P3 Section A (Issues and Debates)

Question 1

Fatalism

Answer 1

Fatalism is the Belief that life is determined by things outside of our control

Question 2

Social Learning Theory

Answer 2

social learning theory is the approach that states Behaviour is determined by the environment but we cognitively choose which behaviours to store and imitate

Question 3

Reductionism

Answer 3

Reductionism is breaking down behaviour into constituent parts based upon principle of parsimony

Question 4

Parsimony

Answer 4

Principle of Parsimony is all behaviour should be explained using basic principles

Question 5

Holism

Answer 5

Holism is analysing person and behaviour as a whole

Question 6

Holistic

Answer 6

Holistic means Many factors contribute to behaviour

Question 7

what does Biological Reductionism say?

Answer 7

Biological reductionism says we are biological organisms made up of psychological structures and processes, thus, all behaviours can be scientifically explained.

Question 8

Pro of Biological Reductionism

Answer 8

a pro biological reductionism is that it allows for successful treatments like research on influence of psychoactive drugs leading to medicine for OCD and its very scientific as it uses neurochemical and genetic data

Question 9

Pros of holism

Answer 9

a pro of holism is that it recognises that humans are complex beings

Question 10

cons of holism

Answer 10

cons of holism are that it is often hard to analyse causes and effects when there are so many variables being considered, and they often fail to identify single causes for behaviour and also research is often speculative and vague since rigorous scientific testing isn’t used

Question 11

People who side with nature

Answer 11

people who argue for nature are nativists

Question 12

people who Nurture argument

Answer 12

people who argue for nurture and empiricists

Question 13

How do twin studies support nature

Answer 13

Twin studies support nature as monozygotic twins are genetically identical, dizygotic twins only share 50% of same genes which makes the heritability coefficient in IQ of MZ twins 0.5 whereas DZ is lower so genetics must be important.

Question 14

Heritability coefficient

Answer 14

Heritability coefficient is numerical figure 0-1 that assesses hereditary

Question 15

Pros of twin studies

Answer 15

twin studies use heritability coefficient which is scientific

Question 16

Cons of twin studies

Answer 16

monozygotic twins may just have shared upbringing as they are very similar so are treated the same and therefore high concordance rate

Question 17

what is the nurture argument

Answer 17

nurture argues that we learn by association and behaviours are a response to an environmental stimulus

Question 18

interactionist approach

Answer 18

interactionist approach suggests both genes and environment effect behaviour.

Question 19

example of interactionism taking place

Answer 19

example of interactionism taking place iS intelligence as interactionist approach argues we have a genetic predisposition to attain a certain level of intelligence and this is either reached if the environment is ideal or not reached due to environmental factors like education, diet or brain injuries

Question 20

epigenetics

Answer 20

epigenetics is the study of changes in genetic activity caused by interaction with the environment without changing the genetic coding like smoking and pollution and can cause epigenetic mark on DNA

Question 21

how did Dias and Ressler (2014) show inheritance of environmental factors

Answer 21

Dias and Ressler (2014) showed inheritance of environmental factors as they gave electric shocks when male lab mice smelled acetone which then caused a fear reaction and then the mice offspring also feared the same smell even though they weren’t exposed to it

Question 22

nature argument.

Answer 22

genes determine behaviour

Question 23

how do empiricists argue in favour of the nurture argument.

Answer 23

empiricists argue for the nurture argument by suggesting any behaviour can be changed by altering environmental conditions

Question 24

what is constructivism

Answer 24

constructivism is idea that people will create their own nurture by selecting environments to fit their nature like an aggressive person will choose to be around similar behaviours.

Question 25

what Plomin (1994) say about constructivism

Answer 25

Plomin (19949 called constructivism niche picking

Question 26

what does the idiographic approach focus on

Answer 26

the idiographic approach focuses on the individual and their subjective experiences, motivations and values

Question 27

methods used in idiographic approach

Answer 27

methods used n idiographic approach are case studies, interview and self report measures as they gain insight to particular individual unique views

Question 28

example of idiographic approach

Answer 28

example of idiographic perspective is humanistic psychology by Rogers and Maslow who took a phenomenological approach

Question 29

carl rogers and abraham maslow on humanistic psychology

Answer 29

for humanistic psychology, carl rogers and abraham maslow were interested in a persons conscious experience - called the phenomenalogical approach.

Question 30

phenomenalogical

Answer 30

phenomenalogical means the philosophical study of structure of consciousness

Question 31

what is the nomothetic approach?

Answer 31

the nomothetic approach is the study of general laws of behaviour that are generalised to apply to all humans they provide a benchmark for people to be compared and classified and measured by

Question 32

methods of research in nomothetic approach

Answer 32

nomothetic approach is considered scientific so uses quantitative data

Question 33

types of nomothetic approach in psychology and is it reductionist/holistic/deterministic?

Answer 33

types of the nomothetic approach are behaviourist, cognitive and biological psychology. The nomothetic approach is reductionist and deterministic (against free will)

Question 34

pros of nomothetic approach

Answer 34

pros of nomothetic approach is that analyses large numbers to show statistics that are significant - so can be generalised

Question 35

cons of nomothetic approach

Answer 35

a con of the nomothetic approach is that it uses lab studies, participants are treated as a statistic rather than an individual, so richness of humans is overlooked (lacks ecological validity)

Question 36

pro of idiographic approach

Answer 36

a pro of the idiographic approach is that it provides a detailed analysis of individual so can result in a hypothesis which can encourage further research

Question 37

cons of idiographic approach

Answer 37

a con of the idiographic approach is that it cannot be generalised as research is qualitative like case studies on singular person (like freud’s little hans)

Question 38

socially sensitive research

Answer 38

socially sensitive research is research that has ethical implications so can affect the participant or groups in wider society.

Question 39

what did sieber and stanley (1988) say on socially sensitive research

Answer 39

sieber and stanly (1988) said there were four aspects in scientific research that can pose ethical implications in socially sensitive research.

Question 40

Sieber and Stanley (1988) aspects of ethical implications

Answer 40

Sieber and Stanley’s ethical implications were the question - could it be damaging, methodology - participant has the right to anonymity, the institutional context - who is funding the research and interpretation and adaptation of findings - how they’re applied in real world

Question 41

what did sandra scarr (1988) say a pro of socially sensitive research is?

Answer 41

sandra scarr (1988) said a pro of socially sensitive research is that it can promote understanding of underrepresented groups.

Question 42

how did Goddard (1917) display ethical implications of socially sensitive research

Answer 42

Goddard (1917) displayed ethical implications of socially sensitive research in a study of immigrants entering the US where he claimed Russians, Italians, Jews and Hungarians were “feeble minded” as they failed an IQ test but didn’t mention to the public that these immigrants needed knowledge of English to pass the test

Question 43

how did Plomin criticise reductionism

Answer 43

Plomin criticised reductionism as the “one gene, one disorder” approach has underestimated the role of multiple genetic influences on a disorder and instead we should use a QTL structure to find genes working together to create a behaviour and then it can be reduced from there

Question 44

3 types of gender bias

Answer 44

3 types of gender bias are androcentrism, alpha bias and beta bias

Question 45

what is androcentrism

Answer 45

androcentrism is when men are viewed as the norm and females are deviating from the norm

Question 46

what is alpha bias

Answer 46

alpha bias is when differences between genders are exaggerated

Question 47

what is beta bias

Answer 47

beta bias is when differences between genders are reduced

Question 48

how is Freud’s psychodynamic approach alpha bias and androcentric

Answer 48

Freud’s psychodynamic approach is alpha biased and androcentric as it suggests femininity is failed masculinity and women get ‘penis-envy’ showing they’re envious of men

Question 49

How does Horney criticise alpha bias in Freud’s psychodynamic approach

Answer 49

Horney criticises alpha bias in Freud’s psychodynamic approach by saying ‘penis-envy’ doesn’t exist, women are just envious of male social position and males get ‘womb-envy’ as they can’t have children

Question 50

How is fight or flight research beta bias

Answer 50

fight or flight research is beta biased as it suggest males and females respond in same way to dangerous stimuli however Lee and Harvey said women are more likely to “tend and befriend”

Question 51

how is dissemination of research results alpha biased

Answer 51

dissemination of research results is alpha biased as there is publication bias leading to results which show gender differences more likely to be published and so differences are exaggerated even though some findings not published show an alternative