Issues and Debates L4 - 7 Flashcards
Determinism:
Idea that traits and behaviours are outside of our control due to either internal or external factors that we have no control over
Hard determinism (fatalism):
View that internal and external forces are outside of our conttol
What are the 3 types of hard determinism?
- Biological determinism
- Environmental determinism
- Psychic determinism
Biological determinism:
Idea that all human behaviour is innate and determined by genes
Environmental determinism: (2)
- Idea that behaviour is determined by forces outside the individual
- Behaviour is caused by previous experience learnt through classical/operant conditioning
Psychic determinism:
- Idea that traits and behaviours are governed by unconscious instincts and drives
- Cause of behaviour rooted in childhood experiences
Give one example of a theory that shows psychic determinism:
Internal working model, where future relationships are based on childhood attachment type
Soft determinism and who was the first to come up with this:
- James (1980)
- Behaviour is constrained by environmental or biological make-up but only to a certain extent
Which approach did soft determinism become an important aspect of?
Cognitive approach
Which 3 approaches did hard determinism become an important aspect of?
- Psychic
- Biological
- Behavioural
Free will:
- Individuals are free to choose their behaviour and are self-determined
- Does not deny influence of biology and environment
Which approach advocates for free will and why?
- Humanistic approach
- Without self-determination, self-actualisation is not possible
Strengths and weaknesses of free will in an approach: (+3, -1)
+ Face validity –> everyday experiences seem like we are constantly exercising free will
+ Research support for locus of control (Rotter)
+ Application to legal system –> all citizens responsible for actions at age of 10 onwards
- Neurological counter evidence –> Siong Soon et al (2008)
How does research support for locus of control show the existence of free will?
- Rotter says that those who have an internal locus of control believe that they can change their behaviour
- There has been research supporting this, which shows the existence of free will
Siong Soon et al (2008):
- Researchers found that decision to press a button w/ either left or right hand was made in the brain 10 secs before pp was aware they had chosen
- Shows decisions are determined
Strengths and weaknesses of determinism in an approach: (+2, -2)
+ Consistent w/ aims of science - -> notion that human behaviour obeys laws
+ Value of schizophrenic research –> psychotic disorder where they cannot exercise free will, therefore example of biological determinism
- Inconsistent w/ legal system
- Not always falsifiable as causes of behaviour have not yet been found
Environment:
Everything outside the body
Heredity:
Process by which traits are passed down genetically from one gen to next
Interactionist approach:
Idea that biology and environment work together to determine behaviour
Nature:
View that behaviour is the product of innate biological/genetic factors
Nurture:
View that behaviour is product of environmental influences
Nature-nurture debate:
Comparison of relative contributions of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human behaviour
Nativist position:
Assumption that characteristics of human species are a product of evolution and individual differences are the result of each person’s unique genetic code
Give the name of one nativist and what he argued:
- Rene Descarte
- All human characteristics and even some aspects of knowledge are innate
Give two example of the nature argument in psychology:
- Family, twin and adoption studies
- Gottesman and Shields (1991) pooled results of around 40 family studies and found risk increases to 46% for those w/ 2 schizophrenic parents
- Evolutionary explanation
How do nativists regard characteristics that are not observable at birth but emerge later on in life? (2)
- Product of maturation
- Certain behaviours are switched on and off in a pre-programmed way
What view do environmentalists have and who first proposed this? (2)
- Assumption that human mind is tabula rasa (blank slate) and is gradually filled as a result of experience
- Individual differences are as the result of learning
- John Locke
Strengths and weaknesses of nature-nurture debate: (+4,-1)
+ Interactionist approach –> Genetic disorder PKU
+ Epigenetics –> Dias and Ressler (2014)
+ Supports neural plasticity –> Maguire et al (2000)
+ Nature and nurture interact in various ways –> Plomin et al (1977)
- Implications of nativism and empiricism
How does the interactionist approach support both nature and nurture through the genetic disorder of PKU?
- PKU happens as a result of 2 recessive genes, one from each parent (nature)
- If child is diagnosed early, they can be placed on low protein diet for first 12 years to help avert the disorder (nurture)
Epigenetics:
Change in genetic activity without changing the genetic code, as a result of our interaction with the environment
How does epigenetics work? (3)
- Aspects of our lifestyle and events encountered leave epigenetic marks on DNA
- The marks tell our bodies which genes to ignore
- This may later influence the genetic codes of following generations
Dias and Ressler (2014):
- Gave male lab mice electric shocks every time they were exposed to acetophenone (chemical used in perfume)
- As a result, mice showed fear reaction when the scent came
- Offspring also showed fear of scent as well
Maguire et al (2000):
- Studied London taxi drivers to discover whether changes in brain could be detected as a result of environment of spatial navigation
- Using MRI scanner, researchers calculated amount of grey matter in taxi driver brains and compared this to set of control pps
- Found front part of hippocampus was larger + positively correlated to how long they had spent driving taxis
Plomin et al (1977): (3)
- References active gene-environment interaction, where a child’s heritable traits influence their choice of environment (known as nichepicking)
- Eg. aggressive child chooses to watch violent films
- Influence increases w/ age
What implications does nativism have?
- Controversy in linking race, genetics and intelligence
- Application of eugenics policy
What implication does empiricism have?
Suggests that we do not have free will and are just controlled by the environment
Biological reductionism:
Reduction of behaviours to a physical level and its explanation in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters etc
Environmental reductionism:
All behaviour can be reduced to stimulus response associations and complex behaviours are a result of a serious of SR chains
Holism:
Idea that human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience and not as separate parts
Levels of explanations:
Explanations vary from those at a lower, fundamental level to those at a higher more holistic, multivariable level
Parsimony:
Idea that complex behaviour should be explained in simplest terms possible
Reductionism:
Belief that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts
What types of psychology adopts a holistic approach? (2)
- Gestalt psychology –> when we perceive something in real world, we do so as a whole rather than separate parts
- Some cognitive psychologists
- Humanistic approach
Which phenomenon in real life demonstrates holism and why?
- Visual illusions
- Show that brain perceives more than sum of sensations on retina
How is humanistic psychology holistic?
Humans react to stimuli as an organised whole rather than a set of stimuli response links
What idea is reductionism based on?
- Parsimony/ Occam’s Razor
- That one should not make unnecessary assumptions and the answer to a problem is often the simplest
Describe the levels of explanation:
- Lowest level focuses on physiological factors (biological reductionism)
- Highest level focuses on sociocultural factors eg values, customs (social and cultural)
- Between these are behavioural, cognitive and social explanations (psychological)
If the levels of explanation had to be ordered from lowest to highest in terms of approaches what would it be?
- Biological (biological reductionism)
- Behaviourist (environmental reductionism)
- Cognitive (machine reductionism)
- Psychodynamic
- Humanistic
- Interactionist (holistic)
Example of biological reductionism:
- Billett (1998)
- Meta-analysis of 14 twin studies that OCD is 2x more likely to be concordant with MZ twins than DZ twins
Example of environmental reductionism:
Caregiver becomes conditioned stimulus leading to conditioned response of pleasure from child, which results in an attachment
Strengths of reductionism: (+2)
+ Scientists drawn to reductionist explanations
+ Both biological and behaviourist explanations are seen as scientific, leading to effective treatments
Why are scientists drawn to reductionist explanations, although what is one weakness of this?
- Experimental psychology
- Easier to organise experiments and interpret findings
- Highly controlled lab studies can lead to demand characteristics
Weaknesses of reductionism: (-1)
- Biological reductionism ignores complexity of human behaviour
Strengths of holism: (+2)
+ Aspects of social behaviour that can only emerge within a grp context eg conformity
+ Complete and realistic understanding of human behaviour
Weaknesses of holism: (-3)
- Does not lend itself to rigorous scientific testing eg humanistic approach failure to function
- Do not establish causation because behaviour is not examined in terms of operationalised variables
- Difficult to decide upon treatment because it is influenced by multiple factors
Idiographic approach:
Focuses on individual and emphasises unique personal experience of human nature
Nomothetic approach:
Concerned with establishing general laws by making inferences about wider pop
Give examples of research methods psychologists with an idiographic approach would prefer:
- Qualitative RM
- Examples: unstructured interview, case study, thematic analysis
Give two examples of case studies significant to a theory:
- K.F had a severely impaired STM for verbal info only, not visual
- Supports at least 2 slave systems (phonological loop + visuo-spatial sketchpad), undermining MSM
- Little Hans for psychodynamic approach
Strength and weaknesses of idiographic approach: (+1, -3)
+ Provides complete and global account of individual, which challenges/supports laws and principles suggested by nomothetic approach and psychological theories
- Unable to produce general laws abt human behaviour, which severely limits diagnoses and treatments
- Unscientific
- RM usually quite time-consuming
Give examples of research methods psychologists with a nomothetic approach would prefer:
- Quantitative RM
- Examples: experiments, correlations
Give 2 examples of approaches and topics that take the nomothetic approach:
- Biological psychology: OCD, depression
- Cognitive psychology: MSM theory
- Behavioural psychology: Classical conditioning
Strengths and weaknesses of nomothetic approach:
+ Reliable and scientific –> quantitative methods
+ Good for predicting behaviour
- Problem of generalisation
- Loses sight of importance of person
- Predictions can only be made on grps not individuals –> Allport
- Nomothetic and idiographic distinction is futile –> Holt (1967)
Give one example of the problem of generalisation in a nomothetic approach: (3)
- When treating patients with depression, they are often given anti-depressants
- Not necessarily successful for all patients
- Idiographic CBT may work better
Give one example of research that shows how the nomothetic approach can lose sight of the person:
- Milgram’s research showed 65% of pps obeyed authority fig
- Did not explain why each person obeyed –> may have been different circumstances that led to this
What did Allport say about the idiographic approach?
It is only by understanding an individual that we can make accurate predictions of behaviour
Why does Holt (1967) say that the distinction between idiographic and nomothetic approach is futile?
- Most approaches combine both nomothetic and idiographic approaches
- eg cognitive psychology where you have theories like WMM but it is also based on case studies like KF
