issues and debates

Question 1

reductionism

Answer 1

a belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking down into simpler component parts

A variable can be difficult to measure as it is too broad and many things affect it. So simplifying it makes it scientific as it makes it easy to study.

S: prejudice can be reduced to RCT or personality
C: memory explained socially e.g. schema or cognitively STM and LTM
B: murderes reduced to nature not nurture
L: CC + OC = s->R but doesn’t take into account other factors e.g. observe and imitation

CL: mental disorders are isolated and diagnoses are not holistic
CR: biological explanations for criminal behaviour + field exp to test EWT weapon focus effect

Question 2

holism

Answer 2

whole is greater than the sum of the parts

Question 3

social control

Answer 3

how knowledge from research can be used to regulate or control behaviour
S; obedience
C: who can EWT
B: aggression
L: token economy

CL: treatment and therapy
CR: treatment and therapy

Question 4

ethics

Answer 4

guidelines that serve and protect animals and humans
- people lose faith in psychology
- not fair to cause people distress
S: milgram and burger
C: case studies
B: animals (rats), pet scans tight space and remain still and ppts should leave experiment in same state they started but knowing they have brain abnormality can change them
L: animal, lil albert, phobias

CL: issues with diagnosing e.g. labelling, consent, HCPC
CR: unreliability of jury decision making, EWT, field exp and lack of debriefing

Question 5

practical issues in design and implementation of research for cognitive

Answer 5

Use of lab exeriments
Use of case studies
Artificial tasks
Demand characteristics
Variables

Question 6

socially sensitive

Answer 6

areas that can provoke intense feelings or can offend
S: prejudice B>W
C: memory loss is sensitive
B: raine et al 1997
L: anorexia, phobia, lil albert

CL: mental health and cultural issues
CR: causes of criminal behaviour e.g. race, age, gender

Question 7

comparisons of ways of explaining behaviour using different themes

Answer 7

there are always different ways to look at a problem
S: SIT vs. RCT
C: MSM vs WMM
B: hormones, genes, evolution, freud
L: SLT vs. CC+OC

CL: ICD vs DSM + different explanations for mental health issues
CR: different explanations fro criminal behaviour

Question 8

culture and gender

Answer 8

individual differences
S: sherif et al, obedience
C: schema
B: aggression (hormones and evolution)
L: Becker and watson (used 1 sex)

CL: culture differences in diagnosis + gender diff in disorder
CR: issues that may affect jury decision making

Question 9

understanding of how psychological understanding has developed overtime

Answer 9

psychology must adjust its focus in response to current events
S: milgram
C: EWT unreliable
B: scanning developed
L: treatments and punishments

CL: DSM + therapy + treatment + explanations change
CR: Loftus and palmer, cognitive and ethical interview

Question 10

use of psychological knowledge in society

Answer 10

ways in which psychology can be used to explore, explain, predict and improve aspects of society
S: prejudice, obedience
C: dyslexia, revision and learning
B: drug addiction, nature of aggression
L: schools and jail, advertising, phobias

CL: therapies and treatments
CR: reliability of EWT and jury decision making

Question 11

nature vs nurture

Answer 11

S: obedience - personality vs. nurture
C: born with the ability to do certain functions therefore reconstructive m is schema nature
B: agression
L: OC, CC, SLT = SLT

CL: causes of mental disorders biological and social
CR: causes of criminality biological and social

Question 12

is psychology a science?

Answer 12

1. hypothetic deductive model
2. research methods
3. falsification
4. reductionism
5. science subject matter
6. paradigm

CL: biological methods, drug therapies, lab exp
CR: biological explanations and lab exp

Question 13

science

Answer 13

hypothetico deductive model - Karl Popper

• existing theories
• generate hypothesis
• Test carried out on hypothesis
• empirical data gathered
• cycle

 research methods
experiments: scientific
observations: scientific if variables are controlled
case studies: not
surveys: nots
correlation: can be scientific

falsification Popper (1969)
As long as you are able to falsify something, it makes it scientific because it is an idea that it is testable.
falsifiable
- genes
- neurotranmitters
- classical
- operant conditioning

not falsifiable

• schemas - can’t test
• ID, EGO, superego - can’t measure

science subject matter
Subject matter determines whether or not that area of psychology can be considered scientific and depends on how well it can be operationalised (measured)

scientific: raine, memory, NT, hormones, evolution
unscientific: obedience, prejudice, OP and CC

paradigm
overall theory/explanation

Thomas Kuhn: We need a paradigm because hypotheses are deduced from this in order to build scientific and firm knowledge.
Psychology doesn’t have its own psychology as different psychologists have different ideas and theories. Although, each approach has a paradigm.

Question 14

practical issues in design and implementation of research for social

Answer 14

Lab experiments
Questionnaires and interviews
Demand characteristics and deception
Social desireability bias
Thematic analysis

Question 15

practical issues in design and implementation of research for learning

Answer 15

animal studies
structured observations - more control
participant observations - high ecological validity lack of control

Question 16

practical issues in design and implementation of research for biological

Answer 16

lab experiment

scanning techniques

Question 17

two types of reductionism

Answer 17

biological reductionism = reduce behaviour to a physical level in terms of hormones, brain structure

environmental reductionism = assume behaviour can be reduced to simple stimulus and response associations