Issues and debates

Question 1

what is reductionism

Answer 1

the idea that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into smaller component parts

Question 2

what is environmental reductionism

Answer 2

all behaviour can be reduced to simple stimulus-response associations and complex behaviours are just a chain of stimulus response associations

Question 3

what is holism

Answer 3

human behaviour should be viewed as the whole integrated experience and not separate parts

Question 4

what are the levels of explanation in relation to reductionism

Answer 4

lowest: biological
middle: psychological explanations
highest: social and cultural explanations

Question 5

give an example of biological reductionism from an area of psychology you have studied

Answer 5

the biological approach argues that OCD is caused by increased levels of dopamine and reduced levels of serotonin and so reduces the cause of OCD to purely an imbalance of neurotransmitters

Question 6

give an example of environmental reductionism from an area of psychology you have studied

Answer 6

the behaviourist approach argues that phobias are caused by classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning

Question 7

what is experimental reductionism

Answer 7

the idea that to test a theory in psychology it is usually reduced to just one variable eg peterson and peterson looked at memory but reduced it down to how duration affects stm

Question 8

outline the rat study that links to the nature/nurture debate

Answer 8

one group of rat mothers licked their babies, one group didn’t and it was found that the baby rats that were licked went on to lick their babies (they carried their mothers actions on)- nurture.
argued that this could be a genetic thing so rat babies were given to different mothers and it was found that rats became high lickers if they were brought up by high lickers regardless of genetic relation

Question 9

how can nurture affect our nature

Answer 9

epigenetics- markers are switched on and off depending on the environment and what we experience

Question 10

what is alpha bias

Answer 10

where differences between males and females are exaggerated- can be used to undervalue one of the sexes

Question 11

what is beta bias

Answer 11

differences between males and females are ignored or minimised

Question 12

what is androcentrism

Answer 12

where males are viewed as being the centre of culture and males behaviour is viewed as the norm

Question 13

what is estrocentrism

Answer 13

where female behaviour is seen as the norm (rarer than androcentrism)

Question 14

how did freud’s theory show gender bias

Answer 14

described male behaviour as the norm and explained female behaviour as anything that differed from the norm eg girls suffering ‘penis envy’

Question 15

how did asch’s theory show gender bias

Answer 15

androcentric as he used a male only sample meaning his results couldn’t be generalised to women

Question 16

define culture

Answer 16

a set of customs, social roles, behavioural norms and moral values that are shared by a group of people

Question 17

what is etic research

Answer 17

research from a specific culture that is then applied to other cultures to find universal laws

Question 18

what is an imposed etic

Answer 18

generalising the findings of one study on one culture to the whole population

Question 19

what is emic research

Answer 19

research based on a specific culture thats used to understand that culture from within (not generalised to other cultures) but studies variations in behaviour between groups of people

Question 20

how can bias still occur with emic research

Answer 20

differences between cultural groups can be exaggerated

Question 21

what is ethnocentrism

Answer 21

where our culture is taken as the norm and we study other cultures against it

Question 22

what are the problems with doing cross cultural research

Answer 22

can be difficult to interpret what p’s say and do sometimes even with a translator- findings may be misinterpreted and then can be ethnocentric
also cross cultural replications are difficult to do as procedures have different meanings in different cultures so the studies lack validity

Question 23

what is cultural relativism

Answer 23

accepting that there are no universal standards for behaviour and any research done must take the culture into account

Question 24

how can you avoid an imposed etic (berry 1969)

Answer 24

conducting research in meaningful contexts and using local researchers who are part of the culture being studied

Question 25

what is free will

Answer 25

people are able to choose how to behave and their behaviour is not a response to external or biological factors and isn’t influenced by past behaviour

Question 26

what is determinism

Answer 26

all of the physical events in the universe occur in cause and effect relationships. thoughts, beliefs and behaviours are determined by past events and causes

Question 27

one pro and one con of determinism

Answer 27

pro: very scientific- physics has shown that events in the universe operate according to cause and effect relationships
con: unfalsifiable- can’t be proved wrong as assumes that events can be the result of forces that haven’t been discovered yet

Question 28

one pro and one con of free will

Answer 28

pro: people can explain behaviour in terms of decisions and intentions
con: subjective- people may think they’re choosing how to behave but they’re actually being influenced by other forces

Question 29

what is reductionism

Answer 29

the scientific view that is should be possible to explain complex things by reducing them to their most simple structures or processes

Question 30

what is holism

Answer 30

human behaviour is more complex than scientific processes so it should be viewed as the product of different influences which all interact

Question 31

what are the levels of explanation in psychology from most scientific (reductionist) to the least scientiic (holistic)

Answer 31

1) molecular level (physics)
2) cellular level (biochemistry)
3) parts of individuals (biology)
4) behaviour of individuals (psychology)
5) behaviour of groups (sociology)

Question 32

what is the nature vs empiricist argument

Answer 32

naturist: (Jean Rousseau) argued that all human characteristics were inborn
empiricists: (John Locke) claimed everyone is a blank slate when born and the environment ‘writes’ unique characteristics onto us

Question 33

what is the interactionist approach

Answer 33

nature and nurture interact because personality and behaviour are influenced by both

Question 34

what does the diathesis stress model suggest

Answer 34

people have genetic predispositions for disorders like schizophrenia. someone with a higher diathesis (vulnerability) is more likely to develop the trait but whether they do depends on the stress they experience (environment)

Question 35

what are the 3 types of genotype-environment correlations identified by plomin et al

Answer 35

1) passive- people with similar genes (family) are likely to experience similar environments eg 2 siblings may both be aggressive due to inheriting aggressive traits or because they had a hostile home environment
2) reactive- genetically determined characteristics may shape a person’s experiences eg people react more positively to attractive people
3) active- people with particular inherited tendancies may seek out certain environments (environment determines behaviour and behaviour determines environment)

Question 36

what is the nomothetic approach

Answer 36

applies general laws and theories to explain behaviour across the whole population
uses lab experiments and correlational research to draw conclusions (quantitative methods)

Question 37

what is the idiographic approach

Answer 37

focuses on the individual in detail- looks at what makes each person different and doesn’t make general laws or theories
uses case studies, interviews and observations (qualitiative methods)

Question 38

one pro and one con for the nomothetic approach

Answer 38

pro: research methods frequently used which means its controlled, objective and scientific
con: creating general laws ignores individual differences so its not useful for explaining behaviour that doesn’t fit in with the norms of the general laws

Question 39

one pro and one con of the idiographic approach

Answer 39

pro: focuses on the individual so can give a more complete explanation of behaviour
con: fewer people are studied (but in more detail) so its hard to generalise findings to larger populations