Issues and debates Flashcards
what is the nature-nurture debate?
Whether behaviours are a product of inheritted or learnt characteristics
How is nature and nurture measured?
concordance rates- they provide an estimate about the extent to which a trait is inherited (heritability)
what is heritability?
the proportion of diffs between individuals in a population in regards to a particular trait due to genetic variation
influence of nature
what is nature?
behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors
what is heredity?
traits passed down from one generation to the next
What is the nativist position?
assumption that charecteristics of humans are a product of evolution and individual diffs are the result of unique genetic code
what is the scz example indicating the influence of nature?
risk of scz increases in line with genetic similarity to a relative with it e.g in identical twins showing nature plays a big part
influence of nurture
what is nurture?
the view that behaviour is the product of environmental influences
what is the environment seen as?
everything outside the body including people, events and physical world
like behaviourists
environmentalists…
assumption that the human mind is a blank slate that is gradually filled as a result of experience
what example is used to demonstarte the influence of nurture?
Social learning theory- explaining aggression in terms of it bearing learnt through vicarious reinforcement
The way a child/person learns to express aggression is through observing role models then imitating this
what is the interactionist approach?
belief that genes and environment are both involved in shaping behaviour
what does the diathesis stress model suggest?
behaviour is caused by a genetic or vulnerability (diathesis) and biological and expressed when put with an evironmental trigger ( stress)
explains scz and ocd
What is universality?
conclusions drawn can be applied to everyone, anywhere, regardless of culture
what is bias?
leaning towrads a subjective view that does not necessarily reflect scientific reality
what is gender bias?
the differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences
what is alpha bias?
research that exaggerates the diffs between males and females
the diffs are fixed and inevitable
what research/theory is an example of alpah bias?
freud psychosexual stages of development phalic stage where boys + girls develop desire for opposite gender parent
boys= strong castaration anxiety resolved by identifying with father
But girls eventual identification with mother is weaker meaning her superego is weak ( bc it develops as a result of taking on the same-gender parents moral perspective)
suggets girls/women are morally inferior to boys/men
what is beta bias?
research that ignores or undersetimates diffs
assuming the findings apply equaly to men and women
what research is an example of beta bias?
flight or fight response- research has genrally favoured male animals bc female behaviour is affected by regular hormone changes during ovulation- ignoring any possible diffs
early research into f/f did exactly this and assumed both males and femlaes respond to situations with fight or flight
what is andocentrism?
the consequence of beta bias and occurs when all behaviour is compared according to a male standard
psychology has presnted a male dominated version of the world over the years
how is andocentrism shown through psychology?
USA psych association published 100 most influential psychologists of 20th centu only had 6 women- suggests psych has traditionally been a subject produced by men, for men and about men
how does androcentrism affect women?
Womens behaviour if considered is misunderstood and even taken as a sign of ilness
e.g. feminists objected to the diagnostic category premenstural syyndrome on the grounds of medicalising womens anger by using hormones to explain but with men anger is a rational response to external pressure
what is cultural bias?
the tendancy to judge people in terms of ones own cultural assumptions ignoring cultural differnces that might affect behaviour