Issues And Debates

Question 1

Gender bias

Answer 1

The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real difference

Question 2

Alpha Bias

Answer 2

A tendency to exaggerate differences between men and women, suggesting that there are real and enduring differences between the two sexes. The consequences are that theories devalue one gender in comparison to the other, but typically devalue women

Question 3

Beta bias

Answer 3

this occurs when the differences between men and women are minimised. This often happens when findings obtained from men are applied to women without additional validation.

Question 4

Androcentrism

Answer 4

taking male thinking/behaviour as normal, regarding female thinking/behaviour as deviant, inferiour, abnormal, ‘other’ when it is different.

Question 5

Positive Consequences of Gender Bias

Answer 5

Alpha Bias:
* Has led to some theorists (Gilligan) to assert the worth and valuation ‘feminine qualities’.
* Has led to healthy criticism of cultural values that praise certain ‘male’ qualities such as aggression and individualism as desirable, adaptive and universal.

Beta Bias:
* Makes people see men and women as the same, which has led to equal treatment in legal terms and equal access to, for example, education and employment.

Question 6

Negative Consequences of Gender Bias

Answer 6

Alpha Bias:
• Focus on differences between genders leads to the implication of similarity WITHIN genders, thus this ignores the many ways women differ from each other.
• Can sustain prejudices and stereotypes.

Beta Bias:
• Draws attention away from the differences in power between men and women.
• Is considered as an egalitarian approach but it results in major misrepresentations of both genders.

Question 7

Evidence Consequences of Gender Bias

Answer 7

Kitzinger (1998) argue that questions about sex differences aren’t just scientific questions – they’re also political (women have same rights as men). So gender differences distorted to maintain the status quo of male power.
• Women kept out of male-dominant universities.
• Women were oppressed.
• Women stereotypes (Bowlby).

Question 8

Examples of gender bias research: (Freud)

Answer 8

Freud’s ideas are seen as inherently gender biased, but it must be remembered that he was a product of his time. He saw ‘Biology as destiny’ and women’s roles as prescribed & predetermined.
All his theories are androcentric, most obviously: -‘Penis envy’ – women are defined psychologically by the fact that they aren’t men.
But Freud’s ideas had serious consequences/implications they reinforced stereotypes e.g. of women’s moral Inferiority, treated deviations from traditional sex-role behaviour as pathological (career ambition = penis envy) and are clearly androcentric (phallocentric).

Question 9

Examples of gender bias research: (Kohlberg & Moral Development)

Answer 9

Kohlberg based his stages of moral development around male moral reasoning and had an all-male sample. He then inappropriately generalized his findings to women (beta bias) and also claimed women generally reached lower level of moral development (androcentrism).
Carol Gilligan highlighted the gender bias inherent in Kohlberg’s work and suggested women make moral decisions in a different way to men (care ethic vs. justice ethic).
However, her research is, arguably, also (alpha) biased, as male and female moral reasoning is more similar than her work suggests.

Question 10

Examples of gender bias research: (Biomedical Theories of Abnormality)

Answer 10

In women, mental illness, especially depression, is much more likely to be explained in terms of neurochemical/hormonal processes, rather than other possible explanations such as social or environmental (e.g. domestic violence, unpaid labour, discrimination).
The old joke ‘Is it your hormones, love?’ is no joke for mentally ill women!

Question 11

Institutional sexism

Answer 11

• Although female psychology students outnumber male, at a seniour teaching and research level in universities, men dominate. Men predominate at seniour researcher level.
• Research agenda follows male concerns, female concerns may be marginalised or ignored.

Question 12

Use of standardised procedures in research studies

Answer 12

• Most experimental methodologies are based around standardised treatment of participants. This assumes that men and women respond in the same ways to the experimental situation.
• Women and men might respond differently to research situation. • Women and men might be treated differently by researchers.
• Could create artificial differences or mask real ones.

Question 13

Dissemination of research results through academic journals

Answer 13

• Research that finds gender differences more likely to get published than that which doesn’t.
• Exaggerates extent of gender differences.
. Publishing bias towards positive results.

Question 14

The Feminist perspective

Answer 14

• Re-examining the ‘facts’ about gender.
• View of women as normal humans, not deficient men.
• Skepticism towards biological determinism.
• Research agenda focusing on women’s’ concerns.
• A psychology for women, rather than a psychology of women.

Question 15

Emic Construct

Answer 15

An emic construct is one that is applied to only in one cultural group, so they vary from place to place (differences between cultures).

Question 16

Emic Approach

Answer 16

An emic approach refers to the investigation of a culture from within the culture itself. This means that research of European society from a European perspective is emic, and African society by African researchers in Africa is also emic. An emic approach is more likely to have ecological validity as the findings are less likely to be distorted or caused by a mismatch between the cultures of the researchers and the culture being investigated.

Question 17

Culture bias

Answer 17

Culture bias can occur when a researcher assumes that an emic construct (behaviour specific to a single culture) is actually an etic (behaviour universal to all cultures).

Question 18

Etics

Answer 18

An etic construct is a theoretical idea that is assumed to apply in all cultural groups. Therefore, etic constructs are considered universal to all people, and are factors that hold across all cultures (similarities between cultures).
Etic constructs assume that most human behaviour is common to humans but that cultural factors influence the development or display of this behaviour.

Question 19

Ethnocentrism

Answer 19

Ethnocentrism occurs when a researcher assumes that their own culturally specific practices or ideas are ‘natural’ or ‘right’. The individual uses their own ethnic group to evaluate and make judgments about other individuals from other ethnic groups. Research which is ‘centred’ around one cultural group is called ‘ethnocentric’.

When other cultures are observed to differ from the researcher’s own, they may be regarded in a negative light e.g. ‘primitive’, ‘degenerate’, ‘unsophisticated’, ‘undeveloped’ etc.
This becomes racism when other cultures are denigrated or their traditions regarded as irrelevant etc.
The antidote to ethnocentrism is cultural relativism, which is an approach to treating each culture as unique and worthy of study.

Question 20

Cultural relativism

Answer 20

Cultural relativism is the principle of regarding the beliefs, values, and practices of a culture from the viewpoint of that culture itself. The principle is sometimes practiced to avoid cultural bias in research, as well as to avoid judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture. For this reason, cultural relativism has been considered an attempt to avoid ethnocentrism.

Question 21

Culturally Biased Research(Ainsworth’s Strange Situation for Attachment)

Answer 21

The strange situation procedure is not appropriate for assessing children from non-US or UK populations as it is based on Western childrearing ideals (i.e. ethnocentric).
The original study only used American, middle-class, white, home-reared infants and mothers therefore the generalisability of the findings could be questioned as well as whether this procedure would be valid for other cultures too.
Cultural differences in child-rearing styles make results liable to misinterpretation e.g. German or Japanese samples.
Takahshi (1990) aimed to see whether the strange situation is a valid procedure for cultures other than the original. Takashi found no children in the avoidant-insecure stage, this could be explained in cultural terms as Japanese children are taught that such behaviour is impolite and the would be actively discouraged from displaying it. Also because Japanese children experience much less separation, the SSC was more than mildly stressful.

Question 22

Culturally Biased Research
(IQ testing and Research (e.g. Eysenck))

Answer 22

An example of an etic approach which produces bias might be the imposition of IQ tests designed within one culture on another culture. If a test is designed to measure a European’s understanding of what intelligence is it may not be a valid measurement of an African’s , or Asian’s intelligence.
IQ tests developed in the West contain embedded assumptions about intelligence, but what counts as ‘intelligent’ behaviour varies from culture to culture.
Non-Westerners may be disadvantaged by such tests – and then viewed as ‘inferiour’ when then don’t perform as Westerners do.

Question 23

Consequences of Culture Bias (Explanation)

Answer 23

Nobles (1976) argues that western psychology has been a tool of oppression and dominance. Cultural bias has also made it difficult for psychologists to separate the behaviour they have observed from the context in which they observed it.

Question 24

Reducing Culture Bias

Answer 24

Equal opportunity legislation aims to rid psychology of cultural bias and racism, but we must be aware merely swapping old, overt racism for new, more subtle forms of racism (Howitt and Owusu-Bempah, 1994)

Question 25

Free Will (AO1)

Answer 25

Free Will suggests that we all have a choice and can control and choose our own behaviour. This approach is all about personal responsibility and plays a central role in Humanist Psychology.
By arguing that humans can make free choices, the free will approach appears to be quite the opposite of the deterministic one. Psychologists who take the free will view suggest that determinism removes freedom and dignity, and devalues human behaviour.
To a lesser degree Cognitive Psychology also supports the idea of free will and choice. In reality, although we do have free will it is constrained by our circumstances and other people. For example, when you go shopping your choices are constrained by how much money you have.

Question 26

Free Will Strengths (AO3)

Answer 26

• It emphasises the importance of the individual and studying individual differences.
• It fits society’s view of personal responsibility e.g. if you break the law you should be punished.
• The idea of self-efficacy is useful in therapies as it makes them more effective.

Question 27

Free Will Limitations (AO3)

Answer 27

• Free will is subjective and some argue it doesn’t exist.
• It is impossible to scientifically test the concept of free will.
• Few people would agree that behaviour is always completely under the control of the individual.

Question 28

Determinism (AO1)

Answer 28

The determinist approach proposes that all behaviour is determined and thus predictable. Some approaches in psychology see the source of this determinism as being outside the individual, a position known as environmental determinism.

Question 29

Hard Determinism

Answer 29

Hard Determinism sees free will as an illusion and believes that every event and action has a cause.

Question 30

Soft Determinism

Answer 30

Soft Determinism represents a middle ground, people do have a choice, but that choice is constrained by external factors e.g. Being poor doesn’t make you steal, but it may make you more likely to take that route through desperation.

Question 31

Determinism Strengths (AO3)

Answer 31

• Determinism is scientific and allows cause and effect relationships to be established.
• It gives plausible explanations for behaviour backed up by evidence.

Question 32

Determinism Limitations (AO3)

Answer 32

• Determinism is reductionist.
• Does not account for individual differences. By creating general laws of behaviour, deterministic psychology underestimates the uniqueness of human beings and their freedom to choose their own destiny.
• Hard determinism suggests criminals cannot be held accountable for their actions. Deterministic explanations for behaviour reduce individual responsibility. A person arrested for a violent attack for example might plead that they were not responsible for their behaviour – it was due to their upbringing, a bang on the head they received earlier in life, recent relationship stresses, or a psychiatric problem. In other words, their behaviour was determined.

Question 33

Nature

Answer 33

Nature is the view that all our behaviour is determined by our biology, our genes. This is not the same as the characteristics you are born with, because these may have been determined by your pre-natal environment.
In addition, some genetic characteristics only appear later in development as a result of the process of maturation. Supporters of the nature view have been called ‘nativists’.
Evolutionary explanations of human behaviour exemplify the nature approach is psychology. The main assumption underlying this approach is that any particular behaviour has evolved because of its survival value.

Question 34

Nature Strengths (AO3)

Answer 34

+ Diathesis-Stress Model — A diathesis is a biological vulnerability. However not everyone with these ‘candidate’ genes will develop a disorder. The expression of the gene depends on experience in the form of a stressor which triggers the condition (a diathesis). This has been illustrated by Tienari et al (20040 who studied 145 Finnish adoptees whose mothers had schizophrenia and were then matched with a sample of 158 adoptees without this genetic risk. The two groups were independently assessed after 12 years and of the total 303, 14 developed schizophrenia and 11 of these were from the high risk group. Children without a genetic risk but raised in a family climate characterised by tension and a lack of empathy did not develop SZ. However, children with a genetic risk and who experienced the same family climate did go on to develop SZ. This illustrates how being raised in a “healthy adoptive family” has a protective effect.

+ Nurture affects nature — Maguire et al study of London taxi drivers showed that the
region of their brains with spatial memory was bigger than in controls, this is because the hippocampi had responded this way. Maguire et al. studied the brains of London taxi drivers and found a larger grey matter volume in the mid-posterior hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with spatial awareness (skills needed for taxi drivers when they are learning and completing ‘The Knowledge’ exam). There was a positive correlation between increasingly pronounced changes and an increasing length of time that individuals had been taxi drivers. This demonstrates the interactionist nature of empiricism and nativism, and gives further reason as to why the influences of the two cannot be separated.

+ Epigenetics — Refers to the material in each cell that acts like a switch to turn genes on
or off e.g. DNA methylation and histone tail modification. Life experiences control these
switches and these switches are passed on when the DNA is replicated semi conservatively. This is why MZ twins may differ in weight even though they were given the same diets, due to differences in upbringing/experiences causing differences in the individual expression of genes. For example, Caspi et al (2002) assessed antisocial behaviour in 1000 participants between birth and the age of 26. The researchers found that 12% of men with less MAOA gene expression had experienced maltreatment when they were babies but were responsible for 44% of crimes. This brings a third element into the nature-nurture debate: the experiences of previous generations.

+ Constructivism — Plomin suggested that an individual’s ‘nature’ would determine their
‘nurture’ through niche-picking or niche-building. For example, a naturally aggressive
child would be more likely to play with and befriend other aggressive children. This in
turn would increase the aggressiveness of the child. Therefore, the idea of constructivism further emphasises the multi-layered relationship between nature and
nurture.

Question 35

Nature Limitations (AO3)

Answer 35

Problem of the transgenerational effect. behaviour which appears to be determined by nature (and therefore is used to support this nativist view) may in fact be determined by nurture! e.g. if a woman has poor diet during her pregnancy, her unborn child will suffer.
This means that the eggs with which each female child is born will also have these negative effects. This can then affect the development of her children a whole generation later.

This means that a child’s development may in fact be determined by their grandmother’s environment (transgenerational effect). This suggests that what may appear to be inherited and in born is in fact caused by the environment and nurture.

Question 36

Nurture

Answer 36

Nurture is the opposite view that all behaviour is learnt and influenced by external factors such as the environment etc. Supports of the nurture view are ‘empiricists’ holding the view that all knowledge is gained through experience.
The behaviourist approach is the clearest examples of the nurture position in psychology, which assumes that all behaviour is learned through the environment. The best known example is the social learning explanation of aggression, using the Bobo doll.

SLT proposes that much of what we learn is through observation and vicarious reinforcement. E.g., Bandura demonstrated this in his Bobo doll experiments. He found that children who watched an adult role model being rewarded for aggression towards an inflatable doll, tended to imitate that behaviour when later on their own with a Bobo doll.

This supports the idea that personality is determined by nurture rather than nature. This provides us with model of how to behave. However, such behaviour becomes part of an individual’s behavioural repertoire through direct reinforcement – when a behaviour is imitated, it receives direct reinforcement (or not).

Question 37

Nurture Strengths (AO3)

Answer 37

Empirical evidence shows that behaviour is learnt and can be modified through conditioning.

Question 38

Nurture Limitations (AO3)

Answer 38

Behaviourist accounts are all in terms of learning, but even learning itself has a genetic basis. For example, research has found that mutant flies missing a crucial gene cannot be conditioned (Quinn et al., 1979).

Question 39

Examples of the influence of nature

Answer 39

Genetic explanations — The more closely related two individuals are, the more likely that they will develop the same behaviours. The concordance rate for a mental disorder such as schizophrenia is 40% for MZ twins and 7% for DZ twins. This illustrates how nature plays a part in contribution to the disorder. However, concordance rates for MZ twins are not 100%, despite being genetically identical. This suggests that nurture and the environment also plays a significant role in development.

Evolutionary explanations — These are based on the principle that a behaviour which
promotes survival will be naturally selected e.g. running away from fire or avoiding deep
water. This is because such behaviours are adaptive, so the individual is more likely to
survive to adulthood and reproduce. Bowlby proposed that attachment was adaptive as it meant an infant was more likely to be protected due to displaying social releasers (innate, ‘cute’ behaviours which activates the adult mammalian attachment system) and features of infant-caregiver interactions (such as interactional synchrony and reciprocity). As such, the infant would be more likely to survive and reproduce as an adult.

Question 40

Examples of the influence of nurture

Answer 40

Behaviourism — Behaviourists assume that all behaviour can be explained in terms of
experience alone. Skinner used the concepts of classical and operant conditioning to
explain learning and suggests that attachment could be explained in terms of classical
conditioning where the food reduces the discomfort of hunger (negative reinforcement)
and is therefore rewarding.

Social learning theory — Bandura proposed that behaviour is acquired indirectly through operant and classical conditioning but also by directly through vicarious reinforcement. He acknowledged that biology had a role to play e.g. the urge to act aggressively could be biological but the way a person learns to express anger is through environmental influences (such as through observing and imitating the methods of expression of anger displayed by the identified role models).

Other explanations — The double blind theory of schizophrenia (Bateson et al, 1956)
suggests that schizophrenia develops in children who frequently receive contradictory
messages from parents and these conflicting messages prevents the child from developing an internal consistent construction of reality. This is because when the child behaves incorrectly, they are punished by a withdrawal of love from their parents, leading them to believe that the world is dangerous (reflected in paranoid delusions) and confusing (reflected in disorganized thinking).

Question 41

Heredity

Answer 41

The process by which traits are passed from parents to their offspring, usually
referring to genetic inheritance. The heritability coefficient can be used to quantify the
extent to which a characteristic has a genetic basis. For example, intelligence appears to
have a heritability coefficient of 0.5 (Plomin et al, 1994) and so the influences of nature
and nurture are equal.

Question 42

Holism
AO1

Answer 42

Holism is often referred to as Gestalt psychology. It argues that behavior cannot be understood in terms of the components that make them up. This is commonly described as ‘the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.’

Psychologists study the whole person to gain an understanding of all the factors that might influence behavior. Holism uses several levels of explanation, including biological, environmental, and social factors.

Holistic approaches include Humanism, Social, and Gestalt psychology and make use of the case study method. Jahoda’s six elements of Optimal Living are an example of a holistic approach to defining abnormality.

Question 43

Holism
AO3

Answer 43

Strengths (AO3):
. Looks at everything that may impact behaviour.
. Does not ignore the complexity of behaviour.
. Integrates different components of behaviour in order to understand the person as a whole.
. It can be higher in ecological validity.

Limitations (AO3):
. Over-complicate behaviours that may have simpler explanations (Occam’s Razor).
. Does not lend itself to the scientific method and empirical testing.
. Makes it hard to determine cause and effect.
. Neglects the importance of biological explanations.
. Almost impossible to study all the factors that influence complex human behaviours

Question 44

Reductionism A01

Answer 44

Reductionism is the belief that human behavior can be explained by breaking it down into smaller component parts. Reductionists say that the best way to understand why we behave as we do is to look closely at the very simplest parts that make up our systems and use the simplest explanations to understand how they work.

In psychology, the term is most appropriately applied to biological explanations (e.g., genetics, neurotransmitters, hormones) of complex human behaviors such as schizophrenia, gender, and aggression.

Such reductionist explanations can be legitimately criticized as ignoring psychological, social, and cultural factors.

Cognitive psychology, with its use of the computer analogy, reduces behaviour to the level of a machine, mechanistic reductionism.

Behaviourist psychology sees behaviour in terms of simple stimulus/response relationships. And finally, the psychodynamic perspective reduces behaviour to unconscious motivation and early childhood experiences

Question 45

Reductionism A03

Answer 45

Strengths (AO3):
. The use of a reductionist approach to behaviour can be a useful one in allowing scientific study to be carried out. The scientific study requires the isolation of variables to make it possible to identify the causes of behaviour.

. For example, research into the genetic basis of mental disorders has enabled researchers to identify specific genes believed to be responsible for schizophrenia. This way, a reductionist approach enables the scientific causes of behaviour to be identified and advances the possibility of scientific study.

. A reductionist approach to studying mental disorders has led to the development of effective chemical treatments

Limitations (AO3):
. The disadvantage is that it can be over-simplistic. Humans and their environments are so complex that the reductionist explanation falls short of giving the whole explanation of the behaviour. Thus, it lacks ecological validity

. Does not address larger societal issues e.g., poverty.

Question 46

Levels of explanation

Answer 46

These are different ways of viewing the same phenomena in
Psychology e.g. socio-cultural, psychological, physical, physiological and neurochemical.
Reductionism suggests that lower-level explanations will eventually replace higher-level
explanations, according to the reductionist hierarchy of science i.e. Sociology, Psychology, Biology, Chemistry and Physics (from top to bottom). Explanations begin at the highest level and progressively reduce down to the bottom of the hierarchy.

Highest level — Cultural and social explanations of behaviour e.g. depression being
explained by a withdrawal from social activities, low energy levels and insomnia, which is
viewed as odd by society.

Middle level — Psychological explanations of behaviour e.g. depression being explained by Beck’s Cognitive Theory (the product of the cognitive triad of automatic negative
thoughts, faulty information processing and negative self-schemas) and Ellis’ ABC model
(an activating event produces an irrational belief which leads to an emotional or
behavioural consequence).

Lower level — Biological explanations of behaviour e.g. depression being explained by the action of candidate genes (e.g. 5HT1-D beta controlling the efficiency of synaptic
serotonin transport) and neural factors (e.g. abnormal functioning of the left
Para hippocampal gyrus and the lateral frontal lobes).

Question 47

Types of Reductionism

Answer 47

Biological reductionism — Reducing behaviour to biology as it is based on the premise than we are biological organisms. i.e. depression can be explained biochemically as a result of low levels of serotonin in the synaptic gaps between neurons. A characteristic feature of the biological approach.

Environmental reductionism — Behaviourist explanations suggest that all behaviour can be explained in terms of simple stimulus response links, i.e. phobias are obtained and
maintained using classical and operant conditioning (through repeated pairings between the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus to produce an unconditioned response, and then leading to a conditioned stimulus producing a conditioned response, as shown through Watson and Rayner’s study of Little Albert)

Question 48

Evaluation of Holism A03

Answer 48

+ Provides a more complete picture: Some examples of behaviour can only be understood at the holistic level, such as the conformity and deindividuation of Zimbardo’s prisoners and guards in his Stanford Prison Experiment. Research into resisting conformity, such as Gamson’s work into the role of social support in groups, also makes use of holistic explanations by looking at the interactions within and between groups. Therefore, holistic explanations may provide a more ‘complete’ picture of behaviour.

— However it is difficult to investigate the many differing types and levels of explanations:
This poses a practical problem for researchers who attempt to combine many higher-level explanations, because it becomes difficult to identify which explanation is most influential and therefore which explanation it would be most useful to base treatment upon. Therefore, holistic explanations may not lead to the development of effective treatments for mental health disorders.

— More hypothetical and not based on empirical evidence — Holistic explanations are
frequently used by the humanistic approach. However, there is a lack of empirical
evidence associated with higher-level explanations and holistic viewpoints may simplify
complex phenomena too far. As such, humanism is still seen as a set of rather loosely joined abstract concepts. Therefore, holistic explanations may not be suited towards more complex behaviours.

Question 49

Evaluation of reductionism A03

Answer 49

+ Consistent with the scientific approach — Scientific psychology aims to be able to
predict and control behaviour. Therefore, reductionism is consistent with the aims of
science because it allows for this. Smaller, constituent parts of behaviour are easily
measured and manipulated under strict laboratory conditions, and so ‘cause and effect’
relationships between variables can be reliably established. Hence, reductionism raises
the scientific credibility of psychology.

+ Practical application in the development of drug therapy — A reductionist approach
towards researching and explaining mental disorders has led to the development of
powerful and effective drug therapies e.g. SSRIs to treat depression, based on the view
that a deficiency in serotonin causes depression (biological reductionism). This also
reduces need for institutionalisation, where sufferers can continue with their day to day
lives through the use of non-invasive treatment and without regular hospital visits.
Therefore, reductionist approaches have had a positive impact on people’s lives.

— Ignores the complexity of behaviour — Reductionist explanations may lead to a loss of validity because they ignore the social context where behaviour occurs, which often gives behaviour its meaning. For example, from a reductionist viewpoint, the act of speaking would be the same across all scenarios due to each individual having the same biological mechanism for this. However, such a view ignores the social context of this speaking, such as with the aim of alerting someone, voicing an opinion etc. Therefore, reductionist explanations may simplify complex phenomena too much.

Question 50

Idiographic approach A01

Answer 50

— A method of investigating behaviour which focuses on individuals and emphasises their uniqueness. Subjective and rich human experience is used as a way of explaining behaviour, without the aim of developing general principles and unifying laws (which is the view of the nomothetic approach).

Associated with methods that produce qualitative data. These methods include studying
the individual and not groups and therefore not generalising findings to others. An
example is the study of HM and KF, where the idiographic approach was used in the form of case studies, and informed further research into the different types of long-term
memory.

Examples of the Idiographic Approach:
1.The psychodynamic approach: Freud used case studies and in-depth interviews to
collect qualitative data from Little Hans; data which later formed the basis of the
Oedipus and Electra complexes. However, Freud also established his psychosexual stages of development on the basis of similar research methods, arguing that all children pass through the same sequence of stages. This is more similar to a nomothetic approach.

2.The humanistic approach adopts a holistic and ‘phenomenological’ approach to
research, which focuses on the experience of the individual. Such research methods
were then used to develop the client-centred approach to therapy and Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs.

Question 51

Nomothetic approach A01

Answer 51

Seeks to formulate general laws of behaviour based on the study
of groups and the use of statistical, quantitively techniques. It attempts to summarise the differences between people through generalisations, whilst developing general laws and unifying principles which can be used to accurately predict and control behaviour.

According to Radford and Kirby, the nomothetic approach has produced 3 general laws in psychology:
- classifying people into groups
- establishing the principles of behaviour that can be applied to people in general
- establishing dimensions along which people can be placed, compared, measured

This method is associated with the scientific method such as laboratory experiments and controlled observations, where the influence of extraneous and confounding variables are removed, allowing reliable conclusions to be drawn.

Examples of the Nomothetic Approach:
1. Behaviourists explain all behaviour in terms of simple stimulus-response links which
have been learnt through experience. In order to collect valid and reliable data,
behaviourists often use laboratory experiments, where strict control upon extraneous
and confounding variables allows for a ‘cause and effect’ relationship between variables
to be established.

2. The cognitive approach uses objective methods of measuring brain activity, such as EEG and PET scans. This allows cognitive psychologists to draw inferences about the
   workings of mental processes.
3. The biological approach also makes use of brain scans to make inferences about
   localisation of brain function. For example, the use of PET scans by Tulving et al. helped
   to establish that semantic memories were recalled from the left prefrontal cortex,
   whilst episodic memories were recalled from the right prefrontal cortex.

Question 52

Evaluation of the Idiographic approach A03

Answer 52

+ Qualitative data produces an in-depth and more complete account of an individual = This may support existing theories or challenge general laws and lead to development of
improved psychological theories, through the process of deduction. For example, the case studies conducted on HM and Clive Wearing demonstrated that different types of long-term memory are located in different areas of the brain. This led to the further research of localisation and memory.

— However it offers a narrow and restrictive perspective = Theories developed from case studies and (unstructured) interviews may struggle to be generalised beyond the
individual, thus reducing the ecological validity of these findings. For example, the
humanism widely uses the idiographic approach but is still viewed by many as a set of
rather loose, abstract concepts, due to a lack of empirical evidence as well as being
specific to the individual. Generalisations cannot be made without further examples to act as a baseline comparison. This means that the idiographic approach does not improve the scientific credibility of psychology.

— The research methods used, such as case studies and unstructured interviews, lack
scientific rigour = These methods rely heavily on individual and subjective interpretation.
Therefore, conclusions are open to researcher bias, which reduces the reliability of the
findings and the extent to which they can be generalised to other individuals. This
translates to a lack of validity when developing theories and assumptions based upon the idiographic approach.

Question 53

Evaluation of the nomothetic approach A03

Answer 53

+ Highly scientific methods = The nomothetic approach makes use of research methods
which objectively produce reliable data through adopting standardised conditions and a
high level of control of extraneous and confounding variables. Constituent parts of the
target behaviour can be reliably measured through the use of operationalised behavioural categories, thus increasing the internal validity of the findings. Since the findings will not be influenced by researcher bias, the findings have greater scientific creditability due to their method of collection.

+ Enables unifying laws and general principles to be reliably established = The focus on
objectively collecting reliable data has led to certain ‘norms’ or standards of behaviour to
be established, such as the average IQ score being 100. Such norms act as a good baseline comparison for intellectual abilities and mental disorders.

— May undervalue the impact of individual experiences = Some have criticised the
nomothetic approach as ‘losing the whole person’ in psychology due to such an emphasis on establishing universal norms and unifying laws of behaviour. For example, research into the frequency of depression or bipolar disorder tells us little about the experiences of sufferers and so little about what treatments may be most beneficial. Therefore, the
nomothetic approach, from this standpoint, has done little to improve people’s lives in
comparison to the idiographic approach.

+ Nomothetic and idiographic approaches may be complementary to each other, rather
than contradictory. = For example, Milton and Davis (1996) suggest that research should
start with a nomothetic approach and once general laws have been produced the focus
should switch to an idiographic approach to develop our understanding and theories. Therefore, either approach can be used depending on the aims and nature of the research.

Question 54

Socially-sensitive research A01

Answer 54

Any research that might have direct social consequences for the participants in the research or the group that they represent. Sieber and Stanley defined ‘socially sensitive’ research as “studies in which there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research”.

The major BPS ethical guidelines are respect, competence, responsibility and integrity.
The potential ethical issues which arise as a result of breaching these guidelines include:
privacy, confidentiality, valid methodology, deception, informed consent, equitable
treatment, scientific freedom, ownership of data, values and the risk/benefit ratio.

Examples of socially sensitive research:

1. Bowlby’s monotropic attachment theory = Bowlby was an advisor to the World Health
   Organisation in the 1950s, following his theory that the critical period for attachment
   formation with the primary caregiver was the first 2 years of life, and maternal
   deprivation during this time could have severe emotional and intellectual consequences
   for the child i.e. affectionless psychopathy/criminality and mental retardation.
   Therefore, this led to Britain being one of the only countries in the EU not offering free
   childcare for children under the age of 5.
2. Burt’s research into intelligence = Burt (1955) fraudulently published research
   demonstrating that the heritability coefficient for intelligence was 0.77, and so played a
   significant part in the development of the 11+ examinations. Despite his work being
   proven as false and fraudulent, the 11+ exams still exist to this day, as well as the idea
   that children can be organised according to their ‘natural intelligence’ from an early
   age.
3. The consequences of socially sensitive research are: Uses/public policy (e.g. Burt’s
   influence on the 11+ exams), the validity of research (e.g. Burt’s work being proven as
   false) and the implications of the research (on the way in which individuals or groups of
   people view themselves and the way in which they’re viewed by society).

Question 55

Evaluation of ethical implications of research studies and theory A03

Answer 55

+ Important that researchers do not stay away from socially sensitive research = This is
important because such research may have major positive impacts, such as challenging
stereotypes or ‘scientific justifications’ for discrimination. For example, Scarr argues
that only by studying these areas will the general public and scientific community
develop a greater understanding for these underrepresented groups.

— Social Control = Socially sensitive research has historically been used as ‘scientific
justification’ for discriminatory practices. For example, during the 1920s and 1930s, some states in the USA issues voluntary sterilization programmes for citizens who were deemed as ‘unfit to breed’. These included the mentally ill, the disabled and drug addicts. This was based upon William Shockley’s Voluntary Sterilisation Bonus Plan, which encouraged low-IQ individuals to undergo sterilization. Such a programme was based upon his fraudulent and incorrect research where “preliminary research suggested that an increase of 1% in Caucasian ancestry raises Negro IQ an average of one point for low IQ populations, with diminishing returns approaching 100 IQ”. Therefore, socially sensitive research can be and has been used for malicious and unjust ends.

— Research could be potentially misused so psychologists should take responsibility for the presentation of findings = For example, Packard proposed the idea of ‘subliminal
messaging’, where he found that when pictures of Coca Cola and popcorn were projected onto cinema screens for split seconds, so that audience members could not see it, their sales increased significantly. However, it was discovered that Packard had completely made up his results! Although the implications in this case were not serious, such an example shows the power of socially sensitive research and how it can be misused.

+ Cost-benefit analysis = When deciding whether certain research projects should be
allowed to continue, ethics committees undergo a cost-benefit analysis, where the benefit of the research (such as contribution to the existing field of knowledge) is compared to the costs of breaching ethical guidelines. However, some ethical implications of socially sensitive research may be particularly difficult to predict, such as the impact of such research on legislation and the way in which certain groups of people are perceived by the public.