Issues and debates

Question 1

What is GRENADE?

Answer 1

The sub topics in issues and debates

Question 2

Break down GRENADE

Answer 2

G- gender bias
R- reductionism
E- ethnocentrism
N- nature vs nurture
A- approaches (idiographic vs nomothetic)
D- determinism vs free will
E- ethical issues

Question 3

What is Alpha bias?

Answer 3

An exaggeration between different sexes, cultures, etc

Question 4

What is beta bias?

Answer 4

Differences between sexes, cultures etc are minimised/ dismissed

Question 5

What is determinism?

Answer 5

The view that an individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces (the nurture debate)

Question 6

What is hard determinism?

Answer 6

Implies that free will is not possible as our behaviour is caused by internal and external behaviour beyond our control

Question 7

What is soft determinism?

Answer 7

All events have causes but behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion.

Question 8

What is psychic determinism?

Answer 8

The belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control. (Unconscious forces and trauma repressed in childhood)

Question 9

What is biological determinism?

Answer 9

The belief that our physiological and neurological processes are not under our conscious control e.g genetic disorders

Question 10

Environmental determinism

Answer 10

All behaviour is a result shaped from conditioning and agents of socialisation

Question 11

What does determinism say behaviour always has?

Answer 11

A cause

Question 12

What was the name of the dominoes pizza killer?

Answer 12

Stephen Mobley

Question 13

What purpose does Mobley have in the determinism debate?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

What problem does the MAO-A gene have?

Answer 14

There are many people with the MAO-A gene who have deferred from crimes out of their own self-control.

Question 15

Give two limitations of Determinism

Answer 15

It is unfalsifiable, meaning it cannot be proven right or wrong

It removes freedom and dignity, devaluing human behaviour

Question 16

What is a limitation of hard determinism?

Answer 16

It does not match with how the legal system operates as it states humans should be held responsible for our actions and morally accountable

Question 17

What is Holism?

Answer 17

Understanding a person’s behaviour by analysing to see the bigger picture

Question 18

What is reductionism?

Answer 18

Understanding a person’s behaviour by analysing if they see the smaller parts that make up something

Question 19

What is biological reductionism?

Answer 19

All behaviour must be biological as we’re made from physiological structured and processes

Question 20

What are the strengths of determinism?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

What is machine reductionism?

Answer 21

The belief tat human functions are the result of the ’units’ of activity in information processing systems

Question 22

Give the levels of reductionism (highest to lowest)

Answer 22

-Neurochemical
-Physiological
-Physical
-Psychological
-Social/Cultural

Question 23

Evaluate Holism

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Evaluate free will

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Evaluate reductionism

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Evaluate Holism

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Outline of idiographic

Answer 27

The approach that focuses more on an individual case as a means of understanding behaviour rather than creating general laws for behaviour

Question 28

Outline of nomothetic

Answer 28

An approach that attempts to study behaviour through the development of genera principles and universal laws

Question 29

How are idiographic studies conducted?

Answer 29

Using qualitative data such as case studies, unstructured interviews and self report

Question 30

How are nomothetic studies conducted?

Answer 30

Using experiments with a sample that represents the target population to make general laws about behaviour.

Question 31

Give two examples of idiographic in psychology

Answer 31

Psychodynamic and Humanistic

Question 32

Give thee examples of nomothetic in psychology

Answer 32

Behaviourist, biological and cognitive

Question 33

Evaluation of idiographic

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Evaluation of nomothetic

Answer 34

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

Question 35

Outline Henrich’s et al’s take in culture bias

Answer 35

Reviewed 100s of studies in leading psych journals and found that 68% of pts were from the US, and 96% from industrialised nations

Question 36

Outline Arnett’s take on culture bias

Answer 36

Found that 80% of pots were undergrads studying psych

Question 37

What is ethnocentrism?

Answer 37

The belief that your own culture is superior to other cultures

Question 38

What is an example of ethnocentrism in research?

Answer 38

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

Question 39

What is an etic approach? (Outside)

Answer 39

When a behaviour is looked at from outside the given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal

Question 40

What is an emic approach? (Inside)

Answer 40

Looking at behaviours from inside the culture and identifying them as specific to that culture

Question 41

What is an example of imposed etic?

Answer 41

-Ainsworth’s study
-How we define abnormality

Question 42

What are the strengths of culture bias

Answer 42

The emergence of cultural psychology - cultural psychologists strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions but taking an emic approach and using local researchers.