborious and harder to analyse data produced TMB nomothetic approach is generated and processed much more quickly therefore less effective