Issues and debates Flashcards
Define: Cultural bias
When we ignore cultural differences as it is presumed that everyone behaves the same in every culture.
Give statistics about psychological research that shows cultural bias
94% of research was conducted in North America in 1991.
64% of the worlds psychologists in 1992 were American.
Define: Cultural relativism (emic approach)
Recognises that results discovered in psychological research may only make sense from the perspective of the culture within which they were found.
Define: Ethnocentrism (etic approach)
When one’s own culture is seen as superior because it is recognised as the norm/standard.
Describe one example of ethnocentrism in psychology
Ethnocentrism is defined as judging other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own.
For example, Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation is said to be ethnocentric as her study reflected only the norms and values of American culture to categorise what an ideal secure attachment type was. It did not recognise that in other cultures such as Germany, an insecure-resistant attachment type is seen as ideal.
Define: Etic approach
Assumes that behaviour is universal. Generally studies behaviour from outside the culture.
Define: Emic approach
Looks at behaviours from inside a culture and acknowledges that such behaviours are specific to that culture.
What is the importance of twin/family studies in the nature-nurture debate?
Studies are carried out on identical monozygotic/non-identical dizygotic twins who have been raised together or apart.
These studies produce heritability coefficient estimates.
According to Plomin et Al (1977), in what three ways can interaction between heredity and environment occur?
- Passive heredity - environmental interaction:
- Reactive heredity - environmental interaction:
- Active heredity - environmental interaction:
What is the nature nurture debate?
Early nativist argued that human characteristics are innate, the result of heredity.
Whereas empiricists such as John Locke, argue that the mind is a ‘blank slate’ at birth upon which learning and experience writes - strictly the results of the environment.
Therefore the argument is whether or not behaviour is formed from our environment or our genes.
Name a behavioural characteristic which has a heredity coefficient rate of 0.5
IQ
How does the diathesis-stress model link into the nature-nurture debate?
An interactionalist approach.
Tienari et al (2004) found that in a group of Finnish adoptees those most likely to develop schizophrenia had biological relatives with a history of the disorder (the diathesis) and had relationships with their adoptive family is described as ‘dysfunctional’ (the stress).
Evaluate the nature-nurture debate
• Some say that the implications of nativism and empiricism are extremely deterministic. However it has led to practical applications such as CBT as a form of behaviour shaping.
• Doesn’t take into account shared and unshared environments. Siblings (nature) raised in the same family (nurture) may not necessarily experience the same upbringing due to individual differences. Eg. A parental divorce would have different effects on each child potentially. Even mz twins do not have a 100% concordance rate.
~ Constructivism - genes and environment are not separate, we cannot change nature but we can construct our nurture by seeking environment appropriate for our nature - Robert Plomin calls this niche picking.
~ The genotype and environment interaction argument shows that nature or nature cannot independently exist as an explanation of behaviour.
Evaluate cultural bias
- Yohtaro Takano (1999) found 14/15 studies that compared USA to Japan, found no evidence of the traditional distinction between individualism and collectivism - cultural bias is less of an issue now.
- Ekman (1989) found that basic facial expressions are universal, not all of psychology is culturally relative. Both universals and variation can be found among individuals and groups.
- Bond and Smith (1996) found that demand characteristics may be exaggerated when working with members of the local population as other cultures will be unfamiliar with research tradition.
- Variables under review may not be experienced in the same way by all participants. Eg. In China invasion of privacy is seen as normal compared to the Western world, so if this was tested in a cross-cultural study it would produce a different result.
Define: Holism
Looking at the characteristics of a person as a whole in order to understand behaviour.
Define: Reductionism
Breaking down characteristics into smaller parts to analyse behaviour.
Give 2 examples of Reductionist approaches
~Behaviourist approach: only observable behaviour can be investigated as it is too simplistic. Behaviour is a product of our environment/experiences.
~Biological approach: doesn’t acknowledge other factors, apart from biology, that may influence behaviour.
Give an example of a holistic approach
Humanistic approach:
Every human is unique and shouldn’t be compared to other humans or animals.
In terms of the reductionist hierarchy, what are the levels of explanation?
Highest: socio-cultural
Middle: psychological
Lowest: biological
*From most holistic to most reductionist.
Evaluate the Holism-Reductionism debate
HOLISM:
• There are some aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood at the level of the individual, for example Heney et Al’s prison experiment - the effects of conformity to social roles.
~ Cannot go through rigourous scientific testing and can become vague and speculative as they become more complex, eg. Humanistic approach.
REDUCTIONISM:
• Often forms the basis of scientific research, in order to create operationalised variables that are reliable it is necessary to break down target behaviours. Gives psychology greater credibility in terms of a natural science.
~ Oversimplifies complex behaviour leading to the loss of validity. Therefore reductionist explanations can only ever form part of an explanation.
Define: biological reductionism
We are biological organisms made up of physiological structures. Therefore all behaviour is at some point biological and so can be explained through biological influences (eg. Genetics).
