Issues & Debate P3 Flashcards
Ethical issues - guidelines & implications
- arise because of conflict between the need for valid research findings & preserving the rights of participants
- guidelines protect participants and guide researchers
Socially sensitive research
- must be aware of the consequences for the research ppt’s in or for the group being represented by the research
e. g. Research on Long-term memory in a student population is unlikely to have consequences for individuals
Implications for the research processes
consider during all stages of the research process:
- Research questions
- dealing with participants
- the way findings are used
Research questions -Ethical issues
Sieber & Stanley explained that the phrasing of RQ’s influences how the findings are interpreted
e.g. Kitzinger and Coyle 1955 note how research into relationships has been guilty of a form of ‘heterosexual Bias’ within which homosexual relationships were compared and judged against heterosexual norms.
Dealing with participants -ethical issues
there may be issues with informed consent, confidentiality & protection from psychological harm during socially sensitive research.
-e.g. in a study on domestic abuse participants may worry that an ex-partner will find out about the study and also it is extremely stressful for participants to describe their experiences.
The ways in which findings are used - ethical issues
It may impact on what data they actually collect. This is especially important because findings from research may be seen as giving scientific credence to existing prejudices, such as studies examining the ethnic basis of intelligence.
e.g. Adrian Owens research on people in a minimally conscious state received enormous media attention as it appeared he made contact with patients who were thought to be ‘unreachable’.
Strength of SSR - benefits for group studied
The dsm-1 listed homosexuality as a sociopathic personality disorder, it was removed in 1973 due to results of the Kinsey report 1948
Kinsey report explanation …
this illustrates the importance of the researchers tackling topics which are sensitive
Kinsey Report 1948
Anonymous interviews with over 5000 men about their sexual behaviour
-concluded that homosexuality is a normal variant of human sexual behaviour
Strength for E1&SSR; policymakers rely on SSR
Gov. needs research when developing social policy related to child care, education etc..
It’s better to base such policies on scientific research rather than politically motivated views
for ex. ONS is responsible for collecting, analysing & disseminating objective statistics about the UK’s economy, society & population
this means that psychologists also have an important role in providing high quality research on socially sensitive topics
Limit of ei and ssr: poor research design may have a long term impact
e.x. Burt’s 1955 research on IQ showed it is genetic, fixed and apparent by age 11.
This led to the 11+ exam which meant not all children had the same educational opportunities.
Research later shown to be based on invented evidence but the system didn’t change & continues in parts of the UK today e.g. Belfast
Therefore any SSR needs to be planned with the greatest care to ensure the findings are valid because of the enduring effects on particular groups of ppl
The idiographic-nomothetic debate
the debate over which approach is preferable for psychologists:
- Detailed study of individuals, idiographic
- Study of larger groups with the aim of discovering norms or universal ‘principles’
Idiographic concept
provides qualitative research as ppt’s are in small numbers through interviews, questionnaires etc..
research includes others
focus on understanding the individual
example of Idiographic in psych
Roger’s concept of counselling was based on work as a therapist.
Theory was based on role of unconditional positive regard & based on the in-depth of study of his clients
ex. Freud’s explanation of phobia was based on the detailed case study of Little Hans over many years
Nomothetic concept
general principles of behaviour are developed which are then applied e.g. Therapy
produces quantitative research as hypotheses are made, uses samples & gathers data analysed for statistical significance
examples of the nomothetic approach in psych
skinner studied animals to develop the general laws of learning
sperry’s split brain researched involved repeated testing and was the basis for understanding hemispheric lateralisation
objective vs subjective
nomothetic seeks standardised methods of assesing people, ensures true replication occurs across samples-> removes the contaminating influence of bias -> objective
idiographic is subjective, as it is ppl’s individual experience of their unique context that is important
strength of idiographic-nomothetic approach is they work together
the idiographic approach uses in-depth qualitative methods which complements the nomothetic approach -> provides detail
- Case studies such as HM may reveal insights about about normal functioning which contribute to our overall understanding
- This suggests that even though the focus is on fewer individuals the idiographic approach may help to form ‘scientific’ laws of behaviour
counterpoint for strength of I&N working together
Idiographic approach alone is restricted, there’s no baseline for comparison, aswell as being unscientific & subjective
This suggests that it is difficult yo build effective general theories of human behaviour in the complete absence of nomothetic research
s of I&N is they fit with the aims of science
Nomothetic research - seeks objectivity through standardisation, control & statistical testing
Idiographic - seeks objectivity through triangulation & reflexivity
This suggests that both approaches raise psychology’s status as a science.
limit for nomothetic approach is the individual experience is lost.
nomothetic approach focuses on general laws -> can ‘lose the whole person’ within psychology
E.g. knowing about a 1% lifetime risk of schizophrenia says little about having the disorder -> useful for therapeutic ideas.
this means the nomothetic approach may sometimes fail to relate to experience.
holism -reductionism debate
debate over which position is preferable for psychology
- Holism, study the whole person
- reductionism, study component parts
Holism
makes sense to study a whole system
-the whole is greater than the sums of its parts, gestalt psychology
focuses on experiences which can’t be reduced into biological units, qualitative methods.
Reductionism
breaking into parts
based on the scientific principle of parsimony - all phenomena should be explained using the simplest levels
Levels of explanation high-low,
OCD can be understood in multiple ways:
-Socio-cultural level: behaviour most ppl regard as odd e.g. repetitive handwashing
-psychological level: the individual’s experience of having obsessive thoughts
-physical level: the sequence of movements when washing hands
-environmental/behavioural: learning experiences
-physiological : abnormal functioning in frontal lobes
-neurochemical: underproduction of serotonin
Each level is more reductionist than the one before!
Biological reductionism
suggests all behaviour can be explained through neurochemical, psychological, evolutionary/ genetic influences.
e.g. drugs which increase serotonin are used to treat OCD, -> low levels of serotonin may be a cause of OCD.
Environmental reductionism
all behaviour is acquired through interactions with the environment, e.g. Behaviourist approach.
e.g. learning theory of attachment reduces the idea of love to a learned association between the mother and food resulting in pleasure
limit for holism, it may lack practical value
holism accounts of human behaviour become hard to use as they become more complex -> practical dilemma
if many different factors contribute to depression, then it becomes difficult to know which is most influential & which to prioritise for treatment.
-> this suggests that holistic account may lack practical value
strength of reductionism, it’s scientific status
in order to conduct well-controlled research, variables need to be operationalised - target behaviours are broken down into constituent parts
this makes it impossible to conduct experiements or observations in a way that is objective & reliable
This scientific approach gives psychology greater credibility.
counterpoint of s of reductionism
Reductionist explanations at the level of the gene do not include an analysis of the context in which behaviour occurs & therefore lack meaning.
This suggests that reductionist explanations can only ever form part of an explanation.
limit of reductionism, the need for higher level explanations
there are aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context & can’t be understood in terms of the individual group members.
e.g. the standford study couldn’t be understood by observing the participants as individuals, the behaviour of the group was more important.
This shows that high level explanations provide a more valid account.
the nature-nurture debate
debate is over how much each influences characteristics
Nurture
behaviour is the product of environmental influences which are caused by interactions with our environment.
e.g. attachment can be explained as a result of o/c conditioning.
diff levels of environment:
-prenatal terms e.g. mother smoking
-post natal experiences e.g. social conditions child grow up in
Nature
innate influences on human behaviour and cognition to any characteristics determined by genes.
can be at birth or subsequently
e.g. schizophrenia is said to have a genetic component, concordance rates of 40% in mz twins, 7% in dz twins.
measuring nature & nurture
concordance - the degree too which two ppl are similar on a particular trait
heritability - proportion of differences between individuals in a population, 1%= little, 100%=large influence
heritability of IQ is 0.05 - plomin 1994
diathesis-stress model, n vs n debate
in this model behaviour is caused by a biological/environmental vulnerability - the diathesis, which is expressed when coupled with a biological environmental trigger - the stressor.
e.g. a person who inherits a genetic vulnerability for OCD may not develop the disorder. In combination with a psychological trigger this may result in the disorder appearing.
Epigenetics - n vs n debate
epigenetics is a change in genetic activity without changing the genetic code
lifestyle & events we encounter leave ‘marks’ on our DNA, switching the genes on or off. e.g. Smoking.
has a lifelong influence & can be passed on through generations
n vs n eval: N-N debate is complex
psychologists think it is now a meaningless distinction & a distraction from what is important.
Plomin -> ‘passive influence’ genetic influences on parental behaviour creates a particular environment, which children are raised in/for. e.g. parents with a genetically influenced mental illness like OCD, may create an unsettled home environmental.
this suggests that disorders like OCD, may be the result of indirect influences. Therefore demonstrates ideas that the nature affects nurture
n vs n eval: psychologists suggest that influence can operate in the other direction.
Research examining neural plasticity shows life life experiences (nurture) shapes our biology (nature).
e.g. Maguire 2000, investigated the hippocampi volume of london taxi drivers brains. He found that this region of the brain was larger in taxi drivers compared to non-taxi drivers.
Maguire concluded that driving a taxi (nurture) actually had an effect on the size of the hippocampi (nature). This provides support for life experiences shaping our biology.
n vs n eval: consider both nature and nurture, adapt an interactionist approach
e.g. diathesis-stress model suggests even though one may be born with a biological vulnerability. for example, a gene for depression the depression will only develop if there is a stressor in the environment.
Researchers found that not everyone with genes for depression will go on to develop it. This suggests that one’s nature is only expressed under certain conditions of nature.
this means that the interactionist approach has led to development of theories, which help improve understanding & treatments of physical and psychological illnesses
free will & determinism debate
is our behaviour a matter of free will or are we the product of internal and or external influences?
most approaches are determinist but disagree on causes of behaviour
free will
suggests humans are free to make choices
there are biological & environmental influences but free will implies that we will reject them
View of humanistic approach
Determinism
Hard determinism suggests that all human action has a cause & it should be possible to identify these causes.
Soft determinism - all human action has a cause but some ppl do have freedom to make choice within a restricted range of options
Biological determinism
the biological approach describes many causes e.g. the influence of the autonomic nervous system on stress.
biological psychologists recognise the mediating influence on the environment on our biological structures.
Environmental determinism
skinner described free will as an ‘illusion’ and all behaviour as the result of conditioning.
our experiences of ‘choice’ is the sum total of reinforcement contingencies which have acted upon us.
Psychic determinism
freud emphasised the influence of biological drives and unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood
‘Slip if the tongue’ - random behaviour an be exlplained by the unconscious
Casual relationships - fw vs d
every event has a cause and can be explained with general laws.
Knowledge of laws allows for predictions and control over events.
e.g. Laborotory experiments allow for research stimulate a condition whilst removing extraneous variables
Strength of free will, it’s practical value
Roberts 2000, looked at adolescents who had a strong belief in fatalism - that their lives were decided by events outisde of their control.
- > they were at a greater risk of developing depression. PPL who exhibit an internal locus of control are more likely to be optimistic.
- > this suggests that even if we do not have free will, the fact that we believe we do may have a positive impat on mind & behaviour
Limitation of free will, no supporting evidence it supports determinism
Libet 1983 asked ppt’s to randomly flick rheir wrist & say when they felt the will to move. Brain activity was measured.
The unconsious brain activity leading up to the conscious decision to move came half a second before the ppt’s conscious decision to move.
-> this may be interpreted as meaning that even or most basic experiences of free will are actually determined by our brain before we are fully aware of them.
counterpoint to no supporting evidence for FW
the fact that ppl consciously became aware of decisions milliseconds after they had begun to enact the decision still means they may have made the decision to act.
our consciousness of the decision is a ‘read-out’ of our sometimes unconscious decision-making.
-> This suggests this evidence is not appropriate as a challenge to free will
limit of determinism is the role of responsibility in law
the hard determinist stance is not consistent with thew way in which our legal system operates. In court, offenders are held responsible for their actions.
the main principle of our legal system is that the defendant exercised their free will in committing the crime.
-> this suggests that in the real world, determinist arguements do not work.
Cultural bias
a tendency to interpret all phenomena through the lens of ones own culture
ignoring the effects that cultural differences might have on behaviour
Ethnocentrism
judging other cultures by the standards & values of one’s own culture
extreme form is the belief in the superiority of one’s own culture which can lead to prejudice to others cultures
Cultural relativism
the idea that norms & values as well as ethics & moral standards can only be meaningful & understood within specific social and cultural contexts.
Universality & Bias
As psychologists can only see through the subjective lens of their own culture, their beliefs and values are constructed around their experiences & behaviours, which are influenced by their cultures.
Universality & Bias
As psychologists can only see through the subjective lens of their own culture, their beliefs and values are constructed around their experiences & behaviours, which are influenced by their cultures.
Examples of Universality & Bias
Ex 1. An American psychologists from an individualistic culture will view self-actualisation as good & fulfilling whereas an Indian psychologist from a collectivist culture may vie self-actualisation as greedy & selfish
Joseph Henrich 2010 study
Study:
reviewed hundreds of studies in leading psychology journals
68% came from the US, 96% came from industrialised industries.
These findings suggest that we know about human behaviour has a strong cultural bias.
WIERD & non-WIERD - cultural bias
Henrich came up with WIERD to describe the group of people most likely to be studied
Westernised, Educated people from Industrialised, Rich democracies
As norms for behaviour is set by WIERD PPL the behaviour of ppl from non-westernised, less educated, agricultural/ poorer cultures is seen as ‘abnormal’ and ‘inferior’
example of ethnocentrism, Ainsworth & Bells 1970 strange situation
criticised as reflecting only the norms and values of ‘western’ culture.
study was conducted on attachment types, suggesting that ‘ideal’ attachment was characterised by babies showing moderate amounts of distress when left alone by mother-figure.
led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practices in other countries as they were seen to deviate from the American ‘norm’.
Ethnocentrism, confounding research for Ainsworth - Takahashi 1986
Japanese infants were more likely to be classed as insecurely attached as they showed considerably less distress on separation
most likely because Japanese babies are rarely separated from their mother
John berry 1969 distinction between etic & emic approaches in study of human behaviour
Etic approaches - look at behaviour from an outside of a given culture, attempting to describe those behaviours are universal
Emic approaches - looks at behaviour from inside a culture, identifying behaviours which are specific to that culture.
Ainsworths strange situation is an example of imposed etic approach, studied behaviour inside one culture and assumed attachment type can be applied universally.
Berry argues that psychology has been guilty of an imposed etic approach
arguing that theories. models and concepts are universal, when they came about through emic research inside a single culture.
->this suggestion is that psychologists should be more mindful of cultural relativism of their research & by being able to recognise this is a method to avoid cultural bias in research.
limit is that classic studies like Asch’s conformity study are culturally biased
(Smith & Bond 1993) Asch’s & Milgram’s original studies were conducted with white-middle class US ppt’s. Replications of these studies in different countries produced different results.
- > Asch type experiments in collectivist cultures found significantly higher rates of conformity than original studies in the US, an individualistic culture.
- > this suggests that our understanding of topics such as social influence should only be applied to individualistic cultures
strength is the emergence of cultural psychology
cultural psychology is the study of how ppl shape & are shaped by their cultural experience. (Cohen 2017) It is an emerging field - emic approach.
R is conducted from inside a culture often alongside local researchers using culturally-based techniques.
fewer cultures are considered when comparing differences.
-> this suggests that modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias & are taking steps to avoid it.
limit is ethnic stereotyping
Gould 1981 explained how the first intelligence tests led to eugenic social policies in America. During WW1 psychologists gave IQ tests to 1.75 million army recruits.
Many test items were ethnocentric so recruits from south eastern Europe and africans-americans scored lowest & were deemed genetically inferior.
-> this illustrates how cultural bias can be used to justify prejudice & discrimination towards ethnic & cultural groups.
Universality
any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite different experience & upbringing
Bias
leaning towards a personal view that doesn’t reflect reality
Gender bias
a view that doesn’t justifiably represent the experience & behaviour of men and woman
Androcentrism
Male centered views
when normal behaviour is judged according to a male standard
female behaviour is seen as abnormal
Alpha bias
research that focuses on the differences between w & m
exaggerates the differences
more likely to devalue women in relation to men but can heighten their value
Beta Bias
research that focuses on similarities between M & W
minimises the differences
occurs when female ppt’s aren’t included in experiment, assumes findings apply apply equally to both sexes
example of alpha bias, Freuds psychosexual development theory
During the phallic stage boys & girls develop a desire for their opposite-gender parent. In a boy this creates strong castration anxiety - fear that his dad will cut his penis off, resolved when the boy identifies with his father.
Unlike a girls eventual identification with her same-gender parent is weaker meaning that her superego is weaker, therefore girls are morally inferior to boys.
Nancy Chodorow 1968 - psychodynamic approach favours women
she suggested that daughters & mothers have a greater connectedness than sons 7 mothers due to the biological similarities.
-> women develop better abilities to bond with others & emphasise
example of the beta bias
early research into fight or flight was based on male animals (female hormones fluctuate) fight or flight was assumed to be a universal response to threat. Ignoring any differences.
Taylor 2000 - confounding research for beta bias, fight or flight
she suggested that females exhibit a tend & befriend response governed by the hormone oxytocin which is more plentiful is women & reduces the fight or flight response.
evolved from caring for young
implications of beta bias
-> illustrating how research which minimises gender differences may misrepresent women’s behaviour, ex for men is research on attachment which suggests that emotional care is provided solely by mothers.
examples of androcentrism - male dominated psychology
the american psychologists association published a list of 100 of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, it only included 6 women.
-> Therefore suggesting that psychology has traditionally been a subject produced by men, for men & about men -‘The Androcentric perspective’
examples of androcentrism - Premenstrual syndrome
Women’s behaviour has been misunderstood & pathologised - taken as signs of illness.
Brescoll & Uhlmann 2008, Feminists objected to the diagnostic category Premenstrual syndrome, on the grounds that is medicalises womens emotions like anger, explaining these in hormonal terms whereas men’s anger is seen as a rational response to external pressures.
limit of gender differences is that they are fixed & enduring
Maccoby & Jacklin 1974, concluded that girls have better verbal ability and boys better spatial ability - due to hard wired biological brain differences.
- > Joel 2015, used brain scanning & found no such gender differences
- > this suggests that we should be wary of accepting research as biological facts when it might be better explained as social stereotypes.
limit is that gender bias promotes sexism in the research process
Women are underrepresented in university departments, Murphy 2014, research is more likely to be conducted by males which disadvantages females.
- > e.g. a male researcher may expect female ppt’s to be irrational & unable to complete complex tasks, Nicolson 1995, which means they may underperform.
- > this means that the institutional structures & methods of psychology may produce findings that are gender biased.
limit is research challenging bias may not be published
Fermanowicz 2018, analysed 100 articles relating to gender bias - such research is funded less often & is published by less prestigious journals. This still held true when gender bias was compared to ethnic bias, when other factors were controlled.
-> this suggests that gender bias in psychological research may not be taken as seriously as other forms of bias.
