Issues and Debates

Question 1

Universality

Answer 1

Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all

Question 2

Ekman (1989)

Answer 2

Argued that facial expressions are an example of universality

Question 3

Gender Bias

Answer 3

When one gender is treated in a different way from another

Question 4

Androcentrism

Answer 4

When ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard and so anything which deviates from this is seen as ‘abnormal’. PMS is often thought as a stereotype when in fact is a diagnosable disorder under the DSM-5

Question 5

Alpha Bias

Answer 5

When the difference between males and females are shown and may be exaggerated. Either to highten the value of women or to devalue them.

Question 6

Beta Bias

Answer 6

Theories that ignore or minimise the differences between males and females e.g. Kohlberg

Question 7

Gender Bias Evaluations

Answer 7

Evaluation: Implications of bias- misleading assumptions of female behaviour// Sexism within research- more likely to be published if highlighting differences between males and females// Reflexivity- psychologists now consider this when conducting research

Question 8

Cultural Bias

Answer 8

The tendency to ignore the cultural differences and interpret information through the ‘lens’ of our own culture ie. in 1992, 64% of the worlds psychology researchers were American

Question 9

Ethnocentrism

Answer 9

Judging other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own cultures and in extreme cases the superiority of one e.g. Ainsworth’s strange situation

Question 10

Cultural Relativism

Answer 10

The idea that norms, values and morals can only be understood within a specific social and cultural context

Question 11

Berry (1969)

Answer 11

Distinguished between etic and emic

Question 12

Etic

Answer 12

Looks at behaviour outside of a culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal

Question 13

Emic

Answer 13

Looks at behaviours within a certain culture an describes behaviour within that culture

Question 14

Cultural Bias Evaluations

Answer 14

Evaluation: Individualism and collectivism// Relativism vs universality// Unfamiliarity with research tradition

Question 15

Free Will

Answer 15

The notion that human being can make choices that are not determined by biological or external forces

Question 16

Determinism

Answer 16

The idea that behaviour is controlled by internal forces e.g. genetics or external forces e.g. conditioning

Question 17

Hard determinism

Answer 17

Implies free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by events beyond our control, sometimes called fatalism

Question 18

Soft determinism

Answer 18

First put forward by James (1890): All events have causes but we can also control our conscious choices in the absence of coercion

Question 19

Biological determinism

Answer 19

The belief that behaviour is caused by biological influences we cannot control

Question 20

Environmental determinism

Answer 20

The idea that behaviour is caused by features of our environment

Question 21

Psychic determinism

Answer 21

The idea that behaviour is caused by internal conflicts we cannot control

Question 22

Evaluation of determinism

Answer 22

Advantages: compatible with aims of science with the ideas of general laws. Applications in the development of therapies and medication e.g. antipsychotics for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia shows we do not have complete free will- who would choose?. Disadvantages: Inconsistent with our legal system. Unfalsifiable- impossible to prove wrong

Question 23

Evaluation of free will

Answer 23

Advantages: we feel like we are in control of decisions giving it face validity. Internal LOC are more mentally healthy. Disadvantages: Libet (1985) found that simple decisions e.g. which hand to press a button with were decided before we were conscious of the task. At least some are determined

Question 24

Roberts (2000)

Answer 24

Found people with an internal LOC were more mentally healthy ie. less likely to develop depression

Question 25

Nature-nurture

Answer 25

Concerned with the extent to which aspects of behaviour are a product of inherited or acquired characteristics

Question 26

Heredity

Answer 26

The genetic transmittion of mental and physical characteristics from one generation to the next

Question 27

Heritability coefficient

Answer 27

On a scale of 0 to 1 (extent to which a characteristic is inherited)

Question 28

Environment

Answer 28

Any influence on human behaviour that is non-genetic. For example pre-natal conditions

Question 29

Interactionist approach

Answer 29

Nature and nurture are linked to such an extent it is not logical to separate them, instead study how they interact or influence each other. Belsky and Rovine (1987) nature creates nurture ie. innate temperament

Question 30

Rene Decartes

Answer 30

Early nativist

Question 31

Richard Lerner (1986)

Answer 31

Identified levels of environment which are both pre and post-natal

Question 32

Diathesis-stress model

Answer 32

Model of mental illness which emphasises the role of both nature and nurture e.g. Tienari found that adoptees were more likely to develop schizophrenia if their biological parents had it and they suffered some sort of trauma

Question 33

Epigenetics

Answer 33

A change is genetics without a change in the genetic code

Question 34

Dias and Ressler (2014)

Answer 34

Gave male lab mice electric shocks and released a small amount of a chemical with a distinctive smell. They found that the children and grandchildren who were not conditioned also showed fear of the smell

Question 35

Nature-nurture Evaluations

Answer 35

Evaluation: Implications of nature- people with low IQ sterilized
Implications of nurture- a behaviour shaping society where we can be controlled
Shared and Unshared- differences in siblings
Constructivism- people seek a nurture that fits their nature.

Question 36

Dunn and Plomin (1990)

Answer 36

Said that siblings may experience life events e.g. parents divorce differently due to factors such as age and temperament

Question 37

Holism

Answer 37

The argument that it only makes sense to study indivisible system rather than in it’s constitute parts

Question 38

Reductionism

Answer 38

The belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller constitute parts

Question 39

Biological reductionism

Answer 39

A form of reductionism that attempts to explain social and psychological phenomena at a lower biological levels. Led to development and understanding of the effect of psychoactive drugs

Question 40

Environmental reductionism

Answer 40

The attempt to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response and links learned through experience

Question 41

Levels of explanation

Answer 41

The idea there are different ways of viewing the same behaviour in psychology: Psychological. Physical. Neurochemical

Question 42

Reductionist Hierarchy

Answer 42

Sociology, Psychology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics

Question 43

Evaluation of Holism

Answer 43

Advantages: Social behaviours often only emerge in a group context and so would not be understood using individual participants e.g. conformity and de-individuation.. Disadvantages: Not rigorous scientific testing E.g. Humanistic approach. Combination of different perspectives means that we are unsure which is the biggest contributing factor

Question 44

Evaluation of Reductionism

Answer 44

Advantages: Forms a scientific basis E.g. operationalisation of variables involves breaking them down (behavioural categories in Strange Situation). Showed how complex learning could be reduced to simple stimulus-response. Disadvantages: Oversimplifying complex phenomena so loses validity. Does not include the context of a behaviour when looking at genes or neurochemistry

Question 45

Idiographic approach

Answer 45

An approach that focuses more on an individual case as a means of understanding behaviour rather than creating general laws for behaviour

Question 46

Nomothetic approach

Answer 46

An approach that attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws

Question 47

Idiographic

Answer 47

Use qualitative data such as case studies, unstructured interviews and self report

Question 48

Nomothetic

Answer 48

uses experiments with a sample that represents the target population to make general laws about behaviour. Includes scientific criteria such as: hypothesis, statistical significance and reproducibility. Often uses the normal distribution curve

Question 49

Give two examples of idiographic approaches in psychology

Answer 49

Psychodynamic and Humanistic

Question 50

Behaviourist, biological and cognitive

Answer 50

Give three examples of nomothetic approaches in psychology:

Question 51

Evaluation of idiographic

Answer 51

Advantages: Deep, qualitative and global understanding of an individual. May complement nomothetic by creating hypothesis for future study. E.g. HM in studying memory. Disadvantages: Narrow and restricted. E.g. Freud’s account of the oedipus complex. Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without proper examples. Tends to be less scientific

Question 52

Evaluation of nomothetic

Answer 52

Advantages: Tends to be more scientific by using standardised procedures and providing statistical analysis both descriptive and inferential. E.g. IQ has enabled scientists to establish a ‘normal’ score. Disadvantages: Accused of ‘loosing the whole person’. E.g. knowing the chance of schizophrenia in the general population is 1% tells us very little about what life is like as a sufferer. Participants treated as ‘scores’ not individual people with their own subjective arguments

Question 53

Ethical implications

Answer 53

The impact psychological research has in terms of the rights of other people especially participants. This includes a societal level, influencing public policy and the way certain groups of people are regarded

Question 54

Social sensitivity

Answer 54

Sieber and Stanley (1988):”studies in which there are potential consequence or implications, either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research

Question 55

Implications

Answer 55

The wider effects of such research should be carefully considered as some studies appearing ‘scientific’ may give credibility to stereotypes ie. examining links between race and intelligence could lead to segregated schools

Question 56

Public Policy

Answer 56

Is the research going to be used for the wrong purpose? Findings may be adapted by a government for political ends

Question 57

Validity of research

Answer 57

Some findings which appear as objective and value-free have turned out to be highly suspect and sometimes fraudulent e.g. Burt’s research of IQ. Some modern social constructionists tackle social sensitivity

Question 58

Ethical guidelines

Answer 58

Established to help protect all those involved in a study

Question 59

Ethical implications Evaluations

Answer 59

Evaluation: Benefits of socially sensitive research- underrepresented groups may promote greater sensitivity and understanding// Framing the question- homosexual relationships compared to heterosexual when they should not be// Who gains?- protects the general public, groups, participants, researchers and the quality of research as a whole

Question 60

Gynocentrism

Answer 60

When ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a female standard and so anything which deviates from this is seen as ‘abnormal’.