Psychology in a socio-political context Flashcards
1
Q
Societal Changes Affect Psychological Research?
A
- Industrialization and immigration
- Material basis for natural phenomena
- The Cold War and computers
- Mothers in the work force
- Influence of statistics
- Influence of Physics and universal laws
2
Q
What happened with Industrialization and immigration ?
A
- High population cities of poor and working class families
- Natural selection to make claims about biologically fitness
- Assumption: intelligence and aggression were innate
- All about evolution
3
Q
What are Eugenics?
A
- Applied a lot of Darwin’s theories to humans
- “Eugenics is the study of the agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally.” –Galton (1904)
- Played a major role in political, social and intellectual history of many nations
- The idea: if we could “breed man”, social woes would be lessened.
- Started the idea of twin studies
4
Q
What happened after Eugenics?
A
- Eugenics gained popularity
- Lost appeal post proposed sterilization of some individuals
- Sterilising people with mental illness – not breeding
- Behaviourism and psychoanalysis came around
- New emphasis put back on social experience
5
Q
Material basis for natural phenomena?
A
- Increased interest in researching the brain
- Lesion studies in animals – linking with human behaviour
- Democritus’s premise: material entities were the foundation of all observed
- Feelings, thoughts, and behaviours can be explained – material is the brain
6
Q
What happened with the The Cold War and computers ?
A
- Relationship between the US and the USSR after WW2
- Wanted to alleviate potential attacks
- Artificial intelligence
- Cognitive Psychology – birth of cognitive psychology
- Feelings & emotions less important than verbalizing & RTs
7
Q
What happened with Mothers in the work force?
A
- 1950: ~40% working
- 2000: 78% working
- Rise of divorce
- Bowlby and attachment
- Innate need to attach to caregiver
- Needed continuous care
- Maternal deprivation -long term consequences: increased risk of aggression, increase of depression
8
Q
What were the Influence of statistics?
A
- National Science Foundation – fund scientists to do their research
- F tests
- T-tests
- Correlation coefficients
9
Q
Influence of Physics and universal laws?
A
- No real powerful methods
- Physics assumed materialistic foundation for natural phenomena
- More successful predictions – physics
- Use of mathematics – answers questions about seasons, cycles of the moon, origin of the universe
10
Q
How can metaphors be used to resemble memory?
A
- Example: Memory
- Plato –wax tablet – good memory, clear impression on the tablet which will fade
- Middle ages –library full of books
- 19th and early 20th c –photograph
- Mid 20th c –computer
- Metaphors help formulate and test hypotheses
11
Q
What is a metaphor?
A
Metaphor –an analogy from another area that helps map a new, complex problem
12
Q
What was the first intelligence test in France?
A
- 1st test in France
- Binetand Simon
- Socio-political system in France –welfare state – Emphasis on citizen’s well-being – Compulsory primary education for all children
- Based intelligence on 3 principles:
1. Test scores were practical; did not define intelligence
2. Aim: identify learning-disabled children; not rank normally developing children
3. Purpose: provide extra help for at risk children
4. IQ ≠ fixed quantity and can be improved
13
Q
How was intelligence testing used in the US?
A
- Intelligence testing in the US – Socio-political system in US –segregation of black people and other immigrants
- Goddard -Used the test in other contexts
- Adapted the test
- Regular students
- Immigrants -Tested 100 immigrants = found to be feebleminded. Biased = no education or hadn’t used a pencil before, unfair testing conditions
- Recruitment
- Coined the term “moron” (IQ 50=70)
- Belief that intelligence was governed by a single gene
14
Q
What was the Stanford-Binet Test ?
A
- Terman (1916)
- Added tasks and questions
- Advocated national testing for every child
- “An Indian who had come to town for the first time saw a white man riding along the street. As the white man rode by, the Indian said, ‘The white man is lazy; he walks sitting down.’ What was the white man riding on that caused the Indian to say, ‘He walks sitting down.’” (cited in Gould, 1996)
- Feedble-mindedness related to morality (e.g., all potential criminals)
- National testing is a way to reduce crime (i.e., by removing low IQ members from society)
15
Q
What 3 tests were given in the army?
A
-Army testing won the war
-Intelligence testing in the US Yerkes and the US military support 3 tests:
-Army alpha – written exam
-Army beta – for those who are illiterate = more pictures
-Individual examination – if you failed beta
– Intelligence is innate
– Can assign military specialty
16
Q
Intelligence testing in the US Yerkes and the US military support 3 findings:
A
- Average mental age of White American male = 13
- European immigrants also averaged in the “moron” range
- Average score of Black American male = 10.4
- Supported the notion of genetic differences between races
- Immigration Restriction Act (1924) passed
17
Q
Problems in administration (US military testing)
A
- Individuals illiterate in English still allocated to Alpha test and then scored 0
- Beta test required the use of writing numbers with a pencil
- Unsatisfactory conditions
- Data should be considered critically
18
Q
What was Morton’s skull collection?
A
- Mean skull size of White people larger than Native Americans and Black people
- Race differences in intelligences
- Brain sizes of Americans – bigger for white people
19
Q
Gould vs. Morton ?
A
- Gould re-analyzed data
- Head size related to body size
- Sample biased toward Inca Peruvians (who were smaller)
- Men have bigger brains than women because men are bigger
- Cranial capacity was measure by pouring mustard seeds in skulls (which can be compressed)
- When corrected for biases, there are no differences
20
Q
What happened when technology dominated the US?
A
- Advances in technology and expanding economy lead to general optimism in the US
- Maybe gains could be made by improving educational system
- Gender identity strongly influenced by education
21
Q
When did ethics come in?
A
- Social changes led to increase interest in ethics:
1. Experiments may have caused harm
2. Legality
22
Q
Experiments may have caused harm ?
A
- Monster Study Johnson
- Nuremberg trials (1946-1947)
- Malaria experiments
- Mustard gas experiments
- Sea water experiments
- Informed consent
23
Q
Legality Ethical codes of conduct: ?
A
- Ethical approval for all research
- Protection of participants
- Informed consent
- No coercion
- Right to withdraw
- Anonymity and confidentiality
- Appropriate exclusion criteria
- Monitoring
- Duty of care and appropriate supervision
- Additional safeguards
24
Q
Enhanced interrogation program in War on Terror?
A
- Waterboarding
- Sensory deprivation
- Sensory overstimulation
- Linguistic isolation
25
Q
Ways Psychology Influenced Society?
A
- The psychologization of society
- Growing impact of psychology on the way people see themselves and interact with each other
- Reasons:
- Psychology is taught frequently on different degrees Psychology is frequently in the media
- Frequency of psychological topics in everyday conservations
26
Q
What are Labels ?
A
-Social change in the last centuries = individualization
-Psychology played important role (e.g., Jung’s terms “extrovert” and “introvert”)
Psychology coined other terms:
-Neurotic
-Depressed
-Intelligent
-Lacking self-esteem
27
Q
Creating Needs & Values ?
A
- Medical and pharmaceutical industry overstate their significance for health (Illich)
- Life expectancy increased in parallel with medicinal advances; but other factors played a role too (i.e., reduction in famine, clean water, better hygiene)
28
Q
What is ADHD ?
A
- Inattentive Type: easily distracted, forgetful, daydreams often, disorganized, poor concentration & difficulty completing task
- Hyperactive-Impulsive Type: excessive fidgetiness and restlessness, hyperactivity, difficulty waiting and remaining seated, immature behavior, destructive behaviorsmay be present
- Combined Type: combination of two other subtypes
- Do the differences in the rate of ADHD reflect changes in prevalence or decrease in society’s tolerance?
29
Q
How do needs and values extend to psychology?
A
- Rise in discovery of psychopathologies and syndromes
- ADHD
- Battered Woman Syndrome Parallel rise in the provision of counselling and therapy Normal everyday worries get psychological labels (Fuerdi)
- Creates anxiety and weakness
- Expect stress
- Therapeutic education (Ecclestone& Hayes, 2009)
30
Q
What did Dr Timimi believe about ADHD?
A
- ADHD is a social construct
- No specific markers
- No medical tests
- Different prevalence rates
- Problems with imaging experiments
- High co-morbidity
- No specific treatments
31
Q
What did Dr Taylor believe about ADHD?
A
- Hyperactivity is neither a social construct nor a genetic disease
- Individual differences in hyperactivity have known physical counterparts
- Severe hyperactivity is a strong predictor of poor psychosocial adjustment
- No evidence for social factors
- Social influences can contribute to the degree of hyperactivity
32
Q
Battered Woman Syndrome - pattern of responses
-3 stages cycle:
A
- Tension-building
- Acute battering
- Contrition stage
- Caused by learned helplessness?
- Ibn-Tamas vs. US (1979)
33
Q
Battered Woman Syndrome
A
- Case: Smith 1992 shot sleeping husband
- Claimed abuse
- Prosecution refused to accept plea of manslaughter
- Appealed based on Battered Woman Syndrome
- 2002: case sent to appeal court as a miscarriage of justice
- Released from prison after sentence reduce to manslaughter
34
Q
Helping Society ?
A
- Helping people age successfully
- Helping to prevent bullying
- Helping police, courts and prisons to perform more effectively
- Helping athletes perform better
- Making roads and driving safer
- Improving eyewitness identification accuracy
35
Q
Why is research helpful?
A
- Research impact –demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy
- Research impact embraces all ways that research-related skills benefit individuals, organizations, and nations
- Foster global economic performance
- Increase effectiveness of public services and policy
- Enhance quality of life, health and creative output
- Research with impact is more likely to get funded
