Strengths And Weaknesses Of Debates (Section B) Flashcards
What are the strengths and weaknesses of psychological research being ethical
S: good ps are treated well, enhanced the reputation of psychology as a subject, researchers more likely to get other ps for future research id they see ps are treated well W: can place limits on the sort of research carried out (prevent worthwhile research), can reduce validity if ps know aim/ demand characteristics or social desirability, sampling bias if ps can withdraw (left with unrepresentative sample)
Strengths and weaknesses of research being more individual
S:nHelps us understand why people behave the way they do, useful as try placing people in jobs based on personality characteristics.. weaknesses: limited usefulness as personality isn’t easy to change, reductionist as misses out situational factors
Strengths and weakness of research being more situational
S: helps us understand why people behave the way they do, Useful as can change behaviour based on changing a situation, W: socially sensitive and be used an an excuse for bad behaviour, reductionist as missed out individual factors
S and W of behaviour being nature
S: useful for genetic modification or biological treatments, not ethnocentric as biological factors will affect people in the same way W: limited usefulness and not always possible to change, reductionist as misses impact of nurture, socially sensitive if identifying something can’t be changed
S and W of behaviour being nurture
S: can be useful as suggesting changes in child rearing to change behaviour W:reductionist as misses out nature, may be ethnocentric as cultures differ in the way they were brought up, socially sensitive as children may blame parents
S and W of research being useful
s: Had practical applications, more likely to also attract funding so more likely research is carried out, improve reputation of psych as a subject W. Research can be put to socially harmful uses, if 2 people on opposite sides like lawyers makes use of the same psych insight then the usefulness is cancelled out, if research has to be useful, other research may not be carried out that may still have been useful in the future, if being useful is most important then this may put pressure to break ethical guidelines
S and W of research being reductionist
S: allows research to be more scientific as allows researchers to test inspect on behaviour of one factor at a time, can draw more accurate conclusions about cause and effect as more highly controlled, also often more replicable and reliable, W: human behaviour often too complex to be explained by a single factor, focusing on one factor at a time can lead to other variables being ruled out, studies can lack EV as highly controlled
S and W of research being holistic
S: can give a more complete explanation for complex behaviours, research not limited to a single area or perspective so can consider different explanations W: can be difficult to find with factor is having the biggest effect, holistic separate out many factors and test them one by one (can result in reductionism)
S and W of psych being scientific
S: quantitate data often gathered which can be analysed to see effects, scientific research less vulnerable to being affected by researcher bias, uses lab experiments so cause and effect can be inferred, and can be repeated so reliable/replicable W: often reductionist as tests impact of single factor, reduced EV
S and W of socially sensitive research
S can answer important qs that improve understanding of behaviour, lead to practical applications that improve quality of people’s lives. W: Lead to people being stigmatised, insights can be used for malicious purposes
S and weaknesses of research being free will
S: not socially sensitive, useful as people can be held accountable for their actions (justice system) W: unscientific, socially sensitive as people may be uncomfortable being told responsible for how they act
S and W of research being determined
S: open to positive uses and can increase positive behaviour, scientific as arise from controlled experiments and look at cause and effect W: open to negative uses (lawyers to not hold people responsible), reductionist, socially sensitive as people not in control
