Issues and Debates

Question 1

What is gender bias

Answer 1

-Tendency to offer a view that does not justifiably that does not represent the experience and behaviour of men and women
-Usually towards women
-Can be alpha bias or beta bias
-Can lead to androcentrism

Question 2

What is alpha bias

Answer 2

-Psychological theories that suggest that there are real and enduring differences between men and women
-These enhance or undervalue members of either sex but typically towards females

Question 3

What is beta bias

Answer 3

-Theories that ignore or minimise the differences between sexes

Question 4

What is androcentrism

Answer 4

-Male centerered
-Judging behaviour according to a male standard (viewing female behaviour as abnormal or deficient)
-Results in the diagnosis of pre menstrual syndrome

Question 5

What is universitality

Answer 5

-Underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all despite differences in upbringing
-Gender and culture bias threaten the universality of findings in psychology

Question 6

Evaluate gender bias

Answer 6

-Gender biased research create misleading assumptions about female behaviour which may provide scientific justifications to deny women workplace opportunities (PMS) therefore has damaging real life consequences for women
-Studies of gender biased research published less than other biases such as ethnicity so is taken less seriously
-Some steryotypes have a biological basis eg multitasking explained by better hemispheric connections in women

Question 7

Where are most psychological researches conducted and who by

Answer 7

-94% studies cited were in north america
-64% researchers are american
-80% participants undergraduates studying psychology

Question 8

What is culture bias

Answer 8

Refers to a tendency to ignore effects of cultural differences on behaviour and interpret all phenomena through the lens of ones own culture

Question 9

What is ethnocentrism

Answer 9

Judging other cultures by the standards and values of ones own culture leading to in extreme form the belief in superiority of ones own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures

Question 10

What is a research example of ethnocentrism

Answer 10

-Ainsworth’s strange situation can midinterpret the child rearing practices of other cultures as it is based off the american experience
-German mother’s can be seen as cold and rejecting rather then encouraging independence

Question 11

What is cultural relativism

Answer 11

Idea that norms and values as well as ethics and moral standards can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts

Question 12

What is the etic approach

Answer 12

-Studying behaviour from outside a culture then attempts to describe those behaviours as universal
-Strange situation uses an etic approach

Question 13

What is the emic approach

Answer 13

Studying a behaviour from inside a culture then only applying it to the culture studied

Question 14

Evaluate cultural bias

Answer 14

-Classic studies of psychology are culturally biased as Asch and Milgram
-One issue is that cultural bias can have significant real world implications with for example IQ tests carried out used to restrict immigration of certain non western cultures

Question 15

What is free will

Answer 15

The notion humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces

Question 16

What is determinism

Answer 16

The view that an individuals behaviour or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individuals will to do something

Question 17

Name the three types of determinism

Answer 17

-Biological determinism
-Enviromental determinism
-Psychic determinism

Question 18

What is hard determinism

Answer 18

The view that all behaviour is caused by something (internal or external) so free will is an illusion

Question 19

What is soft determinism

Answer 19

The view that behaviour may be predictable (caused by internal or external factors) but there is also room for person choice from a limited range of possibilities (restricted free will)

Question 20

What is biological determinism

Answer 20

Behaviour is caused by biological influences that we cannot control (genetic hormone evolutionary)

Question 21

What is environmental determinism

Answer 21

Belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment such as system of reward and punishment (skinner) we cannot control

Question 22

What is psychic determinism

Answer 22

behaviour caused by unconscious psychodynamic conflicts that are repressed in childhood we cannot control

Question 23

Evaluate the free will determinism debate

Answer 23

-Practical value in that Roberts et al found that adolescents who believed in fatalism were more prone to depression compared to those believing in free will
-Libet et al asked participants to randomly flinch wrist and say so finding that the unconscious brain activity came half a second before the participant made the conscious decision to move COUNTERPOINT: delayed conscious awareness means the person has the ability to change their mind
-Hard determinism not compatible with legal principles of moral responsibility
-Free will is not scientifically viable

Question 24

What is the interactionist approach

Answer 24

-Combination of nature and nurture influences eg Bowlby suggested a baby’s attachment type is determined by parental love (environment) whilst Kagan suggests the baby’s innate personality suggested the relationship
-A way of explaining development of behaviour in terms of a range of factors both biological and psychological
-these factors will interact with one another

Question 25

What is the diathesis stress model

Answer 25

-Behaviour is caused by a biological or environmental vulnerability (diathesis)
-Only expressed when coupled with a biological or environmental trigger (stressor)
-eg OCD starts with a genetic vulnerability but the person requires a psychological trigger (trauma) to develop the disorder

Question 26

What are epigenetics

Answer 26

-Lifstyle and events such as smoking switches genes on and off permentantly which can be passed down hereditarily

Question 27

What is the nature debate

Answer 27

-Nativists argue human characteristics are determined hereditarily
-Genes determine behaviour in the same way they determine physical characteristics

Question 28

What is the nurture debate

Answer 28

-Empiricists argue that environmental influences written on a blank slate
-Plays and important role in the behaviourist approach

Question 29

How do you measure nature and nurture

Answer 29

Concordance rare measures how much trait is inherited heritability represents proportion within a population due to genes
IQ has a figure of heritability of .5 (Plomin)

Question 30

Evaluate the nature nurture debate

Answer 30

-Adoption studies compare similarities between adoptive child, biological and adoptive parents, genes account for 41% variance in aggression (Rhee and Waldman)
-Extreme nativism leads to eugenic policies, extreme empiricism leads to behaviour shaping (conversion therapy)
-Real world application in treating OCD as it has a .76 heritability rate so genetic counselling is important in understanding how to prevent

Question 31

What is holism

Answer 31

-Studying an indivisible system rather than its consistent parts, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
-Humanistic and qualitative approaches

Question 32

What is reductionism

Answer 32

-human behaviour is best understood by studying the smaller constituent parts
-There are 6 levels of explanation in the reductionist approach
-Can be environmentally reductionist or biologically reductionist

Question 33

Outline the levels of explanation in the reductionist approach

Answer 33

-Socio cultural level eg OCD interrupts social relationships
-Psychological level eg the persons experience of anxiety
-Physcial level, movements eg washing ones hands
-Enviromental/behavioural level: learning experiences
-Physioloyical level eg abnormal functioning in the frontal lobes
-Neurochemical level eg underproduction of seratonin

Question 34

What is biological reductionism

Answer 34

Neurochemical, physiological, evolutionary and genetic influences eg OCD linked to seratonin activity

Question 35

What is enviromental reductionism

Answer 35

All behaviour acquired through interactions with the environment eg the behaviourist approach and learning theory of attachment

Question 36

Evaluate holism

Answer 36

-Holistic accounts become complex and impractical as it is difficult to treat depression holistically
-Holism is not scientific as it is very vague
-Some behaviours eg Stanford prison can only be understood by looking at the whole group not individual members

Question 37

Evaluate Reductionism

Answer 37

-Reductionism basis of operationalisation enables for objective and reliable experiments as it is very scientific through breaking behaviours down into their constituent parts COUNTERPOINT: does not include the context of actions through simplification therefore lacking meaning as the approach can not say why someone’s finger is pointed

Question 38

What is the idographic approach to psychological investigation

Answer 38

-Derived from greek word “idios” meaning private or personal
-Focuses on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour rather then trying to formulate general laws of behaviour
-One person or group
-Uses qualitative research such as thematic analysis, unstructured interviews and case studies
-eg rogers: unconditional positive regard
-Freud: phobias and little hans
-Subjective

Question 39

What is the nomothetic approach to psychological investigation

Answer 39

-Derived from the greek word “nomos” meaning law
-Aims to study human behaviour through the establishment of general principles and universal laws
-Qualitative: hypothesis testing, statistical analysis, seeks to quantify behaviour
-Eg skinner
-Sperry (split brain research)
-Objective measurement through standardised procedures

Question 40

Evaluate the idiographic nomothetic debate

Answer 40

-Idiographic complements the nomethic approach eg case studies such as HM informs understanding on memory COUNTERPOINT: idiographic on its own is limited as their is no baseline for comparison, unscientific and subjective
-Nomothetic focused on statistics such as there is a 1% risk of schizophrenia so it overlooks subjective experience which is important in delivering therapy
-Both scientifically credible as holistic approach used in the natural sciences whilst idiographic approach seeks to quantity their methods. this enables triangulation increasing validity

Question 41

What are ethical implications

Answer 41

The consequences of any research in terms of the effect on individual participants or on the way in which certain groups are subsequently regarded. There may also be consequences on a wider societal level

Question 42

What is social sensitivity

Answer 42

Siever and Stanley define social sensitive research as “studies in which there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for research participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research”

Question 43

What are the potential implications for the researching process

Answer 43

-Research question: may have a narrow focus such as leading to heterosexual bias in judging groups on heterosexual norms
-Dealing with participants: domestic abuse victims sensitive in issues of confidentiality and stress
-Use of findings: Early IQ testing used to restrict immigration against minority groups by the US

Question 44

Evaluate ethical implications in psychology

Answer 44

-Burts research in 1950 led to IQ exam 11+ but shown to be fraudulent causing damaging real life consequences and still in use in some parts of the UK
-Real world application in developing important social policies such as on child care and crime
-Benefits for groups as homosexuality was listed as a sociopathic personality disorder yet was removed in 1973 as a result of socially sensitive research COUNTERPOINT: can be dangerous for groups such as investigating whether there is a crime gene