PSYCHOLOGY(ISSUES AND DEBATES)

Question 1

what is universality?

Answer 1

relates to both gender and culture. refers to when research assumes the findings can be applied to both genders and cultures equally .

Question 2

what is gender bias?

Answer 2

bias is made towards one gender, behaviour is then applied to the other gender. this is mainly caused by just using a sample of one gender and applying the findings to all

Question 3

what are the 3 types of gender bias?

Answer 3

> ANDROCENTRISM = theories which are centred on males only. can occur if all male samples are used in research, from which a theory is generated from. EG MILGRAM, ZIMBARDO, ASCH

> ALPHA BIAS = differences between men and women are exaggerated, eg evolutionary explanation suggests men are more likely to commit adultery and women have more parental investment in offspring

> BETA BIAS = differences between men and women are minimised. often happens when findings obtained from men are applied to women (androcentrism). EG biological research on fight or fight typically done on men and generalised to women, but Taylor et al suggests females produce a slightly different response.

Question 4

AO3 for gender

Answer 4

beta bias = HARE-MUSTIN ET AL arguing for equality draws attention away from current power imbalances. eg arguing for equal parent rights ignores biological demand of mother

many significant theories of human behaviour have bene built on androcentric research and then tested women using a flawed criteria. eg KOHLBERG proposed a stage theory of moral development. found on average that women researched had lower levels of moral development, led to alpha bias conclusions

challenge gender bias in well established theories. eg recent DNA evidence suggests women are equally competitive and aggressive compared to males in situations where they need to me, contradicts Darwins view that males are competitive

Question 5

what is culture bias?

Answer 5

act of interpreting and judging behaviour of one culture by holding them to standards of your own.

Question 6

two key terms of culture bias

Answer 6

ethnocentrism = view that our own culture should be the basis for judgements of other groups. the beliefs, views and behaviours of our own group are normal, compared to other groups that are strange.

cultural relativism = principle of regarding the beliefs, values and practices of a culture from the viewpoint of that culture, can be seen as an attempt to avoid ethnocentrism

Question 7

what is an etic approach?

Answer 7

may amplify cultural bias. this type of approach seeks to develop universal, nomothetic theories about human nature.

Question 8

what is an imposed etic?

Answer 8

refers to the use of a measure (eg DSM) which has been developed according to the values of one culture and used to make assessments in that culture. then used to study or judge behaviour in another culture.

Question 9

what is an example of an imposed etic?

Answer 9

diagnosis of schizophrenia using the DSM, created in America.

Question 10

what is an emic approach?

Answer 10

helps to overcome an etic approach by reducing cultural bias.

this is where one culture is studied in order to discover cultural specific behaviour. they only generalise findings to the culture they have been studying. do not try and generalise

Question 11

what is one problem of an emic approach?

Answer 11

hard to get a true understanding of the culture if you are not a member of it, especially when carrying out experiments where there is limited contact

Question 12

AO3 for culture

Answer 12

can cause unreliable diagnoses with negative impacts on society. eg malgady and Costa Rica

a true science seeks general laws of behaviour, cultural diversity may jeopardise this. nomothetic laws can be useful in helping as many people as possible. cultural diversity means research has to take place in every conceivable culture in order to explain behaviour accurately.

Question 13

what is free will

Answer 13

full choice over actions, no influence or manipulation from internal (genes) or external (peer) influences

Question 14

what is determinism

Answer 14

behaviours are caused by something, little actual control.

determinants are variables that cause our behaviour.

hard determinism is completely no control, soft determinisms is somewhat in the middle

Question 15

what is hard determinism ?

Answer 15

human behaviour is completely determined by factors outside of their control.

Question 16

what is soft determinism?

Answer 16

human behaviour is generally predetermined by factors outside of their control, but they have the option to exercise free will in some situations

Question 17

what are the three types of determinism?

Answer 17

> BIOLOGICAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
PSYCHIC

Question 18

what is biological determinism ?

Answer 18

behaviour is a result of internal processes within the body.
3 biological causes of behaviour = genetics, brain physiology and biochemistry.

Question 19

what is environmental determinism?

Answer 19

behaviour is a result of our physical environment. eg social influence. milgram pts acted out of pressure form their environment. could be argued they wouldn’t have normally acted like this but their environment determined their behaviour.

Question 20

what is psychic determinism?

Answer 20

links closely to psychodynamic approach, behaviour is caused by our unconscious mind.

Question 21

AO3 for free will vs determinism

Answer 21

> behaviourist skinner would argue the concept of free will can be explained by determinism. eg if free will is the product of unconscious thinking, and this can be explained by brain activity, then the ability to use free will is biologically determined

> creates issues for the criminal justice system = eg Stephen mobley who shot a pizza shop manager. legal team request for testing to see if he had inherited a ‘criminal gene’ was thrown out by the court.

> free will is needed. desirable for humans to believe so they feel as if they have some control over their life. eg Roberts et al found adolescents with a strong belief in fatalism (that their lives were determined by factors outside of their control) were at greater risk of depression

diathesis stress approach can be seen as more holistic, that incorporates several types of determinism. eg patients with schiz, the diathesis stress account assumes they had a vulnerability, such as a genetic predisposition (c4 gene leading to hyper pruning). also explains how stressors are needed for the predisposition to be triggered, such as having a szchisophrenogenic mother = environmental determinism.

Question 22

what is holism?

Answer 22

when looking at a behaviour, we should judge the whole rather than one specific part.

appreciated the complex interactions of many factors

Question 23

what is reductionism?

Answer 23

trying to explain complex behaviours using component parts that make them up.

reducing the explanation into a simplistic form in terms of basic units. EG stating schizophrenia, a complex human behaviour, is caused by dopamine (one single factor)

Question 24

what is parsimony?

Answer 24

science favours the simplest explanation.

Question 25

what are levels of explanation?

Answer 25

suggest that there are different ways of viewing the same phenomena in psychology.

Question 26

what is the highest to lowest level of explanation?

Answer 26

> HIGHEST = most holistic, cultural and social explain how our social group affects our behaviour
MIDDLE = psychological explanations, eg cognition and emotions
LOWEST = most reductionist = biological eg genes and hormones

Question 27

what are the two types of reductionism?

Answer 27

> biological
environmental

Question 28

what is biological reductionism?

Answer 28

explaining human behaviour by using biological systems such as genetics and biochemistry. most reductionist level of explanation.

Question 29

what are 2 biologically reductionist measures?

Answer 29

> FMRI brain activity to assess localisation of functioning

> monitoring and recording neurotransmitter levels by sampling cerebrospinal fluid to make assumptions on the causes of psychiatric conditions

Question 30

biologically reductionist example

Answer 30

> cause of OCD can be reduced to the role of a damaged caudate nucleus, creating a worry circuit in the brain, whereas holism might suggest stress and trauma could play a role.

Question 31

what is environmental reductionism?

Answer 31

simplifies a behaviour to a stimulus-response action as seen in classical conditioning. eg snake phobia can be learnt through snake bite

Question 32

what are two environmentally reductionist measures?

Answer 32

> controlled observations such as Watson and Raynor’s study of little Albert.

> experiment such as skinners lab

Question 33

AO3 for reductionism vs holism

Answer 33

biological reductionism is a more precise and simpler explanation . can identify a cause and effect. eg OCD and damaged caudate nucleus. more scientific as it allows for nomothetic laws.

biological reductionism can help us establish useful treatments. eg reducing explanation of schizophrenia down to dopamine etc, we can create APs

environmental reductionism iOS easy to test/observe. eg little Albert

flawed, not just biological or environmental, interactionist approach would be better. eg concordance rates between mz twins for schiz was not 100%,

holism can become vague. eg humanistic approach criticised for lack of empirical evidence.

Question 34

what is the nature-nurture debate?

Answer 34

refers to the degree to which human behaviour is influenced by nature/nativism (genes) or nurture/empiricism (environmental factors)

Question 35

nature ao1

Answer 35

nativists take the position that all or most behaviours are the result of genetic inheritance and will occur naturally regardless of environmental influences

believe all characteristics and behaviours are the result of evolution.

genetic traits handed down from parent influence individual differences.

Question 36

nurture ao1

Answer 36

empiricists take the position that all or most behaviours result from learning. learning theories such as SLT are good examples (CIA)

some theorists such as Watson believed people could be trained to do and become anything, regardless of genetic background

Question 37

what is hereditary ?

Answer 37

the genetic transmission of mental or physical characteristics from one generation to another.

Question 38

what is the interactionist approach in nature nurture?

Answer 38

idea that they are linked to such an extent that it does not make use to try and separate them, so researchers instead study how they interact and influence each other

EG = attachment theory = childs’ innate temperament will elicit a response from the caregiver. thus, nature creates nurture

Question 39

what are epigenetics?

Answer 39

refers to a change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code. process that happens throughout our life and is caused by interaction with the environment.

aspects of our lifestyle and the events we encounter - from smoking and diet to pollution and war leave epigenetic marks on our DNA

Question 40

nature nurture ao3

Answer 40

evidence that nature drives a lot of our behaviour. eg NESTADT review of twin studies, found concordance rate of 61% for MZ, compared to 31% for DZ twins for OCD
HOWEVER = FLAWED, if it was just genetics, MZ twins concordance should’ve been 100%, highlight importance of interactionist approach

evidence for interactionist explaining behaviour = MAGUIRE = engaged with learning the routes, driving around (environment) led to biological changes (hippocampus becoming more dense)

practical applications for schizophrenia. teach families to reduce poor communication, develop drugs dopamine and help symptoms.

nature more scientific

Question 41

what does idiographic mean?

Answer 41

focus on the individual and recognition of uniqueness.

attempts to explain the nature of individuals. argues people should be studied as unique entities, each with their own subjective experiences, values etc that contribute to development.

does not attempt to create general laws but can challenge them

Question 42

what does nomothetic mean

Answer 42

attempts to establish laws and generalisations about people, so others can be compared, classified or measured

objective knowledge through scientific methods

gain numerical data or data than can be categorised

Question 43

what is an example of an ideographic approach

Answer 43

case studies,

Question 44

what are some general laws have been produced from nomothetic approaches ?

Answer 44

> classifying people into groups

> establishing principles of behaviour

Question 45

AO3 for idiographic and nomothetic

Answer 45

idiographic allows for an in-depth account for an individuals traits and behaviours. can use qualitative measures such as interviews. eg HM informed us that…

idiographic lacks scientific rigour. eg methods rely on subjective interpretation

nomothetic approach is highly scientific. eg lab experiments use standardised procedures and can be replicated as they control for extraneous variables. EG milgram

nomothetic have broader applications than ideographic. eg establishing norms and general laws allows psychologists to make predictions about future behaviour.

Question 45

what are ethical guidelines?

Answer 45

were established to protect participants in research. an ethical issue arises when there is conflict between what a researcher wants to do and the rights and protection of pts.

Question 46

what are the ethical guidelines?

Answer 46

Can Do Can’t Do With Participants
C-conset
D-deception
C-confidentialtity
D-debried
W-rights to Withdraw
P-protection from harm

Question 47

what are ethical implications?

Answer 47

refers to the impact that psychological research may have in terms of the rights of people participating and
the impact on wider society

Question 48

when is research described as socially sensitive?

Answer 48

when the findings could support prejudiced attitudes

findings could cause harm to pts or people similar to pts

Question 49

examples of social sensitivity

Answer 49

schizophrenogenic mother
milgrams obedience