Issues and Debates Flashcards
What is Gender bias
The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than a real difference
What is alpha bias (gender)
A tendency to exaggerate the differences between men and women
Give me an example of alpha bias
Psychodynamic explanations, where Freud claimed that due to women not undergoing castration anxiety they didn’t develop their superego so where less moral than men
What is androcentrism
The consequence of beta bias and occurs when all behaviour is compared according to a male standard, often to the neglect or exclusion of women
What is beta bias (gender)
It is a tendency to ignore or minimise differences between men and women
What does universality mean
It is the aim to develop theories that apply to all people, which may include real differences
What are weaknesses to the gender bias debate
-low generalisability
What are strengths to the gender bias debate
-Highlights differences between males and females which could lead to better treatment of each gender
What is Culture
The rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people
What is culture bias
The tendency to judge all cultures and individuals in terms of your own cultural assumptions
What is culture relativism
The view that behaviour, morals, standards and values cannot be judged properly unless they are viewed in the context of the culture of which they originate
What is alpha bias (culture)
-the assumption that there are real and enduring differences between cultural groups.
What is beta bias(culture)
—Refers to theories that minimise or ignore cultural differences
What is ethnocentrism
Seeing the world from ones own cultural perspective and believing that it is both normal and cultural correct
Strengths of culture bias
-takes emic approach to avoid endrocentrism
Weaknesses of culture bias
-causes ethnic stereotyping
What is determinism
-the belief that behaviour is controlled by both internal and external factors
-it is beyond their control
What is biological determinism
-the view that behaviour is always caused by internal biological forces beyond our control, such as genes
What is environmental determinism
-The belief that behaviour is caused by previous experiences through classical and operant conditioning e.g. phobias are a result of operant conditioning shown by Watson on Little Albert
What is psychic determinism
- Freud’s theory of personality suggests that adult behaviour is
determined by a mix of innate drives and early experience.
What is free will
It is the idea that each individual has the ability to make their own choices concerning their behaviour, without being determined by internal or external forces beyond their control
What is Hard determinism
the view that forces outside of our control shape our behaviour
What is soft determinism
- A version of determinism that allows for some elements of free will and suggests that all elements have a cause
What are strengths of determinism
-Scientific approach as it allows for predictions and more consistent with the aims of a person
What are weaknesses of determinism
-Reduces responsibility
-ethical issues as if someone commits a crime they may claim that its due to biology
What are strengths of free will
-promotes personal responsibility and when people take ownership of themselves they are more likely to change their behaviour/ try and improve mental health
What are weaknesses of free will
-Lead to blame of guilt when things go wrong so a bad mental health
Overlooks biological or environmental influences
What are the types of determinism
-hard
-soft
-psychic
-biological
-environmental
What is the environment( nature vs nurture debate)
it is everything outside of the body including people, events and the physical world
What is the definition of nature
- any influence on behaviour which is genetic
What is heredity
- the process by which traits are passed down genetically from one generation to the next
What is an interactionist approach
this approach argues that several levels of explanation are necessary to explain particular behaviour, ranging from lower levels to higher
Define the nature and nurture debate
- it centres around the relative contribution of genetics inheritance and environmental factors to human development and behaviour
Weaknesses to the nature vs nurture debate
-nature= ignores role of nurture and environmental influence
-nurture= hard to establish casual explanations
Strengths to the nature vs nurture debate
Nature= Scientific due to having empirical support via twin studies
Nurture= offers change and personal growth, highlights importance of education and upbringing
What is holism
the idea that human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience
What is reductionism
is the belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking down into simpler component parts
What are the actual levels of explanation
- highest= cultural and social explanations of behaviour (influence of social groups on behaviour)
-middle= psychological explanations ( cognitive, behavioural/ environmental)
-lowest= biological explanations (genetic, neurochemistry, brain structure)
How is the levels of explanation drawn
on an upside down triangle
Define levels of explanation
- different ways of viewing the same phenomena within psychology
What are the types of reductionism
- Biological
-environmental
-experimental
What is biological reductionism
-reducing behaviour to a physical level( biology) and explain it in terms of neurons and hormones and brain structures
what is environmental reductionism
Behaviourist explanations suggest that all behaviour can be
explained in terms of simple stimulus response links
What is experimental reductionism
-where a complex behaviour is reduced to a single variable for the process of testing
what are the strengths of holism
-gives a complete understanding of a person so they can have more personalised treatment
-Encourages empathy by recognising each experience is unique
what are the weaknesses of holism
-Takes into account everything so cannot establish a cause and effect relationship which reduces validity and makes it unscientific
What are the strengths of reductionism
Able to establish a cause and effect relationship so its scientific
What are the weaknesses of reductionism
-Oversimplifies complex human behaviour especially with the behavioural approach often forgetting thoughts and feelings so it fails to explain full complexities of human behaviour
What is a nomothetic approach
Its an approach that focuses on studying a sample of people in order to formulate a sample of laws
