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
what is culture?
values,beliefs and patterns of behaviour shared by a group of people
what is alpha bias in terms of culture?
theory assumes that cultural groups are profoundly different and that recognition of these diffs must always inform psychological research and understanding
what beta bias in terms of culture?
theory ignores or minimises real cultural diffs results in universal research designs + conclusions that mistakenly assume that all cultures are identical
what is ethnocetrism?
seeing the world only form ones own cultural perspective and believeing that this one perspective is normal and correct
what research is an example of ethnocentrism?
definitions of abnormality- deviation from ideal mh and scz diagnosis
what is cultural relativism?
behaviour can be properly understood only if the cultural context is taken into consideration
cultrual relativism
what is an etic approach?
an approach that looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal
cultrual relativism
what is an emic approcach?
an approach that functions from inside a culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture
how is ainsworths research an example of imposed etic?
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
What is free will?
Humans have complete autonomy to make decisions
What is determinism?
We have no free will
What is hard determinism?
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
What is soft determinism?
Allows some degree of free will acknowledging that some behaviours are more constrained than others
What is biological determinism?
Behaviour is always determined by genes examples like genes affecting brain structure and nt production ( DA and ST)
what is environmental determinism?
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
what is psychic determinism?
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
what is the scientific emphasis on causual explanations?
knowledge of causes and the formulation of laws are important as they allow scientists to predict and control events in the future
why are lab experiments ideal?
they enable reserchers to demonstarte causual relationships- the iv causing the changes in the dv rather than ev
what is reductionism?
human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts
what are levels of explanation in psychology?
the idea that there are diff ways to explain human behaviour some more reductionist than others
what is an example of levels of explanation?
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)
what is biological reductionism?
reducing behaviour to a physical level and explain it in terms of nt’s and hormones etc
what is environemntal reductionism?
attempts to explain human behaviour interms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience
e.g phobias + attachment
what is machiene reductionism?
reducing complex human behaviour to the simple functions of a computer
e.g explanations for depression
what is holism?
Human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience and not separate parts- studying the whole
e.g humanistic approach
what is an idiographic approach?
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
which approach can be seen as idographic?
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
what is a nomothetic approach?
aims to establish general laws about behaviours
based on studying large groups of people favouring research methods that produce quantitavie data such as experiments
what are the two examples of the types of general laws?
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
radford& kirby
what are the types of general law?
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
what is objective and subjective?
objective= scientific, standardised methods= replicability nomothetic
subjective= unscientific idiographic
what is meant by ethical implications?
the consequence of any reserch in terms of the effects on individual participants or the way certain groups are seen+ societal level consequences
what is meant by social sensitivity?
studies where there are potential consequences or implications directly or indirectly for the participants or the class of individuals represented by the research
positive and negative
what are some implications that theories and studies can have?
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
sieber & stanley
what are 4 aspects in scientifc reserch processes that raise ethical implications?
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
what is a critic of gender beta bias in fight or flight?
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
