Issues and debates Flashcards
What is alpha bias?
Research that exaggerates differences between men & women
Give an example of research that has alpha bias and state why
Freud - believed that because boys experience castration anxiety they grow up to have a stronger superego - for the most part his theories focused on male development
What is beta bias?
Research that minimises differences between men & women
Give an example of research that has beta bias
Asch
Milgram
Zimbardo
ALL USED MALE PARTICIPANTS
If something applies to everyone, everywhere it is….
Universal
What is androcentrism
Viewing the world from a male point of view and seeing male behaviour as the norm (often leaving female behaviour as abnormal)
Having an androcentric view often leads to ______ bias
Gender bias
How does having an androcentric view often lead to gender bias?
Women are either deemed as abnormal when they don’t fit the male standard (alpha bias)
OR
Women are assume to fit the male standard without evidence (beta bias)
Give an example of androcentric research
PMS has been researched by male psychologists and pathologises female emotion as irrational or illogical therefore assuming male emotion is rational and logical
Give one strength of research with gender bias
Improving gender bias: increasing the number of female psychologists and using more representative samples when conducting research (reflective, looking back and correcting) rather than using only men and generalising the findings to men and women - acknowledgment of gender differences
Give three limitations of gender bias in research
Socially sensitive : the research could potentially have wider consequences for a whole gender e.g. women as it can create misleading assumptions about female behaviour providing ‘scientific justification’ to deny women opportunities in society - research into attachment (Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation) may have discouraged women from entering the workplace due the research solely focusing on the role of the mother - Therefore GB has damaging consequences on society not just a methodological issue
Mental health diagnosis: in some cases women may be over or under diagnosed with mental illness due to gender bias with diagnostic tools e,g, women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, anxiety & eating disorders than men as they are stereotypically viewed to be ‘stronger’ and less diagnosed - this may mean that men are under diagnosed or women are over diagnosed - this means that gender bias can impact mental health diagnoses having severe life long effects on an individual
Gender & cultural bias: whilst women are likely to be ignored by psychological research so are ethnic minority groups e.g. the most studied group in psych are white western men and the least studied are non white non western women - therefore certain groups of women are incredibly underrepresented revealing the increased likelihood of research being inaccurately generalised to certain factions of society it is not applicable to
Reviews of psychology journals have found that ___% of participations come from industrialised nations
96
What does WEIRD stand for?
Western
Educated
Industrialised
Rich
Democratic
If the norms for behaviour are set by _______ participants then behaviour from people that don’t fit this criteria is often deemed as abnormal
WEIRD
What is ethnocentrism?
Ethnocentrism is a form of cultural bias consisting in the belief of the superiority of your own culture
Ainsworth’s strange situation is an example of ______ etic
Imposed
How were the findings of Ainsworth’s strange situation ethnocentric?
Ainsworth’s strange situation was conducted in America and secure attachment was deemed the norm - therefore when replicated in other cultures e.g. Japan & Germany (highest in Jap = IR highest in Germ = IA) and different results were obtained these were seen as abnormal - not in alliance with western norms
What are the two approaches a psychologists can take when studying cultural behaviours?
Emic & Etic
What is emic research? (Give an example)
Research that looks for culturally specific behaviours e.g. Mead’s gender research (looked for typical western gendered behaviours in different tribes - western behaviour = the norms so the tribe’s behaviours = abnormal)
What is etic research? (Give an example)
Research that compares behaviours across cultures e.g. Berry’s conformity study - this is where we can find universality
What are imposed etic’s
Emic research that disguises itself as etic by making claims of universality when they only truly looked into one culture
Give two ways cultural bias is being improved
Cross cultural research: more recent research has challenged “scientific racism” where research once suggested that white people were more intelligent than members of other ethnic groups - we are becoming more culturally relative which minimises the risk of imposed etic research - well designed cross cultural research can challenge stereotypes and lead to greater understanding of other cultures
West v east divide: cultural bias may be less of an issue today as it is suggested that due to globalisation the divide between collectivist and individualist cultures has narrowed - Takario & Osaka looked into 14/15 studies that compared the USA & Japan and found no evidence of traditional distinction - therefore showing how cultural bias is now less of an issue than before as cultures are more similar than ever
What are two limitations of cultural bias?
Socially sensitive: ethnic minority children ended up in ESN schools due to scoring low in culturally biased IQ tests - cultural bias can have effects on a individuals self esteem and self perception due to the perception that behaviours that dissent from western norms are abnormal
Mental health diagnosis: black African and Caribbean men are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia - mental health diagnosis is biased as the symptoms for schizophrenia may also be culturally biased since hearing voice in some cultures can be perceived as a spiritual privilege rather than abnormal - therefore cultural bias in psychology can impact on the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness for ethnic groups
Which approach is more strongly associated with the nature debate?
Biological
Which approach is strongly associated with the nurture debate?
Behaviourism
What is the key assumption of the nurture debate?
That all behaviours are conditioned/learned as we are born tabula rasa
What is the key assumption of the nature debate?
That all behaviours are innate and internal
What are epigenetics?
Epigenetics refers to a change in genetic activity without changing the genetic material - this change in genetic activity can be passed down and inherited by our future generations (their nurture has become our nature)
The _________ stress model is an interactionist approach
Diathesis
What is the diathesis stress model?
The DS model combines the influence of nature & nurture - we may have a biological or environmental vulnerability to a behaviour, but without a trigger (biological or environmental) it may never develop
E.G. we may have a gene that is associated with schizophrenia, but unless we experience a traumatic stressor, it may not present
What are some strengths of the nature debate?
Practical application - the biological approach supports nature and has led to the development of treatments specifically for mental disorders e.g. SSRI’s that allow a sufferer to live their lives normally - therefore suggesting certain behaviours can be linked to mental health disorders and treated using drugs to improve an individuals quality of life - illustrates the effectiveness of the nature debate/ boosts validity
Research support - Gottesman’s study of SZ supports the role of nature in influencing our behaviours
What are some strengths of the nurture debate?
Practical application: the behaviourist approach is nurture based and has had lots of far reaching implications e.g. behavioural treatments like systematic desensitisation and flooding for phobias or token economies for schizophrenia - therefore the nurture stance has external validity as it can effectively applied and enlisted in the real world
Adoption studies - allow us to seperate the influence of nature v nurture to determine the basis for behaviours
What are two limitations of the nature debate?
Not conducive with our legal system: the idea that all behaviours have a biological basis/ are innate and internal is not an excuse for criminal behaviours yet some attempt to use it as such and therefore the nature stance has limited application within the justice system
Socially sensitive: research that focuses on nature has been used to justify differential treatment of ethnic groups e.g. IQ tests based on white ideals were used to suggest that black people were biologically less intelligent - therefore this extreme stance can cause discrimination against certain groups
What is a limitation of the nurture debate?
Not conducive with our legal system: your childhood experiences/ past trauma cant’ act as a justification from crime yet some attempt to use it as one - therefore the nurture stance has limited application within the judicial system - this limited applicability diminishes the usefulness of the nurture stance
The free will vs determinism debate is centred around …..
How much control we have over our behaviours
What is free will?
The idea that we are autonomous and have complete control over actions
What is hard determinism?
The idea that free will doesn’t exist and our behaviours are predetermined by internal/ external factors beyond our control e.g. biological (innate, physical factors) & behavioural (external factors & conditioning)
What is soft determinism?
Behaviours are determined by other factors, but we have some freedom in our choices
What is biological determinism?
Believing behaviours are caused by biological factors beyond our control e.g. genetics
What is psychic determinism?
Believing our behaviours are caused by the subconscious which we are not aware or in control of
What is environmental determinism?
Believing our behaviours are determined by our environment (conditioning)
An example of hard determinism
Which psychological approach believes in free will?
Humanist
Which approach is associated with soft determinism and why?
The cognitive approach - our brain is pre-determined (determinism) e.g. schema we cant do what we dont know, but we have choice about how we think and act (free will) e.g. the cognitive mediational processes involve some free will i.e. choosing what to pay attention to
What are two strengths of free will?
Mental health: research suggests those who believe in free will (internal LOC) generally have better health and don’t feel powerless against external factors - Roberts et al found that adolescents with a strong belief of ‘fatalism’ were at greater risk of depression yet those who believed they were in control of their lives felt better - suggesting that even if we do not have free will believing we do makes us healthier - the effectiveness of free will
Face validity: it is rational to believe that free will exists as everyday gives the impression we exercise free will via the individual/unique choices we make
What is a limitation of free will?
Free will as an illusion: soon et al - hooked participants up to a brain scanner and they were told to push a button but before that they had to verbalise the hand they were going to use - Soon found activity in the brain around 10secs before participants had verbalised/were aware of what hand they would use - suggesting free will doesn’t exist & lacks scientific credibility - therefore we are not in control of our own actions
What are two strengths of determinism?
Scientific/ practical application: determinism and all its variants focus on causal explanations and so it is easier to develop treatment therapies for phobias & mental illnesses e.g. SSRI’s for depression & OCD - real world application & usefulness - also makes psychology more credible as the idea that human behaviours are orderly and obey laws places psychology as a science
Research support - e.g. Gottesman’s family study into schizophrenia found that those who were more closely related were more likely to develop schizophrenia and also suggests internal factors do effect the development of mental illnesses - increasing the validity of the determinism argument
What is a limitation of determinism?
Not conducive with our legal system : if determinism is correct then individuals do not control their behaviours and this includes criminal behaviours - this isn’t in alliance with the judicial system that states an individual is responsible for their actions e.g. Stephen Mobley tried to blame the murder he committed on his genetic makeup - the jury was unconvinced and he was convicted - Therefore the determinism argument has limited application within the judicial system diminishing it’s usefulness
What does the idiographic v nomothetic debate ask?
What should the aim for psychological research be?
Idios stems from the Greek for _________
Private/personal
Nomos stems from the Greek for ____
Law
What is the idiographic approach concerned with?
The IA is concerned with understanding people as unique individuals
Idiographic research is more likely to use ____________ methods
Qualitative
What are some qualitative methods the idiographic approach is likely to use?
Unstructured interview
Case studies
Unstructured observation
ALL ACCURATE, VALID AND GIVE DEPTH BUT CAN’T BE REPLICATED
Why is the idiographic approach most closely associated with the humanistic & psychodynamic approach?
The HA is a human centred approach and focuses on individual subjective experiences e.g. Rogers’ client centred therapy
Psychoanalysis developed by Freud is subjective not generalisable (catered to the individual)
The psychodynamic approach focuses on case studies e.g. Little Hans
Freud did idiographic research but made nomothetic generalisations
What is the nomothetic approach concerned with?
The nomothetic approach is concerned with the development of general laws to explain human behaviour and creates a standard by which we can compare others
The nomothetic approach is seen as generally more __________ and uses _______ samples and _______________ data
Scientific
Large
Quantitative
What are some examples of quantitative data that the nomothetic approach uses?
Lab experiments
Self report (surveys)
The nomothetic approach is most closely associated with what two approaches
Biological and behavioural
Why is the nomothetic approach closely associated with the biological and behavioural approaches?
Both look for objective data
Both rely on experimental methods
Both want to generalise their results
What is a strength of the idiographic approach?
Provides a complete and global account of the individual - IR gives a more in depth view of human behaviour and may complement the nomothetic approach by shedding light on general laws or challenging such laws - a single case may eventually expand into nomothetic research e.g. KF created the foundations for new research to be conducted regarding memory - therefore the IA potentially has greater validity
What are two limitations of the idiographic approach
Ungeneralisible findings: case studies may be unique one off’s and are based on a singular individual as a result it is difficult for IR to have large scale practical applications - a criticism of Freud’s concepts (pioneered psychodynamic approach) e.g. the Oedipus complex were largely based from the detailed study of one case e.g. little Hans - therefore the IA is potentially less useful than the NA which uses large samples
Unscientific: the findings of IR can’t be replicated as case studies are subjective and cant be measured and typically unique - therefore undermining the reliability of the findings
What is a strength of the nomothetic approach?
Controlled, standardised and replicable methods: the nomothetic approach is more scientific than the IA as they use lab experiments which produce quantitative data rather than case studies that cant be replicated and research findings can therefore be generalised to a wider population - boosts the validity of the NA
What is a limitation of the nomothetic approach?
Overlooks the uniqueness of human experience: the NA lacks depth and has been accused of ‘losing the whole person’ within psychology as subjective experiences are often ignored and participants viewed as statistics e.g. the fact that someone has a 1% chance of having schizophrenia tells us little about the experience of having schizophrenia - therefore in its search for general laws the NA undermines the richness of human experience
What does the holism v reductionism debate ask?
Should we study the individual as a whole or a certain aspect of them?
What does the Holism approach believe
We can only understand the essence of a person by looking at them as a whole - dividing them into sub parts is inappropriate
The holistic approach uses ____________ methods
Qualitative methods e.g. unstructured interviews, case studies etc
The holistic approach gives ________ & _______ to figure out who you are as a whole
Depth and detail
Which approach is entirely holistic
The humanistic approach
Reductionism is based on the scientific concept of __________
Parsimony
What is parsimony?
The idea that behaviour should be studied in the simplest way
What are the three types of reductionism?
Machine
Environmental
Biological
What is biological reductionism?
Reduces all behaviours down to biological processes e.g. genetics, hormones, evolution
What is environmental reductionism?
Reduces behaviours to acquisition through the environment e.g. conditioning,
What is machine reductionism?
Reducing behaviour to simple cognitive processes - ignores emotions of humans e.g. faulty thinking
What are the least reductionist explanations?
Social/cultural explanations - influence of social groups/cultures of behaviours & vice versa
What are the most reductionist explanations?
Physiological explanations e.g. neurochemical, genetics, brain structure, evolutionary etc
What are the three levels of explanations for reductionism
Social/cultural explanations
Psychological explanations e.g. cognitive, behavioural/ environmental (conditioning) etc
Physiological explanations
Apply the three levels of explanation to attachment
Physiological explanation: Bowlby’s monotropic theory - we have evolved to have this innate need to survive through evolution
Psychological explanation: Dollard & Miller learning theory - cupboard love - babies are conditioned to learn to love the person that feeds them
Social/cultural explanation: Van Ijzendoorn meta analysis of research into attachment types - results of the meta analysis differed in different countries due to cultural/social reasons such as different child rearing styles
What is a strength of the holistic approach?
Some behaviours can only be understood holistically: some situations need to be researched as a whole to determine the cause of a behaviour and cant be looked at using a reductionist outlook e.g. the effects of conformity to social role in Zimbardo’s experiment couldn’t be understood by studying participants individually but rather the behaviour of the group and their interactions - this shows that the holistic approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of behaviour
What is a limitation of the holistic approach?
Unscientific: the HA doesn’t often use rigorous scientific testing but instead conducts detailed research on case studies that produces qualitative data and so some concepts can be perceived as anti scientific and speculative e.g. the humanistic approach takes a HA and tends to be criticised for a lack of empirical evidence - therefore the HA lacks scientific credibility
What is are two strengths of the reductionist approach?
Practical application: RA like the biological approach have had many practical applications - if a specific gene or neurotransmitter can be faulted for a disorder then it can be treated e.g. finding a link between dopamine & SZ has led to the creation of antipsychotics - therefore reductionist approaches are arguably more useful and highly effective
Scientific: the RA forms the basis for scientific research as in order to create operationalised variables behaviours must be broken down into smaller parts which makes it possible to conduct experiments e.g. the behaviourist approach demonstrated how complex learning could be broken down to stimulus response links - this gives psychology scientific credibility and illustrates the effectiveness of the RA
What is a limitation of the reductionist approach?
Oversimplifies complex behaviours: biological explanations in psychology typically take a reductionist approach and don’t consider the social context within which one behaviour occurs and perhaps gains its meaning from e.g. twin studies could indicate an individual’s genetic vulnerability to mental illness but doesnt consider the influence of environmental factors and their possible effect on the development of the disorder - the R explanation leads to incomplete theories with limited application - diminishes validity
Outline the 5 main ethical issues
Deception - actively misleading ppts or withholding info
Confidentiality & privacy - ppts have the right to request whether or not they want their name published & associated with the research and their private data kept anonymous
Protection from harm - participants should be at no greater risk of physical, emotional or psychological harm than they are in everyday life
Right to withdraw - allowing ppts to leave without hesitation at any time and that includes withdrawing data prior to publication
Informed consent - when ppts agree to take part in the study with full knowledge beforehand
Sieber & Stanley say social sensitivity is…..
Studies and theories where there are potential consequences directly for the ppts or the wider social group
they represent
Give examples of socially sensitive studies
Bowlby’s monotropic and maternal deprivation theories
Role of the father (Grossman et al)
Definitions of abnormality or psychopathology research are socially sensitive for people with mental illness
What are the 3 main things to consider when conducting socially sensitive research?
Research question (the aim)
How you deal with ppts
Implications (The way findings are used)
Why is it important to consider the research question when conducting socially sensitive research?
Research question (the aim) - the way Q’s are phrased and investigated may lead to bias e,g, relationship research has heterosexual bias
Why is it important to consider how you deal with ppts when conducting socially sensitive research?
Ss research is likely to have more ethical issues during the research i.e. informed consent (may not be fully aware of the intent of the research)
Why is it important to consider how the findings of socially sensitive research are used?
The findings may give scientific credence to biased/prejudiced ideas e.g. Cyril Burt’s intelligence inheritability research (found a genetic basis for intelligence which influenced the govt to create a test that meant the top 20% went to grammar schools leading to a social divide of education - later analysis of findings suggested they were fraudulent)
What is a strength of socially sensitive research?
SS research can be beneficial: Scarr argues that studies of underrepresented groups/issues may promote greater understanding & sensitivity of these encouraging acceptance and potentially reducing prejudice e.g. research into EWT has reduced the risk of miscarriages of justice - suggests SS research plays a valuable role in society
What are some limitations of socially sensitive research?
SS can lead to discrimination: can lead to scientific racism/sexism e.g. Bowlby’s maternal deprivation implying that if mothers dont stay at home their children wont develop properly - therefore ss research can increase discrimination against individuals & certain groups and enforce stereotypes such as the mother having to stay at home with her kids
SS can be used by the government to implement inaccurate policies: some research may be fraudulent yet governments will unknowingly use these to create new policies e.g. Burt’s research on whether there is a genetic basis for intelligence led to the introduction of the 11+ exam and grammar schools (despite the research being fraudulent) - shaped the lives of millions of kids and led to the social divide of education - therefore SS research may not always be accurate yet can have severe effects
Ethical committees are subjective: ethical committees work by weighing up costs & benefits of the research e.g. they can reject plans, forms or suggest improvements but it is extremely difficult to anticipate ethical implications - therefore ethical committees can be unsure of what research is SS prior to it being conducted - potentially mistreating participants
