issues and debates

Question 1

androcentrism

Answer 1

the belief that psychology applies research to the world from a male perspective

Question 2

alpha bias A

Answer 2

exaggerates differences between women and men

Question 3

beta bais A

Answer 3

assumes what is true to men also applies to women- minimises differences

Question 4

universality

Answer 4

this is the aim to recognise the differences between the genders

Question 5

evaluation of gender bias

Answer 5

+take feminist perspectives- biological differences
-methods to research may be flawed. more male researchers, have power to label women as irrational
+reverse alpha bias and emphasize the value of women. Research shows women are better at learning because they are more organised and flexible.
+ beta bias should be ignored as it leads to disadvantages for women- eg paternity leave
-assumptions of psychologists need to be examined as theories often go unchallenged- eg darwin portrayed women as being picky and choosy and justifies mens infedelity as trying to pass of the good genes

Question 6

cultural bias

Answer 6

judging all cultures in terms of your own cultural assumptions

Question 7

cultural relativism

Answer 7

view that behaviour cant be judges properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture it originates from

Question 8

alpha bias C

Answer 8

assumptions that there are real differences between cultures

Question 9

beta bias C

Answer 9

ignoring or minimising cultural differences

Question 10

ethnocentrism

Answer 10

assumption that your own ethnic group and culture are more superior than others

Question 11

etic approach

Answer 11

assumes behaviour applies to all cultures

Question 12

emic approach

Answer 12

looks at behaviour from one culture

Question 13

universality C

Answer 13

assumes research can apply to all cultures

Question 14

evaluation of cultural bias

Answer 14

+techniques to overcome bias, encourage different groups to participate in research and develop theories of their own. more accurate
+use indigenous local researhers. Buss did this when researching relationships. 37 different cultures.
-use studies with samples form different cultures. Sears 82% studies used undergraduates.
+ criticism may be out of date. researchers travel more now.

Question 15

determinism

Answer 15

belief that behaviour is controlled by internal or external factors

Question 16

biological determinism

Answer 16

belief that biology such as genes affect pur behaviour

Question 17

enviromental determinism

Answer 17

belief that behaviour is caused by the enviroment

Question 18

psychic determinism

Answer 18

belief that behaviour is caused by innate drives and early experiences. stages of development

Question 19

scientific determinism

Answer 19

belief that all behaviour has a cause

Question 20

soft determinism

Answer 20

allows for some free will

Question 21

hard determinsim

Answer 21

all behaviour is predicted and there is no free will

Question 22

free will

Answer 22

belief that everyone has the power to make their own choices
moral responsibility is the idea that we have free will to chose our actions

Question 23

evaluation of free will vs determinism

Answer 23

-unlikely that 100% of genetic or enviromental determinism will ever be found for behaviour . concordance rates for twin studies and intelligence tend to be less than 100%. Gottesman 48% for sz
-causal explanation is flawed. could be that certain factor increse the probability of behaviour not the cause.
- many psychologist do not favour the deterministic approach. criminals have used it as an excuse for their actions.
-hard determinsim goes against our legal system. individual chooses their actions.
+ everyday experience would suggest free will is a thing. make our own decisions on a daily baiss.

Question 24

nature

Answer 24

the belief that our behaviour is influenced by genes hormones or brain chemistry and evolutionary explanations

Question 25

nurture

Answer 25

the belief that our behaviour is influenced by the enviroment

Question 26

interactionuism

Answer 26

the belief that our behaviour is caused by both nature and nurture

Question 27

epigenetics

Answer 27

interactions between genes and enviroment

Question 28

evaluation of nature and nurture

Answer 28

+both nature and nurture view use scientific methods. lab experiments, brain scans. brain scans of sz show enlarged ventricles.pavlov and skinner used controlled experiments
-interactionist approach views behaviour as both nature and nurture. never 100% concordance rate sin twin studies. neither nature or nurture are full explanations.
-in real life interactionist approach is more suitable.treatment using this eg cbt and drugs alongside each other
- tienari et al finnish study followed 19000 children adopted from finnish mothers with sz. assessed rearing style of adopters and sz rates in children.high levels of critism and conflict linked with sz but only in those who had a genetic predisposition to sz. strongly suggests interactionist approach
- additional evidence for interactionist approach comes from maguire et al shows that nurture can shape our biology. investigated taxi drivers and found hippocampi wasarea of the brain was larger in london taxi drivers compared to non taxi drivers.

Question 29

reductionism

Answer 29

belief that an explanation reduces behaviour down to a simple explation rather than looking at all the factors involved.

Question 30

levels of explanation

Answer 30

how reductionist an explanation is

Question 31

holism

Answer 31

looking at all the aspects of an individuals behaviour

Question 32

gestaly psychology

Answer 32

‘whole’ in german. argues we can only make sense if we view something as a whole rather than in parts

Question 33

humanism

Answer 33

belief that the persons sense of self needs to be looked at as a whole. maslows heirachy of needs- in order to fill full potential we need to meet basic biological and spiritual needs.

Question 34

cognitive psychology

Answer 34

belief that memory can be seen as a connesctionist network. each unit is linked to other units. these links develop through experience and with each new experience the links are strengthened and weakened.

Question 35

evaluation of reductionism vs holism

Answer 35

+biological reductionism has lead to drug therapies. lead to a reduction of institutionalisation and more tolerance of the mentally ill. however drug therapies have a low sucess rate and only treat symptoms and not the cause
+ reductionist approach allows researchers to conduct scientific research. in order to operationalise you have to break down individual parts to conduct experiemnts
-holistic explanations are difficult to test scientifically .
+ some behaviours have to be looked at from a holistic view point to understand them cmpletely.
-reductionist research lacks validity sue to lack of complexity

Question 36

idiographic approach

Answer 36

involves studying individuals and studying and focusing on the uniqueness of the individuals and dont generlise

Question 37

nomethetic approach

Answer 37

this involves tudying large numbers of people and generlising results

Question 38

evaluation of idiographic vs nomethetic approach

Answer 38

+brough focus back onto individuals rather than big groups.allport said that we can only predict behaviour by knowing the person individually
-idiographic isnt scientific . lack of evidence. believe focusing on human experiences.
-idiographic is limited as it does not make genrlised predictions about human behaviour. predictions are useful in things like drug therapies. too time consuming to produce personal therapies for each person
-isiographic is tmpractical. time consuming as it involves collecting large amounts of data on individuals using qualitative metjods.
-some people argue theres no such thing as the idiographic approach as even if you study a person individually you will end up generlising the data. will end up being nomathetic

Question 39

social sensitivity

Answer 39

any research that has social consequences for the pp or group they represent

Question 40

ethical implication

Answer 40

impact of psychological research on the individual or society.

Question 41

research progress