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Psychology > Issues and debates in Psychology > Flashcards

Issues and debates in Psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

Gender bias/culture bias - what is universality? (2)

A
  • The aim to develop theories that apply to all people, which may include real differences
  • This describes any underlying characteristic of human behaviour which can be applied to all individuals, regardless of their differences
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2
Q

Gender bias/culture bias - what is bias?

A

A leaning towards a personal view that doesn’t reflect reality

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3
Q

What is gender bias?

A

The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real difference

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4
Q

What two forms does gender bias come in?

A

Alpha bias and beta bias

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5
Q

What is alpha bias?
Give an example of alpha bias

A
  • Research that focuses on differences between men and women, and therefore tends to present a view that exaggerates these differences
  • Freud’s theory of psychosexual development - phallic stage, both boys and girls develop a desire for their opposite-gender parent. Boys - creates a very strong sense of castration anxiety. The anxiety is resolved when the boy identifies with his father. Girls’ identification with her mother is weaker, Superego is weaker, and so women are morally inferior to men
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6
Q

What is beta bias?
Give an example of beta bias

A
  • Research that focuses on similarities between men and women, and therefore tends to present a view that ignores or minimises differences
  • Research on the fight or flight response - biological research has generally favoured using male animals because female behaviour is affected by regular hormonal changes due to ovulation. This ignores any possible differences and it assumes that both males and females respond to threatening situations with fight or flight
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7
Q

Alpha bias and beta bias are consequences of what?

A

Androcentrism

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8
Q

What is androcentrism?
Give an example of androcentrism

A
  • Taking male thinking/behaviour as normal and regarding female thinking/behaviour as deviant, inferior, abnormal, or ‘other’ when it is different
  • PMS has been criticised as being a social construction which trivialises female emotion, particularly anger. On the other hand, male anger is seen as a logical response to external pressures
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9
Q

Implications of gender bias (2)

A
  • Can validate stereotypes and discrimination -maternity/paternity leave
  • May justify denying women of opportunities - because of PMS
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10
Q

What is cultural bias?

A

A tendency to interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture, ignoring the effects that cultural differences might have on behaviour

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11
Q

What is ethnocentrism?
Give an example of ethnocentrism

A
  • 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 towards other cultures
  • Strange situation - reflected American norms, the ideal attachment involved the infant showing some distress when separated from the mother, German mothers were often seen as cold and rejecting because they did not fit this ‘ideal’
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12
Q

What is cultural relativism?

A

To view a person’s culture from the perspective of someone within that culture, rather than your own

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13
Q

What are etic and emic approaches?
Looks
Functions

A

Etic - looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal
Emic - functions from inside a culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture

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14
Q

What is an imposed etic?
Give an example of an imposed etic

A

When a culture specific idea is wrongly imposed on another culture
Strange situation - Ainsworth and Bell studied behaviour inside one culture (America) and then assumed their ideal attachment type and the method for assessing it could be applied universally

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15
Q

Suggest two ways in which researchers might reduce cultural bias in their research

A
  • Use cross-cultural research
  • Use an emic approach
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16
Q

What is free will? (2)

A
  • The notion that humans can make choices and their behaviour/thoughts are not determined by biological or external forces
  • These forces may have some influence but ultimately we have the control to reject them
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17
Q

What is determinism?

A

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

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18
Q

What is hard determinism?

A

The view that all behaviour is caused by internal or external factors, so free will is an illusion

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19
Q

What is soft determinism?

A

The view that behaviour may be predictable (caused by internal/external factors) but there is also room for personal choice from a limited range of possibilities

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20
Q

What are the three types of determinism?

A
  • Biological determinism
  • Environmental determinism
  • Psychic determinism
21
Q

What is biological determinism?

A

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

22
Q

What is environmental determinism?

A

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

23
Q

What is psychic determinism?

A

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

24
Q

Explain the scientific emphasis on causal explanations (4)

A
  • Scientific research is based on the belief that all
    events have a cause
  • An independent variable is manipulated to have an effect on the dependent variable
  • Through repeating the research under controlled conditions and performing statistical tests, a ‘cause and effect’ relationship can be established between two variables.
  • This increases the scientific credibility of Psychology, through enabling the prediction and control of behaviour
25
Q

Describe the nature-nurture debate

A

The argument as to whether a person’s development is mainly due to their genes or to environmental influences

26
Q

Describe the nature part of the debate (2)

A
  • Psychological characteristics are determined by biological factors
  • Early nativist Descartes - all human characteristics are innate
27
Q

The nature-nurture debate - measuring nature and nurture

A
  • Concordance rates - describe the degree to which two people are similar on a particular trait
  • Heritability coefficient looks at to what extent a characteristic has a genetic basis
28
Q

Describe the nurture part of the debate (2)

A
  • Characteristics are a result of our environment - e.g. the mother’s state during pregnancy and cultural, historical, social etc conditions we grow up in
  • Empiricists - we are born a blank slate, learning and experience molds us
29
Q

The nature-nurture debate - describe the interactionist approach

A

The processes of nature and nurture work together rather than in opposition. They are linked in such a way that it does not make sense to separate the influences of the two

30
Q

The nature-nurture debate - what is the diathesis-stress model?

A

Behaviour is caused by a biological or environmental vulnerability which is only expressed when coupled with a biological or environmental stressor

31
Q

The nature-nurture debate - what are epigenetics? (3)

A
  • Refers to a change in our genetic activity without changing the genes themselves
  • It is a process that happens throughout life and is caused by interaction with the environment
  • Epigenetic changes may go on and influence the genetic codes of our children
32
Q

Describe the genetic condition PKU - interactionist approach (4)

A
  • Unable to break down a specific protein
  • Can lead to brain damage if protein is eaten
  • If detected from a young age specific low-protein diet means development is normal
  • Cannot distinguish between nature and nurture - we cannot say one alone is responsible for the brain damage
33
Q

What is holism?

A

A type of learning approach that suggests that to understand human behaviour we must look at the human as a whole

34
Q

What is reductionism?

A

The belief that human behaviour is best understood by studying the smaller constituent parts

35
Q

Reductionism - What are the levels of explanation?

A

The idea that there are several ways that can be used to explain behaviour - each level is more reductionist than the one before. The lowest level considers physiological/biological explanations, the middle level considers psychological explanations and the highest level considers social and cultural explanations

36
Q

Describe what each level of explanation explains (6)

A

Socio-cultural level (influence of where and how we live)
Psychological level
Physical level
Environmental/behavioural level
Physiological level
Neurochemical level

37
Q

What is biological reductionism?

A

The attempt to explain behaviour at the lowest biological level (in terms of the actions of the genes, hormones etc.)

38
Q

What is environmental reductionism?

A

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

39
Q

What is the idiographic-nomothetic debate?

A

This debate weighs up the relative merits of studying people in general (nomothetic) or the individual (idiographic)

40
Q

What is an idiographic approach?

A

We should focus on the unique experiences of each individual to explain human behaviour. No general laws are possible because of chance, free will and uniqueness

41
Q

What is a nomothetic approach?

A

We should establish general laws of behaviour that can be applied to all people to understand human behaviour. People can be compared, classified and measured, and future behaviour can be predicted and controlled

42
Q

Give an example of the idiographic approach

A

Freud’s explanation of phobias was based on the detailed case study of Little Hans over many years

43
Q

Give an example of the nomothetic approach

A

Behaviourist approach - Skinner studied animals to develop the general laws of learning

44
Q

Idiographic and nomothetic - objective versus subjective

A

Nomothetic - seeks standardised methods of assessing people. This ensures true replication occurs across samples of behaviour and removes the influence of bias
Idiographic - tends not to believe that objectivity is possible in psychological research. It is people’s individual experience of their unique context that is important

45
Q

What are ethical implications?

A

consider the impact or consequences that psychological research has on the rights of other people in a wider context, not just the participants taking part in the research

46
Q

Ethical implications - ethical guidelines

A
  • Ethical guidelines were developed to protect those involved in the research
  • However, researchers have little control over how their findings are interpreted and represented in the media
47
Q

What is socially- sensitive research?

A

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 e.g. studies that tackle “taboo” topics, such as aspects of race or sexuality

48
Q

Ethical implications - implications for the research process (4)

A
  • Consequences should be considered at all stages of the research process
  • The phrasing of the research question influences how the findings are interpreted
  • Dealing with participants - issues such as informed consent, confidentiality and psychological harm may be especially important in SSR
  • The way findings are used - need to consider in advance how findings might be used, especially because findings may give scientific credence to prejudices
49
Q

Give an example of socially-sensitive research

A

Bowlby’s research - advisor to the World Health Organisation in the 1950s, following his theory that the critical period for attachment formation with the primary caregiver was the first 2 years of life, and maternal deprivation during this time could have severe emotional and intellectual consequences, Britain became one of the only countries in the EU not offering free childcare for children under the age of 5

Psychology (12 decks)

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