issues and debates Flashcards
Free will vs determinism debate
The free will argument says that human beings are self-determining and active agents, free to choose thoughts and actions (humanistic psychology is a good example of this way of viewing behaviour).
Determinism however states that all behaviour has an internal or external cause and we are not in control. Hard determinism states that there is absolutely no free will whereas soft determinism states that there is some mental control over determined events (cognitive psychology/ SLT).
Biological determinism: behaviour is caused by physical factors, biology is destiny over which we have no control (genes, hormones etc).
Environmental determinism: behaviour is caused by external factors over which we have no control (behaviourism – Skinner).
Psychic determinism: behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts over which we have no control (Freud – conflict between id/superego, repressed desires).
Deterministic explanations are causal explanations which are scientific because they allow us to predict and control behaviour.
Free will vs determinism debate A03
There is neurological evidence to support the idea that free will is an illusion. Libet found that the brain activity associated with deciding which button to press occurred up to 10 seconds before Ps reported that they had made the choice. This suggests that decisions may be pre-determined by biological factors.
However, free will is important for our legal system. For example, a biologically deterministic approach would say that the reason an offender killed another person was that they were genetically predisposed to violence (possibly an MAOA variation). This removes responsibility from the offender which as worrying implications for findings an offender guilty as this depends on them being accountable.
The deterministic approach is more appropriate for the study of mental illness. No one would choose to suffer from schizophrenia so it is preferable to see it as out of their control. However, this does have difficult implications for treatment and the need for the patient to be motivated for CBT to be effective. If it is pre-determined they may feel they are helpless.
The humanistic approach supports the role of free will. Humanism is seen as a very positive approach in psychology because it says we are all capable of change and growth. Therefore this side of the debate is a much more optimistic way of viewing human beings (we are not all slaves to our past like Freud said).
A compromise here would be soft determinism (there is some mental control over determined events) eg SLT says we are influenced by role models but we are able to choose what we pay attention to. So we do not need to discount either determinism or free will completely.
Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation
The idiographic approach is the study of unique experiences. People are studied as individuals with their own subjective experiences. No attempt is made to compare individuals with a larger group. The ideographic approach used qualitative methods, case studies, unstructured interviews. It aims to gain detail and insight into the individual. The humanistic approach takes this approach in that it focuses on the self and each individual’s potential. The psychodynamic approach employs this method (eg the case study of Little Hans) however Freud thought he was creating universal laws which is a nomothetic approach.
The nomothetic approach on the other hand is the production of general laws of behaviour. These provide a benchmark against which people can be compared and measured. Future behaviour can be predicted using this approach. The nomothetic approach is associated with standardised and scientific measures of behaviour. Questionnaires, psychological tests etc which use quantitative data. They study large numbers of ps and look at how people are similar. Approaches in psychology that try to create general law include behaviourism and biological psychology. Research in these areas will usually be subjected to statistical testing to infer significance.
Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation
The ideographic approach collects rich data and gives a complete account of the individual. A single case may generate hypotheses for further study therefore atypical case studies (such as HM) can give us important insights about normal functioning.
However, the idiographic approach is criticised for a lack of scientific rigour. The methods used are subjective and restrictive for example Freud’s work on the Oedipus complex involved just one details case study (with data collected by the boy’s own father interviewing him) so we cannot make generalisations from this data. Any conclusions should be viewed with caution.
The nomothetic approach is preferable in some ways as it is more scientific than the idiographic approach. it involves prediction and control over variables with standardised procedures and high internal validity. This is a similar approach to other sciences which gives psychology greater credibility.
However some argue that using statistics means that you can lose a sense of the whole person (reducing people to numbers). Knowing that 1% of the population suffers from schizophrenia tells us little about the experience of suffering. So this approach may overlook the importance of human experience.
We do not need to see them as alternatives but we should see them same topic from both perspectives. Memory is a topic this could be applied to as caseu studies including that of HM and KF have given us insight into memory which has helped to inform general rules including the working memory model which would apply to everyone. This is the aim of psychology to explore the general but include the detail.
Ethical implications of research and socially sensitive research
There are often social and ethical consequences of psychological research. Ethical guidelines protect participants in research studies but the conclusions from research can have an impact on public opinion and policy which can impact on individuals. Eg topics including gender, sexuality, IQ and race often may be socially sensitive. Socially sensitive research is research that has the potential to affect either the participants or people being represented by the research. Eg the schizophrenogenic mother theory led to blaming the mothers of those with sz of causing their illness. There are a number of ethical implications in socially sensitive research; Implications are the wider effects of the findings on the target population. For example, Lombroso’s atavistic form saw individuals with certain facial characteristics as primitive and more likely to be criminal. This meant people that looked that way would be judged as dangerous. Another issue is the use of the findings (usually by the government to inform public policy). This could be used in a harmful way. For example, Bowlby’s monotropic theory and MDH encouraged mothers to stay with infants for the first few years of life. This may have actually influenced the government to deny free childcare in children under 5, keeping mothers in the home. A final issue is the validity of the research; findings presented as objective on socially sensitive topics may in fact be heavily influenced by bias or even fraudulent. Cyril Burt’s fraudulent research into genes and IQ had far reaching consequences as the 11+ test was based on this research.
Ethical implications of research and socially sensitive research A03
There are however some benefits of socially sensitive research. Loftus and Palmer’s research showed us the EWT was unreliable (influenced by misleading information) this was socially sensitive because it meant that the police were doing a bad job. This has positive implications because it led to the development of the cognitive interview which improved the accuracy of EWT, so sometimes socially sensitive research should not be avoided.
However, findings can be misused or abused. The gambling industry has created a very addictive form of gambling in slot machines. They are based on a schedule of reinforcement devised by Skinner in his research on pigeons and rats. So these findings have been used to have a harmful effect on society.
Socially sensitive research has also been used as a tool in social control and oppression. In America in the 1920s and 30s, some US states had a program of forced sterilisation of those deemed to be ‘feeble minded’ (the mentally ill, addicts). This oppression was supported by the psychological community at the time.
There are costs and benefits to weigh up. Socially sensitive research will be subject to scrutiny of an ethics committee but the costs and benefits to society can be very difficult to predict. For example, socially sensitive research could lead to greater understanding of a sensitive issue or it could lead to judgement of a group in society and harm to that group. So socially sensitive research can have positive and negative effects on society.
