Issues and Debates Flashcards
What are the Issues and Debates in Psychology?
- Ethical issues in research
- Practical issues in the design and implementation of research
- Reductionism in the explanation of behaviour
- Comparisons of ways of explaining behaviour using different themes
- Psychology as a science
- Cultural and gender issues
- The role of both nature and nurture
- How psychological understanding has developed over time
- Issues in social control
- Use of psychological knowledge in society
- Issues related to socially-sensitive research.
What are the Key Ethical Principles in Psychological Research?
- Integrity: level of honesty
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Competence: research carried out efficently
What are the Practical Issues in the Design and Implementation of Research?
Issues with…
- sampling technque
- variables
- research design
- experimental design
What is a Science?
A systematic study of behaviour based on observation, experiment and measurement
What are the Features of a Science?
- controlled observations
- objective results
- tests theoretical hypothesies
- replicable to obtain similar results
- credible
- empirical research
- falsifiable
Why is Psychology considered as a Science?
- infers cause and effect conclusions
- use of brain scanning methods
- isolates variables
- applicable to real life phenomena
- includes an aim and hypothesis
- quantitative data gathered and analysed
- use of lab experiments
- standardised and controlled procedures
- objective
Why is Psychology considered Not as a Science?
- subjective
- qualitative data gathered and analysed
- social influences
- psychology proves nothing as there is no one true answer
- individual differences
What is Reductionism?
Explaining complex situations at a more basic and simple level
What are the Strengths of Reductionism?
- helps us understand complexed behaviour better, by breaking into smaller parts
- easier to study as you focus on one component, rather than several interacting components
- studies are more scientifically acceptable
- more objective
- more reliable as one component is isolated andn others are controlled to obtain more accurate results
- psychology has greater credibility
What are the Weaknesses of Reductionism?
- by isolating certain components doesn’t give a full account of the behaviour
- components may be difficult to isolate or manipulate
- may ignore important details
- leads to loss of validity due to oversimplifying
- complexity of behaviour is missed
- does not take into account individual differences
What does Holism mean?
By observing a person as a whole, including the complex factors
What is the Nature Approach based on?
It is based on the biological aspect and the traits or qualities a person is born with
What is the Nuture Approach based on?
It is based on the environmental or situational factors that could affect or influence a person
What are the Strengths of the Nature Approach?
- uses objective scientific measures
- extraneous variables are highly controlled
- cause and effect can be established which increases validity
- practical and useful applications as it may help us to treat and cure human behaviour
What are the Weaknesses of the Nature Approach?
- Reductionist as it tries to explain complex behaviour with one influence
- Ignores free-will as individuals may feel as if they have no control over their actions
- Restricts some useful applications as some behaviour could be changed by the environment
What are the Strengths of the Nuture Approach?
- use of deception in social studies means that they tend to have high ecological validity
- practical and useful applications as it had real life relevance because it focuses on real life social issues
- changing the situation is often possible compared to changing biology so it encourages rehabilitation
- holistic viewpoint as it takes into account the role of the environment, society and individual differences so it is a full picture of human behaviour
What are the Weaknesses of the Nuture Approach?
- difficult to separate the effects of social influences from the individual
- ignores biological causes so this reduces the validity of the approach
- ethical issues can arise due to deceiving participants
- genetic tendencies are real and can not be ignored
What are the Cultural and Gender Issues in Psychological Research?
- androcentric: male specific research
- gynocentric: women specific research
- endrocentric: culture specific research
What is Socially Sensitive Research?
Psychological research that has ethical implications that go beyond the research situation and affect people or groups in the wider society
What are the Issues of Socially Sensitive Research?
- attention of media and general public: may change the way the study is viewed
- way in which the research question is formulated: hypothesis of a study may have ethical implications
- how the research is conducted and the way the participants are treated
- context and place of research
- interpretation and application of research findings
