Unit 2 section c assessment Flashcards
what is meant my ethnocentrism and apply it to the article [5]
-when a study only uses participants from one culture making the results only representative of that culture, and not generalisable
-an ethnocentric study is one where the results cannot accurately be used to make assumptions about the population as a whole.
-article may be considered ethnocentric because it only discusses the UK.
-first paragraph refers to the fact that Save Water Save Money has joined forces with the UK’s Water Companies to promote turning off the tap. This is ethnocentric because it only discusses what water companies in the UK are doing
-article also discusses statistics of adults in England and Wales and how much water would be saved if everyone turned off their taps whilst brushing their teeth. This is ethnocentrism because the statistics would not be the same for another country
explain a strength of uskingself report to find out peoples attitudes on leaving the tap on [3]
-the fact that it allows participants to describe their own opinions and feelings rather than trying to figure these out based on an observation.
- there may be specific reasons for people leaving the tap on whilst they brush their teeth. Some people may leave the tap on for specific reasons such as them believing it’s more hygienic or just not being bothered to turn it off. You cannot be sure of people’s reasoning for leaving the taps on through an observation, the question has to actually be asked.
explain a weakness of using self report to find out peoples attitudes to leaving tap on [3]
- the fact that people may lie and give a more socially desirable answer. If participants are aware that their habits of leaving the tap on whilst they brush their teeth are not at all environmentally friendly then they may be embarrassed to admit that they do it, and lie about it to avoid being judged.
-statistic which says, ‘if each adult in England and Wales turned off the tap whilst brushing their teeth, we could save enough to fill 180 olympic swimming pools’, is not necessarily correct
describe kohlberg’s study and relate it to the article
-Kohlberg’s study of moral development aimed to investigate how children move through different stages of moral development as they get older and to see if there are any cultural differences in how this happens.
-75 American boys for 12 years (longitudinal study), the research started when they were between 10-16 years old and it ended when they were between 22-28.
-Participants were tested by being presented with a moral dilemma every 3 years during the 12 year period, the answers to these were ranked in 6 categories (1 being least morally developed and 6 being most); this formed Kohlberg’s theory of moral development.
- Kohlberg concluded that there are 6 stages of moral development that follow an invariant developmental sequence, all movement is forward and no stages are skipped, however not everyone will reach the final stage of moral development. Kohlberg also claimed that this sequence of moral development is not significantly affected by culture or religion- it is universal.
- links to the article because it could be argued that the reason some people choose to save water and some do not is the fact that some people are more morally developed than others.
explain two ways people could be encouraged to turn off tap whilst brushing their teeth [8]
-One way people could be encouraged to turn the tap off whilst brushing their teeth is to use the social learning theory. The social learning theory suggests that we pick up behaviours through observing and imitating role models, and this theory is supported by Bandura’s study.
-Bandura found that a child will imitate an adult role model who they look up to and will continue to do this even when the role model is no longer present. In terms of getting people to save water, you could have a well known celebrity who is respected by everyone, such as David Attenborough, come onto Sky news and tell the nation the importance of turning off the taps whilst you brush your teeth, and reference the fact that he does it.
- According to the idea of the social learning theory, using David Attenborough as a role model should encourage others to follow his behaviour and turn off the tap whilst they brush their teeth.
-Another way to encourage people to turn off the tap while brushing their teeth is the idea of positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is a type of classical conditioning where a person is rewarded for displaying positive behaviours.
- In this situation people could get positive points from their water company for every litre of water they save from turning off the tap whilst brushing their teeth, once a person has 100 positive points they can receive a 10% discount on their water bill for that month.
evaluate the suggestions made in part d using issues and debates studied in psychology [8]
-One issue with using the social learning theory is the fact that it could be considered ethnocentric.
- Whilst most people in the UK have high respect for David Attenborough this does not necessarily mean that everyone will feel this way; a celebrity to someone in one culture may not be a celebrity to someone in a different culture.
-This would mean that the social learning theory would only work in one place and so would not be effective in getting people outside of the UK
-One relevant debate for when using the social learning theory is the freewill vs determinism debate.
-could be argued that people have complete control, in other words freewill, over their actions.
-One relevant debate for when using the social learning theory is the freewill vs determinism debate.
-This debate argues whether behaviour is already determined by the circumstances or whether a person has free will in their decision making.
- Following the freewill side of the debate it could be argued that people do have free will, can make their own decisions and could simply choose to ignore David Attenborough to avoid inconveniencing themselves.
-A relevant debate when using positive reinforcement is the reductionism vs holism debate.
-It could be argued that the use of positive reinforcement is a reductionist approach to getting people to save water as it only looks at one explanation for why people don’t save water.
- However it is highly likely that there are multiple reasons for people leaving the tap on whilst they brush their teeth and making the assumption that money is the only thing that will get people to stop doing it is a reductionist approach.
-Another debate relevant when using positive reinforcement is nature vs nurture debate.
-could be argued that positive reinforcement will not be effective as some people have grown up with their parents running the tap whilst brushing their teeth, whilst others have not, and whichever upbringing people had will have a big effect on what they chose to do for the rest of their lives.
-This would be the nurture side of the debate as it suggests that people’s behaviour is already being strongly influenced by their environment and upbringing and we will not be able to change that.
