Paper 2 - Debates

Question 1

What does freewill suggest in the Freewill/Determinism debate ?

Answer 1

Individuals can chose how they want to behave and so they have responsibility for their own behvaiour

Question 2

What does determinism suggest in the Freewill/Determinism debate ?

Answer 2

Our behvaiour is controlled by our biology and our past experiences so an individual has little or no control over their behaviour

Question 3

What is hard determinism ?

Answer 3

The theory that human behaviour and actions are wholly determined by external factors and therefore humans don’t have freewill or ethical accountability

Question 4

What is soft determinism ?

Answer 4

Some elements of behvaiour are caused by free will and some by determinism. However, there are some restraints on free will due to determining factors.

Question 5

What is biological determinism ?

Answer 5

Our behaviour is determined by biological factors such as genes, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry or hormones.

Question 6

What is environmental determinism ?

Answer 6

Our behvaiour is determined by our environment, e.g. role models, direct reinforcement, punishment and stimulus responses

Question 7

What is psychic determinism ?

Answer 7

Our behvaiour is determined by our unconscious. This is a psychodynamic explanation and can be linked to psyche or superego

Question 8

What is chaos theory ?

Answer 8

very small changes can lead to major changes

Question 9

What are the applications of the freewill/determinism debate ?

Answer 9

Brain scans can be used to link changes in the brain to changes in behaviour. This can link criminal behaviour and brain conditions/deficiencies. This argument has ben used in court to defend criminals, they weren’t responsible for their actions, they had no choice

Question 10

What is the situational/individual debate ?

Answer 10

our behvaiour can be shaped by biological determinism(individual) or environmental (situational) determinism

Question 11

what are the strengths and weaknesses of the freewill/determinism debate ?

Answer 11

strengths: attempts to explain why we do things. The uk justice system is based on the freewill argument.
weaknesses: It can become that people think behvaiour is caused by a mixture of both. Meaning there is no obvious answer

Question 12

In relation to psychology as a science what is empiricism ?

Answer 12

information is gained through direct observation or experiment (experience)

Question 13

In relation to psychology as a science what is objectivity ?

Answer 13

observations and experiments should be unaffected by own ideas or beliefs (bias).

Question 14

In relation to psychology as a science what is replicability ?

Answer 14

it is important that research can be repeated and similar results can be obtained, this adds to the reliability of the study.

Question 15

In relation to psychology as a science what is falsifiability ?

Answer 15

whether a hypotheses or theory go through a process of being tested and being verified or falsified

Question 16

In relation to psychology as a science what is paradigm ?

Answer 16

a common set of general laws used to explain something

Question 17

In relation to psychology as a science what is validity ?

Answer 17

whether what claims to have been measured has actually been measured

Question 18

In relation to psychology as a science what is causality ?

Answer 18

being able to establish a cause and effect relationship- the IV affected the DV

Question 19

In relation to psychology as a science what is hypothesis testing ?

Answer 19

the cycle of testing a theory and amending it. from this theory a hypothesis is made. A psychologist then gathered data to test the hypothesis

Question 20

Why does psychology want to be considered a science ?

Answer 20

In education sciences are given more credibility
Attract more funding for research.