Issues and Debates

Question 1

Nature

A01

Answer 1

All behaviours are innate
* determined by genes and biological factors
* evolution
* nativist

Question 2

Nurture

A01

Answer 2

Behaviour is determined by the environment
* we are blank slates at birth
* empiricits

Question 3

Interactionist

A01

Answer 3

Explains behaviour as a result of both biological and environmental factors

Question 4

Nature vs Nurture

A03

Answer 4

• Implications (determinist)
• Research support for both
• Difficulties in isolating
• Interactionism (diathesis stress)

Question 5

Nomothetic

A01

Answer 5

Aims to create general rules that apply to the whole population
* large samples
* correlations
* lab studies
* quantatative data

Question 6

Idiographic

A01

Answer 6

Aims to understand an individual
* case studies
* questionnaires
* interviews
* qualitative data

Question 7

Nomothetic vs Idiographic

A03

Answer 7

• Nomothetic = good treatments
• Understanding of individuals
• Case studies are powerful
• Scientific-ness

Question 8

Holism

A01

Answer 8

Belief that behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience and not as separate parts
* Explains behaviour through the interaction of many different factors, not just one

Question 9

Reductionism

A01

Answer 9

Belief that you can study and understand behaviour by breaking it down into it’s constituent parts

High to low levels
* sociocultural
* psychological
* biological

Question 10

Holism vs Reductionism

A03

Answer 10

• Treatments
• Can we reduce
• Scientific
• Combining helps?

Question 11

Bias

A01

Answer 11

Used to suggest that a person’s views are distorted in some way

Question 12

Universality

A01

Answer 12

An underlying characteristic of human beings that can be applied to all

Question 13

Gender

A01

Answer 13

• Alpha bias
• Beta bias
• Androcentrism

Question 14

Culture

A01

Answer 14

• Ethnocentrism
• Cultural relativism
• Imposed etic

Question 15

Gender and Culture Bias

A03

Answer 15

• Discrimination
• Variation within cultures
• Sampling bias
• Examples of gender biased research

Question 16

Ethical Implications

A01

Answer 16

The impact that psychollogical research may have in terms of the rights of other people
* the way that groups are regarded, public policy etc
* Sieber and Stanley
* Ethical guidelines

Question 17

Social Sensitivity

A01

Answer 17

Studies in which there are potential consequences or implications either directly for the participant or for the class of individuals represented by the research

Question 18

Ethical Implications and Socially Sensitive Research

A03

Answer 18

• Bowlby - implications
• Discrimination
• Milgram - beneficial
• Restrictive

Question 19

Free will

A01

Answer 19

The idea that we play an active role and have a choice in how we behave
* we can decide to reject the influence of external factors

Question 20

Determinism

A01

Answer 20

The view that free will is an illusion and that our behaviour is governed by internal or external forces, over which we have no control
* Biological
* Environmental
* Psychic
* Machine

Question 21

Soft Determinism

A01

Answer 21

Compromise between free will and hard determinism.
Behaviour is governed by internal and external factors, but we have free will to chose our behaviour within those constraints

Question 22

Free Will vs Determinism

A03

Answer 22

• Biology (concordance rates)
• RWA crime and diminished capacity
• Neuroscience (finger move)
• Belief
• Scientific

Question 23

Sieber and Stanley

Answer 23

Identified 4 things to be careful of:
1. The Research Question: The researcher must consider their research question carefully.
2. The Methodology Used: Consider the treatment of the participant’s and their right to confidentiality and anonymity.
3. The Institutional Context: How is the data going to be used and who is funding the research?
4. Interpretation and Application of Findings: How might the findings be interpreted and applied in the real-world?