Issues And Debates Flashcards
Define determinism
The belief that behaviour is controlled by forces outside your control, so it is predictable and controllable
Define free will
Free will assumes a person has control over their behaviour, is responsible for their own actions, and so behaviour is not predictable
Describe criteria for free will behaviour
- Behaviour is hard to define
- Cause of behaviour can be difficult to test
- An individual is responsible for their own behaviour
- “The sum of the whole is greater than the parts”
- Can’t predict behaviour
Describe criteria for determinism behaviour
- Behaviour can be reduced to cause and effect
- Can collect objective data
- Behaviour can be investigated scientifically
- We can predict behaviour accurately
- Behaviour can be changed and improved
A study to be deterministic has to be:
- Looks at cause and effect
- Can collect objective data
- Very scientific
- Reductionist
- Isolates variables clearly
What are the 6 different types of determinism
1) Determinism
2) Hard determinism
3) Soft determinism
4) Biological determinism
5) Psychic determinism
6) Environmental determinism
Define hard determinism
Implies free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by internal and external events beyond our control
Define soft determinism
All events, including human behaviour, have causes, but behaviour is not inevitable. Our behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices
Define biological determinism
The belief that behaviour is caused by biological (genetic, hormonal, evolutionary) influences that we cannot control
Define psychic determinism
The belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control
Define environmental determinism
The belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment (such as systems of reward and punishment) that we cannot control
What approach favours free will as an explanation
- Humanistic approach (one of its assumptions)
Use maslows hierarchy of needs
What approach favours determinism
- Psychodynamic approach (psychosexual stages determine adult relationships)
Strength and a weakness of free will
Strength= -Shows individual responsibility (persons chosen that behaviour and is responsible for it, good for crime)
Weakness= -Difficult to to scientifically test it (as it’s difficult to operationalise free will as a process)
Strength and weakness of determinism
Strength= -Helps to predict and test behaviour (Person has chosen their behaviour and is responsible for it)
Weakness= -Lets off people and does not blame them for their behaviour (meaning behaviour was already pre-determined, therefore not responsible for their behaviour)
E.g. Limbardo study
What does the term nomothetic mean
- “nomos” in Ancient Greek, meaning Law
- There are general rules that apply to all people
What does the term idiographic mean
- “idio” in Anncient Greek, meaning own/private
- Every individual is unique and complex
What are the 3 types of nomothetic laws by Radford and Kerby (1975)
1) Classifying people into groups
E.g. Type A, B, C attachment types or the DSM-V
2) Establishing principles of behaviour (what we expect people to do in certain situations)
E.g. Schaffer’s stage of development
3) Establishing dimensions (placing people on a scale)
E.g. IQ bell curve, locus of control
How nomothetic researchers do there work
- Large scale data is collected from representative samples
- Under highly controlled conditions
- Quantitative data will be collected, summarised and compared
- More scientific because of the use of quantitative data and large, representative samples
- Generalisations are made from the data to create universal laws of human behaviour
- Data from nomothetic research tend to have high reliability, however at the expense of validity
How idiographic do their work
- High quality data specific to the individual
- Collected in depth by methods like case studies, content analysis and unstructured interviews
- Qualitative data will be collected, which is content rich data but difficult to summarise and analyse
- Unscientific
- No attempt to generalise findings into laws, so unrepresentative
- Low Reliability, as 2 case studies may be different, but data is more valid, which is a better reflection of ‘real’ life
Which approaches use nomothetic techniques
- SLT
- Biological approach
- Cognitive approach (memory experiments)
Which approaches use idiographic techniques
- Humanistic approach (Main one due to the complete rejection of scientists way of studying humans)
- Psychodynamic
- Memory (heavy use of case studies like Clive Wearing, for brain damage)
Simple evaluation for nomothetic research
Positives= -Uses scientific method
- Can generalise to wider population
- Methods are objective
Negatives= -May not apply to an individual
Simple evaluation for idiographic evaluation
Positives= -High detail
-Focus on an individual
Negatives= -Not scientific
- Relies on self-report
- Time-consuming
Evaluation of nomothetic research
1 positive and 1 negative
Positive= -Generalisations can be made, due to nomothetic techniques being easier to replicate, and gathered precisely
Negative= -Superficial, nomothetic techniques measure people according to set criteria, this criteria doesn’t give a full picture of the individual. E.g. Two people with depression are likely to have different personal experiences
Evaluation of idiographic research
1 positive and 1 negative
Positive= -Hypothesis generation. Idiographic case studies can’t demonstrate validity of hypothesis due to its small sample. However, can generate new interesting areas of research or overturn old incorrect theories
Negative= -Subjectivity. Data collecting techniques like longitudinal studies, lose objectivity and introduce bias in collection of data
1 evaluation point of Idiographic and nomothetic research combined
-Complementary= Strengths of both methods mean each is more appropriate in particular research circumstances, or the use of both.
Idiographic can give description to nomothetic laws of behaviour that provide high predictive value
Application to topics in an essay
What topics would you link with idiographic research and why
- Humanistic approach and therapy= Humanistic psychologists do not study human behaviour objectively(scientifically) due to the fact human experience is subjective. Rogers and Maslow studied the uniqueness of humans instead of creating generalisable laws. This approach uses client centred therapy which is an individualised treatment
- Memory Case studies= An example is Clive Wearing Case study, who had amnesia who demonstrates separation of LTM types. This provides insight into mental processes which experimentally wouldn’t be able to do. These insights are used to support or contradict previous theories and construct testable hypotheses
Applications to topics in an essay
What 2 topics would you link with nomothetic research and why
Biological approach and drug treatments= Biological psychologists favour large scale nomothetic research methods like drug trials. This allowed development of effective drug therapies like SSRI’s for OCD. Use of large representative samples give doctors confidence in findings. Therapies don’t consider individual experiences
- Learning theorists use of animal studies (SLT, behaviourist approach)= Theories of Learning like Skinner and Pavlov are backed up by thousands of studies on rats, dogs etc. Nomothetic techniques allowed extreme control over variables and were highly replicable. Questions of validity when applied to humans, but can have high predictive power of humans behaviour.
What’s socially sensitive research
Where the topic area/or group studies can have implications for certain groups on society. Potentially leading to a change in the way these groups are treated/perceived
How do you deal with ethical issues
- Briefing and debriefing= Participants should be told as much as possible about the study before and the full aims after.
- Maintain confidentiality and privacy when publishing results
- Receive informed consent
- Give the right to withdraw
Accepting ethical issues is done how
Ethics committee= Makes final decision to carry out ethically questionable research or not, often made not by the researcher
Cost benefit analysis= Judging potential costs and benefits to society of the research
Evaluation of Ethical implications and social sensitivity
- Avoiding sensitive issues= Fear Researchers have about harming/offending participants could lead to certain topics not being studied. May lead to people struggling with issues seen as “sensitive”
- Reputation of psychology= Focus on ethical conduct has improved image of psychology as a scientific study, a reputation that was damaged by Harlow and Milgram. As scientific funding is often from public bodies, it may be beneficial to avoid controversial studies
Examples of socially sensitive research in topics of the course
- Psychopathology= Statistical infrequency creates a point decided by psychologists where somebody is defined as abnormal. This decision can have implications like whether a person receives support
- Milgram= Lack of ability to withdraw is thought to have caused harm to participants. However, then interviewed the majority were happy they took part, therefore changed our perspective on social influence
- Maternal deprivation= Bowlby places lots of pressure on mothers to develop strong attachments with their babies. May cause mother to sacrifice their career
