Year 2 - Issues and Debates

Question 1

what is gender bias?

Answer 1

when psychological experience does not offer a view that represents both men and women (usually represents men)

Question 2

what is androcentrism?

Answer 2

male centred research, when normal behaviour is judged according to standards of men

Question 3

what is alpha bias?

Answer 3

psychological theories that suggest there is a real and enduring difference between the sexes, often overstating minor differences

Question 4

what is beta bias?

Answer 4

bias which ignores any difference in sexes

Question 5

what is sociobiological theory?

Answer 5

theory which is an example of Alpha bias whereby it suggest that males naturally display polyagamous behaviour and women monogomous therefore suggesting that women who aren’t are abnormal or ‘unnatural’

Question 6

give an example of beta bias in psychological research

Answer 6

early research into the fight or flight response was based entirely on male animals which entirely ignores the possibility of differences in females response, new research showing that in women the response is more often tend and befriend

Question 7

evaluate gender bias in psychological research (5)

Answer 7

• gender bias research may create misleading information about female behaviour and provide a sort of justification for sexism
• sexism is apparent in the research process, less females at senior research level and therefore female concerns may not be reflected in research
• reflexivity, using the personal experience and values to reflect on the impact of gender research ad our own bias causes us to read things from a subjective perspective
• essentialist arguments used for politically motivated reasons
• feminist psychology has lead to the development of criteria for avoiding gender bias in researc

Question 8

what is cultural bias?

Answer 8

the tendency to ignore cultural differences and view behaviour through the ‘lens’ of ones own culture

Question 9

what is ethnocentrism?

Answer 9

judging others cultures by the values of our own culture, a belief in ones own superiority

Question 10

what is cultural relativism?

Answer 10

the idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards can be only be meaningfully understood within specific social context

Question 11

give an example of an imposed etic

Answer 11

Ainsworth’s strange situation

Question 12

what is an emic approach?

Answer 12

functions from within a culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to that certain culture

Question 13

evaluate cultural bias in psychological research (5)

Answer 13

• does individualism still apply in the 21st century with such a global community, and can it still be simplified to individualistic or collectivist
• not all psychology should be assumed to be culturally relative, as some behaviours are universal with a biological basis
• an unfamiliarity with research tradition may lead to demand characteristics being exaggerated
• operationalisation of variables, those from different cultures will be experienced differently by different cultures
• challenging implicit assumptions, cross cultural research shows that some concepts which we take for granted are not shared acroos the world

Question 14

what is free will?

Answer 14

the notion that all humans make a conscious choice about our behaviour and it is not determined by external forces

Question 15

what is determinism?

Answer 15

the notion that humans behaviour is shaped by internal or external forces

Question 16

what is hard determinism?

Answer 16

implies that free will is not possible and that our behaviour is always caused by forces beyond our control

Question 17

what is soft determinism?

Answer 17

in the absence of coercion we can determine our own choices but all of these choices have a cause

Question 18

what is biological determinism?

Answer 18

the belief that behaviour is caused by biological influences that we cannot control

Question 19

what is environmental determinism?

Answer 19

the belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment that we cannot control

Question 20

what is psychic determinism?

Answer 20

the belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control

Question 21

give the strengths of a deterministic approach (3)

Answer 21

• it is consistent with the aims of science
• prediction of human behaviour has lead to treatments and therapies
• mental illness is not as a result of free will and is out of our control

Question 22

give the weaknesses of a deterministic approach (2)

Answer 22

• hard determinism is not consistent with our legal system
• determinism is unfalsifiable as it is based upon the idea that causes for behaviour will always exist even if we have not yet found them

Question 23

give the strengths of free will (3)

Answer 23

• everyday experience of being human suggest we have free will - face validity
• people with an internal LOC are more mentally healthy
• adolescents with a fatalistic view at significantly greater risk of depression

Question 24

give the weaknesses of free will (2)

Answer 24

• neurological studies have revealed evidence against free will (researchers found that decision making areas of the brain predate our conscious knowledge of having made the choice, up to 10 seconds before)
• shows our experiences are decided by our brain before we are consciously aware

Question 25

outline the interactionist approach to free will and determinism

Answer 25

suggestion that soft determinism is most probably true such as SLT

Question 26

what is the nature-nurture debate in psychology?

Answer 26

a debate about whether it is our environment or our biology which determines our behaviour

Question 27

what is heredity?

Answer 27

the genetic transmission of mental and physical characteristics

Question 28

what is the heritability coefficient?

Answer 28

a figure used to assess heredity and is a numrical figure form 0-1 which indicates the extent to which a characteristic is genetic in basis

Question 29

what is the nature side of the debate?

Answer 29

naturists argue that all characteristics even some knowledge are innate

Question 30

what is the nurture side of the debate?

Answer 30

nurture suggests that all behaviour is as a result of experience and we are blank slates at birth

Question 31

why is the nature nurture debate brought into twin studies?

Answer 31

hard to distinguish between nature and nurture in concordance rates

Question 32

name one psychological model which is built upon an interactionist approach between nature and nurture

Answer 32

diathesis-stress model

Question 33

what are epigenetics?

Answer 33

the change to genetic activity which does not involve change to DNA

Question 34

evaluate the nature nurture debate (5)

Answer 34

- nativists suggest that anatomy determines our destiny, which is very hard determinism and has lead to eugenics policies - empiricists would suggest behaviour is key which has led to the development of therapies - individual differences between siblings or MZ twins mean that a person experience of the same events may be different and therefore heredity and environment cannot be meaningfully separated - interaction between genes and environment elaborated by constructivism, suggesting that children seek to surround themselves in environments which they are comfortable with and thus contribute to their own conditioning - genotype environment interaction, such as parents who are musically talented encouraging their child to take part in music - both are deterministic

Question 35

what is holism?

Answer 35

argument proposes the study of systems as a whole and not breaking them into smaller parts

Question 36

what is reductionism?

Answer 36

the beleif that human behaviour should be best studied by breaking it down into smaller more manegable parts

Question 37

what is biological reductionism?

Answer 37

attempts to explain social and psychological phenomena at a lower biological level

Question 38

what is environmental reductionism?

Answer 38

explaining all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links

Question 39

give the strength of holism

Answer 39

- some aspects of behaviour are only understood in context e.g. conformity

Question 40

give the weaknesses of holism

Answer 40

- hard to test in a scientific way and can be more vague and speculative - practical dilemma in finding which factors contribute most to psychological abnormality such as depression and how to apply this in therapy

Question 41

give the strengths of reductionism

Answer 41

- forms the basis of scientific research making it possible to conduct experiments and make observations - gives psychology greater credibility

Question 42

give the weaknesses of reductionism

Answer 42

- oversimplification leading to loss of validity | - only ever forms partial explanation, often doesnt show why behaviour is done only how

Question 43

what is interationism in the holism and reductionism debate?

Answer 43

how different levels of explanation may combine and interact

Question 44

what is an idiographic approach?

Answer 44

an approach to research which focuses on an individuals case a s a means of understanding behaviour

Question 45

what is a nomothetic approach?

Answer 45

attempts to study human behaviour through the develpoment of general principles and general laws

Question 46

give an example of the idiographic approach in psychology

Answer 46

the humanistic approach (or the psychodynamic approach)

Question 47

give an example of the nomothetic approach in psychology

Answer 47

behaviourist, cognitive and biological

Question 48

give the strengths of the idiographic approach

Answer 48

- in-depth qualitative methods provide a complete global account of individuals - help generate hypothesis for furthe study

Question 49

give the weaknesses of the idiographic approah

Answer 49

- hard to generalise findings | - case studies are less scientific

Question 50

give the weaknesses of the nomothetic approach

Answer 50

- creating laws and generalisations ignores personal experience - subjective experience is ignored

Question 51

give the strengths of the nomothetic approach

Answer 51

- testing under standardised conditions improves scientific rigour - establish norms of typical behaviour

Question 52

how might the idiographic and nomothetic approaches be complimentary?

Answer 52

possible to consider both in tandom to provide a fuller picture of behaviour

Question 53

what are ethical implications of psychology?

Answer 53

the impact research may have on the rights and understanding of certain groups

Question 54

what is socially sensitive research?

Answer 54

areas of research which may be controversial due to the impact on real situations

Question 55

what are the 3 main ethical issues of socially sensitive research?

Answer 55

- implication to wider society and the world - uses in public policy - whether research is valid, since some research in the past has been displayed as fact when it was mere fiction

Question 56

evaluate the ethical issues of psychology (5)

Answer 56

- benefits of socially sensitive research can be widespread such as promoting greater understanding and representation - research often frames a question they expect to be proved correct, but researchers should keep an open mind - the uses of these findings can be used for good or evil - research may lead to human rights violations such as eugenics - costs of research must be weighed against the gains of the knowledge