Issues And Debates

Question 1

What is universality?

Answer 1

Is the idea that there are a range of psychological characteristics of human beings that can be applied to all of us despite differences of experiences.

Question 2

What is gender bias?

Answer 2

Is a misrepresentation of the gender differences and similarities between males and females.

Question 3

What is Androcentric?

Answer 3

Biased view, taking a masc perspective with male behaviour as normal, due to historically male dominated psychology.

Question 4

What is Alpha bias?

Answer 4

Exaggeration of gender differences

Question 5

What is beta bias?

Answer 5

Minimisation of gender differences

Question 6

What is culture bias?

Answer 6

Researchers judging other cultures from the researchers’ cultural perspective due to ethnocentrism, where the researcher takes their own cultural behaviour as normal

Question 7

what is determinism?

Answer 7

behaviours are the result of internal or external forces that we have no control over

Question 8

research that shows western bias?

Answer 8

Arnett 2008- 96% of participants in studies were American and 2/3 undergraduate students.

Question 9

what do critics argue in regards to bias?

Answer 9

Generalise tendency to ignore the impact of culture on psych research eg Aschs and Milgrams into obedience showed diff results when replicated in other countries (Kilian and Mann 1974)

Question 10

What is enthocentlrism?

Answer 10

-seeing the world only through one cultural perspective and believing that the perspective is normal and correct eg Ainsworths strange situation

Question 11

What is cultural relativism?

Answer 11

Insists that behaviour can be properly understood only if cultural context is taken into account .

Question 12

What is an Etic?

Answer 12

Behaviour same in every culture

Question 13

What is an emic?

Answer 13

Looks at cultures within a culture and aims to identify those behaviours which are specific to that culture.

Question 14

What is an imposed etic?

Answer 14

Tries to generalise concepts and results to all cultures when it may not be relative.

Question 15

positive evaluation of Cultural bias?.

Answer 15

although we should be careful of generalising specific behaviours, there is some evidence for universal behaviours across cultures like Ekman (1989) found that facial expressions of happiness and disgust
- previous divide of individualism in the west and Collectivism countries like China and Israel no longer relevant use of dichotomy due to globalisation Takano and Naka 1999 14/15 studies found that when comparing the US and Japan found no evidence of traditional individualism .

Question 16

example of alpha bias?

Answer 16

sociobiological theory- males are interests to impregnate as many women as possible in order to spread genes for a female its best that they have few and spend time with them to nurture

Question 17

example of beta bias?

Answer 17

biological research into fight or flight response has been carried out with males due to females increase in hormone variation it was assumed it would be the same for both but later research by Taylor et al (2002) has challenged this view by providing evidence that females produce a tend and befriend response

Question 18

positive evaluation of Gender bias?

Answer 18

-by developing a greater understanding of gender bias psychologists have put forward solutions. for example by developing theories that emphasise the importance or value of women, Cornwell et al 2013 noted that females are better at learning as they are attentive and organised. as a result the research helps to reduce or challenge stereotypes which is important in reducing gender bias.

Question 19

negative evaluation for gender bias?

Answer 19

-that gender bias doesnt just affect females but also males Chodorow (1978) viewed women as more relational and caring. another example is women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and given treatment than men.

Question 20

what is free will?

Answer 20

an individual is capable of making their own decisions and choices about their behaviour.

Question 21

which approaches give a deterministic view point?

Answer 21

behaviourist- environmental determinism, through conditioning.
SLT- behaviour due to observation so deterministic, but we chose when to observe.
biological- biological determinism
psychodynamic- psychic determinism

Question 22

which approaches give a free will view point?

Answer 22

SLT- some degree with when we observe behaviour and how we apply it.
cognitive- our own thought processes determine our behaviour.
humanistic- rodgers and Maslow believe that self-determination is essential.

Question 23

what is nature?

Answer 23

-behaviour is a result of innate factors

Question 24

what is nurture?

Answer 24

-behaviour is the product of environmental influences

Question 25

what approaches believe in nurture?

Answer 25

behaviourist- behaviour is due to interactions with the environment
SLT- learn through observing others.

Question 26

what approaches believe in nature?

Answer 26

SLT- acknowledges that innate urges could affect behaviour.
Biological- due to genetics, CNS and endocrine system
evolutionary- behaviour or characteristics that promote survival are naturally selected

Question 27

what approaches are interactionalist?

Answer 27

cognitive- thought process may be a result of innate factors however we may develop problems due to exposure to certain environments.
psychodynamic-nature side of behaviour is linked to unconscious forces but nurture through early childhood experiences.
humanistic- assumes with have innate drives to self-actualise but acknowledges issues with this may be due to experiences.

Question 28

what is reductionism?

Answer 28

human behaviour is best understood by breaking it down into smaller component parts.

Question 29

what is holism?

Answer 29

-makes sense to study a whole or indivisible system rather than its own component parts.

Question 30

what is the diathesis stress model?

Answer 30

-suggests that behaviour is caused by a biological or environmental vulnerability which is only expressed when coupled with a bio or environmental trigger.

Question 31

what is epigentics?

Answer 31

refers to a change in our genetic activity without changing the genes themselves, a process that happens throughout life through interaction with the environment.

Question 32

strengths evaluation of nature v nurture?

Answer 32

-use of adoption studies, which separate the competing influences of nature and nurture, if adopted children are more like their adopted parents then the environment is more important- meta-analysis of adoption studies by Ree and Waldman (2002) found that genetic influences accounted for 41% of aggression.
- has real life application, research shows that OCD is a highly heritable disorder. e.g nestadt et al (2010) put the rate at 0.68. such understandings help to inform genetic counselling, know this will enable the person to find ways to prevent the onset, such as learning stress techniques.

Question 33

negative evaluation of nature v nurture?

Answer 33

• further research suggests that genetics may not actually be that influential according to Plomin (1994) people create their own nurture by actively selecting environments that are appropriate for their nature. so a naturally aggressive child may choose friends with a similar temperament to them therefore their environment will reinforce their aggressive tendencies. Plomin calls this niche picking.

Question 34

what are the levels of explanation for reductionism?

Answer 34

highest- social and cultural explanations.
middle-psychological explanations- memory is affected by processing such as episodic, semantic and procedual.
lower- biological explanations- genes and hormones

Question 35

what is the idiographic approach?

Answer 35

-focus on individuals and emphasises the uniqueness of each person.

Question 36

what is the nomothetic approach?

Answer 36

-psychology should be the study of large and varied groups to make generalisations and establish norms.

Question 37

strengths and weakness of idiographic?

Answer 37

by having a deep understanding of individuals laws and theories are supported, eg HM with a removed hippocamus insight was gained about LTM.
difficult to build reliable theories about human behaviour when only one individual has been studied
methods used in idiographic research are open to bias because of subjective nature.

Question 38

strengths and weaknesses of nomothetic?

Answer 38

-objective methods of assessment are delivered in a standardised way, ensuring replication.
-helps develop treatments drugs.
-generalised treatments

Question 39

what does Can Do Can’t Do With Participants stand for?

Answer 39

Consent
Deception
Confidentiality
De-brief
Withdraw
Protection from harm

Question 40

what did sieber and stanley do?

Answer 40

1998, identified a number of areas where researchers should be mindful:
implications- what are the wider effects? does it enforce previous prejudice?
uses/public policy- what is the research likely to be used for?
validity of research- findings have been presented as value free when they were actually value laden and sometimes fraduelent