Issues and Debates Key Words Flashcards
Universality
Any underlying characteristics of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing. Gender and culture bias threaten the universality of findings in Pyschology
Gender bias
Psychological research may offer a view that does not justifiabily represent the experience and behaviour of men and women
Andocentrism
Male-centred; when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged accordingly to a male standard (meaning female behaviour is judged as abnormal)
Alpha bias
Psychological theories that suggest there are real and enduring differences between men and women
Beta bias
Theories that ignore or minimise differences between the sexes
Cultural bias
Refers to a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the lens of one’s own culture
Ethnoentrism
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
Cultural relativism
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
Free will
The notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces
Determinism
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
Hard determinism
Implies that free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by internal or external events beyond our control
Soft determinsm
All events, including human behaviour, have causes, but behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion
Biological determinsm
The belief that behaviour is caused by biological influences that we cannot control (genetic, hormonal, evolutionary)
Environmental determinsm
The belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment that we cannot control (rewards and punishment)
Psychic determinism
The belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control
The nature-nurture debate
Concerned with the extent to which aspects of behaviour are a product of inherited or acquired charcteristics
Heredity
The genetic transmission of mental and physical characteristics from one generation to another
Environment
Any influence on human behaviour that is non-genetic.
The interactionist approach
The idea that nature and nurture are linked to such an extent that it makes no sense to separate the two, so researchers study how they influence each other
Holism
An argument which proposes that it only makes sense to study an indivisible system rather than its constituent parts
Reductionism
The belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller parts
Biological reductionism
Attempts to explain social and psychological phenomena at a lower biological level (genes and hormones)
Environmental reductionism
The attempt to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience
Idiographic approach
Focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour rather than aiming to formulate general laws of behaviour
Nomothetic approach
Attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws
Ethical implications
The impact that psychological research may have in terms of the rights of participants.
Socially sensitive research
Studies that have potential consequences either for the participants or the class of individuals represented in the research - Sieber and Stanley
