Issues and debates Flashcards
What is GRENADE?
The sub topics in issues and debates
Break down GRENADE
G- gender bias
R- reductionism
E- ethnocentrism
N- nature vs nurture
A- approaches (idiographic vs nomothetic)
D- determinism vs free will
E- ethical issues
What is Alpha bias?
An exaggeration between different sexes, cultures, etc
What is beta bias?
Differences between sexes, cultures etc are minimised/ dismissed
What is determinism?
The view that an individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces (the nurture debate)
What is hard determinism?
Implies that free will is not possible as our behaviour is caused by internal and external behaviour beyond our control
What is soft determinism?
All events have causes but behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion.
What is psychic determinism?
The belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control. (Unconscious forces and trauma repressed in childhood)
What is biological determinism?
The belief that our physiological and neurological processes are not under our conscious control e.g genetic disorders
Environmental determinism
All behaviour is a result shaped from conditioning and agents of socialisation
What does determinism say behaviour always has?
A cause
What was the name of the dominoes pizza killer?
Stephen Mobley
What purpose does Mobley have in the determinism debate?
After he killed the manager of dominoes, Mobley’s lawyers argued that he had the MAO-A gene which makes people affected by it more likely to commit acts of violence. It was argued that Mobley’s actions were out of his control and he should be kept out of jail
What problem does the MAO-A gene have?
There are many people with the MAO-A gene who have deferred from crimes out of their own self-control.
Give two limitations of Determinism
It is unfalsifiable, meaning it cannot be proven right or wrong
It removes freedom and dignity, devaluing human behaviour
What is a limitation of hard determinism?
It does not match with how the legal system operates as it states humans should be held responsible for our actions and morally accountable
What is Holism?
Understanding a person’s behaviour by analysing to see the bigger picture
What is reductionism?
Understanding a person’s behaviour by analysing if they see the smaller parts that make up something
What is biological reductionism?
All behaviour must be biological as we’re made from physiological structured and processes
What are the strengths of determinism?
It is compatible with the aims of science and general laws
Can be applied in the development of therapies and medication e.g. antipsychotics for schizophrenia
What is machine reductionism?
The belief tat human functions are the result of the ’units’ of activity in information processing systems
Give the levels of reductionism (highest to lowest)
-Neurochemical
-Physiological
-Physical
-Psychological
-Social/Cultural
Evaluate Holism
EAdvantages: Social behaviours often only emerge in a group context and so wouldn’t be understood using individual participants e.g.conformity, de-individualation
Disadvantages: Not meticulous scientific testing e.g. humanistic approach
Combination of different perspectives means that we are unsure which is the biggest contributing factor
Evaluate free will
Advantages: We feel like we are in control of decisions, giving it face validity. It’s more mentally healthy to know we have control over our actions.
Disadvantages: Libet found that simple decisions e.g. which hand to press a button with were decided before we were conscious of the task, meaning at least some actions are determined
Evaluate reductionism
Advantages: It’s scientific rigor allows for more precise measurements and quantifiable data, enhancing the validity of psychological research
Disadvantages: It oversimplifies complex phenomena so it loses validity as well as not including context of a behaviour when looking at genes or Neurochemistry
Evaluate Holism
Advantages: Social behaviours often not emerge in a group context and so would not be understood using individual participants e.g. conformity and de-individuation.
Disadvantages: Not rigorous scientific testing e.g. humanistic approach
It’s combination of different perspectives means that we are unsure which is the biggest contributing factor
Outline of idiographic
The approach that focuses more on an individual case as a means of understanding behaviour rather than creating general laws for behaviour
Outline of nomothetic
An approach that attempts to study behaviour through the development of genera principles and universal laws
How are idiographic studies conducted?
Using qualitative data such as case studies, unstructured interviews and self report
How are nomothetic studies conducted?
Using experiments with a sample that represents the target population to make general laws about behaviour.
Give two examples of idiographic in psychology
Psychodynamic and Humanistic
Give thee examples of nomothetic in psychology
Behaviourist, biological and cognitive
Evaluation of idiographic
Advantages: Goes in depth by being qualitative and gives a global understanding of an individual. It can also complement nomothetic by creating hypothesis for future study as developed from Freud’s individual case studies
Disadvantages: Narrow and restricted, meaningful generalisations cannot be made without proper examples making this approach tend to be less scientific
Evaluation of nomothetic
Advantages: Tends to be more scientific by using standardised procedures and providing statistical analysis.
E.g. IQ has enabled scientists to establish a ‘normal’ score
Disadvantages: Accused of ‘losing the whole person’
E.g. knowing the chance of schizophrenia in the general population is 1% tells us very little about what life is like as a sufferer
Participants treated as ‘scores’ not individual people with their own subjective arguments
Outline Henrich’s et al’s take in culture bias
Reviewed 100s of studies in leading psych journals and found that 68% of pts were from the US, and 96% from industrialised nations
Outline Arnett’s take on culture bias
Found that 80% of pots were undergrads studying psych
What is ethnocentrism?
The belief that your own culture is superior to other cultures
What is an example of ethnocentrism in research?
The strange situation- only reflects the norms and values of Western society. The ideal attachment type is when babies show moderate distress when left by their mothers. However, this misinterprets child- rearing practices other countries e.g. Takashi found that Japanese children show considerable distress upon separation, classifying them as insecurely attached. But is is due to this that they’re rarely separated
What is an etic approach? (Outside)
When a behaviour is looked at from outside the given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal
What is an emic approach? (Inside)
Looking at behaviours from inside the culture and identifying them as specific to that culture
What is an example of imposed etic?
-Ainsworth’s study
-How we define abnormality
What are the strengths of culture bias
The emergence of cultural psychology - cultural psychologists strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions but taking an emic approach and using local researchers.
