Issues And Debates Flashcards
Free will and determinism ao1
Definitions of:
Free will- making decisions independently wout external/internal influences
Soft determinism- some elements of control, some free will
Hard determinism- decisions entirely determined by external/internal influences beyond our control
Biological d.- beh caused by bio influences beyond our control
Environmental- beh caused by features of environment beyond our control
Psychic- beh caused by unconscious conflicts beyond our control
A03
Determinism:
s: consistent w/ aims of science
- prediction & control of human beh led to development of therapies, treatments and behavioural interventions mat have benefited many eg. Drug treatment
I: unfalsifiable- idea that causes of behaviour always exist but may not been found yet impossible to prove wrong, TF not scientific
Free will
S: res suggests ppl w/ internal loc more mentally healthy, adolescents wl strong belief in fatalism more likely to develop depression
TF even if we don’t the belief we do has pos impact on mind and behaviour
L:neurological studies of decision making reveals evidence against free will
res found brain activity that determines outcome of simple choices may predate our knowledge of having made such a choice TF basic experiences of free will are decided beforehand by brain
Holism v reductionism AOI
Holism : only makes sense to study whole system than its constituent parts
Reductionism: beh best explained by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts
Bio reductionism - explains behaviour at bio level
Environmental reductionism- explains beh in terms of stimulus - response links that have been learned through experience.
A03
Holism:
S: aspects of behaviour that can only be studied and emerge within group context, can’t be understood at individual level
e.g. Conformity: can only be studied by looking at group as a whole
TF holism provides complete understanding of beh
L:hol exp don’t lend themselves to scientific testing
e.g humanistic app criticised for lack of empirical evidence
Higher level exp that combine diff perspectives present researchers w practical dilemma, difficult to establish which is most influential & which to use
TF when finding solutions for real world problems, lower level exp may be more appropriate
Reductionism:
S; forms basis of scientific research
to create operationalised variables, its necessary to break target beh down into parts, makes it possible to conduct meaningful &reliable experiments
e.g beh app shows how complex learning is broken down into stim-response links in lab, gives psych greater credibility
L:oversimplify complex phenomena leading to loss of validity
exp that operate at level of gene , neuron etc don’t include analysis of social context within which beh occurs
TF only form part of explanation
Nature Nurture A01
Interactionist app- nature creates nurture, heredity & environment interact
- attachment patterns btw infant & parent is result of two way street in which child’s innate personality influences response from parents, the way they respond affects child beh
Diathesis-stress model- psychopathology caused by biological/genetic vulnerability, only expressed when coupled w environmental trigger
-e.g Tienari: Finnish adoptees, those likely to develop Scz had biological relatives w history of disorder & rs. w adoptive families defined as dysfunctional
Epigenetics: refers to change in genetic activity w out changing genetic code, happens throughout life, caused by interaction w environment
- leaves epigenetic marks on DNA, tells bodies which genes to use & ignore
A03
S: constructivism
idea that genes & environment interact elaborated by constructivism
- ppl create own nurture by picking environments that are appropriate for their nature, environment picked affects development
- called niche -picking
L: shared and unshared environments
siblings raised w same family may not have experienced exactly same upbringing
Plomin&Dunn: individual diff mean siblings experience life events differently, explains finding that MZ twins reared tog don’t show perfect concordance rates
- supports nature nurture can’t be separated
S: res support for epigenetics
ww2, nazis blocked distribution of food to Dutch, women preggers had low birth weight babies and 2x likely to develop scz when older TF life experiences of prev gen’s can leave epigenetics marks that influence health of offspring
S: real-world app
res suggests OCD is highly heritable disorder, tf allows genetic counselling to be used w ppl who have genetic vulnerability, can give advice ab likelihood of developing it & how to prevent it
TF debate is important at practical level
Idiographic v Nomothetic A01: IDIOGRAPHIC
Idiographic:
Ppl studied as unique entities w subjective experiences
No attempt to generalise
Linked w methods that produce qualitative data, reflects aim of approach by gaining insight into persons unique experience of viewing the world
E.g. humanistic approach- interested in unique experience rather than making general laws
psychodynamic- used case studies but not fully idiographic bc identified general laws
NOMOTHETIC
Aim- produce general laws of beh
Allows people to be compared to predict/control human beh
associated w quantitative methods, can study large groups
E.g. Behavioural, biological, cognitive- general laws made and hyps rigorously tested
A03: idiographic
Idiographic:
S: provides complete and global acc
- compliments nomothetic app by shedding light on general laws or challenging laws
e.g ppl w brain damage, findings may reveal important insights into normal functioning which contributes to overall understanding
L: narrow and restricted nature
- generalisations can’t be made bc no adequate baseline to compare beh
- case studies least scientific bc rely on subjective interpretation of researcher so open to bias
A03: nomothetic
S: more scientific
tested under standardised conditions, allows researchers to establish norms of typical beh TF gives psych greater scientific credibility
L: preoccupied w making general laws
-accused of losing whole person, in lab exp ppl treated as series of scores not ppl
TF subjective experience ignored, nomothetic app ignores richness of human experience e.g ppl w scz
Gender bias A01
Universality and bias:
psychologists have beliefs influenced by the social and historical contexts within which they live TF bias is inevitable part of research process
Alpha- suggests real differences btw men and women, exaggerates differences, likely to devalue females in relation to male counterparts
Beta- ignores/ minimises differences btw sexes, occurs when females aren’t included in research process so assumed that findings apply equally to both e.gAsch
Amdrocentrism- if normal beh is drawn from all-male ppts, any beh that deviates from this standard seen as abnormal.
- leads to female beh being misunderstood, may be taken as sign of psychological instability
A03
L: implications of gender bias
- creates misleading assumptions ab. Female behaviour, ruis to challenge -ve stereotypes
- provides scientific justification to deny women ops in W place & wider Soc TF has damaging consequences that affect women’s lives
L: sexism within research process
- lack of women at senior research level means female concerns aren’t reflected in q asked, lab exp disadvantage women bc placed in inequitable rs w. Usually man who has power to label them - vely
S: reflexivity
modern researchers starting to recognise effects of own values on work, starting to embrace bias as critical part of research process rather than prolematic TF leads to greater awareness of role of personal biases in shaping research in future
L: essentialism
- gender differences reported by psychologists based on essentialist pspctv- that gender is fixed and inevitable
- essentialist accounts are politically motivated arguments, disguised as biological facts- creates double standard of behaviour expected from men & women
Cultural bias A01
Universality and bias
-what we know ab human behaviour has strong cultural bias - Westernised, educated people from industrialised, rich democracies usually studied by psychologists
- if norm of beh is set by WEIRD ppl, beh from non-weird ppl seen as abnormal
Ethnocentrism
- judging other cultures by standards of ones own culture e.g. Ainsworth SS reflects n&v of western culture, so babies mar showed more distress than expected seen to deviate from American norm
Cultural relativism
- n&v only understood within certain social & cultural contexts
- etic= beh studied from outside culture
- emic= looks at beh within culture, applies beh to that specific culture.
Ss is imposed etic- studied beh inside one culture, assumed attach. types could be applied universally
Psych guilty of imposed etic but theories come about through emic research inside a single cultu re, psych should be mindful of cultural relativism.
A03
L: influential study culturally-biased
-Cul bias is feature of classic studies of social influence e.g asch /milgram studies done on US ppts,
-Replications of these studies in diff countries prod diff results
Counter: due to increased globalisation, individualist - collectivist distinction no longer applies
Takano: found no ev of ind or collec in studies that compared US to Japan TF cultural bias less of issue in recent res
S: emergence of cultural psych
- study of how people shape & shaped by their cultural experience
- avoids ethnocentric assump by taking emic app alongside local researchers using culturally based techniques TF modern researchers aware of cul bias, taking steps to avoid
L: led to predjudice against groups of ppl
- first intelligence test led to eugenic social policies in US
- army recruits that got low scores on IQ test were from ethnic minorities, poor performance used to inform racist discourse about genetic inferiority of certain ethnic grps, deemed mentally unfit and denied opps professionally and educationally TF cultural bias used to justify discrimination
Ethical implications A01
-researchers have little control of how findings are represented in media, impact on public policy and how it may influence perception of particular groups in society
Socially sensitive research:
- some areas of res likely to be controversial, may attract attention from media & public
-psychs shouldn’t shy away from this type of res, may have social responsibility to carry it out
Ethical issues in soc. sensitive research:
-implications: should be carefully considered, some res may be seen as giving scientific justification for discrimination, but may be difficult to predict at outset
- uses/public policy: find. may be used for wrong purpose or by govt for political purposes to shape public policy
- validity of research: some find presented as objective but have turned out to be suspect
