Paper 3- Topic 1 Issues and Debates Flashcards
Define the nature-nurture debate
degree to which behaviour is determined by nature or nurture factors
What view did NN interactionists have
- behaviour is developed by BOTH nature and nurture factors
- these factors are essential, influence each other and can’t be separated
define nature
example
the relative importance of genetics and biology in determining behaviour
-acquire phobias through genetic preparedness
what view did nativists have
nativists believed human characteristics (personality and intelligence) were a result of genetics and biology, ‘innate’
define nurture
examples
the relative importance of the environment and learned experiences, pre-natal and post-natal
-phobias are developed as a result of 2 process model
example of pre-natal environmental influences
- physical (e.g. drug and alcohol use)
- psychological (music choice)
example of post-natal environmental influences
- socio-economic status
- parenting style
- social experiences
- social conditions (e.g. peers, role models)
what view do empiricists have
- 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
example of where both nature and nurture interact separately, on the same topic
•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
Describe a way to assess relative importance of nature-nurture
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
define the idiographic approach
approach to research that focuses on uniqueness of individuals and their subjective emotions and experience
key concepts of idiographic approach
•qualitative data
-conclusions drawn from analysis can be used to help other people going through similar experiences or determine best clinical practice
•subjective
which two approaches use idiographic approach to research
- Humanistic
* Psychodynamic
describe the examples of idiographic approach
- 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
define the nomothetic approach
approach to research that aims to formulate general laws to explain behavioural similarities in large numbers of people
key concepts of nomothetic approach
•quantitative data
- large sample
- when analysed, creates statistical norms for comparison
•objective
to remember: nomothetic is ……
numbers
to remember: idiographic is …..
individuals
examples of nomothetic approach
- 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
examples of how idiographic and nomothetic complement each other (must use evalution point when discussing idiographic and nomothetic)
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
Define the holistic approach to explaining behaviour
approach that suggests that human behaviour is best explained by studying it as an indivisible system containing all parts, accounted for equally
which approach used a holistic approach
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
examples of holistic approach
and a study showing it
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)
define the reductionist approach to explaining behaviour
suggests behaviour is best explained by breaking down into its smaller constituent parts, based on the principle of parsimony
define parsimony
all phenomena should be explained using the most basic, lowest level principles
define levels of explanation
idea that there are different ways to explain behaviour , and some is more reductionist than others
the higher the explanation the more…
holistic
the lower the explanation the more…
reductionist
higher level of explanation
socio-cultural factors
more scientific, more holistic
middle level of explanation
psychological explanations (thought processes) physical (movements)
lowest level of explanation
biological explanations
- environmental / behavioural (learned experiences)
- physiological (brain activity)
- neurochemical - neurotransmitters
(less scientific, more reductionist
explanation of OCD using levels of explanation
- OCD interrupts social relationships
- anxiety - psychological
- compulsions of washing hands- physical
- physiological - abnormal frontal lobes
- neurochemical - not enough serotonin
sciences in reductionist hierarchy
Sociology (least reductionist) Psychology Biological Chemistry Biological Physics (most reductionist)
examples of reductionism in psychology
biological
environmental
define biological reductionism
example
breaking behaviour down into smaller biological units
e.g. cause of OCD is lack of serotonin neurotansmitters
define environmental reductionism
example
breaking down behaviour into units of stimulus and response
e.g. phobias acquired and maintained (2 process model)
define the interactionist approach for holism reductionism
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
describe the example for the interactionist approach for holism reductionism
- 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
describe an example of how nature and nurture interact together
•diathesis stress model for schizophrenia
-diathesis- genetic vulnerability (nature)
\+
-stress- environmental trigger (nurture)
=
development of schizophrenia
define free will
the view that humans make choices about their behaviour
- internal or external forces are present but humans are able to reject these forces
define determinism
the view that humans behaviour is controlled by internal (biology) and external (upbringing) forces
- not controlled by a will to do something
5 types of determinism
soft hard biological psychic environmental
define soft determinism
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
define hard determinism
all behaviour is caused by internal and external forces and so free will is an illusion
-compatible with science as identifies cause of behaviour
what type of determinism is biological, environmental and psychic
hard determinism
define biological determinism
behaviour is caused by biological influences that cant be controlled
e.g. hormones, genetics, brain structures
define psychic determinism
behaviour is caused by unconscious psychodynamic conflicts that can’t be controlled
e.g. biological instincts, unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood
define environmental determinism
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
example of free will in psychology
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
-self determination is necessary in order for people to reach self-actualisation
example of soft determinism
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)
example of hard determinism
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)
explain how psychologists use determinism in research to be scientific
- 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
