Issues And Debates Flashcards
What is holism?
View to understand a person the whole person has to be considered - Gestalt psychologist say the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
What is reductionism ?
The view the human must be reduced into its simplest and smallest component parts to understand more.
What is the level of explanation in psychology ?
There are different ways of viewing phenomena In psychology. The highest is the most holistic which is the context in which a person lives and the cultural context and then its becomes more reductionist from that point
Example of holism
The humanistic approach - Maslows hierarchy of needs - number of needs a person must meet in order to to reach full potential
Person centred therapy views all aspects of the person
Zimbardo
Examples of reductionism.
Biological - attempts to explain social and psychological phenomena is as result of genes and hormones, reducing behaviour down to these causes.
Environmental - all behaviour is in terms of a stimulus response learned from experiences - pavlovs dog
Behaviourist approach- observed behaviour is the only important thing
Evaluation of holism
+ holistic provide a more complete and global understand of complex behaviour- zimbardos study - needs to take into account social aspects of them roles in society.
- doesn’t lead to scientific testing - if we take a holistic view of depression it leads to not seeing what cause is most influential reducing success in therapy
Evaluation of reductionism
+ it lends itself to scientific testing - breaking down variables leads to controlled experiments - to see what areas of the brain do what
- oversimplifies phenomena- doesn’t take into account social aspects, understanding why people do behaviour is important - crime
Conclusion - internationalist approach
We need to take into account both biological and environmental causes for behaviour in order to maximise understanding and develop treatments
Stress diathesis model
What is Determinism ( include examples )?
Determinism is where there is no choice or control in our behaviour
Examples :
Lorenz
Tan
Phineus cage
What is Free will ( include examples ?
As human beings are free to chose our thoughts and actions.
Examples :
CBT
Milgram
asch
What is the difference between soft and hard determinism ?
Hard determinism implies that free will is impossible as behaviour is internally and externally controlled whereas soft determinism suggested humans make conscious choices
What are the three types of determinism ?
Biological - behaviour determined by genes and hormones
Environment - behaviour is caused by features in the environment
Psychic - belief that behaviour is driven by conscious conflicts
What are the strengths of free Will?
+ importance is studying Individual differences
+ self efficacy is useful in therapies
+ fits society’s law of being accountable
What are the weaknesses of Free will ?
- subjective
- impossible to be scientifically test free will
- not many agree that behaviour is always under control by individual
What are the strengths of determinism ?
+ plausible explanation for behaviour - supporting evidence
+ determinism is specific and allows cause and effect to be established
What are the weaknesses of determinism ?
- reductionist
- doesn’t account for individual differences
- suggests criminals can’t be held accountable for actions
What is the definition of idiographic approach ?
Involves studying individuals with no attempt to create laws it provides qualitative rich data.
What is the definition of the nomothetic approach ?
Involves studying groups of people to create general laws that can be generalised which uses quantitive methods and study larger samples
What are the evaluation points of the idiographic approach ?
+ provides a complete account of the individual eg Clive wearing
+ Allport - we can only predict a persons behaviour
- idiographic research can be narrow and restrictive eg freud
- less scientific
What are the evaluation points for the nomothetic approach ?
+ scientific
+ formulates laws as we can predict how people will react eg zimbardo helped reduce deindividualisation
- losing the vote if the whole person
What are the conclusions for idiographic and nomothetic ?
Holt - many psychologist suggest both idiographic and nomothetic must be considered
What is the definition of Nature ?
Nature is the view that all behaviour is a product of innate , biological or genetic factors.
Extremely nature view = nativists
What is the definition of heredity ?
It’s the process in which traits are passed down genetically from one generation to the next eg hair colour. Personality traits can also have elements of heredity as well
What is the definition of Environment?
Everything outside of the body including people events and the physical world
What is the definition of interactionism ?
Argues that several levels of explanations are necessary to explain a particular behaviour eg stress diathesis in schizophrenia
What is Lerner’s description of levels of environment?
It can be very narrow - prenatal conditions in the womb or they can be broad such as impact of your socio economic group
What is plomins idea of niche picking ?
The passive gene - parents pass on genes and provide and environment
The evocative gene - genetic traits which leads to the reaction of others
The active gene is where children choose their environment such as fiends ( niche picking )
What are epigenetics ?
Behaviour and environment can cause changes that affect that the way genes work
What is the relative importance of heritability ?
Numerical figure ranging from 0-1 which indicates the extent in which a characteristic had a genetic basis
What is an example of a genetic disorder which shows nature and nurture working together ?
PKU - caused by inheritance of 2 recessive genes however if diagnosed early diet can advert the potential of a lifelong disorder
Supporting evidence for nature
+ Gottsman and shield - pooled results of 40 family studies found that the risk increases to 46% when 2 parents have Schizophrenia
+ Joseph - pooled data from schizophrenia studies conducted before 2001 found an average concordance rate for 40.4% MZ and 7.4% for DZ
What are supporting evidence for nurture factors ?
Bateson- double bind theory with communication miscommunication
What support is there for interactionist ?
Plomin
Stress diathesis
What is the definition of gender bias ?
Idea that research does not offer a view that represents the experience or behaviour of men and women in some way
What is the definition of alpha bias ?
Exaggerates or overestimates the difference between the sexes
What is beta bias ?
Ignores / minimises or underestimates differences between men and women
Example of alpha bias
Freud - saw male behaviour as a standard for all humans and described female behaviour as deviant ( Oedipus and electra complex )
Example of beta bias
Milgram and Asch claim the answers can show why everyone conform or obey
What is androcentrism ?
Consequence of Beta bias what counts as normal behaviour is drawn from male samples then any behaviour that deviates from the standard is likely belt to be judged as abnormal
How does gender bias have damaging consequences for women ?
Creates misleading assumptions about female behaviour
Denys women opportunities
How does gender bias lead to androcentrism ?
If our understanding of what counts as normal behaviour is drawn from all males
Travis - when men set standard of normality it makes women feel Abnormal
How does gender bias create sexism within research process ?
A lack of women appointed at senior positions - female concerns might not be reflected in the research questions. Male researchers are more likely to have their work published.
Nicholson - having male research’s and female participants creates and unequal power balance
How do you avoid future gender bias ?
Reflexivity - recognising there is gender bias in their research
Lead to greater awareness
Development of feminist psychology
Worrel and Remer - suggested these will reduce gender bias
- women should be studied with meaningful and real life context
- women should participate in research
- diversity within groups of women should be examined
-greater emphasis on collaborative research methods
What is the definition of culture bias ?
tendency to judge people in terms of one’s own cultural assumptions.
What is the definition of ethnocentrism ?
Seeing the world only from one’s own perspective and believing that this perspective is normal and correct
What is the definition of cultural relativism ?
Idea that a behaviour can only properly understood in the context of the norms and values of the society or culture in which it occurs
Why is culture bias a problem ?
It will lead to people being classed as Abnormal if they don’t meet the norm
Why is Ainsworth strange situation ethnocentric ?
Predominately Used studies from western cultures and only used 3 from eastern countries with significantly less studies
What did Sternberg find ?
Found in an African tribes that children Abi scored heavily on a test of medicinal herbs scored poorly on academic tests
What is the definition of imposed Etic ?
Theory/ technique developed in one culture is used to study behaviour of other people in another culture
What is an Implication of culture bias ?
Stereotyping can come from ethnocentric research and research that is imposed Etic
What does the DSM include ?
Culture bound syndromes - group of symptoms classified as treatable disorders in certain cultures that are not recognised in the us or uk
Eg anorexia as its different in individualist and collective cultures
Why is collective and individualist cultures a discussion point ?
There is more global communication which increases interconnectedness between people .
Takano - 14/15 studies compared from USA and Japan found no evidence of difference between them cultures
Are some behaviours universal ( discussion point for culture bias )?
Facial expressions are a universal experience everyone understands. Ekman - happiness and sadness are the same for humans and animals globally
How does culture bias have positive implications for the future ?
Recognising culture bias allows researchers to avoid it is positive.
Help reduce ethnocentrism.
Indigenous psychology - Afrocentrism a movement which suggested that because all black people have their roots in Africa theories must recognise African context of behaviour and attitudes.
Avoiding culture bias
Smith and bond- found in European textbooks on social psychology 66% were American, 32% European this suggests psychological research i severely unrepresentative.
Promote links between psychologist ls internationally and change ideas
Ensure peer reviews journals are published that utilise an Emic approach
Review methods to ensure they are valid to use cross culturally
