Issues and debates

Question 1

What is determinism?

Answer 1

Behaviour is shaped and controlled by internal and/or external forces rather than the individual’s will to do something.

Question 2

What is hard determinism?

Answer 2

Implies that free will is not possible as our behaviour is always controlled by internal or external factors beyond our control. Otherwise known as fatalism. It is compatible with the scientific approach.

Question 3

What is soft determinism?

Answer 3

All human behaviour has causes, but behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion i.e we also have some conscious mental control.

Question 4

What is biological determinism?

Answer 4

The belief that behaviour is caused by biological infleunces- i.e. physical- that we cannot control e.g. genes, hormones, neuroanatomy, nervous system, evolutionary factors.

Question 5

What is environmental determinism?

Answer 5

The belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment and other agents of socialisation- external factors- that are beyond our control e.g. rewards, punishments and associations.

Question 6

What is psychic determinism?

Answer 6

The belief that behaviour is casued by unconscious conflicts (repressed in childhood) that we cannot control.

Question 7

What is free will?

Answer 7

The idea that humans can make choices (e.g. our thoughts, actions) and are not determined by biological or external forces. Therefore, we are self-determining.
This view does not deny that other forces infleunce our behaviour, but implies we can reject those forces.

Question 8

What are examples from the course of biological determinism?

Answer 8

• Biological approach (approaches)
• Genetic and neural explanations of schizophrenia (schiz)
• Biological explanations of OCD (Psychopathology)
• Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachment (attachment)
• Evolutionary explanations of relationships (relationships)
• Genetic/neural/ evolutionary explanations of aggression (aggression)

Question 9

Evaluation of biological determinism?

Answer 9

Scientific approach but too narrow in approach, biological determinism misses the psychological side of things.

Question 10

What are examples from the course of environmental determinism?

Answer 10

• Behaviourist approach (approaches)
• Learning explantion of attachment (attachment)
• Acquisition and maintance of phobias (psychopathology)

Question 11

Evaluation of enviornmental determinism?

Answer 11

Scientific approach, attempts to determine the laws of behaviour. But learning theory completely ignore psychological and evolutionary factors in attachment, phobia explanations ignore evolutionary aspects so too narrow

Question 12

What are examples from the course of psychic determinism?

Answer 12

• Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation (attachment)
• Psychodynamic approach (approaches)

Question 13

Evaluation of psychic determinism?

Answer 13

Psychodynamic approach professes to be scientific but in fact in based on unmeasurable concepts like the id, ego and superego. Both are way too specific and miss lots of other factors.

Question 14

What are examples from the course of free will?

Answer 14

• Maslow’s hierachry of needs (Approaches)
• Rodger’s person-centered counselling (Approaches)
• Jahoda’s criteria for ideal mental health (psychopathology)
• The humanist approach (approaches)

Question 15

Evaluation of free will?

Answer 15

This approach is useful for exploring the individual in great detail and understanding from a more ideographic approach.
But it is not very scientific, therefore very difficult to draw general patterns of human behaviour from this approach.
Does support the current justice system standards.

Question 16

What are examples from the course of hard determinism?

Answer 16

Biological, behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches (and therefore any theories based on them).

Question 17

Evaluation of hard determinism?

Answer 17

Very scientific in their approach.
However, can mean being rigid and inflexible in their predictions, and evidence can prove their theories are incomplete because they are overly reductionist. It also can mean people can feel ‘doomed’ to behave in certain ways because of their genes/ upbringing ect- can prove to be a self-fufilling prophecy.

Question 18

What are examples from the course of soft determinism?

Answer 18

• Social learning theory
• Many cognitive theories

Question 19

Evaluation of soft determinism?

Answer 19

Can be a useful mid ground but can be a bit broad and sometime difficult to test experimentally so more unscientific

Question 20

What evalaution point is supporting for determinism?

Answer 20

The view is consistent with the aims of science. The notion that human behaviour is orderly and obeys laws places psychology on equal footing with other more established sciences. Additionally, the value of such research is that prediction and control of human behaviour has led to the development of treatments, therapies and behavioural interventions that have benefited many e.g. drug treatments for managing schizophrenia. The experinece of total loss of control over thoughts and behaviour in this case supports the determinism side of the debate casts doubt over the free will side.

Question 21

What does the support for determinism suggest about the determinism vs free will debate?

Answer 21

Suggests that at least in terms of mental illnesses, behaviour appears to be determined.

Question 22

What evaluation point is supporting free will?

Answer 22

Everyday expeirence gives the impression that we are constantly choosing our thoughts and actions. Therefore, the concept has face validity.

Research suggests that people who have an internal locus of control tend to be more mentally healthy. Resrach has found that adolescents with a strong belief in fatalism (believing their lives were decided by events outside of their control) were at significantly greater risk of developing depression.

Question 23

What does the support for free will suggest about the determinism vs free will debate?

Answer 23

Suggests that even if we do not have free will, the fact that we think we do may have a positive effect on the mind.

Question 24

What evaluation point undermines free will?

Answer 24

Studies have recorded activity in motor area of the brain before the person had conscious awareness of the decision to move their finger. In other words, the decision to move the finger was simply a ‘read-out’ of a pre-determined action. This challenges the free will side of the debate.

Question 25

What does the undermining evidence for free will suggest about the determinism vs free will debate?

Answer 25

This suggests that even our most basic experinces of free will are decided and determined by our brain before we become aware of them.

Question 26

What evaluation point undermines determinism?

Answer 26

This position is incompatible with our notions of legal responsibility, and creates an issue in the treatment of mental disorders. In US criminal cases, there have been attempts to claim that their behaviour was caused by inherited agressive tendencies and therefore they should not be punished with the death penalty. These arguments have been rejected.

Question 27

What does the undermining evidence for determinism suggest about the determinism vs free will debate?

Answer 27

In a court of law, offenders are held morally accountable for their actions. Therefore, a determinist position may be undesirable because it would allow individuals to ‘excuse’ their behaviour.

Question 28

Free will vs determinism: Causal explanations & hard determinism: What is one of the basic principles of science and an example of this?

Answer 28

That every event in the universe has a cause and that causes can be explained by general laws- which reflects the hard determinist stance.
E.g. the behavioural approach explains behaviour through learned stimulus-reponse mechanisms in classical and operant conditioning, and punishment.

Question 29

Free will vs determinism: Causal explanations & hard determinism: Why are the knowledge of causes and the formulation of laws important?

Answer 29

Because they allow scientists to predict and control events in the future. This includes drawing up hypotheses about behaviour (predicting) and conducting experiments (manipulating an IV-control).

Question 30

Free will vs determinism: Causal explanations & hard determinism: What is the most scientific research method for psychology and what does it enable?

Answer 30

Laboratory experiments, it enables researchers to demonstrate causal relationships- it’s like the test tube used in other sciences where all variables can be controlled.

Question 31

Free will vs determinism: Causal explanations & hard determinism: What does this all mean?

Answer 31

Taking a hard determinist stance/ perspective means adopting the most scientific approach in psychology .

Question 32

What is the nature-nurture debate?

Answer 32

Concerned with the extent to which aspects of behaviour are a product of inherited or acquired characteristics.

Question 33

What is heredity?

Answer 33

The genetic transmission of mental and physical characteristics from one generation to another

Question 34

What is the enviornment?

Answer 34

Any influence on behaviour that is non-genetic. This may range from pre-natal infleunces in the womb to cultural and historical influences at a societal level.

Question 35

What is heritability coefficent?

Answer 35

Process used to access heredity. Numerical figure ranging from 0 to 1.0 which indicates the extent to which a characteristic has a genetic basis (with a value of 1 menaing it is entirely genetically determined).

Question 36

What are nativists views on behaviour?

Answer 36

• They take the nurture side of the debate
• They argue that human characteristics are innate
• Both psychological and physical characteristics are determined by biological factors.

Question 37

What are empiricists?

Answer 37

• Take the nurture side of the debate
• Believe the mind is a blank slate at birth, which is then shaped by the enviornment.

Question 38

What is an example of the interactionist approach?

Answer 38

The diathesis-stress model

Question 39

What is the interactionist approach?

Answer 39

The idea that nature and nurture are linked to such an extent that it does not make sense to seperate the two, so researchers instead study how they infleunce one another.

Question 40

Which is the closest approach to nature?

Answer 40

Biological- its focus is on hereditary, hormones, and chemicals, through the interaction with the enviornmnet is acknowledged.

Question 41

What is the closest approach to nuture?

Answer 41

Behaviourist- they believe the mind is a blank slate at birth. Behaviour is determined by learning experinces in the enviornment.

Question 42

Evaluation: Nature-nurture debate: What is a strength of the interactionist approach (not hard determinism) ?

Answer 42

A strong commitment to nature or nuture corresponds to a belief in hard determinism. The nativist perspective would suggest that ‘anatomy is destiny’ (biological determinism) whilst empiricists would argue that interaction with the environmental is all (environmental determinism). However, the interactionist approach is a less determinist approach as it suggest both forces of nature infleunce behaviour rather than one single factor or force.

Question 43

Evaluation: Nature-nurture debate: What is a weakness of the nature argument ?

Answer 43

Nativist suggest that our inherited genetic make-up determines our characteristics and behaviour, whilst the environment has little input. This extreme deterministic stance has led to the controversy, such as linking IQ to race and intelligence, and the application of eugenics policies, and justification of discriminatory practices in the workplace or wider society. This could be used to shape social policy without considering the effects of the environment. In extreme cases, this has led to social control such as compulsory sterilisation for the ‘feeble-minded’.

Question 44

Evaluation: Nature-nurture debate: What is a strength of the interactionist approach (can’t be seperated- Maguire)?

Answer 44

Your life experinces can shape your biology (e.g. Maguire’s taxi drivers with bigger spatial memories than controls). This is not because they were born this way, but because their hippocampi had responded to increase it. This supports the view that nature and nurture can’t be meaningfully seperated. Which supports the interactionist approach.

Question 45

Evaluation: Nature-nurture debate: What is a strength of the interactionist approach (can’t be seperated- Epigenetics)?

Question 46

Gender bias: What is universality?

Answer 46

The idea that any conclusions drawn about an underlying characteristic of human beings can be applied to all people, anywhere, regardless of time or culture i.e. despite differences of experience or culture

Question 47

Gender bias: What is alpha bias?

Answer 47

Psychological theories that overestimate the differences between sexes. Such differences are typically presented as real, enduring, fixed and inevitable. They may enhance or undervalues members of either sex, but tyyically undervalue females.

Question 48

Gender bias: What is beta bias?

Answer 48

Psychological theories that ignore or minimise the differneces between the sexes. This often occurs when females are not a part of the research process and it is assumed that the research findings apply equally to both sexes.

Question 49

Gender bias: What is androcentrism?

Answer 49

Male-centered. When ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard, meaning that female behaviour is often judged to be ‘abnormal’, ‘different’ or ‘deficient’ by comparsion.

Question 50

Gender bias: What are biases?

Answer 50

When considering human behaviour, this is a tendency to treat one individual or group in a different ways from others, which creates a distorted view of the world. These undermine and threaten universality.

Question 51

Gender bias: What is gender bias?

Answer 51

A type of bias where psychological research may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experince of men or women.

Question 52

What is an example of Alpha bias from the psychologically topic?

Answer 52

Wilson 1975 explains human sexual attraction and behaviour through the principle of ‘survival efficency’ . It is in the male’s interest to try and impregnate as many females as possible to increase the survival of his genes being passed on to the next generation. For the female, the best chance of preserving her genes is to ensure the healthy survival of the relatively few offspring she is able to produce in her lifetime. The central assumption of sociobiological theory is that sexual promiscuity in males is genetically determined whilst females who engage in the same behaviour are regarded as going agaisnt their ‘nature’- an exaggerate in the differneces between the sexes.

Question 53

What is an example of Beta bias from the psychological topic?

Answer 53

Early research on the fight/flight response was based exclusively on male animals (preferred for research because female hormones fluctuate) and was assumed to be a universal reponse to a threatening situation. More recently, Shelly Taylor et al (2000) suggested that female biology has evolved to inhibit the fight or flight reponse, shifting attention towards caring for offspring(tending) and forming defensive networks with other females (befriending).

Question 54

Gender bias: Evaluation: Consquences of beta bias for women?

Answer 54

Positives- equal treatment (a beta bias) under the law has allowed women to have greater access to educational and occupational opportunites.
Negatives- Arguing for equality between men and women draws attention away from women’s needs and differences in power between men and women. In a society where one group holds most the power, seemingly neutral actions end up benefitting the group with power. E.g. equal parental leave ignores the biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, therefore disadvantaging women.

Question 55

Gender bias: Evaluation: Actions of feminist psychology?

Answer 55

Feminist psychology agrees that there are real biologically-based differences, but socially determined stereotypes make a far greater contribution to percieved differences between the genders. Feminist psychology is a branch of psychology that aims to reduce redress the imbalances in theory and research in psychology. One way to do this is to use the evidence that women may be inferior to provide women with greater support e.g. lab experiments about leadership suggest that women may benefit from suitable training programmes to create a future with more women as leaders. Furthermore, criteria have been put forward to avoid gender bias in research e.g. studying women in real-life contexts, studying diversity in groups of women rather than making comparsions between men and women, and using research methods that gather qualitive data.

Question 56

Gender bias: Evaluation: Problems in psychology?

Answer 56

A lack of women appointed at senior research level means that female concerns may not be reflected in the research questions asked. Male researchers are more likely to have their work published, and studies which find evidence of gender differneces are more likely to appear in journal articles than those that do not. Also, laboratory experiments may further disadvantage women. Female partipants are placed in an inequitable relationship with a (usually male) researcher who has the power to label them unreasonable, irrational an unable to complete complex tasks. They also tell us little about the experince of women outside these controlled settings e.g. a meta-analysis found that studies in real-life settings found women and men were judged more similar in their leadership styles than in lab settings.

Question 57

Gender bias: Evaluation: Modern research?

Answer 57

Many modern researchers are beginning to recognise the effect their own values and assumptions have on their work. Rather than seeing bias as a problem that may threaten objectivity, it is embraces as being a crucial and critical aspect of the research process in general. For example, Dambrin and Lambert (2008) studied the lack of women in executive positions in accountancy firms, and included a reflection on how their gender-related experineces infleunce their reading of events. This reflexivity is an important development in Psychology as it may lead to a greater awareness of the role of personal biases in shaping research in the future.

Question 58

Cultural bias: What is cultural bias?

Answer 58

Refers to the tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture. Therefore, it is mistakenly assumed that findings derived from studies carried out in one culture can be applied all over the world. If the ‘norm’ or ‘standard’ for a particular behaviour is judged only from the viewpoint of one particular culture, then any cultural differences in behaviour are seen as ‘abnormal’ or ‘unusual’.

Question 59

Cultural bias: What is ethnocentrism?

Answer 59

Judging other cultures by the standards and norms of one’s own culture. In its extreme, it is the belief in the superiority of one’s own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures because any behaviours which do not confrom to the (usually Western) model, are viewed as somehow deficient, unsophisticated or underdeveloped.

Question 60

Cultural bias: What is cultural relativism?

Answer 60

The idea that the norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningfully understood within the specific social and cultural contexts within which they were discovered. Being able to recognise this is a way of avoiding cultural bias in research.

Question 61

Cultural bias: What is an example of ethnocentrism?

Answer 61

Strange situation- Ainsworth and her collagues suggested that the ideal attachment was characterised by babies displaying moderate amounts of stranger and seperation anxiety.
This led to a misinterpretation of child-rearing practices in other counties which were seen to deviate the American norms. For example, Japanese babies were more likely to be classes as insecure-resistant as they showed great amounts of distress when seperated from their mothers. However, this is likely to reflect the fact that Japanese babies are hardly seperated from their mother, if Japanese culture was taken into account, would be likely they would be classed as secure by Japanese standards.

Question 62

Cultural bias: Example of cultural relativism?

Answer 62

Sternberg (1985) argued that the meaning of intelligence is different for different cultures. For example, coordination may be more valued in a pre-literate society, which is not the case for literate or ‘developed’ socities.
Therefore the only way to understand intelligence is to take the cultural context into account otherwise we start to devalue other cultures.

Question 63

Cultural bias: Evaluation: Why might cultural bias be less of an issue today?

Answer 63

In past, psychologists have refered to cultures in terms of an individualist-collectivist distinction. Individualist culture is asscoiated with Western countries who are thought to value personal freedom and independence. Collectivist cultures such as India and China, are said to place more emphasis on interdependence and the needs of the group. However, it has been suggested that due to global communication and increase interconnectedness, this simplistic distinction no longer applies. For instance, Takona and Osaka found that 14 out 15 studies that comapred the USA to Japan found no distinction of the traditional distinction between individualism and collectivism. This suggests that cultural bias may be less of an issue in research than it once was.

Question 64

Cultural bias: Evaluation: Some universality?

Answer 64

Its should not be assumed that all psychology is culturally relative and that there is no such thing as universal human behaviour. For instance, basic facial expressions for emotions (e.g. happiness or disgust) are the same all over the human and animal world. Some features of human attachment (imitation and interactional synchrony) are also universal. A full understanding if human behaviour requires the study of both universals and variations among individuals and groups.

Question 65

Cultural bias: Evaluation: Why culture bias exists?

Answer 65

When conducting research in Western culture, the partipants’ familiarity with the general aims and objectives of scientific enquiry is assumed. However, the same knowledge and ‘faith’ in scientific testing may not extend to cultures that do not have the same historical experineces of research. This may mean demand characteristics are exaggerated when working with members of the local population, which compromises the validity of the research.

Question 66

Cultural bias: Evaluation: How we can challenge cultural bais?

Answer 66

Conducting cross-culture research may challenge our typically Western ways of thinking and viewing the world and help to deal with cultural bias. Being able to see the knowledge and concepts that we take for granted are not shared by other people around the wold may promote a greater sensitivity to individual differences and cultural relativism in the future. It is recommended that one member of the research team is a member of the local population in order to prevent cultural bias. This would help to counteract the critism of scientific racism that has been made agaisnt some psychological theories in the past, and make conclusions more valid as they will include the role of the culture.

Question 67

What is the idiographic approach?

Answer 67

An approach to research that focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour than aiming to formulate general laws of behaviour.

Question 68

What is the nomothetic approach?

Answer 68

An approach that attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws.

Question 69

Idiographic approach: How are people studied?

Answer 69

As unqiue entities, each with their own subejcetive experinces, motivations and values.

Question 70

Idiographic approach: Research methods used?

Answer 70

Generally associated with research methods that gather qualitive data e.g. case studies, unstructured interviews and other self-report measures.

Question 71

Idiographic approach: Centeral aims of research?

Answer 71

To describe the richness of human experince and gain insight into a person’s unqiue way of viewing the world.

Question 72

Nomothetic approach: How are people studied?

Answer 72

General laws of human behaviour provide a benchmark agaisnt which people are comapred, classified and measured.

Question 73

Nomothetic approach: Research methods used?

Answer 73

Generally associated with research methods that would be regarded as ‘scientific’ such as experiments.

Question 74

Nomothetic approach: Evaluation: Support?

Answer 74

The process involved in this resrach tend to be more scientific, mirroring those employed within natural sciences- testing under standardised conditions, using data sets that provide group averages and statistical analysis, predication and control, for example in the field of IQ testing. Such processes have enabled psychologists to establish norms of ‘typical ‘ behaviour (e.g. IQ score of 100), arguably giving the discipline of psychology greater credibility.

Question 75

Nomothetic approach: Example of the support in psychology?

Answer 75

Biological approach e.g. measuring the physcial process like the role that adrenaline plays in the fight or flight reponse

Question 76

Nomothetic approach: Evaluation: Undermining?

Answer 76

The preoccupation of general laws, prediction and control has led to an accusation of ‘losing the whole person’ within psychology. Knowing there is a 1% risk of schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like for someone who has the disorder. Similarly, lab studies involving memory tests see partipants as sets of scores rather than individual people, and their subjective experinece of the situation is ignored. This means that in searching for generalities, this approach may sometimes overlook the richness of human experince.

Question 77

Idiographic approach: Evaluation: Support?

Answer 77

With its in-depth qualitive methods of investigation, this approach provides a complete and global account for the individual. This may complement the nomothetic approach by shedding further light on general laws or indeed by challenging such laws. For example, a single case (e.g. HM) may generate a hypothesis for further study. It is also true that in the case of brain damaged individuals, findings may reveal important insights about normal functioning which may contribute to our overall understanding.

Question 78

Idiographic approach: Evaluation: Examples for support?

Answer 78

Charles Whitman

Question 79

Idiographic approach: Evaluation: Undermining?

Answer 79

Qualitive methods used within this approach, such as unstructured observations, tend to be the least scientific in that conclsuions often rely in the subjective interpretation of the researcher, and as such, are open to bias.

Question 80

Idiographic approach: Evaluation: Examples for undermining?

Answer 80

Humanistic approach