Issues and Debates

Question 1

Gender bias

Answer 1

Differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences.

Question 2

Androcentrism

Answer 2

A theory based on male behaviour but applied to females and therefore is biased.

At best, this leads to female behaviour being misunderstood, and at worst, pathologised (e.g. seen as mentally ill).

Question 3

Alpha bias

Answer 3

Theories that are alpha-biased exaggerate gender differences.

Differences may heighten the value of women, or may devalue females in relation to males.

Question 4

Beta bias

Answer 4

Theories that ignore or minimise gender differences and assume that what is true for one gender is true for all human kind.

May occur when females not included as part of research process but assumed that research findings apply equally to both sexes, e.g. Kolhberg’s theory of moral development.

Question 5

Universality

Answer 5

Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing.

Question 6

Cultural bias

Answer 6

Tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions.

Means that cultural differences in behaviour may be seen as ‘abnormal’ or ‘inferior’.

Question 7

Ethnocentrism

Answer 7

The belief that one’s own group is central or even superior, e.g. Strange Situation reflected norms of US culture.

Question 8

Cultural relativism

Answer 8

One cannot judge a behaviour properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates, e.g. understanding ‘hearing voices’ is seen as normal in some cultures

Question 9

Imposed etic

Answer 9

A technique or theory developed in one culture and used to study the behaviour of people in another culture, e.g. using the Strange Situation outside the US/UK

Question 10

Emic approach

Answer 10

Something that applies only in one culture, e.g. culture-bound syndromes.

Question 11

Free will

Answer 11

Assumes humans are free to choose their behaviour, and that influences (biological or environmental) can be rejected at will

Question 12

Hard determinism

Answer 12

Behaviour is caused by events outside an individual’s control. Free will is an illusion.

Question 13

Soft determinism

Answer 13

Behaviour is caused by a person’s own character or conscious desires. If our actions are voluntary and in line with our conscious desired goals, then they are free

Question 14

Biological determinism

Answer 14

Behaviour is caused by internal biological factors, e.g. genetics, neurochemistry, brain structure and hormones

Question 15

Environmental determinism

Answer 15

Behaviour is caused by past experience and controlled by external forces in the environment, e.g. reinforcement and punishment

Question 16

Psychic determinism

Answer 16

Unconscious forces and innate drives control behaviour. All we say and do has a cause

Question 17

Nature

Answer 17

Inherited, innate factors (genetic). A biological approach.

Question 18

Nurture

Answer 18

The environment, e.g. learning, socialisation and experience. A behaviourist approach; we are a ‘blank slate’ at birth.

Question 19

Levels of the environment

Answer 19

Range from the pre-natal environment in the womb to life outside the womb in the external world

Question 20

Interactionism

Answer 20

Heredity (nature) and the environment (nurture) have an influence on each other.

Question 21

Diathesis-stress model

Answer 21

An interactionist approach. Genes create a vulnerability and stressors in the environment trigger behaviours.

Question 22

Holism

Answer 22

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. (Gestalt psychology.)

Analysing component parts is not enough; it does not capture the whole person

Question 23

Reductionism

Answer 23

Explaining a phenomenon by breaking it down into its constituent parts.

Question 24

Biological reductionism

Answer 24

Reducing behaviour to physiological levels, e.g. brain structures or genes.

Question 25

Environmental reductionism

Answer 25

Reducing behaviour to stimulus–response links which can be tested and explained using laboratory experiments.

Question 26

Idiographic approach

Answer 26

Focuses on the uniqueness of the individual.
It looks at in-depth details and subjective experiences
Uses qualitative methods such as case studies

Question 27

Nomothetic

Answer 27

Aims to establish laws and generalisations that apply to many people. Focuses on similarities between people and gaining objective knowledge
Collects large amounts of data
E.g., Skinner and the behaviourists studied the responses of hundreds of rats, cats, pigeons, etc., in order to develop the laws of learning

Question 28

Ethical issues

Answer 28

Arise when there is a conflict between gaining valuable research and preserving the rights and dignity of participants.

Question 29

Ethical guidelines

Answer 29

Ethical guidelines were established to help protect those involved in research

Question 30

Ethical implications

Answer 30

The impact that research has on society, how it influences public policy and/or the way in which certain groups of people are seen

Question 31

Socially sensitive research

Answer 31

Any research that may be controversial, e.g. sexuality or race

Question 32

Implications of socially sensitive research

Answer 32

Socially sensitive research may be seen as giving ‘scientific’ credibility to prejudice and discrimination, and can be used to justify public policy, e.g.be adopted by the government for political means.