Issues and Debates Flashcards
Free will
the ability to make a meaningful choice between possible behaviours
We can choose at the point of action
determinism
the idea that all behaviours depend on situational factors
Behaviour is fixed before the point of action
hard determinism
Direct causality (A causes B)
soft determinism
Indirect causality (A causes B, when C is present)
reciprocal determinism
Interactive causality (A, B and C contribute to causing each other)
biological determinism
Certain genes mean you WILL turn out a certain way. Eg. MAOA - violence. which ignores other factors such an environmental
environmental determinism
Experiences shape who you are and what you do. Eg. Pavlov/Skinner. ignoring nature/nurture, or biological
psychic determinism
Internal unconscious factors decide our behaviour. Eg. Phallic fixation causing mis-assigned gender identity (oedipus/electra complex).
scientific determinism
All events MUST have a cause - IV leads to changes in DV. Eg. All the different suggestions for why attachment happens.
humanistic approach
believes in free will
Rogers (1959) said taking personal responsibility for our own outcomes was the only way to achieve high congruence and self-worth
REBT was about taking responsibility away from your parents, who had set your conditions of worth
moral responsibility
another important free-will argument
This says we’re personally responsible for our actions - a statement that can only be true if we have free will
This is especially important when dealing with criminals and the mentally ill. If we don’t have free will, criminals cannot be guilty.
Nature
Genotype - Inherited genetic information determines who we are
Eg. high SERT and low COMT activity => OCD
Evolution - Adaptive pressures from natural selection are behind all our characteristics
Eg. attachment behaviour evolved for better survival, IWM formation & more healthy development
nurture
Behaviourism/ Tabula Rasa - We’re 100% shaped by experience (Eg. Skinner)
Eg. Phobics must have an original trauma
Social Learning Theory - Our behaviour is learned & reinforced vicariously through observation of role models (Eg. Bandura)
Eg. Phobics may learn extreme fear from parent models
Environment - Our families/friends/school causes behavioural outcomes (Eg. Beck’s “Negative Triad”)
Eg. Repeated failure can leads to withdrawal & hopelessness
Nature vs Nurture vs Reality
Genes and environment both contribute to development of illnesses
The environment changes the expression of genes to produce a phenotype that is different from the genotype
Many environmental factors can contribute to this process
Diathesis-Stress Model of Disease
Your health is like a road surface on a suspension bridge
Good health requires the right conditions (strong supporting cables)
Adding risky cables decreases the road’s efficiency under load (stress)
Severe stress on a risky bridge will lead to a complete breakdown of the surface
Holism
viewing people as indivisible beings consisting of a “self” that can only be studied in context
Reductionism
viewing people as a complex system that consists of many small parts we should study separately
nomothetic
In modern psychology, most experiments use nomothetic designs
Large samples
Numerical data
Comparing mean, variance, SD, etc.
These make accurate predictions due to the law of large numbers
This states that accuracy improves as you test more people
Differences become averaged out in large samples, giving results closer and closer to the population average
idiographic
Tends to include qualitative data, investigating individuals in a personal and detailed way.
Methods of research include: case study, unstructured interviews, self-reports, autobiographies and personal documents.
ethics
Scientific & Academic Freedom
Data ownership (GDPR)
Equitable treatment
Value freedom
Fully informed consent
Cost-benefit analysis
Deception
Validity (to reduce misunderstanding)
Confidentiality
Privacy
alpha bias
Exaggerating gender differences (Eg. Freud, due to historical context).
beta bias
Ignoring gender differences; assuming male results apply to females.
Androcentrism
Psych is male-dominated, both in terms of researchers and participants. Their research might represent only a male world view.
Ethnocentrism
findings have limited generalizability because they’re generated by a theory/sample that relies on aspects of a particular culture. (eg. Ainsworth)
