issues and debates Flashcards
1
Q
what is gender bias?
A
gender bias, psychological research or theory may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of men and women (usually women)
2
Q
what is androcentrism?
A
male centred; when normal behaviour is judged according to a male standard (meaning that female behaviour is often judged to be “abnormal” or “deficient” by comparison)
3
Q
what is alpha bias?
A
physiological theories that suggest there are real and enduring differences between men and women. These may enhance or undervalue females.
4
Q
what is beta bias?
A
theories that ignore or minimise differences between the sexes
5
Q
what is universality?
A
an underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing. Gender bias and culture bias threaten the universality of findings in psychology
6
Q
what are some positives of alpha bias?
A
Alpha bias in psychological research has led to a lot of criticism when “male” qualities are valued more highly than female ones. Examples of these include seeing dominance and aggression as desirable
7
Q
what are some criticisms of alpha bias?
A
it is difficult to distinguish between actual gender differences and culturally created gender differences.
8
Q
what are some positives of beta bias?
A
minimising the differences between men and women can lead to equal opportunities especially in the workplace
9
Q
what are some negatives of beta bias?
A
androcentrism can result in a misleading understanding of human behaviour because research is mainly focused on male patterns, behaviours and interests. This means that similar research for females is not pursued in the same way
10
Q
what is cultural bias?
A
the tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions. Thai can distort or bias your judgement
11
Q
what is ethnocentrism?
A
seeing things from the point of ourselves and our social group. Evaluating other groups of people using the standards of our own culture.
12
Q
what is cultural relativism?
A
the view that behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originated from.
13
Q
what is an etic approach?
A
looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal
14
Q
what is an emic approach?
A
functions from inside a culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture
15
Q
what is an imposed etic?
A
occurs when an observer attempts to generalise observations from inside one culture to another.
16
Q
what does WEIRD stand for?
A
westernised, educated people from industrialised, rich ,democracies
17
Q
how does WEIRD relate to cultural bias?
A
if the norm/ standard is set for WEIRD people, then the behaviour of non westernised, less educated, agricultural and poorer cultures is inevitably seen as “abnormal” or “inferior”
18
Q
what is the classical studies evaluation point for cultural bias?
A
- many of the most influential studies are culturally biased
- replications of classic studies (e.g milgram, asch) who used mostly white, middle class students, produced different results
19
Q
what is the IQ studies evaluation point for cultural bias?
A
- During the first world war, Yerkes used IQ tests to screen recruits for US army
- some of whom were recent migrants to the country
- knew very little about American culture and may not have spoken English
- Designed 3 tests → alpha, beta, stanford- binet
20
Q
what is the ethnic stereotyping evaluation point for cultural bias?
A
- Gould (1981): the first intelligence tests led to eugenic social policies in the US
psychologists used the opportunity of WW1 to pilot their first IQ rests on 1.75 million army recruits - many items on the tests were ethnocentric e.g knowing the names of US presidents
- south eastern europe and black people received the lowest scores
- not sees as a sign of inadequate tests, but used to inform racial discourse about genetic inferiority of a particular culture and ethnic group
21
Q
what is the cultural psychology evaluation point for cultural bias?
A
- cultural psychologists strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking an emic approach and conducting research from inside a culture
- modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias and are taking steps to avoid it
22
Q
what is the relativism vs universality point for cultural bias?
A
- cross cultural research challenges dominant individualist ways of thinking and viewing the world
- e.g facial expressions for emotions are the same all over the world and animal world (Ekman, 1989)
23
Q
what is free will?
A
the notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces
24
Q
what is determinism?
A
the view that an individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individual’s will to do something
25
what is hard determinism?
implies that free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by internal and external influences that we cannot control
26
what is soft determinism?
all events, including human behaviour, have causes, but behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion. In contrast with hard determinism.
27
what is biological determinism?
the belief that behaviour is caused by biological (genetic, hormonal and evolutionary) influences that we cannot control
28
what is psychic determinism?
the belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control
29
what is environmental determinism
the belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment (such as systems of reward and punishment) that we cannot control
30
what is environmental determinism?
the belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment (such as systems of reward and punishment) that we cannot control
31
what are the main 3 biological mechanisms?
genetics, brain psychology and biochemistry
32
what does genetics say about biological determinism?
- evolution and genetics: no gene has been identified that means behaviour will definitely occur
- twin studies have not shown 100% concordance in aggression and schizophrenia
- therefore a hard determinism standpoint cannot be proved
- therefore soft determinism has to be accepted
33
what does brain psychology say about biological determinism?
- areas of localisation: suggest that certain areas in the brain affect behaviour therefore damage could affect behaviour
- a girl who had a tumour in her limbic system became increasingly violent and once the tumour was removed, her aggression subsided
- this supports hard determinism
34
what does biochemistry say about biological determinism?
- the dopamine hypothesis in schizophrenia have shown a relationship between biochemistry and behaviour
- however, determinism can be reduced through medication (choice to take)
35
what does SLT argue about environmental determinism?
you are more likely to imitate the behaviour but your cognition allows for choice. it does not automatically occur
36
what did BF Skinner argue about environmental determinism?
BF Skinner described free will as an “illusion” and argued that all of our behaviour is a result of conditioning. OUR experience of choice is because of reinforcement that has acted upon us. We might think we are acting independently, but our behaviour has been shaped by environmental events as well as agents of socialisation
37
what is classical conditioning an example of?
hard determinism
38
what is operant conditioning an example of?
soft determinism
39
what does Freud argue in terms of psychic determinism?
- that free will is like an “illusion” but placed more emphasis on the influence of biological drives and instincts than behaviourists
40
what is scientism?
- the use of method from the natural sciences to find causal mechanisms for behaviour and thought
- looks at the probability of something happening rather than deterministic
41
what is a criticism of the scientific emphasis on causal explanations?
may be appropriate for non humans but human behaviour is less rigid and influenced by many factors the idea of ever finding a simplistic determinist formula from psychological research is unrealistic
42
why do scientists much prefer determinism?
Determinism assumes that behaviour has a cause - it is determined by something else. Free will is much harder to measure and control
43
what is a strength of free will?
- even if we only believe we are exerting free choice can improve mental health
Robert et al (2000):
- adolescents with a strong belief in fatalism are at a significantly greater risk of developing depression
44
what is one limitation of free will?
- Brain scans do not support free will
Libet (1983):
- participants had to choose a random movement to move their wrist while brain activity was measured
- participants had to say when they felt the conscious will to move their wrist
- the unconscious brain activity leading to the conscious will to move around half a second before the participant moved
45
what is the counterpoint for the limitation of free will?
- Libet's finding showing the brain is involved in decision-making is not surprising and is actually what you would expect
- just because the action comes before the conscious awareness of the decision to act doesn't mean there was no decision to act
46
what is a limitation of determinism?
- position of the legal system on responsibility
- hard determinism = individual choice is not the cause of human behaviour
- this is not consistent with the way in which our legal system operates
- in a court of law, offenders are held responsible for their actions
47
what is the interactionist approach with reference to the nature-nurture debate?
the view that the processes of nature and nurture work together rather than in opposite
48
what is the epigenetics view?
- a change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic coding which is caused by our environment
-things we do leave "epigenetic marks" on our DNA
49
what is an example of the interactionist approach?
- diathesis-stress model
50
what is the genetic explanation for behaviour?
- family, twin, and adoption studies show that the closer two individuals are, the more likely the both of them is to develop the same behaviors
- e.g the concordance rate for schizophrenia is about 40% for MZ and 7% for DZ twins
51
what is the genetic explanation for behaviour?
- family, twin, and adoption studies show that the closer two individuals are, the more likely the both of them is to develop the same behaviours
- e.g the concordance rate for schizophrenia is about 40% for MZ and 7% for DZ twins
52
what is the evolutionary explanations for behaviour?
- based on the principle that behavior promotes survival and reproduction
- These behaviours are adaptive therefore the genes will be passed to subsequent generations
- Bowlby's 91969) theory of attachment
53
what are some examples of the influence of nurture?
- behaviourism - BF Skinner, classical conditioning
- social learning theory
- david reimer
54
who is david reimer?
- born a twin
-botches circumcision which meant his twin did not get the surgery
- the parents contacted dr money and they decided to raise him as a girl
- he would shoe more "masculine" traits
- embracing his life as a man made his life hopeful
- they opened up about their abuse from dr money
- he ended up taking his own life
55
what did Hebb argue?
that nature/ nurture can not be separated
56
what do adoption studies show?
- they separate the competing influences of nature and nurture
- studies by Soo Rhee and Irvin Waldman found that genetics influence 41% of the variance in aggression
57
what are the real world implications of nature/nurture?
- research suggests that OCD is a highly inheritable mental disorder
- Gerald Nestadt et al (2010) put it as a heritability rate of .076
58
what is holism?
an argument that proposes that it only makes sense to study individual systems as a whole
59
what is reductionism?
the belief that human behaviour is best understood by understanding smaller constituent parts
60
what are the levels of explanation?
1. sociocultural
2. psychological
3. physical
4. environmental/behavioural
5. physiological
6. neurochemical
61
what is biological reductionism?
a form of reductionism which attempts to explain behaviour at the lowest biological level
62
what is parsimony?
complex phenomena should be explained by the simplest underlying principles possible
63
what is environmental reductionism?
the attempt to explain all behaviours in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learnt through experiences
64
what is the evaluation for biological reductionism?
+ scientific
+ easy to replicate in studies
+ allows for successful treatments
- too simplistic
- ignores learned behaviours
- ignores social factors
65
what is the evaluation for environmental reductionism?
+ parsimony: the simplest explanation is often the best
+ successfully explains behaviours like phobias
- too simplistic
- focus is on learned associates and ignores other factors
66
what is experimental reductionism?
reducing complex behaviours to an isolated variable is a useful strategy for conducting research
67
what is the evaluation for experimental reductionism?
+ able to identify the effect of the independent variable
- can't be applied to real-life findings
68
how does humanistic psychology support holism?
lacking identity or a sense of "wholeness" can lead to mental health disorders
69
how does cognitive psychology support holism?
connectionist networks are described as holistic because the network as a whole behaves differently than the individual parts
70
what is the idiographic approach?
- Numbers are small, often a single case (single individual or group/institution)
- Some research might include information from family, friends or others, but the focus is on detail
- This does not mean generalisations are not made - but the initial focus is about understanding the individual
71
what is the nomothetic approach?
- Main aim is generalisation in order to create 'laws' e.g general principles of behaviour
- These can then be applied to individual situations, such as drug therapy
72
Idiographic Approach - Qualitative Data
- Most research is qualitative
- E.g research on depression would be biassed on first-hand accounts from a small number of people (case study)
- Participants would be interviewed in depth and the focus may be on a particular facet of human behaviour, such as how the participants coped with their experiences (using unstructured interviews)
- Such data is analyzed and emergent themes are identified
- Conclusions may help with people going through similar experiences, or more widely, may help mental health professionals determine best practice
73
Idiographic Approach - Qualitative Data
- Most research is qualitative
- E.g research on depression would be biassed on first-hand accounts from a small number of people (case study)
- Participants would be interviewed in depth and the focus may be on a particular facet of human behaviour, such as how the participants coped with their experiences (using unstructured interviews)
- Such data is analyzed and emergent themes are identified
- Conclusions may help with people going through similar experiences, or more widely, may help mental health professionals determine best practice
74
Idiographic Examples - Psychodynamic Approach
- Uses case studies to focus on individuals' experiences e.g the Wolfman, Little Hans, (gathering qualitative data)
- Freud argued that human behaviour is governed by universal processes that apply to everyone, but he also said that the ways in which these processes manifest themselves in the individual is unique
75
Idiographic Examples - Psychodynamic Approach
- Uses case studies to focus on individuals' experiences e.g the Wolfman, Little Hans, (gathering qualitative data)
- Freud argued that human behaviour is governed by universal processes that apply to everyone, but he also said that the ways in which these processes manifest themselves in the individual is unique
76
Idiographic Examples - Humanistic Approach
- All individuals are unique and are motivated to achieve their potential
- A proper understanding of human behaviour can only be achieved by studying humans - not animals
- Psychology should study the individual case (idiographic) rather than the average performance of groups (nomothetic)
77
Idiographic Examples - Allport (1961)
- He believed that the idiographic approach can tell us more about human behaviour and that personality tests that provide quantitative data are not as insightful
78
Idiographic - Subjective
- Tends not to believe that objectivity is possible
- It is people's individual experiences of their unique context that is important, rather than some underlying reality 'out there'
79
Nomothetic Approach - Quantitative Data
- The researcher most closely fits traditional models of the 'scientific method' in psychology
- Hypotheses are formulated, samples of people/animals are assessed in some way e.g structured questionnaires or using psychological tests
- Numerical data is produced and analysed for its statistical significance
- Nomothetic approaches seek to quantify (count) human behaviour
80
Nomothetic Examples - Behaviourist Approach
- It views all behaviour governed by the same laws of conditioning, so all behaviour is just a response to environmental stimuli
80
Nomothetic Examples - Biological Approach
- Biological psychologists typically pinpoint biological factors, such as neurotransmitters, that are responsible for such disorders and use biological therapies (e.g. drugs) to treat all patients
- Don't take the individual into account
81
Nomothetic Examples - Cognitive Approach
- Focuses on establishing theories on information processing that apply to all people
- E.g Beck's negative triad - its generalised to all people
82
Nomothetic Examples - Eysenck's Theory of Personality
- Allows comparisons between people
- Personality is understood according to where an individual falls along a spectrum of these three factors - extraversion vs introversion, neuroticism vs emotional stability, and psychoticism vs self-control
- It is a common personality across all of society, determining our personality
83
Nomothetic - Objective
- Laws of behaviour are only possible if methods of assessment are delivered in a standardised way
- Ensures true replication across samples and removes the contaminating influence of bias
84
Evaluation (Strength of Idiographic) - Focus on the Individual Level
- Humanistic psychologists and qualitative psychologists in the latter half of the last century believed there was too much emphasis on measurement and that psychologists had lost sight of what it was to be human
- Allport argued that a drastic reorientation was needed and that's precisely what the idiographic approach did
- Allport argued that it is only by knowing the person as an individual that we can predict what the person will do in any given situation
- This suggests that focus on the individuals can provide us with a more complete understanding
85
Evaluation (Limitation of Idiographic) - Time consuming
- Both approaches are based on large amounts of data
- Idiographic = large data about one person
- Nomothetic = large data from a number of people
- Collecting large amounts of data from a group of people takes time but, relatively speaking, is quicker because once you've devised a questionnaire or psychological test, data can be generated and processed quickly
- This means that the idiographic approach is less efficient when it comes to data collection
86
Evaluation (Limitation of Idiographic) - Scientific Basis
- Criticism of the idiographic approach is that it is not very scientific
- This is one of the reasons for the recent growth in positive psychology whose view is that humanistic psychology was not sufficiently evidence-based and therefore any 'findings' were essentially meaningless - the positive approach aims to be more evidence-based
- The same criticisms can't be made about other idiographic approaches (case studies/qualitative research) which do use an evidence-based approach and also seek to be objective (another important criterion of science)
- For example, qualitative approaches use reflexivity to identify the influence of any biases
- Reflexivity refers to the process where the researcher reflects or thinks critically during the research process about the factors that affect the behaviour of both researchers and participants
87
Evaluation (Limitation of Idiographic) - Ability to Make Predictions
- The idiographic approach may be scientific, but the inability to produce general predictions about behaviour is limiting
- Such general predictions can be useful, for example in producing drugs to treat mental illness
- It would be far too time-consuming to produce personal therapies for unique individuals and therefore we need to make predictions about the most likely therapeutic solutions
- However, Allport argued that the idiographic approach does enable predictions
- Once a researcher has built up extremely detailed observations of a few individuals, this can be used to make generalisations and formulate theories
- Hall and Lindzey (1970) argue that this stance makes Allport's approach basically nomothetic rather than idiographic
88
Evaluation (Limitation of Idiographic) - Ability to Make Predictions
- The idiographic approach may be scientific, but the inability to produce general predictions about behaviour is limiting
- Such general predictions can be useful, for example in producing drugs to treat mental illness
- It would be far too time-consuming to produce personal therapies for unique individuals and therefore we need to make predictions about the most likely therapeutic solutions
- However, Allport argued that the idiographic approach does enable predictions
- Once a researcher has built up extremely detailed observations of a few individuals, this can be used to make generalisations and formulate theories
- Hall and Lindzey (1970) argue that this stance makes Allport's approach basically nomothetic rather than idiographic
89
Evaluation (Limitation of both) - Combined Methods (Holt 1967 & Millon and Davis 1996)
-Holt (1967) argued that the idiographic/nomothetic distinction is a false separation because inevitably, generalisations are made
- He claimed that there is no such thing as a unique individual and what idiographic approaches actually do is generate general principles
- In other words, the idiographic approach actually ends up being nomothetic (as Hall and Lindzey concluded regarding Allport's approach)
- Million and Davis (1996) suggested that research should start with the nomothetic approach and, once 'laws' have been produced they can then focus on a more idiographic understanding
- A number of approaches actually combine the two approaches: Freud used idiographic methods to study people, but also used those insights to produce general laws about human development in his theory of personality
- Uniqueness can be produced using the nomothetic approach, it depends how we define uniqueness
- For Allport, only individual traits capture a person's uniqueness, whereas, for Eysenck, each individual is unique insofar as they have a unique combination of extraversion, introversion and neuroticism
- Therefore, uniqueness can be explained through nomothetic laws
90
6 Ethical Considerations
- Informed consent
- Psychological harm
- Deception
- Confidentiality
- Right to withdraw
- Debrief
91
The Research Process (Seiber and Stanley 1988) - The Research Question
- Simply asking a question (such as 'are there racial differences in IQ?' or 'is homosexuality inherited?') may be damaging to members of a particular racial group or sexual orientation because it appears to add scientific credibility to the prevailing prejudice
92
The Research Process - Conduct of Research and Treatment of Participants
- The main concern is the confidentiality of the information collected (e.g if a participant confesses to a crime, should confidentiality be maintained?)
93
The Research Process - The Institutional Context
- Research may be funded and managed by private institutions who may misuse the data or misunderstand it. The media may obtain reports of such research and misreport the findings
94
The Research Process - Interpretation and Application of Findings
- Research findings may be used for purposes other than originally intended
- For example, the development of IQ tests by psychologists was subsequently used to demonstrate the inferiority of certain groups of people and was also used to identify the 'feeble minded' who could then be sterilised (a practise in the US in the early twentieth century)
95
Privacy
- During the research process, a skilled investigator may extract more information from participants than they intended to give
- Some research (e.g AIDS research) may lead to social policies that are an invasion of people's private lives (e.g through compulsory testing)
96
Confidentiality
- Participants may be less willing to divulge information in the future if confidentiality is breached and further related research would be compromised
97
Valid Methodology
- In cases of poor methodology (and therefore invalid findings), scientists may be aware of these problems, but the media and the public may not, and thus poor studies might shape important social policy to the detriment of those groups represented by the research
98
deception
- Includes self-deception whereby research may lead people to form untrue stereotypes (e.g believing that women are less good at maths), which then affects one's own performance
99
informed consent
- Potential participants may not always comprehend what is involved in the experiment
100
equitable treatment
- All participants should be treated in an equitable manner, and resources which are vital to the participants' wellbeing (e.g educational opportunities) are not withheld from one group whilst being available to another
101
scientific freedom
- The scientist has a duty to engage in research but at the same time has an obligation not to harm participants as well as institutions within society
102
scientific freedom
- The scientist has a duty to engage in research but at the same time has an obligation not to harm participants as well as institutions within society
103
Ownership of Data
- Some of the problems with determining ownership involve the sponsorship of the research (.g a university department or commercial organisation) and the public accessibility of the data
104
values
- Psychologists differ in their orientation towards subjective (idiographic) approaches and more objective (scientific) approaches
- Sensitive issues arise when there is a clash in such values between the scientist and recipient of the research
105
Evaluation - The Wider Impact of Research
- There are always some social consequences of participating in research, but with socially sensitive research the impact can be greater
- For example, there is increased potential for a more indirect impact on the participant's family, their co-workers or maybe even the group that participant identifies with
- Researchers need to think beyond simply safeguarding the interest of the individual in research
- Therefore, researchers must take account of the likely impact of the research on the larger group of which the participants are a member
106
Evaluation - May Disadvantage Marginalised Groups
- Many groups in society have suffered the consequences of being excluded from research or being misrepresented when they are included
- It might be argued that our understanding of human behaviour has been lessened by our misinterpretations or failure to include representative samples of persons with disabilities, the elderly, the disadvantaged ect.
- These shortcomings also mean that these groups then miss out on any of the potential benefits of research
- This failure to fully include such groups in research means our understanding of human behaviour has been unnecessarily restricted
107
Evaluation - Inadequacy of Current Ethical Guidelines
- Psychologists typically deal with ethical issues in research by the development of strict guidelines for the conduct of their studies
- Ethical guidelines may protect the immediate needs of research participants, but may not deal with all the possible ways in which research may inflict harm on a group of people or section of society
- For example, at present, ethical guidelines don't ask researchers to consider how their research might be used by others, as recommended by Sieber and Stanley
- Therefore, the considerations outlined some time ago have not yet permeated into professional practice
108
Evaluation - Should socially sensitive research just be avoided?
- It might be tempting to think that the solution to the problem of handling socially sensitive research might be to try and avoid it; for example, to avoid research on homosexuality, race, gender, addiction ect. because the findings may have negative consequences for the participants, for the section of society they represent or indeed for the whole of society
- However, this would probably leave psychologists with nothing to examine but unimportant issues
- Sieber and Stanley's view is that to simply ignore sensitive research is not a responsible approach to science
- They suggest that avoiding controversial topics, simply because they are controversial, is also an avoidance of responsibility
- Therefore, psychologists have a duty to conduct such research
109
Evaluation - Engaging with the public and policymakers
- This research has important applications
- In order to reduce the likelihood of misuse of data, psychologists should be energetic in taking responsibility for what happens to their findings
- They should be aware if the possibility that the results of their research might lead to abuse and discrimination or, as Sieber and Stanley (1988) suggest, offer 'scientific credibility to the prevailing prejudice'
- The British Psychological Society has a press centre which aims to promote evidence-based psychological research to the media
- But it is really a matter for individual researchers to see it as a part of the research process to promote their research in a socially sensitive way, as opposed to the neutral position that some scientists wish to take
