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Issues and debates Flashcards

1
Q

What is meant by universality?

A

The ability to apply a theory everywhere.

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2
Q

What did Barbu et al say about girls language skills developing quicker than male peers?

A

Its true but only in situations where children come from lower economic backgrounds, where boys often fair quite badly in early language development. Indicating it may be due to other factors than sex.

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3
Q

What does alpha bias refer to?

A

The overestimation of the effect of sex difference.

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4
Q

What is meant by Beta bias?

A

Underestimates the role of sex. Frequently women are not included in a study yet the findings are applied to them without consideration of the effect sex may have.

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5
Q

What is meant by androcentric bias?

A

Where males results from a study are used to establish a baseline, therefore when comparing females, they are established as abnormal because of it.

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6
Q

What is meant by culture bias?

A

The tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret things through your own cultural perspective.

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7
Q

What is meant by ethnocentrism?

A

Judging other cultures by the standard of ones own culture. In extreme cases it can lead to discrimination and prejudice about other cultures.

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8
Q

What is culture relativism?

A

The idea that norms, values, ethics and moral standards can only be meaningfully understood within there social and cultural context.

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9
Q

What is an example of ethnocentrism?

A

Baron and Bryne (1991) claimed 94% of studies in textbooks were carried out in North America. However psychologists often make claims their theories can be universally applicable to people all around the world.

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10
Q

What is a consequence of ethnocentrism?

A

Explanations may only be able to work for certain cultural groups.

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11
Q

What did Kilham and Mann do to prove their theory?

A

Conducted a study in Australia and reported a significant difference to Milgram’s original 65% obedience with the lowest overall obedience rate reaching 28% for a straight replication.

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12
Q

What did Kilham and Mann find?

A

That it seems to be a dispositional effect for Australia people, females in particular which leads to a higher level of resistance to obedience when in a moral situation. This supports the assertion that culture does effect peoples actions and should not be ignored.

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13
Q

Why do females in certain cultures where lip plates/neck rings?

A

To make them more attractive in their society.

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14
Q

What cultures wear neck rings and why?

A

Kayan “giraffe women” from Thailand. The rings are brass coils which are placed around the neck. It is theorised they wear coils in order to look more attractive by exaggerating sexual dimorphism, as women naturally have more slender necks than men.

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15
Q

What is meant by sexual dimorphism?

A

The systematic difference of form between different sexes of the same species. I.e. in mammals males are seen as larger however in spiders the female is larger.

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16
Q

What did Gupta and Singh (1982) prove?

A

Proved that arranged marriages were more successful than romantic relationships.

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17
Q

How did Gupta and Singh (1982) prove their theory?

A

Followed 100 Indian marriages, 50 arranged and 50 romantic then assessed after 1.5 years and again after 10 years.

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18
Q

What did Gupta and Singh (1982) find?

A

Love marriage at the start was high then decreased over time.
In arranged marriage love started low but then exceed romantic ones after 10 years.

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19
Q

What 2 methods can be used to overcome cultural bias?

A

Cross cultural approach
Trans culture approach

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20
Q

What is the cross cultural approach to overcoming culture bias?

A

Study many different cultures to overcome the variations.

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21
Q

What is the transcultural approach to overcoming culture bias?

A

Study many different cultures to identify similarities.

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22
Q

What is meant by the concept of free will?

A

We are free to make choices as we wish

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23
Q

What is said to be the three things we base decisions on?

A

Experiences you have had.
Situation you are in.
Physical abilities and the options that gives you.
None of which can be controlled or changed

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24
Q

What is meant by determinism?

A

The idea that actions are out of your control meaning your choices are not really your choices as they are already set by factors outside of your control.

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25
What types of determinism are there?
Hard determinism Soft determinism
26
What is hard determinism?
All of our actions are predetermined. That laws of causality dictate our every action, that these are driven by internal (experiences, beliefs and abilities).
27
What is soft determinism?
When you believe most decisions are out of your control but some are still your choice due to your thought processes.
28
What types of soft/hard determinism are there?
Biological Environment Psychic
29
What is meant by biological determinism?
Emphasizes the role of biological factors in our decision process. Ie the effect of hormones or brain physiology.
30
What is meant by environmental determinism?
Goes with behaviourists meaning the world we experience in shapes our actions through operant/classical conditioning. Therefore our choices are merely based on experiences and selected whether previous behaviour led to reward on punishment.
31
What is meant by Psychic determinism?
Freud argues this is the way in which determinism really works. Saying actions are based on subconscious processes shaped from innate stages of development.
32
What does the free will side mean for laws?
If we have free will we can chose to commit a crime or not. Therefore a starving man can choose to not steal, causing death. The stealing was his choice and the outcome is also his responsibility.
33
What does determinist side mean for laws
If factors are determined beyond our control then we can choose to do anything. Therefore starving man's actions were decided factors therefore the consequences should not be his responsibility.
34
EXPLANATIONS FOR AND AGAINST FW VS D
35
What is a support for the determinist side?
+ Has helped develop some treatments.
36
What weaknesses are there for the determinist side?
- It's unfalsifiable which is unscientific. This is because it cannot specify the causes of our behaviour.
37
What supports are there for free will?
+ Face validity as it seems likely + Locus of control + Psychologically better to believe this
38
What is a weakness for free will?
- Neurological studies disagree
39
What does the nature vs nurture debate refer to?
Whether our biological factors shape who we are or our environmental nurturing
40
What does the nature side say?
Refers to the biological factors which effect who we are and what decisions we make. If its true then human nature is set meaning it can be predicted. Decartes (1596-1650) said human nature is innate and a product of hereditary
41
What does the nurture side say?
Refers to the way we are affected by our environment. Meaning if who we are is shaped by what we experience then its our environment which is responsible for who we become.
42
What does hereditability mean?
The idea that traits and characteristics are inherited from our parents
43
What does hereditability coefficient mean?
Its a value used to assess the extent to which this has happened. Ranges from 0.0 being completely due to nurture to 1.0 being totally due to nature.
44
How can parent child studies help with nature vs nurture debate?
The child shares genetics with the parent. Yet only 50% and the way in which the parent raises that child is likely to effect them too so far from perfect.
45
How can twin studies help with nature vs nurture debate?
High concordance rates have been frequently argued to represent stronger evidence base for the impact of hereditability
46
How can adoption studies help with the nature vs nurture debate?
Look at the effect of bio and environmental factors from the biological and adoptive parent on the child. As the child is removed from bio parents they don't have an environmental impact but still a bio impact.
47
What problems can occur when looking into adoption studies for the nature vs nurture debate?
Children taken into adoption care often aren't having a good time and will end up living with other children in similar positions (possible exposure to criminal activity) (Mednick et al)
48
Where does the biological approach sit with nature nurture debate and why?
Furthest nature (focused on genetic hormonal and neuro-chemical explanations for behaviour)
49
Where does the cognitive approach sit with nature nurture debate and why?
In the middle between each (innate mental structures like schemas, perception and memory and constantly changed by the environment)
50
Where does the behaviourism approach sit with nature nurture debate and why?
Furthest nurture (all behaviour is learned from the environment through conditioning)
51
Where does the humanist approach sit with nature nurture debate and why?
Nurture side but not as far as behaviourism (Maslow emphasized the basic physical needs but that society influenced a person self concepts)
52
Where does the psychodynamic approach sit with nature nurture debate and why?
Nature side but closer to the centre than biological (innate drives of sex and aggression (nature) but social upbringing during childhood can alter thoughts)
53
What is the interactionist approach?
Says that the answer to the nature/nurture debate is that its a mixture of both with people develop behaviours due to personal experiences and sometimes purely due to genetic factors. Also often biological predispositions triggered by environmental factors.
54
What is meant by the term Eugenics?
Logical conclusions of a purely nature based world is that Eugenics are rational response to the issue that faces upon our society.
55
What is meant by behaviour shaping?
Altering someone's behaviour by rewarding/punishing certain behaviours.
56
What did Dias and Ressler (2014) do?
Classical conditioned male rats using electric shocks and chemicals, rats then came to fear the smell of the chemical, however offspring also showed this aversion to the smell despite having never had the shocks.
57
What is meant by a persons genotype?
A persons genotype is the DNA sequence which determines their specific biological characteristics.
58
What is meant by a person phenotype?
A persons phenotype is determined by both their genotype and environmental factors which can affect their personal characteristics.
59
Why is it a problem when psychologists suggest universal theories?
Because even classical studies such as Milgram and Asch when repeated by either researchers have been seen to have significantly different results (Kilham and Mann 1974)
60
What did gestalt (1930) say?
The whole is greater to have than the sum of all parts.
61
What is meant by reductionism?
The belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts. Those who take a reductionist approach believe the best way to understand behaviour is to look closely at parts which make up our systems and the use the simplest explanation to explain how they work.
62
What is meant by parsimony?
The idea that complex phenomena should be explained in the simplest terms possible.
63
What is the Occam's razor theory
Developed by William Occam 14th century and states one should not make unnecessary assumptions and the answer is often the most simple.
64
What is meant by holism?
Holistic approach argues you must always look at the whole picture ie diagnosing depression is not just about identifying a chemical imbalance but also about looking at the effect across all their areas of life. humanist, psychodynamic and cognitive all take this side.
65
What supports are there for the holistic approach?
+ The benefit of understanding the whole is valuable and often what we are looking for when forming hypothesises. Yet often have to settle for less due to methodological limitations. + Zimbardos SPE works by looking at complex interactions between all participants responses to isolation.
66
What criticisms are there for the holistic approach?
- Means we are unable to consider details effectively, which therefore presents us with a very broad picture with little details and precisions which are seen in the reductionist approach. - This approach can make it difficult to use theories to produce effective plans of action ie treatment plans. For example a person developing a holistic treatment for OCD may be able to use it but when teaching others to it will struggle. This is because the treatment is to complex for them to understand and key elements can be weakly implemented.
67
What is a support for the reductionist approach?
+ Majority of scientific research and theories is created and founded upon this approach across all subjects.
68
What is meant by etic?
Etic research aims to discover what is common to all humans by addressing the universals of human behaviour, this is done by viewing cultures externally.
69
What is meant by emic?
Emit approach aims to study cultures from within by understanding the people who are engaged with that specific culture.

Psychology (10 decks)

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