Issues And debates

Question 1

What is universality

Answer 1

Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all .

Question 2

What is gender bias

Answer 2

When considering human behaviour , bias is a tendency to treat one indivisible or group in a different way from others .
-in the context of gender bias , psychological research or theory may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of men or women (usally women )

Question 3

Androcentrism

Answer 3

Male center Ed when normal behaviour is judged according to a male standard (meaning that female behaviour is often judged to be abnormal or deficent by comparison )

Question 4

Alpha bias

Answer 4

Research that focuses on differences between male and women and therefore tends to present a view that exaggerates these differences .

Question 5

Beta bias

Answer 5

Research that focused on similarities Between men and women and therefore tends to present a view that ignores or minimises differences .

Question 6

Universality of psychology

Answer 6

Psychoglits aim to produce theories about human behaviour that are universal I.e apply to all human beings regardless of gender or culture .

Question 7

What happens when research is biased towards men or women

Answer 7

It does not provide a generalisable view of the behaviour that has been studied . This gender bias and culture bias threaten the universality of the findings of psychological research .

Question 8

Examples of alpha bias (1)

Answer 8

Freud’s theory for example can be considered to have an alpha bias as the Oedipus and electro , emphasises the differences between exes and define women in terms of being the weaker sex and suffer from penis envy .

Question 9

Example of alpha bias 2

Answer 9

The evolutionary approach emphasises the difference between men and women in terms of their reproductive behaviour as suggests that men are preprogrammed to impregnable as many women as possible to ensure the survival of their genetic line , this excusing promiscuous behaviour among men whilst making such behaviour abnormal for women .

Question 10

Examples of beta bias

Answer 10

There are many examples adds only men were used for studies and there results were then used to draw up theories about all human behaviour , thus ifnroeint any differences fhere may be between males and females

Question 11

Examples of beta bias 2

Answer 11

Early reseaech into conformity and obedience (Asch Milgram and Zimbaddo only used male participants and layer redddd u on obedience especially showed that females actually Ite ivedicebr in some situations than males . (Sheridan and king )

Question 12

Examples of beta bias 3

Answer 12

Sumsidlfig , fight or flight response is based on male reactions to stress ? Later reseaech showed fhat women are more likely to fend and befriend . Constructing general laws about human behaviour based only on the norms and standards of male bwhaviur known as ANDDOXEBFRISM

Question 13

Examples of beta bias 3

Answer 13

Sumsidlfig , fight or flight response is based on male reactions to stress ? Later reseaech showed fhat women are more likely to fend and befriend . Constructing general laws about human behaviour based only on the norms and standards of male bwhaviur known as ANDDOXEBFRISM

Question 14

Gender bias - evaluation - MISLEADING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT FEMALE BEHAVIOUR AND FAILT TO CHALLENGE NEGATIVE STEREOTYLES

Answer 14

This has implications for women is society , for instance , bowling works on maternal deprivation and long -term problems for their children the way in which the results of research are used and applied is therefore influential with repsext t to gender bias . Malternal delficafion reseaech fkr example was was used in the 1950s RO encoruage new mothers nof for sturbborn to work reducing gender inequality in society .

Question 15

Evaluation for gender and culture in psychology PART 2 - research h fhat reveals a difference between men and women is much more likely to be published than research

Answer 15

That finds no difference givivign abbisssd view valour gender differences . Editor or scientific journals prefer data that show differences vefsssb groups . A fidning where difference is not found is called a null remesf and data shi b show this are usually not published . Fhis means a major problem with androcentric research is fhag men therefore set standards kf normalcy (sgat is nromal ) stated it becomes normal for women to fel abnormal .

Question 16

Evaluation for genddd bias . Whether gender is a problem at all .

Answer 16

Muscovy and Jackson as early as 1974 , found fhat in most areas there was no genddd bias . It would therefore be wrong to assume that all research has a gender bias .

-Instead psychological research can reveal real differences between the way men and women perform on certain tasks .

Question 17

Evaluation genddd bias 3

Answer 17

Mac ONG and Jacklin show that women generally perform better on verbal tasks and msn on visual and spatial tasks . Schaffer say that women are more emotionallg sensitive than men .
An emphasis on these differences , might help to clarify the real differences and similarities between the sexes .

Question 18

Evaluation gender bias 4

Answer 18

Finallt , if we do not use research to challenge genddd bias , the subtle differences that do exist between men and women may be used for maintain the gender supremacy of men in society .

Question 19

Evaluation gender bias 4

Answer 19

Finallt , if we do not use research to challenge genddd bias , the subtle differences that do exist between men and women may be used for maintain the gender supremacy of men in society .
For instance data suggesting that women are unreliable and relatively sly expensive to employ because they miss work dud go problems of menstruation , pregnancy and childcare may not be challenged by reseaech as do so so would therefore the position of the mainly male workforce the way doewadz therefore is to hsd redddd b to challenge these stereotypes rather than support them

Question 20

Evaluation , gender bias part four part two

Answer 20

For instance data suggesting that women are unreliable and relatively sly expensive to employ because they miss work dud go problems of menstruation , pregnancy and childcare may not be challenged by reseaech as do so so would therefore the position of the mainly male workforce the way doewadz therefore is to hsd redddd b to challenge these stereotypes rather than support them

Question 21

Topics relevant to gender bias - SUMMARISSX

Answer 21

• freud’s rheostat can be considered fo have B alpha bias as fhe Oedipus and electra complex define women as weaker .
  -life experiments relevant to the other sex being ignored make studies asch milgram zimbadxo
  Sheridan king females adw mods obedient .
  -Freud reproductive behaviour ads pdspdooonvoss do impregnable Z many women as possible
• maternal deprivation of monograph theory

Question 22

What is Culture ?

Answer 22

Can be described as all the knowledge and values shared by a society .
Cultured may differ from one another in many ways , so fhat fidning of psychologicalresese h conducted in one culture may not apply directly .

Question 23

Cultures - example

Answer 23

Reseaech produced in imdocualaisric cultures may be designed , Ana lauded and interpreted differently from reseaech carried out in collectivist cultures .

Question 24

What is an example of individualistic culture s

Answer 24

Is one where importance is placed on individual achievement whereas a collectivist one is where there is an emphasis on t he social group above the individual .

Question 25

What is an example of individualistic culture s

Answer 25

Is one where importance is placed on individual achievement whereas a collectivist one is where there is an emphasis on t he social group above the individual .

Question 26

Ethnocentrism

Answer 26

means seeing the world’s only from one’s own cultural perspective , and believing , that this one perspective is both normal and correct ..

Question 27

How may an ethnocentric bias arise ?

Answer 27

As the vast majority of research carried out involves North American or European participants with less than 5% of participants being from other cultures . This therefore produces another from of beta bias as the result of research using white western Ps is assumed to apply universally .

Question 28

Example of ethnocentric bias

Answer 28

Rack (1984) claims that African - Caribbeans in Britain , are sometimes diagnosed as mentally ill , on the basis of behaviour which is perfectly normal in their subculture . This is due to the ignorance of African Caribbean subculture on the part of white psychiatrists .

Question 29

SECOND example of ethnocentric bias

Answer 29

Is the application of the strange situation to measure attachment in infants . Using Ainsworth’s classification system , Van found that 27% of Japanese infants were insecure resistant attachment type .
-From these results researchers could draw negative conclusion about child rearing skills , of Japanese parents ..

Question 30

strange situation (2)

Answer 30

However , the concepts underlying the strange situation are rooted , in a western perspective , reflecting ideal sand norms of western cultures , and therefore , Japanese children reacts DIFFERENTLY , in the strange situation as they have much less experience of being separated from parents than in American Infants . The strange situation has been described as imposed etic .

Question 31

What is the meaning of imposed etic ?

Answer 31

Where a technique or theory is developed in one culture and then is imposed in another culture .

Question 32

What is the solution to ethnocentrism and what does this behaviour insist of ?

Question 33

ethnocentrism

Answer 33

Sternberg (1985) pointed out that coordination skills that may be essential to life in a preliterate society (e.g. those motor skills required for shooting a bow and arrow ) , may be mostly irrelevant to intelligent behaviour for most people literate and more developed society .

Question 34

evaluation -culturally biased

Answer 34

-cullturally biased research can have signficant realworld effects , by , for example , giving support to damagng sterotypes .
-Gould 1982 , reports on how the US amry teses used an IQ test before WWI , which was culturally biased towards the dominant white majority .

Question 35

What did the culturally ibses test show unsuprisinglgy

Answer 35

the test showed that african americans were at the bottom of the IQ scale and this ahd a negative effect on the attitues of Americans towards this group of peieple , which highlights the negative impact taht culturally baoised research can have .

Question 36

Solution to culutre bias

Answer 36

Is to recognise when it occurs . Smith and Bond , found , in their 1998 survey of European textbooks on social pscyhoglgoy , that 66% of he studies were American , 32% European, and only 2 % from the rest of the world . This suggets sthat much pcyhoglical research is severely, unrepresenative and cna be greatly improved by simply selecting different cultural groups to study .

Question 37

what is an emic apporach

Answer 37

which emphasises the uniqueness of every culture and looks at behaviour from the inside of a particular cultural system .

Question 37

evalution - what has most revent heightened awareness of cultlural diversity led to (1)

Answer 37

Indigenous psycholgies . Theories , drawing explicitly on the particular experiences of people in different cultural contexts . One example is Afrocentrisms , a movement which suggests that because all black people have their roots in africa , theories about them must recognise the african context of behviours an attitudes . This is an example of an EMIC approach .

Question 37

evaluation - the studies that have taken an emic approach

Answer 37

studies of attachment which have taken an emic approach have reduced the cultural bias , in the trnstrangeage situation by adjusting it for use within specific cultures.
-Rothbaum et al (2007) for example intointroducedrudced the uniuely Japaneseense concept of amae into a revisedmped version of the strange situation, which also does not invoinvolvevle separation of the mother and infant .
-This isinvolve important because it has led to the emergence of theories that are more relevant to the lives and cultures of a wider range of people .

Question 38

evaluation - progress in the field of diagnosing mental disorders

Answer 38

Early versions of he American DSM system virtually ignored mental disorders that are found mainly or exclusively in non-american cultures . DSM-IV in 1994 acknwoledged the inadequacy of that approach and incldued a short appendix on cluture bound syndromes found in toher prts of the world .

Question 39

evaluation - progress in the field of diagnosing mental disorders (2)

Answer 39

However , kleinman and COHEN 91997) suggests that this does not go far en oguh and pointed out tht etailed work in several non - western cutlures had uncovered many disorders totally ignroed DSM-IV .
-Examples , include pa fend (fear of twind ) found in china , and brain fog (problems in cocnentrating and thinking produced by excessive study ) found in West Africa .

Question 40

What is the free will and determinism debate }{_+~

Answer 40

the free will / determinism debate revovles around the etxent to which our behaviour is the result of forces over which we have no contorl over whether people are able to decide for themselevs whether to ct or behave in a certain way .

Question 41

what is a deterministic view

Answer 41

on which descrives behavour as not being under control of the individual , behaviour is decided by external and or / intenral ofrces .

Question 42

there are four deterministic view

Answer 42

hard determinisitm , soft determinism , biolgical determinism , environemntal determinism , psychic determinism

Question 43

hard determinism meaning

Answer 43

is the view that forces outside of our control (e.g biolgoy , enviorment or past experience ) shape our behavour .
-Hard determinism is seen as incompatible with free will .
This view , is compatible with the aims of science .
-That every event in the universe will have a cause and that having knowledge about these causes and formulating general laws about them , is important in order or us to be able to predict nd control events in the future .

Question 44

soft determinism meaning

Answer 44

is an alternative position favored by many psychpsychologistsolgists. According to soft determinism, makeup oraviour is constrained by the neviorment or biolgicl makeup ut onl to a certaine xtent . This is acknowledges odles tht humans do have some conscious control over behviur .

Question 45

bioligcal determinism

Answer 45

refers to the idea that all human behaviour is inate and determined by genes . Research into the human geonme provides evidence to support the idea of ioligcl deterinism . For example research into a genetic basis for schizophrenia b GOTTESMAN .

Question 46

environmental determinism

Answer 46

-is the view that behac aviour is determined or caused by forces outisde the indiviudal . Enviornmental determimnism posits tht our behaviour is caused by previous exxperience learned through classical and operant conditioning .
-for example bandura , (1961) , found that children woith violnet parents are more likely to become violent parents themseles as a resul of observational , learning .

Question 47

psychic determinism

Answer 47

claims that human behaviour , is the result of childhood experiences and innate drives (ID ego and superego ) , as in Freud;s model of psychoglical devvelopment .

Question 48

what is the free will approach

Answer 48

free will appraoch appears , to be quite the opposite of the deterministic one . Psychoglists who take the free will view suggets that determinism removes freedom and dignity , and dealues human behaviour . By creating general laws of behaviour , determinsitc psychogly underestiamtes the uniqueness of human beings and their freedom to choose their own destiny .

Question 49

evaluation free will and determinis - reduce individual responsibility

Answer 49

there are importnt implications for taking either sid int his debate .
-deterministic explanation , for behaviour to reduce inidivudal responsbiilti .

Question 50

evaluation free will and determinis - reduce individual responsibility (2)

Answer 50

A person arrested for violent atack , for example might pled tht they were not responsible for their behaviour . It was due to their upbringing (aggressive role mdoels ), or their genotype (mAOA - warriorigene) aka , their behaviour was DETERMINED .

-this is important ebcause as ZImabrdo said “psychology is not excuseology” , humns should face he cosnequences of their bheaviour but taken to extrees determinism would prodvide people with a defence in court .

Question 51

Evaluaiton - free will and determisnism - implications for psychology as a science .

Answer 51

Science , are interesed in discovering laws which can the be used to predict events . This is very eay to see in physics ,c hem and bio .
-As a science , psycholgy , attempts the same thing - to develop laws , but this time , to predict behaviour . As a sceicne psychogloy , attempts to the same - things to develop laws , but htis time , to predict behaviour .

Question 52

Evaluaiton - free will and determisnism - implications for psychology as a science . (2)

Answer 52

-If we argue , against determinism , we are in effect rehecting the scientific approach to ecplaining ehaviour . Taking scientific apporach has led to treatments for diseases such a s shziophrenia , whcih habe benefitted many .

Question 53

evaluation - free will and determinism - free will appers to have fce validity

Answer 53

we do make choices and control our own behaviour on a daily basis . The vast compleixiity of human behaviour means that psychoglists can never offer a compelte explanation for behaviour whic is 100% certain . This means that behaviour is not absolutely determined .

Question 54

evluation three - free will and determinism - activley respond t o itnernal and external forces

Answer 54

hwoever , it is not random and enitrely unpredictable either . Clearly a pure detreminsitc or free will appraoch does not seem appropriae when studying human behvaiour . Mosr psycholgists acknwoledge that individuals activley respon to intenral and exernal forces .

Question 55

evluation four - free will and determinism - activley respond t o itnernal and external (2)

Answer 55

the term soft determinism is odten used to describe , this position , wherby people do have a choice but their behaviour is always subject to some form of bioligcal or enviornemntal pressure . This owuld seem to offer a realistic comporomise between the two xtreme veiws .

Question 56

what is the nature nurture debate about

Answer 56

what’s more important in deciding the type pif person you will become what you are born with or what you learn during our development the two sides of the argument are summed up int he words nature and nurture .

Question 57

what does the nature part of the argyment talk about

Answer 57

the naturepart of othe debate argues tht our abilities strengths weaknesses and characteristics are determined by our genes or bioligcal make up .
-in other words , these traits are passed on through heredity .

Question 58

what does the nature part of the argument talk about 9(2)

Answer 58

these are the chatacyeristics that we inheirt from our parents or ncestor , and re deermined not by our experiences butby or biolgo .
-People who strongly support the nature arggument are cllled NATVISITS .

Question 59

Appraoches that natvists favour include what

Answer 59

-Approaches which favour the natvists viewpoint are thoise that behviour in terms of egenes neurochemicals hormones brains trucutres and evolution such as the bioligcal approach .

Question 60

what is the nutrue part of the debate refers to the infleucne

Answer 60

refers to the influence of our experiences after we are born . These experiences may be both physical (and refer to the enviornments in which w elive ) , and social (referring to our interactions with those around us ) .

Question 61

what is the nuture aprt of the debate refers to the influence (2)

Answer 61

supporters of the nutrue argument re described as empiricists .
-empiricists say that the mind is a blank slate a tbirth and our characterisitcs are shaped by our experience and interaction with the enviiornemnt .
-An example of his is behavioural (or learning theory ) approach , which says hat everything we re and eerything we know is learned through conditoning .

Question 62

where have we seen nature / nurture argument already in psychoglg

Answer 62

-dollard nd miller argued that attachments are formed throguh classical and operant conditioning in their learnigng theory of attachments . On the other hand , there is Bowldby;s evolutionry theory which argues that attachment is insticnrive and babaies are bron prep-programmed to form attachemnts in order to survive .

Question 63

in psychopathoglgo , how is the behavoura two process thoeyr relevant to the nature and nurture debate .

Answer 63

in psychopathoglgo , the behavioural two process theory of a pshcyholigcal disorder sucha s phobais suggests that they are learned through asociation (classical conditioning ( and maintained through negative reinforcement by avodiing the phbic stimulus ( opernt condition ) .

Question 64

how is the bioliglcal apraoch an explanation for nature and nurture deabte

Answer 64

foucses of another mental disorder , ocd focuses on faults in one o the SERT genes , responsible for neural transmission , of serotonina s sufferes have been found to have lower levels than a control group .
-These rwo approaches , have opposing views ont he causes of mental ilness the first facouring nuture and the sedond , antrue . (OPPOSING PSYCHOPTHAOL )

Question 65

evaluation - nature and nutrue - most psycholigtsts take an interactionist view

Answer 65

and accept that behaviour is infleucned by both nature and nurture , this can be seen in the important influence of culture , on attachment when measuring the differences in attachment types using the strange situation , theroefre a full understanding , of atachment can only be achieved throguh consideration of oth views . g

Question 66

evaluation - nature and nutrue - most psycholigtsts take an interactionist view m(2)

Answer 66

The debate in psychollogy , is about the relative contribution of nature , and ntutur , not whether something is entirely due to one or the other , it is limting to decribe behaviour solely , in temrs of either nature or nutrue , and tttempts to do this udnerestimte the complexity of human behaviour .

Question 67

nature vs nuture 0 what is a more commonly accepted eplnanation of aaetiolgo of mental illnesses of mental ilnnesses

Answer 67

diaestdiathesishesis stress mpdel . Tis suggests that the underlying cause of a mental illness is biogical , i .e , a dencyney to be depressed will be part of our geenitc makep (diastdiathesisheiss ) ,, whoever , the illness owuld be only come to the foire it was triggered by A LIFE EVENT, or thorugh experience , The srssor , Tie narils study of schzphrenia , in doptees , shoed taht those most liekly to develop the disorder had a bioglial family hsitory of schiophrenia . and ha d dysnfucn tional relationsip within their adotive mily (the stressor ) . See the frzeeto et a l egenitc and evrionemtal factors in aggression page 292 .

Question 68

evalaution of nature adn debate - weakeness , it is very difficuolt to disentangle the infleunce of nature and nurture .

Answer 68

even siblings ,r aised in the in the same enviorment may not share the same ubrigning , a child who is more aggresive by nature may choose to play more violent video games so both anture and nurtrue are affecting their levels of aggression .
-This is what plomin referred to as niche- picking .

Question 69

EVALUTION - very diffuclt to disentangle hte infleucnes of nature and nutre

Answer 69

psycjgoltists study often MZ and DZ twins to comapre the infleucne of genes and enviornemnt .
-THe mroe MZ twins who share 100% genetic makeup are simialr on a charactersic example aggression , the more it owuld appear due to HEREDITY .

-hwoever , mx twins often shre more simialr uprbigngi aswl , due to the fact thye look alike and re always the same sex , people are more likley to treat them in a simialr eway , thus it is even more difficult to draw conclusions aout the relative influences of the two sides of this debate .

Question 70

evalaution weakness of the nature d

Answer 70

A limitation og this extrme eviw iof botht he nativists and the rmpiricists is that they are both determinsist . This has been expeicalle extremely contorverisal in areas such as IQ and potenital intellignecne . The beleif that IQ is fixed at birth was propsoed by now widelyd sicredited , eugenics moccement which htne led to the publications of resaearch usggesting tht blacks wer eless worhy of educaitng than whited due to their iannate lack of intellignrce .
-As an ethicallyr epsonsible science psycholgyw ould not wish to legitimsie thiese views so should ACCEPT NASTIVISM WITH EXTREME CAUTION .

Question 71

WHat is reductionism

Answer 71

reductionism is the belief that human behaviour can be explainedby fbreaking it down into smaller component parts .
-Reductionsits say that the best way to understand why we behave as we do is to look closelya t the very simplest aprts that makeup our systems . adn use the ismpest explanatios to udnerstand how they work .

Question 72

What is enbvironemnt stimulus resposne reductionism

Answer 72

behavirousits such a sskinner explain all behaviour as beign a result of past learning . this is known as stimulu sresposne reductionism .

-The relationship between stimuli and our resposnes to them are the basis for llw e know and how we behave . This is is a reductionist virw because compex behaviour is being reduced to a simple stimulus and resposne relationship .

Question 73

How might we also consider the bioligical approach to abornomaility as reductionists

Answer 73

The bioligical approach says that psycholigical problems caan be treatred like a disease and so are often treatbale iwth drugs . Identif the sourc eof someone;s mentl illness as an imaalance of chemicals in the brain is beign bioligcally reductionsits .

Question 74

reductionism work sat different levels of explanatio in psycholgoy

Answer 74

lowest level of reductionism , offers psychological explanation , these attempt to explain behaviour into erm so neurochemical genes an brain structure -The highest socio-cultural level , explanation , focus on the infelucne , on behaviour of where and how we live . Between these extremes are behavioural cognitive and social explanations .

Question 75

holism vs reductionism - supporters of a reductionist approach say that it is SCIENTIFIC.

Answer 75

Breaking complicated behaviours down to small parts means that they can be scientifically tested .
-THEN , overtime , explanations , based on scientific , evidence will emerge .
-However , some would argue that the reductionist view gives us a limited view of complex human behaviour, preferring a holistic view .

Question 76

holism vs reductionism - supporters of a reductionist approach say that it is SCIENTIFIC.(2) example

Answer 76

for instance , we can see how the brain responds to particular musical sounds , by viewing it in a scanner , but how you feel when you hear certain pieces of music is not something a scanner can ever reveal . JUST BECAUSE A PART OF THE BRAIN THAT is connected with fear is activated while listening to a piece of music does not necessarily mean that you feel afraid . In this case , being reductionist is NOT a valid way of measuring feelings .

Question 77

holism vs reductionism evaluation - do not allow us to identify why behaviours happen .

Answer 77

For example , they can explain that running away from a large dog , was made possibly , by our fear centres causing a stress response to better allow us to run fast , but the same reductionist view cannot say why we were afraid of the dog in the first place .

-In effect , by being reductionist we may be asking smaller , more specific questions and therefore not addressing the bigger issue of why we behave as we do .

Question 77

evaluation - the usefulness of reductionist approaches depends on the purpose to which they are put .

Answer 77

for example , investigating , brain responses to faces might reveal much about how we recognise faces , but this level of description should not perhaps , be used to explain human attraction .

-Likewise , whilst we need to understand the biology of mental disorders , we may not fully understand the disorders without taking account of social factors which influence it .
-Thus , whilst reductionism is useful , it can lead to incomplete explanations .

Question 77

Holism vs reductionism - evaluation - interactionism

Answer 77

this is an alternative approach to reductionism.
-An interactionist approach would not try to understand behaviour from explanations at one level , but as an interaction between different levels .

-

Question 78

Holism vs reductionism - evaluation - interactionism EXAMPLE

Answer 78

For example , we might better understand mental disorders such as depression by bringing together explanations from cognitive, and cultural levels .
-Such an approach might combine why people with depression think differently about themselves and the world; with looking at why depression occurs more frequently in particular populations and use success of drug therapies in treating the disorder to fully understand the disease better .

Question 79

S