Issues & Debates

Question 1

What is gender bias?

Answer 1

views are distorted as gender is presented in a biased way - males and females treated differently based on stereotypes instead of real differences

Question 2

What is alpha bias?

Answer 2

where differences between men and women are recognised

Question 3

What is beta bias?

Answer 3

where the differences between men and women are ignored (can lead to an androcentric view of behaviour)

Question 4

What is culture bias?

Answer 4

judging people in terms of ones own cultural assumptions

Question 5

What is androcentrism?

Answer 5

describes situations or societies that are controlled by a male perspective and do not include female on

Question 6

What is universality?

Answer 6

a theory that can be applied to all people regardless of race, gender, culture etc

Question 7

What is ethnocentrism?

Answer 7

the belief that ones own society, group or culture is superior to all others and any differences are seen as bad

Question 8

What is cultural relativism?

Answer 8

the principle that beliefs and behaviours must be considered in terms of their culture

Question 9

What is determinism?

Answer 9

everything that happens is the only possible outcome, it is inevitable

Question 10

What is hard determinism?

Answer 10

forces outside of our control shape our behaviour and that is incompatible with free will

Question 11

What is soft determinism?

Answer 11

behaviour is constrained by the environment or biological makeup, but only to a certain extent

Question 12

What is biological determinism?

Answer 12

all human behaviour is innate and determined by our genetic makeup

Question 13

What is environmental determinism?

Answer 13

behaviour is determined by the physical environment rather than social conditions - humans are defined by stimulus/response behaviour

Question 14

What is psychic determinism?

Answer 14

human behaviour is the result of childhood experiences and innate drives (ID, superego, ego) - mental process are determined by the unconscious and are not spontaneous

Question 15

Describe the interactionist approach

Answer 15

an approach which looks at both nature and nurture in shaping human behaviour - looks at bodily behaviours and environmental contexts rather than mental processes

Question 16

What is holism?

Answer 16

any approach that emphasises the whole rather than their constituent parts

Question 17

What is reductionism?

Answer 17

a theory that seems to over simplify human behaviour or cognitive processes and ignores the complexity of the mind

Question 18

What is biological reductionism?

Answer 18

a theory that analyses the simplest most basic physical mechanisms that are in operation

Question 19

What is environmental reductionism?

Answer 19

(stimulus-responce reductionism) - explains behaviour in terms of simple environmental factors

Question 20

Describe social sensitivity

Answer 20

the extent to which an individual can identify, perceive and understand cues and contexts in a social situation/interaction and be socially respective to others

Question 21

What is the idiographic approach

Answer 21

looks at each individual and their characteristics with the belief that they are unique

Question 22

What is the nomothetic approach

Answer 22

universal traits can be generalised to large amounts and types of people

Question 23

How is the idiographic approach useful?

Answer 23

• gives rich, detailed and unique insights into behaviour

Question 24

How is the nomothetic approach useful?

Answer 24

• objective/scientific
• data collected can be categorised and so general rules are made
• can be used to make predictions about behaviour

Question 25

Give limitations of using the idiographic approach

Answer 25

• laws cannot be made and so not generalisable
• provides qualitative not quantitative data and so behaviour cannot be categorised
• non-scientific
• unable to make predictions about behaviour

Question 26

Give limitations of using the nomothetic approach

Answer 26

• predictions can be made about groups but this may not apply to individuals due to differences
• gives only a superficial understanding and doesn’t look at how people act in the same way for different reasons
• most studies conducted in a lab - lack of ecological validity