Issues and debates Flashcards

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1
Q

what is the nature-nurture debate?

A

Whether behaviours are a product of inheritted or learnt characteristics

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2
Q

How is nature and nurture measured?

A

concordance rates- they provide an estimate about the extent to which a trait is inherited (heritability)

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3
Q

what is heritability?

A

the proportion of diffs between individuals in a population in regards to a particular trait due to genetic variation

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4
Q

influence of nature

what is nature?

A

behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors

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5
Q

what is heredity?

A

traits passed down from one generation to the next

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6
Q

What is the nativist position?

A

assumption that charecteristics of humans are a product of evolution and individual diffs are the result of unique genetic code

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7
Q

what is the scz example indicating the influence of nature?

A

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

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8
Q

influence of nurture

what is nurture?

A

the view that behaviour is the product of environmental influences

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9
Q

what is the environment seen as?

A

everything outside the body including people, events and physical world

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10
Q

like behaviourists

environmentalists…

A

assumption that the human mind is a blank slate that is gradually filled as a result of experience

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11
Q

what example is used to demonstarte the influence of nurture?

A

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

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12
Q

what is the interactionist approach?

A

belief that genes and environment are both involved in shaping behaviour

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13
Q

what does the diathesis stress model suggest?

A

behaviour is caused by a genetic or vulnerability (diathesis) and biological and expressed when put with an evironmental trigger ( stress)
explains scz and ocd

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14
Q

What is universality?

A

conclusions drawn can be applied to everyone, anywhere, regardless of culture

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15
Q

what is bias?

A

leaning towrads a subjective view that does not necessarily reflect scientific reality

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16
Q

what is gender bias?

A

the differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences

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17
Q

what is alpha bias?

A

research that exaggerates the diffs between males and females
the diffs are fixed and inevitable

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18
Q

what research/theory is an example of alpah bias?

A

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

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19
Q

what is beta bias?

A

research that ignores or undersetimates diffs
assuming the findings apply equaly to men and women

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20
Q

what research is an example of beta bias?

A

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

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21
Q

what is andocentrism?

A

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

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22
Q

how is andocentrism shown through psychology?

A

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

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23
Q

how does androcentrism affect women?

A

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

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24
Q

what is cultural bias?

A

the tendancy to judge people in terms of ones own cultural assumptions ignoring cultural differnces that might affect behaviour

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25
Q

what is culture?

A

values,beliefs and patterns of behaviour shared by a group of people

26
Q

what is alpha bias in terms of culture?

A

theory assumes that cultural groups are profoundly different and that recognition of these diffs must always inform psychological research and understanding

27
Q

what beta bias in terms of culture?

A

theory ignores or minimises real cultural diffs results in universal research designs + conclusions that mistakenly assume that all cultures are identical

28
Q

what is ethnocetrism?

A

seeing the world only form ones own cultural perspective and believeing that this one perspective is normal and correct

29
Q

what research is an example of ethnocentrism?

A

definitions of abnormality- deviation from ideal mh and scz diagnosis

30
Q

what is cultural relativism?

A

behaviour can be properly understood only if the cultural context is taken into consideration

31
Q

cultrual relativism

what is an etic approach?

A

an approach that looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal

32
Q

cultrual relativism

what is an emic approcach?

A

an approach that functions from inside a culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture

33
Q

how is ainsworths research an example of imposed etic?

A

Technique/theory developed in one culture and imposed in another
E.g:
studied behaviour in America and assumed the ideal attchement type could be applied universally

34
Q

What is free will?

A

Humans have complete autonomy to make decisions

35
Q

What is determinism?

A

We have no free will

36
Q

What is hard determinism?

A

All behaviour is the result of factors beyond our control
e.g behaviourism claiming all behaviour is the product of conditioning while biological- behaviour is the product of genes

37
Q

What is soft determinism?

A

Allows some degree of free will acknowledging that some behaviours are more constrained than others

38
Q

What is biological determinism?

A

Behaviour is always determined by genes examples like genes affecting brain structure and nt production ( DA and ST)

39
Q

what is environmental determinism?

A

behaviour is caused by previous experience learned through
classical and operant conditioning

e.g skinner- operant conditioning determining the behaviour of the lab rats had no free will

40
Q

what is psychic determinism?

A

human behaviour is the result of childhood experiences and innate drives ( ID, Ego + Superego)

E.g freud- psychosexual stages of development suggest each stage is characterised by conflict if unresolved leads to fixation in adulthood

41
Q

what is the scientific emphasis on causual explanations?

A

knowledge of causes and the formulation of laws are important as they allow scientists to predict and control events in the future

42
Q

why are lab experiments ideal?

A

they enable reserchers to demonstarte causual relationships- the iv causing the changes in the dv rather than ev

43
Q

what is reductionism?

A

human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts

44
Q

what are levels of explanation in psychology?

A

the idea that there are diff ways to explain human behaviour some more reductionist than others

45
Q

what is an example of levels of explanation?

A

social and cultural explanations- characteristics of depression such as low mood
psychological explanations- for depression such as becks abc model
biological explanations for depression using genes
(bottom up)

46
Q

what is biological reductionism?

A

reducing behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of nt’s and hormones etc

47
Q

what is environemntal reductionism?

A

attempts to explain human behaviour interms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience
e.g phobias + attachment

48
Q

what is machiene reductionism?

A

reducing complex human behaviour to the simple functions of a computer
e.g explanations for depression

49
Q

what is holism?

A

Human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience and not separate parts- studying the whole

e.g humanistic approach

50
Q

what is an idiographic approach?

A

aims to study humans as unique individuals and understand their subjective experiences, without formulating general laws
favours- qualitative methodology e.g case studies and unstructured interviews

51
Q

which approach can be seen as idographic?

A

psychodynamic- freud= case study of little hans + analysed his unique experinces to determine why he was sceard of horses. From this established that little hans displaced fear of father onto horses

52
Q

what is a nomothetic approach?

A

aims to establish general laws about behaviours
based on studying large groups of people favouring research methods that produce quantitavie data such as experiments

53
Q

what are the two examples of the types of general laws?

A

establishing principles- zimbardos finding that social roles have astrong influence on individuals behavioirs via his spe which aimed to answer why prison guards were brutal personality or conformity to social role
establisng dimensions- loc scale
nomotehtic example- pavlov and skinner conducted experiments with animals in order to establish gen laws of learning- genralised to humans op and cc

54
Q

radford& kirby

what are the types of general law?

A

classification- people can be placed into groups depending on their behaviours
establishing principles- laws that can be applied to all human behaviour- zimbardo findings
establishing dimessions- ppl placed on a continum so they can be compared to others e.g loc scale

55
Q

what is objective and subjective?

A

objective= scientific, standardised methods= replicability nomothetic
subjective= unscientific idiographic

56
Q

what is meant by ethical implications?

A

the consequence of any reserch in terms of the effects on individual participants or the way certain groups are seen+ societal level consequences

57
Q

what is meant by social sensitivity?

A

studies where there are potential consequences or implications directly or indirectly for the participants or the class of individuals represented by the research

58
Q

positive and negative

what are some implications that theories and studies can have?

A

long term effects on participnats
effectes on wider public
potential use of findings- changes to legislations
potential bias agaisnt certain cultures?socioeconomic backgrounds
economic implications e.g further psychological research

59
Q

sieber & stanley

what are 4 aspects in scientifc reserch processes that raise ethical implications?

A

1research question- resrecher must consider q’s carefully
2 methodology used- need to consider the tratment of participants and right to confidentiality + anaonimity
3 institutional context- should be mindful of how data is going to be used and consider who is funding
4 interpritation an dapplication of findings- need to consider how their findings might be interpreted and applied to the real world

60
Q

what is a critic of gender beta bias in fight or flight?

A

recent reserach describing the tend and befriend response
* oxytocin the ‘love’ hormone is more plentiful in women than in men and it seems women respond to stressful situations by increasing oxytocin production- reduces fight or flight responce enhancing tend and befriend response
* shows how beta bias minimisng gender differnces leads to misinterpritation of womens behaviour