psychology debates Flashcards
one strength of nature
help treat patients of certain behaviours eg autism
one strength of nurture
useful when supporting negative behaviour a result of nurture
one weakness of both nature and nurture
reductionist
what is determinism
when behaviour is predicted
what is free will
when behaviour is self determined
strength of determinsim
emphasise cause and effect and predicts behaviours
weakness of determinism
takes away individuals responsibility
what is reductionism
the belief that complex human behaviours can be understood by breaking down into smaller parts
what is holism
the belief that the best understanding of behaviours is looking at the whole thing
3 things that make a study reductionist
-focus on explaining complex behaviour.
-gathers quantitive data
-has only independent variables
what makes a study holistic
-considers many different explanations for behaviours
-gathers both types of data
-uses scales to measure opinion
strengths of reductionism
can pinpoint specific influences on behaviour
weakness of reductionism
oversimplifies behaviour and
lacks depth
what is the individual side of the debate
behaviour is a result of unique characteristics like genes, class, gender, age, IQ and personality
what is the situational side of the debate
behaviour is a result of environment /context like upbringing, poverty, peer group and location
strength of the individual/situational debate
-useful to know the causes of behaviour and treat it
-deterministic and predictable
weakness of individual/situational debate
-its reductionist
-if behaviour is a result of an individual it would be hard to change
what is usefulness in psychology
when a study can improve peoples lives
what is not useful in psychology
if a study can’t be applied to improve peoples lives
3 things that make research useful
-if it can be applied to real life
-if it can be helpful
-controls are used
4 things that make research not useful
-lack of eco validity
-can’t be applied to outside studies
-can’t be generalised
-no controls/manipulations of variables
what are ethics
moral guidelines used to protect others
strengths of breaking ethical guidelines
-more accurate results
-can reduce extraneous variables
-can be more eco validity
weakness of breaking ethical guidelines
-can effect Ps negatively
-public can lose trust in research
-time consuming
what can socially sensitive research cause
research that could cause offence or upset to the participants/wider society
what makes research socially sensitive
if the study focuses on race, age,gender,culture ect.
3 strengths of socially sensitive research
-could lead to legal change
-could progress our understanding of human behaviour
-could find ways to improve behaviour
3 weakness of socially sensitive research
-can lead to stereotyping
-can cause stigma
-can cause psychological harm
strength of psychology a science
-scientific research is trust worthy
-scientific research is objective
-scientific research is deterministic
-scientific research is reductionist
weakness of psychology a science
-high controls can reduce eco validity
-can lack validity if too reductionist
-can be difficult to measure human behaviour using complete scientific methods
what is psychology
psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviours
what is the bottem up induction process
theories formed-hypotheses formed-patterns in behaviour are made-observations of behaviour are made
what is the top down induction process
idea/theory comes first-hypotheses formed-observation/experiments gather data- confirmation of theory
what is the empirical method
process of collecting and organising data conclusion though observations and experiments
