topic 8: Issues & Debates

Question 1

define the ‘nature’ view

Answer 1

the view that behaviour is the product of innate biological/genetic factors

Question 2

define nurture

Answer 2

the view that behaviour is the product of experiences and environmental influences

Question 3

define the nature vs nurture debate

Answer 3

the relative importance of heredity and environment in determining behaviour and human development

Question 4

define free will

Answer 4

the idea that we can play an active role in behaviour and have a choice in how we behave

Question 5

define determinism

Answer 5

the view that free will is an illusion and that our behaviour is governed by internal/external forces which we have no control over

Question 6

define the free will vs determinism debate

Answer 6

the origins of our decisions, choices and behaviours and the extent to which they are influenced by free will or other identifiable forces

Question 7

what is hard determinism

Answer 7

the view that forces out of our control (biology/past experience) shape our behaviour
it identifies specific causes of behaviour and is seen as incompatible with free will.

has 3 forms: psychic, environmental, biological

Question 8

what is soft determinism

Answer 8

all events and human behaviour have causes, but behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion

Question 9

what is psychic determinism and what evidence supports it

Answer 9

suggests human behaviour is the result of childhood experience and innate drives as a result of unresolved conflicts

psychodynamic approach
Little Hans

Question 10

what is environmental determinism and what evidence supports it

Answer 10

suggest behaviour is determined by factors outside of the individual, env. determinism assumes our behaviour is caused by previous experience/learning

Learning theories
Bandura Ross+Ross Bobo doll

Question 11

what is biological determinism and what evidence supports it

Answer 11

suggests that all human behaviour is innate and determined by genes with research identifying factors such as genes/hormones/neurotransmitters

Biological Approach
OCD and the SERT gene

Question 12

give arguments for the argument of free will vs determinism

Answer 12

determinism
–unfalsifiable even tho it seems scientific
it’s bc it’s based on the idea that causes of human behaviour will exist, which is impossible to disprove and popper said falsifiability is a feature of scienxe

+ it’s in line with the study of science and the goals in studying psychology by saying that behaviours have a measurable cause
using these types of techniques has led to treatments, therapies and beh. treatment that have helped many (eg. Sz)

free will
+ evidence suggests that the perception of free will is better for us
a study found that ppl with internal LoC are more mentally healthy and Roberts et al. found teens with a strong belief of fatalism were at sig. higher risk of dev. depression

– contradictory evidence from Soon et al.
when asked to press a button using L/R hand, brain activity linked to making that choice is detected up to 10s before making that decision
suggests: we believe that we are freely making a decision but our brain is actually determining it before we are consciously aware of them

Question 13

what is alpha bias

Answer 13

when researchers over-emphasize differences between males and females

Question 14

what is beta bias

Answer 14

when researchers ignore or downplay differences between males and females

milgram, asch, zimbardo

Question 15

what is cultural bias

Answer 15

the tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the lens of one’s own culture

milgram, Ainsworth, asch

Question 16

what is ethnocentrism

Answer 16

a form of cultural bias, if left unchecked it can lead to an imposed etic
imposed etic - imposing your cultural views and expectations onto others, intentionally or unintentionally

Question 17

cultural relativism

Answer 17

idea that cultures can only be understood from within that culture i.e. by taking an emic approach

Question 18

universality

Answer 18

any underlying characteristic in human beings that can be applied to all despite difference is experience and upbringing, this is threatened by gender and culture bias

Question 19

define culture

Answer 19

values, beliefs and patterns of behaviour shared by a group of people

Question 20

how is milgram’s experiment culturally biased and what was found in other cultures

Answer 20

shocks
used an American sample
included all cultures would have similar obedience but American traditions and values are diff. to non-western and he ignored that other factors could influence obedience in other cultures

variation:
the experiment was repeated a south african sample
obedience rate of 87.5%

Question 21

how is ainsworth’s experiment culturally biased and what were the results of a non-culturally biased version of the study

Answer 21

the strange situation
american, individualist sample
she assumed that the SS could be used to identify the main attachment types in individualist and collectivist cultures, ignoring the varying child rearing practices

variation:
van ijzendoorn + Kroonenberg
looked at SS done in:
Japan - higher insecure-resistant
germany - higher insecure-avoidant
but these may not actually be insecure, but actually a healthy attachment ideal in that culture

Question 22

how was Yerkes’ study culturally biased

Answer 22

just before WW1, Yerkes developed army intelligence tests to assess recruits. The items were very specific to American culture and the test results showed european immigrants fell slightly below white americans and african-americans were at the bottom of the scale, with the lowest mental age

this had a real impact on african-americans and was linked to segregation

Question 23

evaluate cultural bias

Answer 23

– Yerkes showed how dangerous culturally biased research can be as his had a real had a real impact on african-americans and was linked to segregation

+ we have evidence of cultural bias
Smith and Bond reviewed european social psychology textbooks and found that 32% of studies were european, most were american and 2% were the rest of the world
this suggests cultural bias is identifiable and therefore addressable via cultural relativism; Berry said we need more emic studies

+ indigenous psychologies; theories that draw explicitly on particular experiences of people in different cultural contexts eg. afrocentrism: suggests that all black ppl have african roots and should consider the african context of behaviour and attitudes

culture bias might not be as relevant now
critics suggest that today, with more global comm. and interconnectedness, we cant simply differentiate into individualist vs collectivist
takano and osaka found 14 of 15 studies on USa vs Japan found no ev of the trad distinction

Question 24

what is androcentrism

Answer 24

when something is focused on or dominated by, males/the male viewpoint

Question 25

outline examples of alpha bias in psychology

Answer 25

1. Freud suggested that as females don't experience castration anxiety, they're under less pressure and have less need to identify with the moral standards of their same-sex parent; so the psychodynamic approach suggests women have weaker superegos and are less moral 2. Wilson's sociobiological theory of relationship formation: women are more selective with partners bc they can only have a few kids healthily vs men just try and get everyone pregnant because they want to increases of passing on their genes to the next gen

Question 26

give examples of beta bias in psychology

Answer 26

1. milgram found 65% of his all male sample reached 450V and went on to generalise this to all people not considering differences with women 2. Asch used an all male sample to see if p's conformed with the majority and then generalised these results

Question 27

evaluate gender bias

Answer 27

-- could be institutional sexism lack of women at senior research level means female concerns might not be reflected in research questions more likely to publish work of males and gender diff. lab exp: though to be base of psych science but the male researcher has power over fem p's and can label them as unreasonable and irrational creates a bias in theory and research -- can lead to misleading assumptions about female behaviour this research can fail to challenge neg stereotypes and validate discriminatory practice can provide a 'scientific justification' to deny women opportunities in the workplace/wider society androcentrism: male anger is a rational response to external pressures vs PMS is a 'social construct' that aims to medicalise femal emo like anger via hormones + reflexivity modern researchers are seeing hiw their own assumptions can impact their work; theyre seeing and embracing bias as a crucial part of research rather than seeing it as a threat to objectivity. eg. dambrin+lambert studied the lack of women in exec positions in accountancy and reflected on how their own ecperiences influence their reading of these events this leads to better awareness of influence of personal biases + dev. feminist psychlogy Judith worrel put forward many criteria to adhere to and avoid gender bias in research; study women in real-life contexts and actually participate in research vs being objects of study. examine diversity within women vs between w and m emphasis on more collaborative, qualitative research methods!

Question 28

what is socially sensitive research

Answer 28

defined by Sieber and Stanley to be; studies where there are potential consequences, or implications, either directly for the research p's or for the class of individuals represented by the research can lead to a change in, or justification for the way these groups are treated/percieved eg. criminality, gender, race, gayness

Question 29

what are some examples of socially sensitive research?

Answer 29

Bowlby monotropic theory (kids form 1, special attachment within the critical period, usually with mum), he was an advisor to the WHO in 1950s, this led to Britain being one of the only countries in the EU not offering free childcare for under 5s - mothers that want to go back feel guilty and might not even be able to Cyril Burt - researched intelligence and used twin studies to find a strong genetic link to intelligence his findings and views influenced the Shadow report, leading to the 11+ formation, which was used nationally for over 30 years and impacted generations of children but! there has been huge controversy as it has been suggested that he had fraudulent results

Question 30

outline and evaluate the nomothetic approach

Answer 30

nomothetic research aims to study large groups of ppl to establish general laws uses experiment, correlational research, psychometric testing eg biological approach w/ OCD - neurotransmitters were pinpointed and SSRI's were created and used for all patients + scientific methods like in natural sciences; tests under standardised conditions, stats analysis etc allows psychologist to establish norms for typical behaviour (eg. IQ 1-100 scale), giving psych more scientific creds -- focusing on generalising can lose the 'whole person' in psychology trying to establish general laws, predict and control loses the subjective study of people and their experiences eg. knowledge of a 1% lifetime risk of Sz tells us little about what life is like for someone with the disorder and so how we can treat; its done little to support people + allows establishment of unifying laws and general principles eg. average IQ score of 100, norms are a good baseline for comparing mental disorders and intellectual abilities

Question 31

outline and evaluate the idiographic approach

Answer 31

focuses on the individual, emphasises the unique, personal experience of human nature favours case studies and qualitative methods to deeply understand the p — lack of scientific rigour with case studies and unstructured interviews subjective and open to researcher bias and makes less valid and generalisable + uses in-depth qual methods of investigation to get a complete understanding which can be used to support generating hypotheses for further study eg. HM; longitudinal research using interview, star tracing task and MRI to understand his amnesia better -- the nature of it is still narrow and restricted a criticism of Freud is that he developed many of his key concepts (oedipus) largely from just one case study of little Hans we can't meaningfully generalise without further examples bs there's no adequate baseline to compare behaviour

Question 32

outline the levels of reductionist-holistic explanations

Answer 32

top - eg. cultural differences in parenting style

Question 33

what is meant by levels of explanation in psychology

Answer 33

explanations at different levels vary with lower levels focusing on very basic components and are more reductionist whilst higher levels are more holistic and consider multiple variables socio-cultural psychological biological

Question 34

outline how you would carry out a study using a nomothetic approach

Answer 34

test a large sample that is representative of the larger population use a testable hypothesis collect large amounts of data, so via quantitative methods that allow stats tests and the drawing of conclusions for a wider population

Question 35

evaluate nature and nurture

Answer 35

-- implications of nativism suggests 'anatomy is destiny' and takes an extreme determinist stance which leads to controversy such as the application of eugenics policies -- its difficult to fully separate the two processes researchers attempt to use twin studies to 'tease out' the influence of env. but Dunn and Palomino suggested shared and nonshared env; saying that individual differences will impact the way that siblings experience the same life experience (eg. temperament and deal with parents divorce) so even MZ aren't 100 and we can't meaningfully sep nat+nurt -- argue that its interactionist Hebb said that asking whether nat/nurt is more imp. is equiv to skin whether a triangle's length/width is more imp to find the area. they both contribute and as such, shouldn't be considered sep. phenylketonuria = inherited disorder that prev. metabolising amino acid phenylalanine --> brain damage, but if get. at birth the baby can have a diet with no phenylalanine and avoid brain damage. if we prevent via env. then is it nat/nurt -- successful explanation of mental disorders using diathesis-stress model via interactionism a person's nature is expressed only under certain nurture and so, the 2 interact Sz mum group - 10% incidence but all cases were in families rated as 'disturbed' - but the low risk kids from the same family type didn't develop Sz, showing its genes and env. + other group - below 1%

Question 36

evaluate holism and reductionism

Answer 36

holism + aspects of social behaviour only emerge socially we can't understand these at an individual level eg. conformity to social roles + deindividuation in Stamford prison exp. couldn't be understood via p's independently, its about interaction and whole group beh. holistic exp. gives a more complete understanding of behaviour. vs reductionist -- not lended to rigorous scientific testing it can become vague and speculative as they become more complex eg. humanism is criticised for a lack of empirical ev vs more loose concepts so its difficult to use higher level exp. to develop a basis for therapy for example reductionism + forms the basis of scientific research to create operationalised variables we have to break target behind. into their parts; this makes exp. and obs. possible behaviourism showed how complex learning was broken down into simple stimulus-response lab links give psych more creds and places it on equal terms with natural sciences -- oversimplification of complex phenomena and leading to loss of validity expl. looking at genes, nt, neurones etc. don't analyse the social context of the beh. eg, always point finger in same way but not for same why so can only form part of explanation

Question 37

evaluate the ethical implications and socially sensitive reseach

Answer 37

+ Scarr said that studies of underrepresented groups and issues can promote greater sensitivity and understanding --> helps reduce prejudice and encourage acceptance and it has helped eg. researching the unreliability of EWT has reduced miscarriage of justice in the legal system, shows how it can play a valuable societal role -- hard to know whether to do it or not american psych ass. approved 90% of non-sensitive but only 50% of sensitive. suggests that govs dont want it to be done, but we have a duty regardless of any uproar — it’s very difficult to predict how a study’s findings will impact society even if all research goes through an ethics committee that conducts a cost-benefit analysis research can be used for social control and it’s hard to manage who benefits from this choice and whether it’s fair in the public -- socially sensitive research has been used by Govs. to shape social policy despite sometimes suspicious nature of findings and without fully considering the effect of env. on intelligence, Goddard said intelligence was genetic —> eugenics and sterilising people with a low IQ

Question 38

outline reductionism

Answer 38

explaining a phenomenon in terms of its constituent parts can be psychic, biological or environmental levels of explanation

Question 39

outline the ethical implications of research

Answer 39

ethical issues can arise when there's conflict between psychology's need to gain valid and valuable research whilst preserving the rights and dignity of p's ethical guidelines were established to protect participants, but it's harder to guard against the impact of psychological research after it's conducted researchers can control their methods of study and how p's are treated, but have little say in how their findings are presented in the media, how it impacts public policy and how it can influence certain groups in soc. --> concerns on wider ethical implications studies looking at socially 'taboo' topics like aspects of race/sexuality attract a good deal of attention; this shouldn't sway psychologists, it gives them a social responsibility to carry it out Sieber and Stanley said to consider implications of research and what it could be used to support, how it impacts public policy, validity eg. Bowlby

Question 40

how can researchers deal with issues associated with socially sensitive research

Answer 40

submit proposals to ethics committees and follow any recommendations weigh up costs and benefits carefully frame the question so certain groups aren’t misrepresented take steps to avoid prejudicial media presentation of findings

Question 41

outline gender bias

Answer 41

gender bias: tendency to favour one gender over another in research, theory and practice alpha bias and beta and examples androcentrism —> female behaviour being pathologists eg. PMS