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A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY > Paper 3- Topic 1 Issues and Debates > Flashcards

Paper 3- Topic 1 Issues and Debates Flashcards

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1
Q

Define the nature-nurture debate

A

degree to which behaviour is determined by nature or nurture factors

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2
Q

What view did NN interactionists have

A
  • behaviour is developed by BOTH nature and nurture factors

- these factors are essential, influence each other and can’t be separated

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3
Q

define nature

example

A

the relative importance of genetics and biology in determining behaviour

-acquire phobias through genetic preparedness

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4
Q

what view did nativists have

A

nativists believed human characteristics (personality and intelligence) were a result of genetics and biology, ‘innate’

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5
Q

define nurture

examples

A

the relative importance of the environment and learned experiences, pre-natal and post-natal

-phobias are developed as a result of 2 process model

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6
Q

example of pre-natal environmental influences

A
  • physical (e.g. drug and alcohol use)

- psychological (music choice)

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7
Q

example of post-natal environmental influences

A
  • socio-economic status
  • parenting style
  • social experiences
  • social conditions (e.g. peers, role models)
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8
Q

what view do empiricists have

A
  • Locke suggested mind is blank slate when born and all characteristics and knowledge is shaped through experiences and the environment
  • formed basis to behaviourist approach
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9
Q

example of where both nature and nurture interact separately, on the same topic

A

•acquisition of phobias

NURTURE
- 2 process model - phobias are maintained through operant conditioning and acquired through classical conditioning

NATURE
- SELIGMAN said phobias are acquired through genetic preparedness - phobias acquired to things that presented danger in evolutionary past

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10
Q

Describe a way to assess relative importance of nature-nurture

A

the degree to which two people are similar is called concordance, and can be represented by a correlation co-efficient

  • the heritability co-efficient classifies the extent (0-1) to which a behaviour is caused by genetics (nature)
  • co-efficient for IQ is 0.5 suggesting it half due to nature, half due to nurture
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11
Q

define the idiographic approach

A

approach to research that focuses on uniqueness of individuals and their subjective emotions and experience

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12
Q

key concepts of idiographic approach

A

•qualitative data
-conclusions drawn from analysis can be used to help other people going through similar experiences or determine best clinical practice

•subjective

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13
Q

which two approaches use idiographic approach to research

A
  • Humanistic

* Psychodynamic

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14
Q

describe the examples of idiographic approach

A
  • Roger’s focuses on the individual’s conscious experience of self and created client-centred therapy as a result
  • Freud focused on the behaviour of individuals, e.g. the case study of Little Hans
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15
Q

define the nomothetic approach

A

approach to research that aims to formulate general laws to explain behavioural similarities in large numbers of people

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16
Q

key concepts of nomothetic approach

A

•quantitative data

  • large sample
  • when analysed, creates statistical norms for comparison

•objective

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17
Q

to remember: nomothetic is ……

A

numbers

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18
Q

to remember: idiographic is …..

A

individuals

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19
Q

examples of nomothetic approach

A
  • biological explanations for treatment of OCD based on neurotransmitters
  • general laws of neurotransmitters causing it are applied to everyone
  • using DSM (general laws) to classify people into mental disorders based on symptoms shown
  • Multi store model for memory produces general laws of how all people process memories
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20
Q

examples of how idiographic and nomothetic complement each other (must use evalution point when discussing idiographic and nomothetic)

A

nomothetic - general laws from multi store model that is applied to all people’s memory

idiographic- study individuals like Patient KF who showed that nomothetic theory like MSM wasn’t detailed enough as KF had good visual STM but poor acoustic STM

combining the two give us a better understanding of topics like memory and help develop future research ideas

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21
Q

Define the holistic approach to explaining behaviour

A

approach that suggests that human behaviour is best explained by studying it as an indivisible system containing all parts, accounted for equally

22
Q

which approach used a holistic approach

A

humanistic approach

  • focus on individual subjective experience
  • therapies like Roger’s client centred therapy focuses on all aspect of whole person
  • used qualitative methods to investigate the self
23
Q

examples of holistic approach

and a study showing it

A

Gestalt psychology

  • argued whole is greater than sum of parts
  • Kohler (‘insight learning “study where gave chimpanzee’s a stick and a banana outside the cage, eventually they used the stick to get the banana
  • the ‘eureka’ moment when the solution to get the banana was clear was because all elements of a the problem are understood as a whole (e.g location of banana and stick)
24
Q

define the reductionist approach to explaining behaviour

A

suggests behaviour is best explained by breaking down into its smaller constituent parts, based on the principle of parsimony

25
Q

define parsimony

A

all phenomena should be explained using the most basic, lowest level principles

26
Q

define levels of explanation

A

idea that there are different ways to explain behaviour , and some is more reductionist than others

27
Q

the higher the explanation the more…

A

holistic

28
Q

the lower the explanation the more…

A

reductionist

29
Q

higher level of explanation

A

socio-cultural factors

more scientific, more holistic

30
Q

middle level of explanation

A 
psychological explanations (thought processes)
physical (movements)
31
Q

lowest level of explanation

A

biological explanations

  • environmental / behavioural (learned experiences)
  • physiological (brain activity)
  • neurochemical - neurotransmitters

(less scientific, more reductionist

32
Q

explanation of OCD using levels of explanation

A
  • OCD interrupts social relationships
  • anxiety - psychological
  • compulsions of washing hands- physical
  • physiological - abnormal frontal lobes
  • neurochemical - not enough serotonin
33
Q

sciences in reductionist hierarchy

A 
Sociology (least reductionist)
Psychology
Biological
Chemistry
Biological
Physics (most reductionist)
34
Q

examples of reductionism in psychology

A

biological

environmental

35
Q

define biological reductionism

example

A

breaking behaviour down into smaller biological units

e.g. cause of OCD is lack of serotonin neurotansmitters

36
Q

define environmental reductionism

example

A

breaking down behaviour into units of stimulus and response

e.g. phobias acquired and maintained (2 process model)

37
Q

define the interactionist approach for holism reductionism

A

more than one level of explanation can operate at the same time
- this approach looks at how these levels may combine and interact on behaviour

e.g. diathesis stress model for schizophrenia

38
Q

describe the example for the interactionist approach for holism reductionism

A
  • diathesis stress model for schizophrenia
  • the vulnerability is the genetic predisposition to it (low level of explanation)
  • the stressor is the environmental trigger (high level of explanation)

-good example of how different levels of explanation can interact

39
Q

describe an example of how nature and nurture interact together

A

•diathesis stress model for schizophrenia

-diathesis- genetic vulnerability (nature)  
                            \+
-stress- environmental trigger (nurture)
                            =
 development of schizophrenia
40
Q

define free will

A

the view that humans make choices about their behaviour

  • internal or external forces are present but humans are able to reject these forces
41
Q

define determinism

A

the view that humans behaviour is controlled by internal (biology) and external (upbringing) forces

  • not controlled by a will to do something
42
Q

5 types of determinism

A 
soft
hard
biological
psychic
environmental
43
Q

define soft determinism

A

behaviour is controlled by internal and external forces but people have a conscious mental control and so a restricted free will to make choices about their behaviour

-important feature of cognitive approach

44
Q

define hard determinism

A

all behaviour is caused by internal and external forces and so free will is an illusion

-compatible with science as identifies cause of behaviour

45
Q

what type of determinism is biological, environmental and psychic

A

hard determinism

46
Q

define biological determinism

A

behaviour is caused by biological influences that cant be controlled

e.g. hormones, genetics, brain structures

47
Q

define psychic determinism

A

behaviour is caused by unconscious psychodynamic conflicts that can’t be controlled

e.g. biological instincts, unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood

48
Q

define environmental determinism

A

behaviour is controlled by features of the environment that can’t be controlled

e.g. reinforcement, reward and punishment, conditioning

Skinner suggets free will is just a result of conditioning and reinforcement in all aspects of life

49
Q

example of free will in psychology

A

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

-self determination is necessary in order for people to reach self-actualisation

50
Q

example of soft determinism

A

Banduras social learning theory

  • environmental factors are determinist
  • but people have free will to what behaviour we “attend” to (one of mediational processes) and whether to show the certain behaviour
  • and also ‘motivation’ the will to perform the behaviour (another mediational process)
51
Q

example of hard determinism

A

any examples of

  • biological influences (e.g. genes own OCD)
  • environmental influences (e.g. two process model phobias)
  • psychic determinism (e.g. underdeveloped ego lead to crime)
52
Q

explain how psychologists use determinism in research to be scientific

A
  • aim to identify cause and effect of behaviour
  • can use this to make general laws
  • if behaviour has a cause, it allows scientists to test predictions of future behaviour
  • lab experiment attempts to predict human behaviour

A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY (21 decks)

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