Paper 3 - Issues & Debates

Question 1

What is gender bias?

Answer 1

• when psychological research does not represent the experience if both genders but is applied universally
• psychologists tend to claim to be objective but personal experience may implicitly effect outcomes

Question 2

What is universality? (gender)

Answer 2

• characteristics can be applied to all despite differences in experience and upbringing
• gender bias threatens universality

Question 3

What is alpha bias?

Answer 3

• EXAGGERATING/ overestimating the differences between the sexes (which are fixed or inevitable)
• more likely to devalue females compared to men
• example: sociobiological approach of relationship formation (Wilson): explains human attraction through the ‘survival efficiency principle’ - it is the in the males interest to impregnate as many women as possible to increase chances of genes passing to next generation
• however a female must ensure healthy survival or the few offspring she can produce
• theory claims that males have genetically determined sexual promiscuity but females who display this behaviour would be going against their ‘nature’
• this is an essentialist argument and an example of alpha bias

Question 4

Describe beta bias

Answer 4

-MINIMISES/ underestimates the differences between the sexes

• often occurs when females are not included in original studies but the results are applied universally
• fight/flight response was based exclusively on male animals (because females have fluctuating hormones) and was assumed to be the universal response to threats
• Taylor’s recent research suggests that female biology as evolved to inhibit the fight/flight response and instead shifts attention to offspring in care and forming defensive networks with other females

Question 5

What is andocentrism?

Answer 5

• possible consequence of beta bias
• if all our research is based on all-male sample than any behaviour which deviates from this norm is deemed to be abnormal, inferior or deficient
• Brescoll: leads to female behaviour being misunderstood and pathologized (psychological instabilities or disorder)
• critics claim that the diagnostic category and social construction of PMS trivialises female experience , medicalising responses like anger (explaining in hormonal terms)
• whereas male anger is often seen to be a rational response to external pressures

Question 6

Give weaknesses of gender bias arguments

Answer 6

Implications in gender bias:

• biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour as it fails to challenge negative stereotypes + validates discrimination
• e.g. scientific ‘justifications’ would suggest us to deny women opportunities within society (PMS) as men set the standards
• gender bias therefore is not only methodological but can have damaging consequences to female lives (for instance, women are twice as likely to suffer from depression than males)

Sexism in research:

• lack of women appointed to senior research levels meaning that female concerns may not be reflected in research
• male researchers are also more likely to have work published in gender differences and more likely to appear in journal articles
• lab experiments: disadvantage women as female ppts are often placed in inequitable relationships with usually male researchers who can label them to be unreasonable or irrational
• psychology is therefore guilty of supporting forms of institutional sexism that creates bias in research (Denmark)

Essentialist:

• certain gender differences are genetic and therefore pre-determined
• Walkerdine reported that ‘scientific’ research showed attending university would shrivel a woman’s ovaries and harm chances of giving birth
• such essentialist arguments are often politically motivated disguised as psychology
• this creates double standards in the way behaviour is perceived

Question 7

Give a strength of gender bias debates

Answer 7

Feminist:

• suggests that gender bias can be avoidable by studying in real life contexts where women genuinely participate in study (rather than being objects)
• diversity within female groups should be studied rather than comparisons
• should be greater emphasis for the collaborative methods and collection of qualitative data
• prevents gender bias - positive applications

Question 8

What is cultural bias?

Answer 8

Refers tot he tendency of ignoring culture differences and interpreting all phenomena through the eye of one culture - any deviation is seen as abnormal

• 64% of the worlds 56,000 psychologists are American
• mainly white male dominated and studying American white males
• suggest research is facts and universal

Question 9

Describe universality and culture bias

Answer 9

• psychologists tend to claim that they have unearthed truths and findings can be applied worldwide; tend to ignore culture as an important influence on human behaviour
• findings derived from western culture cannot be straight forwardly applied over the world (e.g. Asch and Milgram’s studies were conducted on US ppts and different results were found when replicated)

Question 10

Describe ethnocentrism

Answer 10

• particular form of cultural bias which believes in the superiority of one’s own cultural group
• belief that behaviours that do not conform are unsophisticated, underdeveloped or abnormal
• Ainsworth’s Strange Situation: criticised for only reflected the American culture - described a key determinant in attachment is a child’s separation anxiety
• believed that moderate amounts would show secure attachment
• but it lead to misunderstanding different child-rearing practises that deviate from American norms; e.g. German mother were seen as cold and rejecting for encouraging independent in their children
• therefore SS was inappropriate in measuring attachment in non- US

Question 11

What is cultural relativism?

Answer 11

Idea that norms and values can only be meaningful and understood in specific social or cultural contexts

Ainsworth’s example = imposed etic = suggested the Western model was the norm
- Berry proposed there was a distinction between emic and etic approaches in psychology; he believed psychologists like Ainsworth tended to research using emic approaches but apply to all (etic)

• ETIC= looks at behaviour from the outside of a culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal
• EMIC= functions from within certain cultures and identifies behaviour that is specific to the culture

Must be mindful of cultural relativism in research and realise that certain behaviours may only make sense from the perspective of the culture in which they were discovered

Question 12

Describe weaknesses in cultural bias assumptions

Answer 12

Outdated:

• psychologists tend to associate individualistic cultures as Western countries that encourage independence (U.S) and collectivist as those emphasises interdependence (India)
• critics suggested that in this age of global communication we have increased interconnectedness where the original distinction = simplistic and does not applied
• Osaka found that in 14/15 studies comparing US and Japan, there was no evidence of traditional distinctions
• could be showing that cultural bias is less of an issue that before (although still fails to distinguish between rural and urban and only focuses on countries)

Cultural relativism vs universality

• Berry’s concept of imposed etic can remind psychologists to only generate culturally specific research
• however, should not assume that there is no universal behaviour
• Ekman discovered that basic facial expressions are the same worldwide
• in Ainsworth’s research, some features of attachment are universal; imitation and interactional synchrony
• we need a balance of both studies to conclude human behaviour

Unfamiliar western traditions

• western cultures are more familiar with scientific enquiry involved in labs (aims and objectives)
• same knowledge may not extend to different cultures as they do not have same historical experience
• therefore demand characteristics of Western may be more exaggerated, having adverse effects of the validity of research

Question 13

Give as strength of culture bias assumptions

Answer 13

Implicit assumptions:

• benefits of conducting cross-culture research is that is challenges our typically western ways of thinking
• promotes greater sensitivity to individual differences and cultural relativism
• counters ‘scientific racism’ and promotes validity

Question 14

What is free will?

Answer 14

Free will is the notion that all humans can make choices and are not determined by any biological or external forces

• does not deny some involvement of external factors but implies that we are able to reject them
• approach is advocated by the humanistic approach

Question 15

What is determinism?

Answer 15

Determinism proposes individuals are shapes or controlled by internal/external events beyond our control (no free will)

Hard determinism: or fatalism suggests that all human behaviour has a cause and therefore can be identified and described

• compatible with the aims of science as it suggests we can uncover the causal laws that govern thought and action.
• extremist position : we have NO control at all

Soft determinism: James suggested that all human actions does have a cause but there is some room for manoeuvre and we do have some conscious mental control

• scientists should explain some of these determining forces but not detract from the freedom we have to make rational conscious choices
• advocated by the cognitive approach

Question 16

Describe different types of determinism

Answer 16

Biological determinism: biological approach emphasises the role of biology

• physiological and neurological brain processes are beyond our conscious control (for example the autonomic nervous system)
• mental disorders like schizophrenia are thought to have genetic basic
• also hormonal control e.g. testosterones contribution to aggressive behaviour
• however modern biopsychologists would recognise the influence of the environment on biological structures

Environmental determinism:

• Skinner described free will to be and illusion and all behaviour was a result of conditioning
• our experience of ‘choice’ is the sum of reinforcement contingencies
• all behaviour is a product of agents of socialisation (parents, teachers, institutions)

Psychic determinism:

• Freud agreed that free will was illusion but placed more emphasis on biological drives than behaviourists
• suggested all human behaviour is determined by the unconscious conflicts (repressed in childhood)
• no such thing as accidents; innocuous slips of the tongue - Freudian slips and explained by authority of unconscious

Question 17

Describe the scientific emphasis on causal explanations

Answer 17

• we have the ability to generate laws and causes by controlling events
• lab experiments - stimulate conditions of the test tube (remove extraneous) and control and predict behaviour

Question 18

Describe for and against arguments for determinism

Answer 18

For:

• determinism is consistent with the aims of science; human behaviour is orderly and obeys psychological laws so places psychology on equal footing with more established sciences
• the value of research involving prediction and control of behaviour as led to development of treatments and behavioural interventions that have proven to be effected (in SZ)
• furthermore, those with SZ have total loss of control and you casts doubts on the idea of free will (no one would choose SZ)

Against:

• not consistent with the legal system
• offenders tend to be held morally accountable for their actions but the deterministic approach would suggest its not their fault (therefore raising doubts on punishment)
• approach is unfalsifiable as it is based on the idea that all behaviour has a cause (even if it’s not found) meaning it is impossible to prove wrong - therefore not as scientific as seemed

Question 19

Describe the arguments for and against free will

Answer 19

For:

• face validity (makes cognitive sense): everyday we feel we are exercising free will
• research suggests that those who have an internal locus of control believe that they have a high degree of influence over their behaviour tend to be more mentally healthy
• Roberts et al suggested that adolescents with a strong belief in fatalism tended to be at greater risk of depression
• whether we HAVE free will or not is insignificant but the idea of it’s existence has positive impacts on mind and behaviour

Against;

• neurological studies revealed evidence against free will
• Libet and Soon et al demonstrated that brain activity determines our outcome of simple choices which may predate our knowledge of having made a choice
• researchers found that activity related to pressing a button with the left or right hand occurs in the brain 10 seconds before participants reported being consciously aware of making a decision
• our most basic experiences of free will a4re determined by our brain before we become aware of them

Question 20

Explain a compromise in the free will vs determinism debate

Answer 20

SLT

• soft determinism
• environment is key but we are free to choose what to attend to when we perform behaviour

Question 21

What is the nature-nurture debate?

Answer 21

concerned with the extent to which aspects of behaviour are a product of inherited or acquired characteristics

Question 22

Describe the nature stance in the nature-nurture debate

Answer 22

Nature:
Descartes et al suggested that human characteristics and some aspects of knowledge are innate and the result of heredity
- the heritability coefficient is used to asses heredity: figure between 0.1 and 1 indicates the extent to which characteristic has a genetic basis (1=genetically determined)

0.5 in IQ over cultures- suggesting a mix between genetics and environment

Question 23

Describe the nurture stance in the nature-nurture debate

Answer 23

Nurture:
- empiricists like Locke suggest we are born as a blank slate and all our behaviour is a product of learning a experience as a result of the environment
- Lerner identified the different levels of the environment:
Pre-natal = mothers psychological and physical state during pregnancy
post-natal = social conditions the child grows up in (with historical and cultural context)

Question 24

Describe the relative importance of heredity and the environment (NN)

Answer 24

• we cannot study nature without nurture vice versa : so closely intertwined it is difficult to separate
• in twin studies, the 100% concordance rates in Mz twins could be a resulted of shared genetics or shared upbringing and therefore in recent years, psychologists attempt to find the contributions of both instead of attempting to separate them

Question 25

Describe different approaches combining nature and nurture

Answer 25

Interactionist:

• two way
• a child’s innate temperament may influence the way parents respond to it and their response will influence the child’s behaviour - Rovine (nature creates nurture)

Diathesis-stress model:

• tends to be common in explaining psychopathology
• biological/genetic vulnerabilities (diathesis) are only expressed when coupled with a biological/ environmental triggers (stressor)
• Tienari suggested that in a group with Finnish adoptees were more likely to develop SZ when they had history of it AND had adoptive families defined as dysfunctional

Epigenetics:

• refers to the change in our genetic activity without directly changing our genetic code
• process is caused by interaction with the environment
• events we encounter (e.g. smoking) will leave epigenetic marks on our DNA which tell us which genes to ignore and use
• these marks may influence children
• introduced the life of previous generations into the debate
• Ressler gave male mice electric shocks (lab) and every time they were exposed to acetophenone (chemical in perfume); mice showed fear reaction whenever smell produced (behaviourist) but the children also were scared of the smell despite never being exposed to the perfume - next generation also scared

Question 26

Describe weaknesses into the NN debate

Answer 26

Implications:

• Nativists suggest that our anatomy is our destiny with the environment having little input
• extreme determinist stance led to controversy in attempting to link race, genetics and intelligence and application of eugenics - justifying racism
• empiricists would suggest that behaviour can be shaped (behavioural shaping) which has had practical applications but appears to reinforce desirable behaviour and punish undesirable - this could advocate a model of society controlling and manipulating its citizens - NEGATIVE

Confounding variables:

• research attempting to separate environment and genetics is complicated by siblings being raised in the same environment
• Dunn and Plomin suggested that individual differences mean that siblings may experience life events differently (due to age or temperament; effects of divorce)
• explains why Mz twins do not have perfect concordance
• supports the view that nature and nurture cannot be separated

Constructivism

• notions that nature and nurture interact
• people can create their own nurture by actively selecting environments appropriate for nature
• aggressive child is comfortable around children who show similar behaviours and will choose their environment accordingly (this will then effect)
• Plomin suggests this is niche-picking and niche-building and shows that it is illogical to separate the two

Multi-layered

• McCartney et al suggested that there are different interactions
• Passive interaction: parents genes influence the way they treat their children (musically gifted parents may encourage)
• Evocative interaction: child’s genes influence and shape the environment (musically gifted child will be picked at concerts and given opportunities)
• Active interaction: the child creates their own environment through people and experiences (musically gifted chooses to have similar friends)
• complex and multi-layered nature between NN and therefore illogical to separate

Question 27

What is holism?

Answer 27

view that parts of any whole cannot exist or be understood except in relations to the whole person/context

• German psychologists (Gestalt psychologists) famously declared - the whole is greater than the sum of parts.
• view is shared by the humanistic approach who believe that a lack of ‘wholeness’ in an individual is the reason for mental disorders

Question 28

What is reductionism?

Answer 28

Theory that all complex systems can be completely understood in terms of smaller components
- we should analyse behaviour by using the basic principles

Question 29

What are levels of explanation in psychology (holism vs reductionist)?

Answer 29

• suggests there are different ways in viewing the same phenomena in psychology
• OCD may be understood at different constitute parts (levels):
  Socio-cultural context = repetitive hand washing (highest level)
  Psychological = obsessive thoughts of germs (middle)
  Physical = sequence of movements involved in washing hands (middle)
  Physiological = hypersensitivity of basal ganglia (low)
  Neurochemical = under production of serotonin (low)

Each level becomes increasingly reductionist: bottom is mainly micro and precise but the top is general and macro - high level is holistic

Question 30

Describe different types of reductionism

Answer 30

Biological reductionism: based on the idea that all behaviour can be explained through neurochemical, physiological, evolutionary and genetic influences
- successfully applied to different topics; psychoactive drugs have contributed to understanding of neural processes and serious disorders (SZ) can be explained at biochemical levels

Environmental reductionism: behaviourist approach breaks complex behaviour into stimulus-response links that can be measured in labs

• occurs at a physical level; behaviourist approach and ignores psychological levels
• regards the mind as a blank slate and the process of thought was seen as a form of ‘sub-vocal’ (silent) speech characterised by physical movement (Watson)

Question 31

Give arguments for and against holism

Answer 31

FOR:

• aspects of social behaviour may only emerge within group contexts and therefore cannot be understood at the level of individual group members
• Conformity and deindividuation (Stanford prison) cannot be fully understood by studying each participant as it relied on the interaction between the person and the group that was important
• holistic explanations provide more complete and global understandings that reductionist approaches

AGAINST:

• holistic explanations tend not to lend themselves through scientific testing as they would appear vague and speculative
• humanistic approach is criticised for lack of empirical evidence as is just loose concepts
• High level explanations combine different perspectives contributing to conditions (e.g. depression) and it becomes difficult to establish the most influential (as a basis for therapy)
• lower level explanations are more appropriate for finding solutions in the real world

Question 32

Give arguments for and against reductionism

Answer 32

FOR:

• forms the basis of scientific research in order to create operationalised variables: WE MUST break down target behaviours into constitutes to make them testable (behavioural categories) - like stimulus and response
• gives psychology greater credibility as it becomes more established in lower level explanations

AGAINST:

• accused of oversimplifying complex phenomena and therefore leads to loss of validity
• lower level explanations do not include analysis of social context in which the behaviour occur
• for example, the physiological processes of pointing fingers is the same no matter what context but WHY the finger is pointed will depend on the social context (anger or curiosity)
• reductionism cannot form whole explanations

Question 33

What are nomothetic approaches?

Answer 33

• attempting to study behaviour through the development of general principles/laws (based on large groups)
• aim to produce laws that can allow behaviour to be compared, measured and predicted
• tend to use scientific experiments (correlations) in attempts to establish similar or different behaviours

Question 34

What are idiographic approaches?

Answer 34

• approaches focusing on the individual and unique personal experience to understand
• produces qualitative through unstructured interviews, case studies or thematic analysis - they focus on subjective experience and are less concerned with making general laws or comparison to larger groups/standards

Question 35

Give examples of idiographic approaches in psychology

Answer 35

Humanistic psychology: Rogers and Maslow took a phenomenological approach to study human beings and were interested in documenting the conscious experience of the self
- tended to describe themselves as ‘anti-scientific’ and were more concerned with investigated unique experiences

Psychodynamic approach is also idiographic as Freud used case studies - HOWEVER… he did try to make universal laws

Question 36

Give examples of nomothetic approaches in psychology

Answer 36

• tends to be a feature of reductionist or determinist approaches that employ scientific methods of investigation - tend to formulate hypothesis and have controlled experiments with results that are analysed for statistical significance

Biological: conducting brain scanning and pinpointing biofactors (neurotransmitters) that are responsible for OCD and depression or make generalisations of localisation of function - developing these into therapies and drugs that can be used on many people

Behaviourist: Skinner et al- conducting studies on animals to establish laws of learning

Cognitive: inferring structure and processes of human memory (Miller) by measuring performance of large samples in la tests

Question 37

Give arguments for and against idiographic approaches

Answer 37

FOR:

• in-depth qualitative methods of investigation to provide complete accounts of an individual
• could complement nomothetic laws by challenging or supporting
• HM case; brain damaged and found that we can generate hypothesis for further study which can reveal more important insights (difference in types of long term memory)

AGAINST:

• narrow and restricted
• Freud Oedipus complex was largely developed from detailed studies of a single case but meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples - we cannot compare or repeat it
• less scientific methods based on subjective opinion and possible bias
• unable to predict as it assumes everyone is unique therefore we cannot place treatments or interventions

Question 38

Describe arguments for and against nomothetic approach

Answer 38

FOR:

• scientific (mimics natural sciences) - standardised conditions and statistical analysis can enable psychologists to establish norms and typical behaviour (helps establish dysfunctional behaviour)
• gives greater scientific credibility

AGAINST;

• general laws are accused of losing the whole person within psychology
• knowing 1% risk of developing SZ tells us little about the life of a sufferer
• lab studies tend to result in series of scores rather than individual people so subjective experiences are often ignored
• can overlook richness of human experience and cannot be generalised as much as it intends

Question 39

What are ethical implications?

Answer 39

Considers the impact/ consequence that psychological research has on the rights of others in a wider context (not just in the experiment)

• includes influencing public policy or perception of certain groups
• specific findings or results from research may be misinterpreted

Question 40

What are ethical guidelines?

Answer 40

BPS principles that psychologists must be aware of in order to preserve the rights of their ppts but also produce valuable research

Question 41

What are ethical issues?

Answer 41

conflict between the aims of the researcher and the rights of the ppts

Question 42

What is socially sensitive research?

Answer 42

Sieber and Stanley suggest socially sensitive research is studies which there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for ppts or for the class of the individuals represented by the research

• study involved in memory may have less serious consequences on social groups etc
• research investigating the genetic basis of criminality/ other taboo topics (race and sexuality) may attract great deals of attention from psychologists and media (results of said research may affect perceptions of particular social group)
• psychologists have a social responsibility to carry out sad research as it has undoubted importance and positive applications; Bowlby’s study could be discriminating against working mothers and suggesting them to stay at home

Question 43

Give concerns that researchers should be mindful of when conducting socially sensitive research

Answer 43

Sieber and Stanley:

Implications: the wider effects should be considered so that we do not give ‘scientific’ credence to prejudice and discrimination (intelligence) - however it may be difficult to predict an outset

Use/public policy: asses what the research is likely to be used for/ if it used wrong - findings may be adopted by the government for political ends to shape public policy

The validity of research: findings may be presented as objective and value-free in the past but have become highly suspect (IQ)
Many social constructionist researchers (often tackling socially sensitive research) are more upfront of biases and preconceptions

Question 44

Evaluate ethical implications of research

Answer 44

Social sensitive research can lead to discrimination and social control :

• Goddard : American’s in 1920’s enacted legislation that led to compulsory sterilisation of citizens on the grounds that they were unfit to breed due to low intelligence (or mental illness)
• socially sensitive research led to discrimination against ‘feeble minded’

Some socially sensitive research is beneficial to society:

• Scarr et al found that in studies of underrepresented groups have promoted greater sensitivity and reduction in prejudice
• research into eyewitness testimony has reduced the miscarriage of justice (preventing post-event discussion)

Framing questions

• Stanley et al suggested that reframing a question may avoid offensive interpretations
• ‘alternative relationships’ is guilty of homosexual bias as they are being compared and judged my homosexual norms
• suggest that researchers should approach socially sensitive research with an open mind and be prepared for preconceptions to be challenged if they misrepresent minority groups

Cost and benefits

• ethical committees must weight potential costs against the possible benefits of research
• however some controversial results may not be anticipated so we should conduct assessments see whether it is worth the impact when the results are made public