Issues and debates advanced info

Question 1

Gender Bias

not on advanced info but good to know

Answer 1

Universality
Any underlying characteristics of human beings that is capable of being applied to all despite differences of experiences and upbringing

Alpha bias: research that focuses on differences of men and women and presents a view that the differences are exaggerated

Beta bias: When psychological research downplays the differences between men and women

Androcentric: when research is centred around males so normal behaviour is judged to a male standard

Question 2

Culture bias

not on advanced info but good to know

Answer 2

What is culture?

system of beliefs, values, attitudes and practises shared by a group of people

What is cultural bias
-Is the tendency to judge people in terms of of one’s own cultural assumptions

Cultural relativism: idea that research can applied in a meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts

Emic: A construct that is applied to only one cultural group this often focuses on the uniqueness of a culture and culturally specfic phenomnea, so results from such studies are genralised to that culture.
emic approach: refers to the investigation of a culture from within the culture itself for example research of European society from a European perspective is emic.so the reserach has more ecological validity as they are less likley to be affected by differences beyween those being studied and the researcher

Etic construct: the notion that dea that is assumed to apply in all cultural groups.so this means that teh findings can be applied universally-they also believe that most human behavior is common around the world

imposed etic: believes that research can be applied to all cultures.

ethnocentrism: ethnocentrism: occurs when researcher assumes their own culturally specific practices or ideas are the norm

Question 3

Free will and determinism

What is free will

Answer 3

Idea or notion that we are free to choose our own thoughts and actions. It accepts the idea that other forces like biological and environmental determinism are at play, but we have the will to reject this.

Question 4

Free will and determinism

What is determinism

Answer 4

Idea that internal and external forces control a persons behaviour or actions

Question 5

Free will and determinism

What is environmental determinism and give an example
Also what did skinner say about environmental determinism

Answer 5

idea that behaviour is caused by some sort of outside influence. For example parents or culture
Skinner said
claimed that free will was an illusion – we think we are free, but this is because we are not aware of how our behaviour is determined by reinforcement or conditioning
Believed all our ideas of choice is a sum of reinforcements that we have been subjected through life

Question 6

Free will and determinism

What is biological determinism and can you give an example

Answer 6

the idea that our biological systems like the nervous system, hormones, brain etc govern our behaviour.

Examples: MAOA gene implicated in aggression

Question 7

Free will and determinism

What is psychic determinism

Answer 7

The belief that human behaviour is governed by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood

Question 8

Free will and determinism

What are the different levels of determinism

Answer 8

Hard determinism: the idea that everything is caused by internal or external forces and that free will is not at play

Soft determinism: represents the middle , people do have a choice, but that choice is influenced by external factors

Question 9

What is the strength of the free will argument?

Answer 9

P: Has practical value
E: Roberts et al found that adolescents that had a strong belief in fatalism had a significantly greater chance of developing depression
E: This shows how understanding free will can help develop therapies around cognition to improve mental health
L: shows how free will has face validity and it can be used to create therapies that will help people live a better life

(maybe rewrite this)

Question 10

AO3

A limitation of free will is that it is an illusion and culturally relativist

Answer 10

BF skinner

• he said that a person might choose to buy a particular car or fille, but these cuisines are determined by previous reinforced experiences. For example whether you parents had a similar one, whether people your age drive it etc
• Moreover the idea of self determination may be culturally relativist and may be approached for individualist societies only, as collectivist cultures place greater values on behaviour eyeliner human group needs
• suggest free will is a product of socialisation

Question 11

AO3

Conflicting evidence for Free will from neurological studies

Answer 11

P:conflicting evidence from neurological studies
E:Libert et al found unconscious activity leading up to a conscious activity came half a second before.
E: shows how basic experiences are governed by unconscious thought
CP: However research from Trevena and Miller showed that brain activity was simply readiness ro act than intention to move
-therefore neuroscience may support notion of free will

Question 12

AO3

Conflicting evidence for Free will from neurological studies

Answer 12

P:conflicting evidence from neurological studies
E:Libert et al found unconscious activity leading up to a conscious activity came half a second before.
E: shows how basic experiences are governed by unconscious thought
CP: However research from Trevena and Miller showed that brain activity was simply readiness ro act than intention to move
-therefore neuroscience may support notion of free will

Question 13

AO3

A strength of determinism is that there is supporting evidence

Answer 13

P: it has research support and practical application
lab studies have led to the development of treatments, therapies and behavioural interventions.
An example of this is the use of psychoactive drugs to treat schizophrenia, studies like Leucht have shown how antipsychotics reduce relapse rates
However if we believe that disorders such as Sz and depression are determined by an individuals biology then treatment should target genes or neurotransmitters. This means other beneficial treatments such as CBT may not be used
so this may have negative implications on the individuals health

Question 14

AO3

A limitation of determinism is that it may not be consistent with the law

Answer 14

P: may not be consistent with the law
E: suggests criminals cannot be held accountable for their actions.
Mobley tried arguing that he was not responsible for his crimes as he may have inherited a criminal gene, but this was thrown out in court. However bayout sentences was reduced after the judge found that he had a variant of the MAOA gene
L: this highlights how biological determinism could help explain crimes, however this may harm the legal system as if this stance is taken it may be harder to prosecute people

Question 15

AO3

A limitation of determinism is that physical sciences accept there is no such thing as determinism

Answer 15

Dennet
Chaos theory proposes small changes in initial conditions can result in major changes called the butterfly effect
-Determinist explanations tend to oversimplify human behaviour. They may be appropriate for non human animals
-But human behaviour is less rigid and influenced by many factors like cognition and biological impulses

Question 16

Nature v Nuture (AO1) not on advanced info

What is nature

Answer 16

Decartes belives that human behaviour is inate and heridatory
For example intelligence may be detrmined just by genes and not the environment

Question 17

Nature v Nuture

What is nuture

Answer 17

Locke was an empiricist who suggested that we are born with a clean slate (tableau rasa)
this means that our experiences from birth contribute to our behaviour

Question 18

Nature v Nuture

What is the herdiatory co effienient

Answer 18

Gives an idea of whether a trait has a genetic basis
For example hair colour has the coefficient 1.0 suggested it uis mainly controlled by genes, whereas intelligence is 0.5 (Plomin et al)

Question 19

Nature vs Nuture

What is the interactonalist approach

Answer 19

the middle ground and it is a way of explaining how biology and the environment can interact with each other to produce certain behaviours

Question 20

Nature vs Nuture

What is diathesis stress model and give and example

Answer 20

Explanation of how you may have a predispostion for a disorder but it will show if it is triggered by an environmental stressor

Question 21

Nature vs Nuture

What is epigenetics

Answer 21

refers to change in genetic activity without changing the gene itself.

Question 22

Holism and reductionism

What is reductionism, what are the levels and types of reductionism

Answer 22

what is it
an approach that breaks complex psychological phennomna into more simple components

levels of reductonism
-neurochemical, physiological, enviormentl, physical, psychological and socio-cultural

what are different types
biological reductionism: reducing behaviour down to a brain structure or genes, neural level. For example Sz has been suggusted is due to high levels of dophamine because drugs that block neurotransmitter reduce the symptoms of the disorder

Enviormental reductionism: believe all behaviour can be explained by a simple stimulas response link. Believe behaviour is leatned and acquired through intercations with the envioroment

Question 23

Holism and reductionism (not an advanced info just AO1)

What is holism, what is gestalt psychology

Answer 23

-when thinking about behaviour percieving the whole experience rather than the individual features and realations between them

Gestalt psychology
-said the whole is greater than the sum of parts. Focused on perception that what we see makes sense if we look at it as a whole

Humanistic approach

• focuses on an individuals experience
• use qualittaive methods

Question 24

AO1
Idiographic and nomothetic approach

What is the idiographic approach

Answer 24

Focuses on individual
Empathises uniqueness
Favours qualitative methods

Question 25

AO1

What kind of research is used in teh idiographic approach and give an example

Answer 25

• Uses qualitative methods
• like unstructured interviews
• focuses on gaining insights into human behaviour by studying unique individuals in depth
• data is then analysed and emergent themes are identified
• conclusions may he used to help others with similar experiences

Example

• Freud and little hans. Case study consists of 150 pages of verbatim quotes recorded by Hans father and descriptions on Hans life. This was later used to explain how phobias develop
• Rodgers explained the process of self development including the role of unconditional positive that’s which was derived from in depth conservations with clients from therapy

Question 26

AO1 idiographic and nomothetic

What is the nomothetic approach

Answer 26

Seeks to formulate general laws of behaviour based on study of groups and use statistical techniques
Attempts to summarise differences between people through generalisations
More objective as methods of testing are standardised, this ensures It can be tested. This means it can be replicated across samples of behaviour

Question 27

AO1

What type of research does the nomothetic approach use and give examples

Answer 27

• Use quantitative data
• like structured questionnaires, and uses statical analysis
• Hypotheses are formulated and samples of people are added then numerical data is analysed for its statistical significance
• seeks to quantify human behaviour

Examples
General laws of learning where developed by studying animals
Eysencks psychometric test for personality
-large groups of people were tested and distribution of scores told us what was normal and what was not

Question 28

AO3

A strength of the idiographic approach is that it has helped our understanding with memory

Answer 28

-use of in-depth methods
-for example case studies like HM revealed important insights about the diffentt types of LTM are more résistent to forgetting and may be stored in other areas of the brain. This prompted more studies are long term memory.
-This shows how focusing on a small number of individuals can help our understanding of psychology
However with case studies it can be hard to make generalisations as we dont know what participants were like before

Question 29

AO3

A limitation of the idiographic approach is that there is a lack of objective evidence

Answer 29

• positive psychology aims to be more evidence based
• growing
• view is humanistic psychology was not evidence based and is therefore the findings are meaningless
• However some idiographic approaches liek case studies use an evidence based approach and seek to be objective
• For example triangulation is used where findings from different studies using qualitative methods are compared to increase their validity
• Therefore it can be argued that both approaches embrace the aims of scientific research

Question 30

AO3

A limitation of the nomothetic approach is losing the person

Answer 30

-loss of undertaking the individual
—preoccupied with laws means that individual is not really thought about
-For example there is 1% risk of developing Sz which tells us little about what life is like for someone with the disorder
-therefore having an understanding of the subjective experience of Sz may be useful when thinking treatment options
-Although a limitation of using ideographic methods is that it is time consuming, it may be beneficial for many people in the long term

Question 31

AO3

The idiographic and nomothetic techniques should be used together

Answer 31

Within research idiographic and nomothetic research compliment each other. For example Schaffer stages of development is nomothetic where’s case studies or esteem neglect highlight the subjective experience of not forming one.

Holt argues that it there is no such thing as a unique individual and that the idiographic approach generates general principles.
Milton and Davis said research should start with the nomothetic approach and once laws are produced we can focus on a more idiographic understanding

Question 32

AO1

What are ethical implications

Answer 32

-Concern the consequences of psychological research
-some areas of research are more socials sensitive
For example a study on depression may have consequences in terms of individual ppts, the wider society. For example a finding of a study may suggest that people with depression may never recover and therefore are risk as an employee

Question 33

AO1

What are the ethical issues in socially sensitive research

Answer 33

Stanley and Sieber
-when doing a socially sensitive study all stages such as planning, conducting and interpreting findings should be important when thinking about social sensitivity

They identified some ethical issues
-Research question: the way research is questions are phrased may influence ways findings are interpreted. For example Coyle and Kitzinger note how research into relationships have been guilty for heterosexual bias as homosexual relationships were compared and judged against heterosexual norms

Dealing with participants: issues such as informed consent, confidentiality and psychological harm in socially sensitive research.

Way findings are used: researchers should consider how findings are used. For example research may be seen as giving scientific credence to existing prejudices (add cultural example)

Question 34

AO3

The socially sensitive research may disadvantage marginalised groups

Answer 34

• Groups in society have suffered the consequences of not being included in research or being misrepresented
• understanding of human behaviour is lesser because of failure to include different groups in research
• the generalisations made from having a certain group may not be applicable to all
• as a result failure to include people means that certain groups will miss out on the benefits of research
• failure to include such groups in research means that our understanding of human behaviour has been restricted

Question 35

AO3

Some groups have benefited from socially sensitive research

Answer 35

-Can have benefits for groups studied
-an example is homosexuality, in 1952 it was listed as a sociopathic personality disorder but was removed in 1973
-This was due to kinsey report which conducted that homosexuality is a typical expression of sexual behaviour
-This illustrates socially sensitive research can have a positive impact on the group studied
-CP:
criminal gene
-people may screen for the gene
-so when conducting such research need to look at the possible wider implications for groups

Question 36

AO3

Socially sensitive research has real world application

Answer 36

• Certain groups like policy makers relay on research related to socially sensitive issues
• government looks at research when making decisions about childcare, mental health etc
• For example research on attachment has changed rules within hospitals and institutions (maternal deprivation or bowlby monotropy)
• this has had a positive impact on children lives as they are able to form healthy relationships
• this shows how psychologist have an important role in providing good quality research

Question 37

AO3

A solution to avoid socially sensitive research is to avoid it all together

Answer 37

The reason for this is some findings have negative impacts for participants or the group being studied

• For example Rodin said research on PMS may cause employers to look at women differently thus making it harder for women to access jobs
• this means that we should be careful about the findings of socially sensitive studies when publishing them and think about the potential negative effects on certain groups
• However Sieber and Stanley argue is not a responsible approach to science and avoiding controversial topics is an avoidance of responsibility
• therefore psychologist have a duty to carry out research on some areas

Question 38

AO3

socially senstive research has negative impacts on certain groups of society

Answer 38

• IQ tests were designed to measure people’s intelligence, however, the ethnocentric nature of the tests meant that African Americans and southeastern European people had lower scores
• As a consequence, this led to assumptions that white Americans were intellectually superior,
• -in the 1920s results of this test led to eugenics driven policy of restricted immigration and forced sterilisation
• this shows how culturally biased research has detrimental effects on certain groups of people