psychology debates

Question 1

one strength of nature

Answer 1

help treat patients of certain behaviours eg autism

Question 2

one strength of nurture

Answer 2

useful when supporting negative behaviour a result of nurture

Question 3

one weakness of both nature and nurture

Answer 3

reductionist

Question 4

what is determinism

Answer 4

when behaviour is predicted

Question 5

what is free will

Answer 5

when behaviour is self determined

Question 6

strength of determinsim

Answer 6

emphasise cause and effect and predicts behaviours

Question 7

weakness of determinism

Answer 7

takes away individuals responsibility

Question 8

what is reductionism

Answer 8

the belief that complex human behaviours can be understood by breaking down into smaller parts

Question 9

what is holism

Answer 9

the belief that the best understanding of behaviours is looking at the whole thing

Question 10

what makes a study reductionist

Answer 10

-focus on explaining complex behaviour.
-gathers quantitive data
-has only independent variables

Question 11

what makes a study holistic

Answer 11

-considers many different explanations for behaviours
-gathers both types of data
-uses scales to measure opinion

Question 12

strengths of reductionism

Answer 12

can pinpoint specific influences on behaviour

Question 13

weakness of reductionism

Answer 13

oversimplifies behaviour and
lacks depth

Question 14

what is the individual side of the debate

Answer 14

behaviour is a result of unique characteristics like genes, class, gender, age, IQ and personality

Question 15

what is the situational side of the debate

Answer 15

behaviour is a result of environment /context like upbringing, poverty, peer group and location

Question 16

strength of the individual/situational debate

Answer 16

-useful to know the causes of behaviour and treat it
-deterministic and predictable

Question 17

weakness of individual/situational debate

Answer 17

-its reductionist
-if behaviour is a result of an individual it would be hard to change

Question 18

what is usefulness in psychology

Answer 18

when a study can improve peoples lives

Question 19

what is not useful in psychology

Answer 19

if a study can’t be applied to improve peoples lives

Question 20

what makes research useful

Answer 20

-if it can be applied to real life
-if it can be helpful
-controls are used

Question 21

what makes research not useful

Answer 21

-lack of eco validity
-can’t be applied to outside studies
-can’t be generalised
-no controls/manipulations of variables

Question 22

what are ethics

Answer 22

moral guidelines used to protect others

Question 23

strengths of breaking ethical guidelines

Answer 23

-more accurate results
-can reduce extraneous variables
-can be more eco validity

Question 24

weakness of breaking ethical guidelines

Answer 24

-can effect Ps negatively
-public can lose trust in research
-time consuming

Question 25

what is socially sensitive research

Answer 25

research that could cause offence or upset to the participants/wider society

Question 26

what makes research socially sensitive

Answer 26

if the study focuses on race, age,gender,culture ect.

Question 27

strengths of socially sensitive research

Answer 27

could lead to legal change
-could progress our understanding of human behaviour
-could find ways to improve behaviour

Question 28

weakness of socially sensitive behaviour

Answer 28

-can lead to stereotyping
-can cause stigma
-can cause psychological harm

Question 29

strength of psychology a science

Answer 29

-scientific research is trust worthy
-scientific research is objective
-scientific research is deterministic
-scientific research is reductionist

Question 30

weakness of psychology a science

Answer 30

-high controls can reduce eco validity
-can lack validity if too reductionist
-can be difficult to measure human behaviour using complete scientific methods

Question 31

what is psychology

Answer 31

psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviours

Question 32

what is the bottem up induction process

Answer 32

theories formed-hypotheses formed-patterns in behaviour are made-observations of behaviour are made

Question 33

what is the top down induction process

Answer 33

idea/theory comes first-hypotheses formed-observation/experiments gather data- confirmation of theory

Question 34

what is the empirical method

Answer 34

process of collecting and organising data conclusion though observations and experiments