Issues and Debates Flashcards
What is universality?
- Any characteristic of a person that can be applied to all humans
What is Bias?
- unconscious schemas and prejudices have towards certain groups
What is Alpha Bias?
+ Example
- Theories that suggest there are real differences between men and women -> May enhance or undervalue either set
- Gender Bias -> Men stronger than women
What is Beta Bias?
+ Example
- Theories that ignore or minimise differences between the sexes
- Kohlberg’s theory of maternal deprivation
What is Androcentrism?
- When ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard
-> Female behaviour often considered ‘abnormal’
What is Ethnocentrism?
+ Example
- Judging other cultures based on standards of your own culture
-> Extreme form can be thinking one’s own culture is superior - Ainsworth strange situation -> Criticised for reflecting only American Cultures
What is Cultural relativism?
+ Example
- Idea that specific behaviours are only considered normal in a specific culture that it originates from.
- John Berry arguing that Ainsworth imposed cultures only considered normal in America in her research
What is Determinism?
- The view that free will is an illusion and that our behaviour is governed by internal or external forces over which we have no control
-> Our behaviour is viewed as predictable
What is Hard Determinism?
- View that forces outside our control (E.g biology or past experiences) shape our behaviour.
-> Hard Determinism seen as incompatible with free will
What is Soft Determinism?
- View that behaviour us constrained by environment or biological make-up, but only to a certain extent and that there is an element of free will in all behaviour
What is Biological Determinism?
- Idea that all human behaviour is innate and determined by genes
What is Environmental Determinism?
- View that behaviour is caused by forces outside the individual
-> therefore behaviour is caused by previous experience learned through classical and operant conditioning
What is Psychic Determinism?
- Human behaviour is the result of childhood experiences and innate drives (ID, Ego, Superego) as in Freud’s model of psychological development
What is Free Will?
- Idea that we can play an active role and have choice in how we behave.
- Assumption is that individuals are free to choose their behaviour and are self-determined
What is Holism?
- Human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience, and not as separate parts
What is Reductionism?
- Belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts.
There are 3 levels: - Social and cultural Explanations
- Psychological Explanations
- Biological Explanations
What is biological Reductionism?
- Behaviour is reduced to a physical level and explained in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormones, brain structure, etc.
What is Environmental Reductionism?
- Stimulus-response reductionism
- Behaviour can be reduced to the simple building blocks of S-R (Stimulus-response) associations
What are the 2 parts of psychology that explain Holism?
- Gestalt Psychology
- Humanistic Psychology
What is Gestalt Psychology?
- When we perceive something in the real world, we do so as a whole rather than a collection of bits and pieces
What is Humanistic Psychology in relation to Holism?
- Humans react to stimuli as an organised whole, rather than a set of stimulus-response links.
- Uses qualitative methods to investigate all aspects of the individual, as well as interactions between people.
What is Eurocentrism?
- Form of Cultural bias where emphasis is paid on European or Western theories. Most psychologists are European/ American and their theories are taken to be universal descriptions of human behaviour as if culture makes no difference
What are Collectivist cultures?
- Refers to cultures such as India and China that are said to be more conformist and group-orientated
What is Cultural Bias?
- Overlooking cultural differences by looking at human behaviour from the perspective of your own culture
What is an Etic approach to cultures?
- Studying behaviour across many cultures in order to find universal human behaviours
What are Culture Bound Syndromes?
- Groups of syndromes classified as treatable illnesses in certain cultures that are not recognised as such in the west
What is an Emic approach to cultures?
- Studying cultures in isolation by identifying behaviours that specific to that culture
What is an individualist culture?
- Refers to Western Countries (Like the US) that are thought to be more independent
What is an imposed etic?
- A test, measure or theory devised in one culture that is used to explain behaviour in another culture
What is a Nomothetic approach?
- Establishing general laws, based on the study of large groups of people
-> Methods of investigation:
- Experiments
- Correlational research
- Psychometric testing
-> Biological approach, Behavioural approach, Cognitive approach
What is an Idiographic approach?
- Focus on the individual and emphasise the unique personal experience of human nature
-> Methods of investigation:
- Case studies
- unstructured interviews
- Thematic analysis
-> Humanist approach
What is Nativism?
- Humans are born with innate characteristics that they cannot change
What is Empiricism?
- Believe in Tabula Rasa = Our behaviours are shaped by the environment we are in
What is the Heritability Coefficient? (Nature/ Nurture)
- A number between 0 and 1 used to assess the extent to which a characteristic has a genetic basis
What are concordance rates?
- The similarity of behaviours measured
->E.g between twins
What is the Diathesis-Stress Model?
- biological vulnerability to a behaviour is triggered by an environmental factor/ stressor
What is Epigenetics?
- The study of how your behaviours and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work
What are ‘Ethical Implications’?
- The consideration of the impact or consequences that psychological research has on the rights of other people in a wider context, not just the participants taking part in the research
What is Socially Sensitive research?
- Research in which there are potential social consequences for either the participant or class/group of people represented in the study
