Issues And Debates

Question 1

Define determinism

Answer 1

The belief that behaviour is controlled by forces outside your control, so it is predictable and controllable

Question 2

Define free will

Answer 2

Free will assumes a person has control over their behaviour, is responsible for their own actions, and so behaviour is not predictable

Question 3

Describe criteria for free will behaviour

Answer 3

• Behaviour is hard to define
• Cause of behaviour can be difficult to test
• An individual is responsible for their own behaviour
• “The sum of the whole is greater than the parts”
• Can’t predict behaviour

Question 4

Describe criteria for determinism behaviour

Answer 4

• Behaviour can be reduced to cause and effect
• Can collect objective data
• Behaviour can be investigated scientifically
• We can predict behaviour accurately
• Behaviour can be changed and improved

Question 5

A study to be deterministic has to be:

Answer 5

• Looks at cause and effect
• Can collect objective data
• Very scientific
• Reductionist
• Isolates variables clearly

Question 6

What are the 6 different types of determinism

Answer 6

1) Determinism
2) Hard determinism
3) Soft determinism
4) Biological determinism
5) Psychic determinism
6) Environmental determinism

Question 7

Define hard determinism

Answer 7

Implies free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by internal and external events beyond our control

Question 8

Define soft determinism

Answer 8

All events, including human behaviour, have causes, but behaviour is not inevitable. Our behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices

Question 9

Define biological determinism

Answer 9

The belief that behaviour is caused by biological (genetic, hormonal, evolutionary) influences that we cannot control

Question 10

Define psychic determinism

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Define environmental determinism

Answer 11

The belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment (such as systems of reward and punishment) that we cannot control

Question 12

What approach favours free will as an explanation

Answer 12

• Humanistic approach (one of its assumptions)

Use maslows hierarchy of needs

Question 13

What approach favours determinism

Answer 13

• Psychodynamic approach (psychosexual stages determine adult relationships)

Question 14

Strength and a weakness of free will

Answer 14

Strength= -Shows individual responsibility (persons chosen that behaviour and is responsible for it, good for crime)

Weakness= -Difficult to to scientifically test it (as it’s difficult to operationalise free will as a process)

Question 15

Strength and weakness of determinism

Answer 15

Strength= -Helps to predict and test behaviour (Person has chosen their behaviour and is responsible for it)

Weakness= -Lets off people and does not blame them for their behaviour (meaning behaviour was already pre-determined, therefore not responsible for their behaviour)
E.g. Limbardo study

Question 16

What does the term nomothetic mean

Answer 16

• “nomos” in Ancient Greek, meaning Law

- There are general rules that apply to all people

Question 17

What does the term idiographic mean

Answer 17

• “idio” in Anncient Greek, meaning own/private

- Every individual is unique and complex

Question 18

What are the 3 types of nomothetic laws by Radford and Kerby (1975)

Answer 18

1) Classifying people into groups
E.g. Type A, B, C attachment types or the DSM-V

2) Establishing principles of behaviour (what we expect people to do in certain situations)
E.g. Schaffer’s stage of development

3) Establishing dimensions (placing people on a scale)
E.g. IQ bell curve, locus of control

Question 19

How nomothetic researchers do there work

Answer 19

• Large scale data is collected from representative samples
• Under highly controlled conditions
• Quantitative data will be collected, summarised and compared
• More scientific because of the use of quantitative data and large, representative samples
• Generalisations are made from the data to create universal laws of human behaviour
• Data from nomothetic research tend to have high reliability, however at the expense of validity

Question 20

How idiographic do their work

Answer 20

• High quality data specific to the individual
• Collected in depth by methods like case studies, content analysis and unstructured interviews
• Qualitative data will be collected, which is content rich data but difficult to summarise and analyse
• Unscientific
• No attempt to generalise findings into laws, so unrepresentative
• Low Reliability, as 2 case studies may be different, but data is more valid, which is a better reflection of ‘real’ life

Question 21

Which approaches use nomothetic techniques

Answer 21

• SLT
• Biological approach
• Cognitive approach (memory experiments)

Question 22

Which approaches use idiographic techniques

Answer 22

• Humanistic approach (Main one due to the complete rejection of scientists way of studying humans)
• Psychodynamic
• Memory (heavy use of case studies like Clive Wearing, for brain damage)

Question 23

Simple evaluation for nomothetic research

Answer 23

Positives= -Uses scientific method

• Can generalise to wider population
• Methods are objective

Negatives= -May not apply to an individual

Question 24

Simple evaluation for idiographic evaluation

Answer 24

Positives= -High detail
-Focus on an individual

Negatives= -Not scientific

• Relies on self-report
• Time-consuming

Question 25

Evaluation of nomothetic research

1 positive and 1 negative

Answer 25

Positive= -Generalisations can be made, due to nomothetic techniques being easier to replicate, and gathered precisely

Negative= -Superficial, nomothetic techniques measure people according to set criteria, this criteria doesn’t give a full picture of the individual. E.g. Two people with depression are likely to have different personal experiences

Question 26

Evaluation of idiographic research

1 positive and 1 negative

Answer 26

Positive= -Hypothesis generation. Idiographic case studies can’t demonstrate validity of hypothesis due to its small sample. However, can generate new interesting areas of research or overturn old incorrect theories

Negative= -Subjectivity. Data collecting techniques like longitudinal studies, lose objectivity and introduce bias in collection of data

Question 27

1 evaluation point of Idiographic and nomothetic research combined

Answer 27

-Complementary= Strengths of both methods mean each is more appropriate in particular research circumstances, or the use of both.
Idiographic can give description to nomothetic laws of behaviour that provide high predictive value

Question 28

Application to topics in an essay

What topics would you link with idiographic research and why

Answer 28

• Humanistic approach and therapy= Humanistic psychologists do not study human behaviour objectively(scientifically) due to the fact human experience is subjective. Rogers and Maslow studied the uniqueness of humans instead of creating generalisable laws. This approach uses client centred therapy which is an individualised treatment
• Memory Case studies= An example is Clive Wearing Case study, who had amnesia who demonstrates separation of LTM types. This provides insight into mental processes which experimentally wouldn’t be able to do. These insights are used to support or contradict previous theories and construct testable hypotheses

Question 29

Applications to topics in an essay

What 2 topics would you link with nomothetic research and why

Answer 29

Biological approach and drug treatments= Biological psychologists favour large scale nomothetic research methods like drug trials. This allowed development of effective drug therapies like SSRI’s for OCD. Use of large representative samples give doctors confidence in findings. Therapies don’t consider individual experiences

• Learning theorists use of animal studies (SLT, behaviourist approach)= Theories of Learning like Skinner and Pavlov are backed up by thousands of studies on rats, dogs etc. Nomothetic techniques allowed extreme control over variables and were highly replicable. Questions of validity when applied to humans, but can have high predictive power of humans behaviour.

Question 30

What’s socially sensitive research

Answer 30

Where the topic area/or group studies can have implications for certain groups on society. Potentially leading to a change in the way these groups are treated/perceived

Question 31

How do you deal with ethical issues

Answer 31

• Briefing and debriefing= Participants should be told as much as possible about the study before and the full aims after.
• Maintain confidentiality and privacy when publishing results
• Receive informed consent
• Give the right to withdraw

Question 32

Accepting ethical issues is done how

Answer 32

Ethics committee= Makes final decision to carry out ethically questionable research or not, often made not by the researcher

Cost benefit analysis= Judging potential costs and benefits to society of the research

Question 33

Evaluation of Ethical implications and social sensitivity

Answer 33

• Avoiding sensitive issues= Fear Researchers have about harming/offending participants could lead to certain topics not being studied. May lead to people struggling with issues seen as “sensitive”
• Reputation of psychology= Focus on ethical conduct has improved image of psychology as a scientific study, a reputation that was damaged by Harlow and Milgram. As scientific funding is often from public bodies, it may be beneficial to avoid controversial studies

Question 34

Examples of socially sensitive research in topics of the course

Answer 34

• Psychopathology= Statistical infrequency creates a point decided by psychologists where somebody is defined as abnormal. This decision can have implications like whether a person receives support
• Milgram= Lack of ability to withdraw is thought to have caused harm to participants. However, then interviewed the majority were happy they took part, therefore changed our perspective on social influence
• Maternal deprivation= Bowlby places lots of pressure on mothers to develop strong attachments with their babies. May cause mother to sacrifice their career