Issues And Debates

Question 1

What is gender bias?

Answer 1

Gender bias is the differential treatment between two genders based on stereotypes

Question 2

What is alpha bias?

Answer 2

Alpha bias is the exaggerated difference between men and women and therefore one gender is devalued (often women)

Question 3

What is beta bias?

Answer 3

Beta bias is ignoring the differences between men and women, leading to researchers believing they can generalise results from male studies to the whole population

Question 4

What is androcentrism?

Answer 4

Androcentrism is the consequences of beta bias, and occurs where everything is compared to ‘male standards’

Question 5

What is universality?

Answer 5

Universality is developing theories that are applicable to everyone, including any differences

Question 6

Gender bias in psychology evaluation

Answer 6

Gender bias in psychology evaluation:
- = gender bias reamains unchallenged in many theories
- = lab experiments + institutionalised sexism -> due to male authority creating male perspective of women
- = bias in research methods affects final results
+ = feminist psychology -> differences can arise due to biological differences

Question 7

What is determinism?

Answer 7

Determinism is the view that free will is an illusion and our behaviour is controlled by uncontrollable internal or external forces

Question 8

What is free will?

Answer 8

Free will is the idea that we play active role and have choice over our behaviour

Question 9

What is hard determinism?

Answer 9

Hard determinism the idea that forces outside our control shape behaviour
-No free will
-Science has hard determinism - looks for causal relationships

Question 10

What is soft determinism?

Answer 10

Soft determinism is the view that behaviour is constrained by the environment or biological makeup to an extent - an element of free will remains

Question 11

What is biological determinism?

Answer 11

Biological determinism is innate and determined by genes
-Pre determined behaviour
-Hard determinism

Question 12

What is environmental determinism?

Answer 12

Environmental determinism is the view that behaviour is controlled by external forces, caused by experiences through conditioning

Question 13

Free will and determinism evaluation

Answer 13

Free will and determinism evaluation:
- = humanistic view opposes - people have free will - eg twin case studies - not exactly the same
- = potential negative effect when generalised ie criminal acts
+ = skinner arugues free will is an illusion - motor regions of brain activated before conscious mind registers it - biological determinism

Question 14

What is psychic determinism?

Answer 14

Psychic determinism is when behaviour is. Result of childhood experiences and innate drives (freudian thinking)

Question 15

What is culture?

Answer 15

Culture is the morals, values, beliefs and patterns of behaviour shared by a community of people

Question 16

What is cultural relativity?

Answer 16

Cultural relativity is the idea that moral standard beliefs and values can only be understood when viewed through the culture in which they originate

Question 17

What is ethnocentrism?

Answer 17

Ethnocentrism is seeing the world through only one cultural perspective and thinking this is the normal and correct one

Question 18

Outline the nature debate.

Answer 18

Nature debate:
-Biological approach
-Genes, biochem, hormones
-Hard/Biological determinism
-Twin studies (Gottesman)
-OCD
-Mate selection theory
-Bowlby attachment theory
-Diatheses stress model
-Genotype
-Hereditary
-Natavist approach

Question 19

Outline the nurture debate.

Answer 19

Nurture debate:
-Influenced by the environment
-Conditioning
-SLT - vicarious reinforcement + mediational processes
-Psychodynamic approach
-Born a blank state (tabula rasa)
-Authoritarian personality in childhood
-Mowrer two process model

Question 20

Outline the interactionist approach

Answer 20

Interactionist approach:
-Both nature and nurture work together to shape human behaviour
-Diatheses-stress model (genetic predisposition and environmental trigger causes disorder iephobias)
-Maguire study (taxi drivers - larger hippocampus)
-PKU - inhertiance mental disorder caused by amino acids but controlled by low protein diet

Question 21

Outline reductionism

Answer 21

Reductionism:
-Breaking behaviour down into smaller components
-Based on parisomy (idea that complex things should be explained in simplest ideas)
-Different levels of explained (biological, physiological, social and cultural)
-Biological/Environmental/Experimental

Question 22

What is biological reductionism?

Answer 22

Biological reductionism - behaviour broken down into biological components - eg neurones, hormones

Question 23

What is environmental reductionism?

Answer 23

Environmental reductionism = also known as stimulus-response reductionism (conditioning) - that complex behaviour is a series of S-R chains

Question 24

What is experimental reductionism?

Answer 24

Experimental reductionism - applies to cognitive approach - complex behaviour reduced to single variable for purpose of scientific testing

Question 25

What is holism?

Answer 25

Holism = idea that behaviour should viewed as a whole integral experience than seperate parts - qualitative methods - humanistic and cognitive approach

Question 26

Evaluation of reductionism and holism

Answer 26

+ = scientistics use reductionism in their research - experimental reductionism - less complex findings and easier to infer causality
-> counterargument = highly controlled so questionable results (reliability?)
+ = scientific - replicable
+ = Biological reductionism has lead to biological theories ie SSRI’s and OCD
- = biological reductionism - ignores complexity - ie ADHD treatment
- = use of animals in experiments - ecological validity and ethics questioned

Question 27

What are the ethical implications of psychological research?

Answer 27

Ethical implications of psychological research - deceptions, informed consent, protection from heart, social sensetivity
Examples - milgrams distress on parts, bowlbys findings affecting mothers (guilt for returning to work?

Question 28

What is meant by social sensitivity in reference to studies?

Answer 28

Social sensitivity - wher e there are potential social consequences for the participants of the group of people represented by the research

Question 29

What are the aspects of scientific research from Sierber and Stanley that raises ethical implications in social sensitive research?

Answer 29

aspects in rsearch that raises ethical implications in socially senseitive resarch:
-The research question (ie race + IQ)
-Methodology used (confidentiality)
-Instiutional context (public/private) - subjectivity
-Interpretatino and application of findings
-Harder to asses risk/benefit ratio

Question 30

Exampl of socially sensitive reserarch?

Answer 30

An example of socially sensitive research is linking intelligence to genetic factors - ie via identical twins - influenced some school systems - controversial to wether Burt falsified research data

Question 31

Evaluation of socially sensitive research

Answer 31

Evaluation of socially sensitive research:
- = current ethical guidelines focuses on direct affect on parts rather than its harm to society as a whole - eg how findings are used by others
- = exclusion of marginalised groups ie disabilities - harm when findings generalised
- = discrimination -> researchers argue against this research - eg racial differences and IQ
-> but ignoring these reserach areas means we lack info - ie how to help those underrepresented in society

Question 32

Two approaches in research? (Emic/Etic)

Answer 32

Etic research is when research is based on one culture and is generalised and applied to all cultures

Emic research is based on studying a specific culture