Issues and Debates: Glossary

Question 1

Define universality

Answer 1

Any underlying characteristics of human beings is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing. Gender bias and culture bias threaten the universality of the findings in psychology.

Question 2

Define gender bias

Answer 2

When considering human behaviour, bias is a tendency to treat one individual or group in a different way from others. In the context of gender bias, psychological research or theory may offer a view does not justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of men or women.

Question 3

Define androcentrism

Answer 3

Male-centered; when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard (meaning that female behaviour is often judged to be ‘abnormal’ or ‘deficient’ by comparison).

Question 4

Define alpha bias

Answer 4

Psychological theories that suggest there are real and enduring differences between men and women. These may enhance or undervalue members of either sex, but typically undervalue females.

Question 5

Define beta bias

Answer 5

Theories that ignore or minimise differences between the sexes.

Question 6

Define cultural bias

Answer 6

Refers to a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture.

Question 7

Define ethnocentrism

Answer 7

Judging other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own culture. In its extreme form it is the belief in the superiority of one’s own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination toward other cultures.

Question 8

Define cultural relativism

Answer 8

The idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.

Question 9

Define free will

Answer 9

The notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces.

Question 10

Define determinism

Answer 10

The view that an individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individual’s will to do something.

Question 11

Define hard determinism

Answer 11

Implies that free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by internal or external events beyond our control.

Question 12

Define soft determinism

Answer 12

All events, including human behaviour, have causes, but behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion. In contrast with hard determinism.

Question 13

Define biological determinism

Answer 13

The belief that behaviour is caused by biological (genetic, hormonal, evolutionary) influences that we cannot control.

Question 14

Define environmental determinism

Answer 14

The belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment (systems of reward and punishment) that we cannot control.

Question 15

Define psychic determinism

Answer 15

The belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control.

Question 16

Define the nature nurture debate

Answer 16

Concerned with the extent to which aspects of behaviour are a product of inherited or acquired characteristics.

Question 17

Define hereditory

Answer 17

The genetic transmission of mental and physical characteristics from one generation to another.

Question 18

Define environment

Answer 18

Any influence on human behaviour that is non genetic. This may range from prenatal influences in the womb through to cultural and historical influences at a societal level.

Question 19

Define the interactionist approach

Answer 19

The idea that nature and nurture are linked to such an extent that it does not make sense to separate the two, so researchers instead study how they interact and influence each other.

Question 20

Define holism

Answer 20

An argument or theory which proposes that it only makes sense to study an invisible system rather than its constituent parts.

Question 21

Define reductionist

Answer 21

The belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts.

Question 22

Define biological reductionism

Answer 22

A form of reductionism which attempts to explain social and psychological phenomena at a lower biological level (in terms of the actions of genes, hormones etc).

Question 23

Define environmental reductionism

Answer 23

The attempt to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience.

Question 24

Define idiographic approach

Answer 24

Derived from the Greek ‘idios’ meaning ‘private or personal’. An approach to research that focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour, rather than aiming to formulate general laws of behaviour (nomothetic approach).

Question 25

Define nomothetic approach

Answer 25

Derived from the Greek ‘nomos’ meaning ‘law’. The nomothetic approach attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws.

Question 26

Define ethical implications

Answer 26

The impact that psychological research may have in terms of the rights of other people especially participants. This includes, at a societal level, influencing public policy and/or the way in which certain groups of people are regarded.

Question 27

Define social sensitivity

Answer 27

Studies in which there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research.