Issues And Debates

Question 1

Universality

Answer 1

Where conclusions drawn can be applied to everyone, anywhere, regardless of culture or time.

Question 2

Alpha bias

Answer 2

Exaggerates or undervalues the differences between sexes.

Question 3

Beta bias

Answer 3

Ignores, minimises or underestimates differences between men and women.

Question 4

Androcentrism

Answer 4

Male-centred. When normal behaviour is judged according to a male standard.

Question 5

Cultural bias

Answer 5

Refers to a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the lens of ones own culture.

Question 6

Ethnocentrism

Answer 6

Refers to a particular form of cultural bias and is a belief in the superiority of one’s own culture group.

Question 7

Cultural relativism

Answer 7

The idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.

Question 8

Etic

Answer 8

Looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours that are universal.

Question 9

Emic

Answer 9

Functions from within or inside certain cultures and identified behaviours that are specific to that culture.

Question 10

Free will

Answer 10

The notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological external forces.

Question 11

Determinism

Answer 11

The view that an individuals behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces.

Question 12

Hard determinism

Answer 12

Implies that free will is not possible as all out behaviour is controlled by internal or external forces.

Question 13

Softer determinism

Answer 13

All human behaviour has caused, but behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices.

Question 14

Biological determinism

Answer 14

The belief that behaviour is caused by biological influences that we can’t control.

Question 15

Environmental determinism

Answer 15

The belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment that we can’t control.

Question 16

Psychic determinism

Answer 16

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

Question 17

The nature-nurture debate

Answer 17

Concerned with the extent to which aspects of behaviour are a product of inherited or acquired characteristics.

Question 18

Heredity

Answer 18

The genetic transmission of mental and physical characteristics from one generation to another.

Question 19

The interactionist approach

Answer 19

The idea that nature and nurture are linked to such an extent that it does not make sense to separate the two, so instead researchers investigate how they interact.

Question 20

Holism

Answer 20

An argument or theory which proposes that it only makes sense to study an invisible system rather than its constituent parts.

Question 21

Reductionism

Answer 21

The belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller parts to make it simpler.

Question 22

Biological reductionism

Answer 22

A form of reductionism that attempts to explain social and psychological phenomena at a lower biological level.

Question 23

Environmental reductionism.

Answer 23

The attempt to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learnt through experience.

Question 24

Ideographic approach

Answer 24

An approach to research that focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour, rather than aiming to formulate general laws.

Question 25

Nomothetic approach

Answer 25

Attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general laws.