Evaluation Of Individual Difference Area Flashcards
(10 cards)
Principles of individual area?
All individuals are unique and so differ in their behaviour
Individual behaviour can come from biological factors and or with experiences
Nature or nurture?
Both - for example Oedipus complex is individual. However individual differences can come from experience.
Individual or situational
Both - individual as biological factors can affect behaviour such as due to gender. Situational as environment influences.
Reductionist or holistic?
Holistic as uniqueness can be created by biological and environmental factors. Looks at combinations of gender age and experiences in the environment.
Free Will or deterministic?
Deterministic - We are all different due to biology and experiences however it is not our fault
Socially sensitive?
Looks at uniqueness and differences so can end up characterising certain groups.
Ethical or not?
When measuring individual differences - rarely uses scientific methods as they use self report however standardised procedures. Qualitative data often collected.
Useful?
More academic knowldege to practical applications for example talking therapies (Freud) and educational support or programmes (baron cohen) etc. tolerance, empathy and understanding of different discorders. Tools for measuring differences such as eyes test (B-C), intelligence (Gould) etc.
Stefrnth of the individual difference area -
Contributes to understanding of nurture and nature debate as it considers innate and environment factors
Helpful as it can create applications.
Weakness of individual differences area
Can be considered socially sensitive as the topics to identify differences can be seen as controversial and lead to labelling.
Subjective as it uses self reports. This is because many psychological characteristics cannot be observed
