psych p3 Issues and Debates Flashcards
Define universality?
Conclusions that can be applied to everyone and anywhere despite different experinece and upbringing.
Define bias?
leaning towards a subjective view thats does not portray objective reality
Define alpha bias?
occurs when differences between men and women are exaggerated and are fixed.
these could devalue woem in relation to men.
What is a example of alpha bias?
using freuds psychosexual development stages
boys develop the desire fro oppostite gender parent thorugh castration anxiety and will reduce when he identifies with his father
but a girls eventual identification with same gender parent is weaker which means her superego is weaker as it develops as a result of taking on same gender parent moral perspective.
what odoes the example of alpa bias show?
women are morally inferior to men.
Define beta bias?
ignores and minimizes differences betwen men and women.
How does beta bias occur?
when researh findings can be eqully apllied ot men and women.
What is an example of the beta bias?
Because woman have more emotional chnages due to their hormones, men were used and women were left out of research, so research findings were applied to both womenand men.
so responded same way in flight and fight research
What research found can contradict the beta bias approach?
Found that women actually act differently o men to tend and befrined response due to more hgiher evels of oxytocin in women.
so they react differently to stress due to oxytocin hormone, to help their offspring survive so adapted response.
also in attachment section they may have misreperesente men in showing thta men can provide the emotional care fro babies too.
What is /define androcentrism?
Male dominated approach thats sees mens behaviour as rational and normal/
womens behaviour as irrational or is misunderstood.
what is one - og gnder bias in ppsycholgy?
is that gender differenced are usually presented as fixed when they are not.
Evidience comes from a rseaercher who found several gender studies that girls has superior verbal abilty and boys have better spatial ability and found these differences are hardwired into the brain at birth.
however a rseaercher did brain scannning and found no sex differences in brain structure or processing.
so it me\ans that data from the study about spatial and verbal ability was popularised just ebcasue it fitted into the sterrotyps of girls being speakers and biys as doorers.
this means that differenced arent acuatlly objtivelt due to biological facts but based on setreotpyoical facts.
Why is SEXISM IN RESEARCH a - of gender bias?
P-one - is that gender bias promotes sexism in the research process.
EV- This is because women are highly unreperesnted in uni departments such as women being more undergraduates but men are the lecturers in psychology departments.
EX- This means that the research is more likely to conducted by men and and a male rseaecher may expect a women to be more irrational ad unable to completed complex tasks so they underperform in studies.
L thsi means that methods of psych may produce findings that are gender biased esp from institutions.
Why is GENDER BIASED research a - of gender bias?
P- one - is that rsearch challenging gender bias may not be published.
EV- this is evdidinet in a rseacher who anaylsed 1000 journals relating to gender bias over 8 years and found research on gender bias was fnded less often and in less presitgious journals.
Ex- this meant that fewer scholars or researcher were aware of it so couldnt apply it in their work and wasnt true with other types of bias such as ethnic bias, where other factors such as methodology used.
L- this means that gender bias is psych research may not be taken as seriously as other forms of bias.
Define cultural bias?
tendecy or liklehood of interpreting a situtation through one culture and ignoring different experinecs of cultures on a behaviour.
How does reseach support the idea of cultural bias exisisting?
Psych claims they finds facts about human behaviour universally.
and the term WEIRD by HENRICH et all decribed the people that most likley to be studies by psychologists which were westernised, educated people from industralised rich democricies.
Define term ethnorcentrism?
judging a culture based of their own culture in belief that theirs is superior.
what is a exmaple of thenocentrism research?
in mary ainsworths strange situation-
when conducting research on attachment types suggested that ideal attachments types were ones with low or moderate anxiet when left alone.
but this lead ot other child rearing prcaticces as abnormal such as japanse infants were more likley to be classed as insecurely attached becasue they show high seperattion anxiety- takshi study.— but this was due to the different rearing style of babies rarely sepreated from their mother.
Define cultural relativism?
idea of norms and values cna only be meaningful when looked from a specific cultrual context.- from withing the the culture they came from
What is the difference between etic and emic apporach?
Etic appraoch look as behaviour from outisde of a culture and attempst to describe those behaviour as universal.
Emic apporoach: loos from within or inside the culture and identifies behaviour specific to that culture.
What is an exmaple of a imposed etic?
Ainsworths research becasue she had studied behaviour in one culture-america and then made an ideal attachment type- assuming it was the best one and applied it to all cultures.
How can ethnic bias be reduced in psychological research?
By being aware that they can be interpretaed from within that specifc culture and in which they were discovered in
What is one limiatiion of cultura bias?
one - is that many studies in psychlogy are culturally biased.
Ev: comes from social influnece studies were asch and milgram only used white middle class men and then assumed conformity and obedience is
EX;- uniform in all cultures. However when replicated they have found different conformity rates such as lower ones in collectvist cultures, than individualist ones.
L- therfore understanding certain topics such as social influnce should only be applie to indivualist cultures.
What is a counterpoint to this limitation? For the cultral bias evidence as a limitation
P- however in a age of gloablistion we could argue tjat indiviualist -collectiist cultures distinction no longer applies.
Ex- This is becasue individualist cultures such as the US value indedpnednace whereas collectivst cultures such as china value more society and dependancy.
Ev this comes from a rseaecher who found that 14/15 studies that compared US and japan found no evidience of colectivism or indivualism.
L- therfore this suggest that cultrual bias in research may be less of an issue in more recent psych research
What is one + of cultural bias?
p- one + is the emergence of cultural psychology.
EX- an example of this is hoe the people shape and are shaped by their cultural experinece, whichis a new field that combines researchers from other disciplines such as sociology and anthropology.
Ev- this means that culturla psychologits can try to avoid ethnocentric assumptiosn by taking an emic approach and conducting research from withing a culture
such as focusig only on two cultures rather than large scale studieswith 9 or more countries..
this is a strength because it shows modern psych can be aware of any cultural biases and attempt to avoid it.
Define free will?
the idea or beleif that humans can make their own choices and theri behaviour isnt determined by any external or bio forces.
How may this affct our behvaiour?
humans are self determing,
but doesnt deny that there are bio or envromental forces that exert influnce on our behaviour
but we can choose to rejet or accept these beause we are in control.
Describe hard determinism?
also known as fatalism all human behaviour is predeterined and controlled by external or internal forces that we have no control over.
Describe soft determinism?
what determines our behaviour doesnt take away our free will that we have to choose our decisiions.
What are3 types of detrmisn?
bio enviro and psychic
Descirbe biological determisn?
belief that all behaviour is determined by biological factors such as genes or neurochemistry or the autonomic nervoour system.
stres response and genes on mental health sucha OCD and sciz.
Descibe enviromental determins?
skinner argued that free will is an illusion and is result of past conditioning and experiences.
alhtough we may think we act on our own free will it is a sum of all reinfomcents through experineces.
Descibe psychic determisn?
Freud also aggreed that free will is an illusion and bio drives and insticts drive our behaviour.
human hebaviour is determined by uncosnous throughts repressed in childhood- so all behaviour comes from unconsious.
Describe or explains the scinetifc emphasis on causal explantions?
in scienece or psych every event or behavior must have a cause that an be explained by using general laws (hard determsis)
allows scientists to control and predict in future– so lab eperiments are used as they are highly controlled and causal relatioships can be estabalished
Practical value/RWA of free will?
P- one + of free will is its practical value in everdya life.
EV- Evidince coms from researchers who looked at adoclenscents who had a strong beleif in fatalism and lives were out of their control. They found hat these people were significantly geater risk of developing depression.
who had a higher external LOC rather than internal were less likely to be optismistic.
EX-the normal view i sthat we execrcise free will in our everday basis but even if this isnt the case then even thinking that we doint is good for our mental health
L- suggesting even if we dont have free will we can beleive we do whcih can have a positve affect on our behaviour
researchc evidience to support determism?
P- one - of free will is that its shows determissm influencing our behaviour
EV- comes from researcher who told participinats to choose a random moment to flisk their wrists while measuring their brain activty called readiness potential.
They had to say when they felt consious will to move
Ex- they found that unconsiou brain activty leading upto conscous decision to move came half a second before the PS consciously felt they decided to move
which shows that our basic experineces of free will are actually determined by our brain before we are aware of them
L- showing our behaviour is pre dteremined by our brain.
The LAW/ - of determinism?
One -of dterminism is the postions in the legal system.
this is becasue the hard detrmisnt stance is that the indivudla is not the cause of behvaiour- but isnt consistent the way law operates as in courts offender are responsible for their actions due to their free will.
therfore determisn may not work in real world.
What does the ideographic approach include?
number of participants is small or even just an individual and info comes from family or friends
what research does ideographic approach use?
qualitattive research - which gets infromation from first hand accounts.
info is in depth and rich in detail, which focuses only on individual behaviour.
a unstructured interview may be used.
What are example of ideopgraphic approaches?
humanistic and psychodynami approach.
humanistic approach- look at roger uncondtional postive regard and clinet centered therapy focusing on ones own desires and self actualising
psychodynamic- observation of indivuals such as little hans and odipus complecx.
Describe the nomotheitic approach and their aims?
aims to study human behavior through quantitative methods of research and produce laws about principles of human behavior
How does Nomothetic approach use quantitaive research?
Hypothesis is formulated and using larger samples of people and can be done usign structured interviews- numerical data is produced to use for statistical sigificance.
What are 2 examples of nomothetic approach?
Behavioursist approach as it makes general laws about how humans learn through reinforcmnet.
biological approach- such as SPERRY SPLIT brain research which provided a basis of hemisphreic laterlaisation and how the two seperate hemispheres of brain is used for certain visual tasks.
Which approach is objective in nature?
nomothetic approach relies on objectuve data being obtained becasue laws of behaviour is only possible if method of asessmnt are caried out in a standardised way- ensuring replication across all samples of behaviour.
Which approach likes subjective data?
ideographic approach- becasue it is the uniqnuess of indivdual experience which is important and the context it occured in.
what is one strength of the ideopgraphic approach?
P- one + os the ID apporach is that it can contribute to the nomothetci approach
EX- this is because it uses in depth qualitative methods and provides a global descritopin of the situation or invidual. this can then complemnet the NOM appraoch because it shed further light on general laws.
EV- an example being the case of HM that revealed important insights abotu normal funtioning of our memories which can add to our understanding.- os it can generate a hypothsis for a further study.
L- therfroe this is a strength of the ID approach as although it focuses on fewer indiidual it can help generetae new hypothesis further encouraging research–so still scientific.
what is one counterpoint for complete account for ideographic approach?
Id appraoch still takes a narrow and restricted appraoch by only focusing on the individual, so its is hard to produce generalisations without further examples and there isnt a baseline to which we can compare the behaviour to.
methods are also least scientific ushc as case studies that rely on subjevtive experience of researcher s is more open to bias
therefore the id appraoch is inffective to use without the use of nomothetic approach hard to build general theories pf human behaviour
What is a + of both approaches?
One + of oth approaches is that they have scinetific credibility.
EX- this is because the NM approach uses similiar techniques used in natural sciences such as gaining objectivity through standardization, conrol and statistcial testing. But the ID approach also tries t objectivfy their methods.
EV- for example triangulation is used from findings of research from arange of studies using different qualitative methods are compared to increase their validity. they can also prevent biases from affecting their research through reflexvity.
L- suggesting that both apporaaches raise psychololgy status as a science.
What is one limitattion of the nomothetic approach?
P-one - of the Nm approach is that the loss of undertsnading the individual.
EX- this is because it only created general laws,predictions and control , so it looses the whole person.
EV- for example the general law or predictions that there is a 1% lifetime risk of developing schiz doesnt tell us abitu what life will be like for that person with schiz, but understading the subjective expereince will and can be useful in creating proper treatment options.
L- therefore the Nm approach may fail tp relate to expereince and may not explain the situation of a person as a whole so hard rleate to experience.
Describe holism?
argument that looks at a system as a whole doesnt approve breakig down behaviours or experiences into smaller parts.
what does the holism approach focues on?
focuses on indiduals experience which cannot be reduced to single biological units for example- use qualitatitve methods to investigate themes analysed.
what do reductionust aim to do?
anaylse behaviour by breaking it down into constituent parts.
what doeas levels of explanation in psycholgy mean?
there are different levels of explaning and breaking down a behaviour such as OCD-
socio cultural - OCD interruots relatiohsips-
psych-person expereinces anxiety
physical- washing hands repettvely
behavioural- learning expereinces
physiologcal level- abnormal functioning in frontal lobes
neurochmeicla level- underproduction of seratonin.
outline biological redutionism?
the BR approach aims to explain behaviour at the lowets biologiucal level through genes or neurochemistry.
because ots based off the fact that we are all biological organisms our behvaiour is biological determined by genes for example.
what is an example of the BR?
in OCD it has been found that drugs that inrease seratonin have been found to be effective in treating OCD - so if we work backwards then low seratonin may be a cuase of OCD–
neurotransmitter level
outline enviromental reductionism?
The behavioruist approahc is built on reductionism- saying that all behaviour is bkearned and aquired through interactions with the enviroment.-
conditioing is focused on stimlues and response links .
What is an example of the Enviromental reductionism?
learning thoery of attachment reduces the idea of love between baby and feeding person to learnign association between the food and the feeding person (NS) and food (UNCS) resulting in pleasure (CR)
what is one - of the holistic approach?
P- one limitation of the holistic approahc is that it lacks practical value.
EV- for example from the humanistic perspective there can be many different factors taht contribute to depression such as perosns past , filmy reltionships pr theirjob.
EX- so it becomes difficult to know which one is most infuential and then difficult to prioristise on the basis of therapy.
showing that holistic aacounts of human behaviour can become more complex- presenting rsearchers with a dilema.
L- suggest it lack practial value in therapy compared to reductonist aporoiahc
What is one + of the reductionist apporach?
scentific approach
this is becasue to conduct well controlled rsearch we need to opretionlaise the variables being studied such as behaviour
this makes it possible to conduct expereiments or record observations (behavioural categories) so that is is objective and reliable.
EXAMPLE- starnge situation ainsworth behaviour such as sepreation anxiety as crying or a distressed look on babies faces.
L- gives psych a greater scinetific crediblity
what is one limitation of the reductionist approach?
one - is that certain behaviour xan only be undertsood at a high level such as a socio cultural level.
This can be seen into effects of cofofrmity to social roles in prisoner and guard in STANFORD PRISON study which could not be understood by observing the individuals on their own, as the interaction between the people and behavior of the group was important.
so it suggests that social behaviour need to be studied in the context they are in and not break down the individual behaviors.
this suggest that some behaviour are best understood at high level explanations so more holistically, providing a more valid account.
Describe what ehticl implications are?
are the conseueces that researcch studies or theories may have or their effects in their partpicpinats indivually or ad a group.
Define socially sensitive rsearch?
seiber and stanley- studies in which there a potential consequences or implications either directky fro the PS or the class of indviuas of the research.
Why may some areas of research be more socially senstive than others?
This is because for example research on LTM on a student population is unlikely to have coonsequences for them inidudually or as a group.
whereas a study on depression may have consequences for the individual being studied such aas the person diagnosed with depression may reveal personal info to an employer which can affedt their chnacesof getting a job—–but on the other hand could also help social policies such as the NHS to create new treatmtnts.
What three stages ofplannign a study shoudl be important in terms of thinking sociallly sensitvely?
the research Q
dealing with particpinats
the way findings are used
How should the rsearch questions be socially sensitvely contructed?
the way in which the research question is phrased can inlfuence the way the findings are interpretated.
How should particpinats be dealt with in socially sensitive research?
Issues such as informed consent confedialty and psychological harm should be important in SCS research..
fro example a study on domestic abuse may worry that her ex partner may find out about the study and harm her, ordesricbe her edperiences so shoudl be protected from harm.
How should PS be dealt with?
researcher should consider how the research findings are used as it can impact the data collected-
this is because ot may give scientific credence to pre existsing preadjusts suhc as studuies examining the basis of ethnic basis of IQ.
also it canimpact on how the media may get a hold of this info and use it to publicise themselves.
WHat is one strength for socially sensitive research?
p- One strength of socially sensitve rseaech is that it can be beneficial for some groups.
ev- This comes from kinsey reports that were based over 5000 men and anonymous interview about their sexual behavior and found it to be a typical expression of human behaviour.
and 6000 women were outragesd at the fact that no one talks about these topics.
ex- so this meant that homosexual groups that the DSM categorized as a sociopathtic personlaity disorder removed it in in 1970 and normalised it.
L- therefroe thsi shows the improtance of researcher tackling topics that are sensitive.
Why is RWA a strength fro socially sensitive research?
P: one + of socially sensitive rseaecch is that social policy maker usually use it and rely on it.
EV: This comes from ONS who describe themeselves as being rsponsible fro collecting analysing and disseminating objective stats about the UK econmony society and population which can be used in psychological research.
EX: examples can inlcude on how importnat social policies are made such as chuld care education or mental health provision.- so it is more preferable to base such policies on scientific research rather than politically motivated views.
L: therfroe this is a strength as it means that psychlgists have a important role to play in high quality research on SCS topics to create social policies that the govermnet relies on.
what is one limitation of socially sensitive research?
P: One limiation is that if socially sesnitive research is poorly conducted that it could lead to incorrect findings which could have an impact forever.
EV: this is evident through BURTS esearch on 11+ students ,even after the fraud was exposed its is still used today.
EXP: such as into an entrance in a independant/grammar schools based on childs performance on enterance exam ( as a selection tool), and is based on the same reasoing of the genetic pool has revealed itself by tis age.
L: therefore this is a limiation as any socially sensitive topics need to be planned carefully and to ensure findings are valid as it cold have lifelong effect son particular people.
What does nature refer to ?
is the inherited influences or eheredity, so all human charcteristcs are genetically determined by biological factors.
What does nurture refer to?
the influences of experience and environment.
empiricists describe the brain as a blank slate at birth which is shaped by enviroment.
and can be different levels of factors of environment that can affect and shape our behaviour and brain
How is nature and nurture measured?
For NATURE- two people who have a specfic trait can be presented by a corelation coefficent or concordance rate.
What does this concordance rate show?
shows the hereditability rate which is the extent to which is trait is inherited and the differences in the population.
What do certain figures such as 01 and 1 mean?
0.1 repsents that genes don’t contribute to individual differences and 1 represent that genes count for induvial differences
0.1- 1%
1-100%
What does the interactionist approahc argue in terms of both nature and nurture forces interacting with one another to influnece our behaviour?
is the idea that both froces interact with another and behaviours can arise from both- and depend son the nature of one and how they react with environment
or their envrent affecting their nature and maybe changing it.
What is one example of interaction of nature and nurture?
in BOWBLY attachment types is determined by warmth of parent and babies innate temperament and how they react and response to that love/attachment formation
so childs nature creates the nurture so enviroment and heredity both intercat with one another.
What are two models used ot illustrate the nature nurture debate? DIATHESIS
diathesis stress modeli suggest that behaviour or disorder are casued by both bio or envriomental vulnerability which is only expressed in a envriemntal trigger (stressor)
OCD may be polygeneic but expression of these genes or activated only when stressor arises or schis being polygenic but activated by cannabis use
gene need to be present for it to be actiavted by stressor otherwise disorder may not appear.
What are two models used ot illustrate the nature nurture debate? EPIGENTICS
change in genetic ezpression or actovty whout change to base sequnec of DNA- by environmental factors such as diet stress or lifestyle
can leave marks on our genes which can switch genes on or off.
can also affect which genes coded expressed or switched off in our offspring
What is one strength of the nature nurture debate?
P- One strength is that adoption studies can be used.
E- a meta analysis on adoption studies found that genetic differences 41 of varinace in aggression
EXP- This can show that both the envroment and nature can affect aggressive behviour. Adoption studies are useful becasue if adopted children are found to be more similiar to theri adoptive parents then enviroment will be the bigger influence.
But if adopted children are more simliar to their bio parents then it shpows nature has a stronger influence
L- so its a strength becasue it can separte the effect of nature and nutrure and adoption stduies can support this.
what is another strength fro nature nurture debate?
P- another strenth for nature nurture debate is the role of epigenetics that support the debate
EV- evidence comes from events in second wrold war when the dutch people died stravation when nazis blocked the food sources. When women became pregnant they went to have low birth weight babies-and had found that they were twice as likley to develop SCHIZ when they grew up comared to rest of population
EX- this therefore suggests that epigentic /envriment and stressor had chnage the DNA or genes expressed in the children so it supports the idea of interaction between nature and nurture
L- thereoreit is s strength as it spports the debate
