Issues and Debates

Question 1

Allport

Answer 1

the first psychologist to use the terms ideographic and nomothetic, argued that only by knowing a person as a person can we make predictions about what they will do in given circumstances

Question 2

Androcentric

Answer 2

male-orientated, where females are not included in studies or theories

Question 3

Alpha Bias (Culture)

Answer 3

where research maximises the difference between cultures in order to argue that some cultures are superior to other cultures

Question 4

Alpha Bias (Gender)

Answer 4

theories that maximise sex differences, like Freud

Question 5

Anthropological Approach

Answer 5

going to different cultures and observing and interacting with their members as they go about their lives to gain understanding

Question 6

Berry (1969)

Answer 6

argues that research should be conducted in meaningful contexts and use researchers local to the culture being studied in order to reduce imposed etic

Question 7

Beta Bias (Culture)

Answer 7

theories that ignore or minimise the differences between cultures

Question 8

Beta Bias (Gender)

Answer 8

theories that ignore or minimise sex differences

Question 9

Bias

Answer 9

leaning in a particular direction, a systematic distortion in one’s attitude and beliefs based on prejudice and pre-existing ideas

Question 10

Biological Determinism

Answer 10

all behaviour can be explained through neurochemical, neurophysiological, genetic or evolutionary means

Question 11

Bruehl (1980)

Answer 11

stated that Freud’s characterisation of females simply reflected the reality of Western patriarchal structure of the time

Question 12

Carolin Schuster (2022)

Answer 12

went to various HR specialists with two CVs identical apart from the person’s gender and found that men were offered over €1000 more than women, unless the specialists were reminded of their duty to resolve the gender pay gap first, where the opposite became true

Question 13

Chitling Test

Answer 13

developed by black sociologist Adrian Dove to expose how standardised IQ tests favoured white students however it neglected the range of experiences black people have

Question 14

Chomsky (1968)

Answer 14

maintained that language acquisition is the result of innate cognitive structures and biologically based inborn brain mechanisms and children are predisposed to make sounds and understand grammar

Question 15

Cochrane and Sashidharan

Answer 15

examined diagnosis rates of schizophrenia in the UK and found that those of African-Caribbean origin were seven times more likely to be diagnosed despite rates of schizophrenia in the Caribbean, they are no higher than the UK

Question 16

Cornwell et al (2013)

Answer 16

found that girls outperform boys on reading, whereas boys outperform girls on maths and science, but that boys who perform equally to girls are graded less favourably, but this vanishes when non-cognitive skills such as motivation and perseverance are taken into account

Question 17

Cross-Cultural Psychology

Answer 17

studying a range of different cultures to find out about the variability of human behaviour

Question 18

Culture

Answer 18

a set of norms, moral values, behavioural norms, social roles, customs and traditions of a group of people

Question 19

Culture Bias

Answer 19

the act of interpreting and judging behaviour and psychological characteristics of one culture by holding them to the same standards as your own

Question 20

Culture-Bound Syndrome

Answer 20

a combination of psychiatric and somatic symptoms that is limited to a number of cultures

Question 21

Cyril Burt

Answer 21

used studies of identical twins to prove that intelligence was genetic, but falsified his research data

Question 22

Determinism

Answer 22

the theory that there is a reason for all behaviour

Question 23

Biological Determinism

Answer 23

the idea that everything can be explained by biology

Question 24

Environmental Determinism

Answer 24

the idea that everything can be explained by a person’s environment

Question 25

Environmental Reductionism

Answer 25

all behaviour can be explained through stimulus responses to the environment

Question 26

Hard Determinism

Answer 26

states that no action or behaviour is free, but occurs because it has to, and every human behaviour has a cause where one action is performed rather than an other

Question 27

Psychic Determinism

Answer 27

the idea that everything can be explained by a person’s unconscious thoughts

Question 28

Soft Determinism

Answer 28

argues that behaviour is a direct result of the environment but only to a certain extent, element o free will in all behaviour yet it is controlled by outside forces, so behaviour is constricted to a certain extent

Question 29

EMIC Research

Answer 29

aims to identify behaviours relative to that culture, emphasising difference

Question 30

Ethical Committees

Answer 30

can be used to assess whether a research proposal is ethical or not. Research can pass the committee despite breaking guidelines if the theory, findings or wider moral implications are important

Question 31

Ethnocentrism

Answer 31

the belief that one’s own culture is superior

Question 32

ETIC Research

Answer 32

culture specific research that looks at behaviour from the outside of a given culture and tries to find trends that can be generalised

Question 33

Experiment-Based Empiricism

Answer 33

an emphasis on experiments with controls and group comparisons using ANOV analyses exists in Western society and lab studies are favoured over field studies

Question 34

Falisifiability

Answer 34

when something can be disproved

Question 35

Feminist Psychology

Answer 35

involves re-examining facts about gender, viewing women as normal people rather than deficient men, scepticism toward biological determinism, a research agenda focusing on women’s concerns and developing a psychology for women rather than of women

Question 36

Formulation of Question Bias

Answer 36

it is assumed that topics relevant to white males are more important than those relevant to females or ethnic minority males

Question 37

Free Will

Answer 37

the ability to make a choice between certain behaviours giving a sense of personal responsibility and fitting in with society’s view of personal responsibilities; the legal system is based on the idea of holding people accountable for their actions and free will implies behaviour is random and does not have a cause so therefore cannot be predicted

Question 38

Gender

Answer 38

psychological characteristics associated with being male or female

Question 39

Gottesman and Shields (1995)

Answer 39

carried out a comprehensive review of twin and adoption studies to investigate the cause of schizophrenia

Question 40

Hadow Report (1926)

Answer 40

based on Cyril Burt’s research, this led to the creation of the tripartite education system and the 11+

Question 41

Hamer (1993)

Answer 41

carried out genetic studies of gay man and suggested homosexuality is heavily influenced by genetics and that people have no choice about being gay, environmental influences make little difference and it probably evolved because of social advantages it gave to social groups

Question 42

Hare-Mustin and Maracek (1988)

Answer 42

theorised that alpha bias, is seen in research that focuses on the differences between of men and women and beta is seen in research that focuses on similarities

Question 43

Hare-Mustin and Maracek (1988) (Gilligan)

Answer 43

argue that Gilligan explains gender difference in terms of social construction whereby female caringness is a necessary trait for those placed in subordinate positions in order to supress their anger, so female qualities can be seen as different rather than inferior, yet this does not consider difference between women so is a misrepresentation of individuals

Question 44

Henrich

Answer 44

found that 68% of participants came from the US and 69% from industrialised nations

Question 45

Holism

Answer 45

an idea seen in the humanist approach where you look at the whole person

Question 46

Horney (1927)

Answer 46

stated that Freud’s work has no face validity in assuming that a woman is mentally affected by a wish for male attributes and that if women envied men, it would be because of social status

Question 47

Humphreys (1970)

Answer 47

carried out research into the practices and social interactions of gay men meeting up in a public toilet for sex by posing as a gay man and then taking their number plates and running background checks on them on the PNC. He concluded that most stereotypes about gay men were untrue and their sexual practices were not harmful to anyone

Question 48

Ideographic Approach

Answer 48

suggests everyone is unique so should be studied in an individual way, so no general laws can be generated. Tests use qualitative data and investigate people’ private, subjective and conscious experiences in a personal and detailed way. Methods include case studies, unstructured interviews, self-reports, personal documents and autobiographies

Question 49

Individuality

Answer 49

where the individual is the focus of behaviour and determinants of behaviour reside in the individual’s brain/mind and interventions must be at this level rather than the broader societal context, an assumption of Western psychology

Question 50

Institutional Sexism

Answer 50

men predominate at senior researcher level so the research agenda follows male concerns, marginalising or ignoring female concerns

Question 51

Interactionist Debate

Answer 51

states that behaviour is often the result of interaction between nature and nurture

Question 52

John Berry (1969)

Answer 52

described the distinction between etic and emic approaches in studying human behaviour and accused psychology of imposing an etic approach

Question 53

Jonelsson (1988)

Answer 53

stated that classic psychoanalytic theory is grounded in the genital inferiority of women and assumes they must also be morally inferior

Question 54

Key Aim of Psychology

Answer 54

description and understanding of behaviour

Question 55

Kitzinger (1998)

Answer 55

argued that most differences between men and women due to political reasons, eg women are oppressed, stereotypes and have different rights, and are kept out of male-dominated universities

Question 56

Littlewood and Lipsedge (1989)

Answer 56

found that African-Caribbean patients were more likely to be prescribed stronger doses of medication despite symptoms being exactly the same as patients of other ethnicities, suggesting that doctors were interpreting the symptoms as being much more severe

Question 57

Lowney (1995)

Answer 57

carried out participant observations of a group of teenage Satanists in a small American town, documented their views on life and society and their activities, which centred on music and a small amount of underage drinking and drugs. She concluded their adoption of Satanism was a symbolic critique and rejection of the heavily stratified and hierarchical nature of American high school society

Question 58

Maccoby and Jacklin (1974)

Answer 58

found that men are better at visual, spatial and arithmetic tasks when compared to women

Question 59

Machine Reductionism

Answer 59

reduces information-processing approaches to simple analogies of machine systems to describe and explain behaviour

Question 60

Mead (1935)

Answer 60

studied gender roles across three tribes in Papua New Guinea. The Arapesh valued co-operating, raised children to be gentle and loving, and child-bearing was highly-valued and seen as a job for both parents. The Mundugumor were quarrelsome, fierce and arrogant, treated children harshly and admitted hating child-rearing. The Tchambuli regarded men as emotional and unfit for making serious decisions, but in all tribes the men went to war

Question 61

Method and Design Bias

Answer 61

lab experiments are considered more masculine whereas interviews, observations and case studies are typically more feminine

Question 62

Millon and Davis (1996)

Answer 62

suggested that research should start with the nomothetic approach to produce laws, then focus on a more ideographic approach

Question 63

Nature Debate

Answer 63

a determinist view that states that behaviour is caused by innate characteristics determined by biology, all possible behaviour is present at conception, although some are programmed to emerge with age

Question 64

Nomothetic Approach

Answer 64

focuses on similarities between people to establish laws and generalisations about people using scientific and quantitative data, experiments, observations and group averages that are statistically analysed to create predictions about people in general

Question 65

Law 1

Answer 65

Classification, eg DSM

Question 66

Law 2

Answer 66

Establishing Principles, eg conformity and obedience

Question 67

Law 3

Answer 67

Establishing Dimensions, eg IQ

Question 68

Nurture Debate

Answer 68

a determinist view that all behaviour is determined by the environment, shaped by interactions with the environment, states that people are born empty vessels to be filled, there is no limit to what they can achieve and the quality of the environment is key

Question 69

Oestrocentrism

Answer 69

the process of viewing the world through a female-centred point of view; the opposite of androcentric

Question 70

Parsity

Answer 70

the idea that complex phenomena should be explained by the simplest underlying principles possible

Question 71

Phenylketonuria

Answer 71

a genetic metabolic disease that causes the amino acid phenylalanine to build up, leading to brain damage; but if certain proteins are taken, this can be avoided - NOT lysomal storage

Question 72

Physiological Reductionism

Answer 72

reduces behaviour to physiological mechanisms

Question 73

Plomin et al (1977)

Answer 73

identified three types of genotype-environment correlations: passive, reactive and active. These can complicate the degree to which we can determine nature and nurture influence

Question 74

Active

Answer 74

when people with certain genetic qualities actively seek out particular environments; the environment, in turn, will also shape their behaviour

Question 75

Passive

Answer 75

people from the same families and raised in the same households have both similar genes and similar environment, so it can be challenging to determine which has more of an influence

Question 76

Reactive

Answer 76

a person’s experiences can be moulded by their genetics; for example, the attractiveness of a person, generally determined by genetics, can affect how a person experiences life

Question 77

Plomin et al (1988)

Answer 77

conducted a study and found that there was a stronger correlation of IQ with biological families than with adoptive families

Question 78

Psychology

Answer 78

scientific study of people, the mind and behaviour

Question 79

Psychometrics

Answer 79

measuring psychological characteristics such as personality and intelligence

Question 80

Publication Bias

Answer 80

where male biased editors and reviewers of psychology journals filter out research on women or studies that report no differences in gender but exaggerate the gender differences

Question 81

Quantification

Answer 81

the belief that unless something is quantified it is not acceptable for study, leading to operationalism being the standard for assessing concepts

Question 82

Raine (1996)

Answer 82

carried out brain scans of violent criminals and found they tended to have subtle damage to the areas of the brain involved in impulse control. He suggested this type of brain damage is a marker for violent criminality and if children were screened for these in early life, something could be done about it

Question 83

Reactive Range

Answer 83

a concept that states everyone has the potential for some things, like height, but the environment determines the extent to which the genotypic potential is achieved

Question 84

Reductionism

Answer 84

reducing complex phenomena to simple explanations

Question 85

Highest Level of Reductionism

Answer 85

considers social and cultural explanations, where behaviour is explained in terms of influence of social groups

Question 86

Middle Level of Reductionism

Answer 86

considers physiological explanations i.e. cognitive and behavioural

Question 87

Lowest Level of Reductionism

Answer 87

considers psychological and biological explanations, where behaviour is explained in terms of neurochemicals, genes and brain structure

Question 88

Reductionism (Culture)

Answer 88

in Western psychology, the small tangible units of study that yield well to controlled experimentation are favoured

Question 89

Replicative Approach

Answer 89

exporting your studies to other countries to do there, then comparing them with your own culture

Question 90

Reporting Bias

Answer 90

where results are interpreted as evidence of female inferiority and results on one sex are applied to both

Question 91

Researcher Bias

Answer 91

female academics may find themselves marginalised into areas outside of mainstream psychology and androcentric researchers are more likely to propose hypotheses that investigate stereotypical differences rather than real one or similarities, do not investigate issues important to women and perpetuate biased ideas, for example, searching for causes within women for abnormal behaviour but in the environment for men

Question 92

Rose (1976)

Answer 92

ordered subjects from most reductionist to most holistic: physics, biochemistry, biology, psychology, sociology

Question 93

Rosenham (1973)

Answer 93

a study on psychiatric hospitals in the US revealed dehumanising treatment on vulnerable patients, leading to an overhaul of care protocols and standards

Question 94

Schaffer (1993)

Answer 94

found that men are less sensitive and more physically active, whereas women are more sensitive but are less likely to have language disorders

Question 95

Scientism

Answer 95

the belief that methods of the physical science can be applied similarly to social and behavioural phenomena, which results in spurious methods and conclusions that are inappropriate to the subject under study or that avoid studying certain subjects

Question 96

Siebler and Stanley

Answer 96

suggested that the following factors needed to be considered before carrying out socially sensitive research

Question 97

Confidentiality

Answer 97

refers to data and how data leakage might affect a participant’s life

Question 98

Cost/Benefit Analysis

Answer 98

if the costs outweigh the potential/actual benefits, it is unethical, however it is difficult to assess cost and benefits accurately and the participants themselves rarely benefit from research

Question 99

Deception

Answer 99

causing the wider public to believe something which isn’t true by the findings or your report

Question 100

Informed Consent

Answer 100

participants should be made aware of how taking part in the research may affect them

Question 101

Justice and Equitable Treatment

Answer 101

such as publicising an idea which creates prejudice against a group or withholding treatment which you believe is beneficial for some participants so you can use them as controls

Question 102

Privacy

Answer 102

refers to people rather than data and how asking people questions of a personal nature could offend

Question 103

Scientific Freedom

Answer 103

science should not be censored but there should be some monitoring of sensitive research; the researcher should weigh their responsibilities against their rights to research

Question 104

Sound and Valid Methodology

Answer 104

even more vital when research topic is socially sensitive as academics are able to detect flaws in method but the public and media often don’t; when research finding are publicised, people are likely to take them as fact and policies may be based off of them

Question 105

Values of Social Scientists

Answer 105

if someone with a scientific approach was evaluating a counselling technique based on a humanistic approach, they may judge it on that criteria

Question 106

Siebler and Stanley Guidelines

Answer 106

created based on Sieber and Stanley’s factors

Question 107

Siebler and Stanley’s First Guideline

Answer 107

Researchers should not avoid researching socially sensitive issues; scientists have a responsibility to society to find useful knowledge

Question 108

Siebler and Stanley’s Second Guideline

Answer 108

Researchers need to take more care over consent, debriefing, etc when the issue is sensitive

Question 109

Siebler and Stanley’s Third Guideline

Answer 109

Researchers should be aware of how their findings may be interpreted and used by others

Question 110

Siebler and Stanley’s Fourth Guideline

Answer 110

Researchers should make explicit the assumptions underlying their research, so that the public can consider whether they agree with these

Question 111

Siebler and Stanley’s Fifth Guideline

Answer 111

Researchers should make the limitations of their research explicit

Question 112

Siebler and Stanley’s Sixth Guideline

Answer 112

Researchers should be careful how they communicate with the media and policymakers

Question 113

Siebler and Stanley’s Seventh Guideline

Answer 113

Researchers should be aware of the balance between their obligations to participants and those to society, eg if a participant tells them something which they feel they should tell police/social services

Question 114

Siebler and Stanley’s Eighth Guideline

Answer 114

Researchers should be aware of their own values and biases and those of the participants

Question 115

Siebler and Stanley (1988)

Answer 115

identified four groups that may be affected by psychological research

Question 116

Siebler and Stanley’s First Group

Answer 116

Members of the social group being studied such as racial or ethnic group

Question 117

Siebler and Stanley’s Second Group

Answer 117

Friends and relatives of those taking part in the study, particularly case studies, eg Genie’s mother

Question 118

Siebler and Stanley’s Third Group

Answer 118

The research team, as they may be intimidated based on the line of research they are in

Question 119

Siebler and Stanley’s Fourth Group

Answer 119

The institution in which the research is conducted

Question 120

Smith and Bond (1988)

Answer 120

argued that perfect replications are impossible because when studies are translated into different languages the details may get ‘lost in translation’

Question 121

Tavris (1993)

Answer 121

came up with the idea of ‘mismeasure of women’ where man is the norm and women are the opposite, and women are deficient in male qualities and found evidence for publication bias

Question 122

Taylor (2000)

Answer 122

found gender differences in the fight or flight response

Question 123

Trans-Cultural Psychology

Answer 123

studying a range of different cultures to find out about the universal features of human behaviour

Question 124

Walkers (1984)

Answer 124

meta-analysis of 108 studies found only eight clear indications of gender differences

Question 125

WEIRD Populations

Answer 125

White Educated Industrialised Rich Democrat

Question 126

Williams (1987)

Answer 126

argues that Freud’s theory is not alpha-bias because he did not claim that innate factors made men and women difference, rather that the social context transforms biological factors into mental representations that create difference, therefore explaining differences in terms of mental and social representation

Question 127

Williams and Best (1982)

Answer 127

found that men are more aggressive, dominant, independent and autonomous compared with women, who are more nurturing, deferent, affiliated and are encouraged to develop expressive roles

Question 128

Womb Envy

Answer 128

a theory put forward by Karen Horney that states men must envy women because of their ability to have children, so men compensate for that inability by achievement in other domains

Question 129

Yerkes (1917)

Answer 129

developed an IQ test with cultural bias because some of the questions require certain knowledge that is based in cultural references