Issues and Debates Flashcards
Nature
A01
All behaviours are innate
* determined by genes and biological factors
* evolution
* nativist
Nurture
A01
Behaviour is determined by the environment
* we are blank slates at birth
* empiricits
Interactionist
A01
Explains behaviour as a result of both biological and environmental factors
Nature vs Nurture
A03
- Implications (determinist)
- Research support for both
- Difficulties in isolating
- Interactionism (diathesis stress)
Nomothetic
A01
Aims to create general rules that apply to the whole population
* large samples
* correlations
* lab studies
* quantatative data
Idiographic
A01
Aims to understand an individual
* case studies
* questionnaires
* interviews
* qualitative data
Nomothetic vs Idiographic
A03
- Nomothetic = good treatments
- Understanding of individuals
- Case studies are powerful
- Scientific-ness
Holism
A01
Belief that behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience and not as separate parts
* Explains behaviour through the interaction of many different factors, not just one
Reductionism
A01
Belief that you can study and understand behaviour by breaking it down into it’s constituent parts
High to low levels
* sociocultural
* psychological
* biological
Holism vs Reductionism
A03
- Treatments
- Can we reduce
- Scientific
- Combining helps?
Bias
A01
Used to suggest that a person’s views are distorted in some way
Universality
A01
An underlying characteristic of human beings that can be applied to all
Gender
A01
- Alpha bias
- Beta bias
- Androcentrism
Culture
A01
- Ethnocentrism
- Cultural relativism
- Imposed etic
Gender and Culture Bias
A03
- Discrimination
- Variation within cultures
- Sampling bias
- Examples of gender biased research
Ethical Implications
A01
The impact that psychollogical research may have in terms of the rights of other people
* the way that groups are regarded, public policy etc
* Sieber and Stanley
* Ethical guidelines
Social Sensitivity
A01
Studies in which there are potential consequences or implications either directly for the participant or for the class of individuals represented by the research
Ethical Implications and Socially Sensitive Research
A03
- Bowlby - implications
- Discrimination
- Milgram - beneficial
- Restrictive
Free will
A01
The idea that we play an active role and have a choice in how we behave
* we can decide to reject the influence of external factors
Determinism
A01
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
* Biological
* Environmental
* Psychic
* Machine
Soft Determinism
A01
Compromise between free will and hard determinism.
Behaviour is governed by internal and external factors, but we have free will to chose our behaviour within those constraints
Free Will vs Determinism
A03
- Biology (concordance rates)
- RWA crime and diminished capacity
- Neuroscience (finger move)
- Belief
- Scientific
Sieber and Stanley
Identified 4 things to be careful of:
1. The Research Question: The researcher must consider their research question carefully.
2. The Methodology Used: Consider the treatment of the participant’s and their right to confidentiality and anonymity.
3. The Institutional Context: How is the data going to be used and who is funding the research?
4. Interpretation and Application of Findings: How might the findings be interpreted and applied in the real-world?
