Issues and debates

Question 1

Gender bias

2 types?

Answer 1

psychological research/theory may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience + behaviour of men and women.

1. Alpha gender bias
2. Beta gender bias

Question 2

Alpha gender bias?

Examples?

Answer 2

• psychological research that exaggerates the differences between men + women.

EG: evolutionary psychology highlights the difference in traditional roles for men + women.

• Freud’s psychosexual stages (during phalic) - boy’s fear of castration is resolved when he identifies with his father, but girl’s eventual identification is weaker = her superego is weaker.
• SZ mother causing SZ for child, father not mentioned = over exaggerates differences between affects of mother + father on child’s development of SZ

Question 3

Beta gender bias?

Examples?

Answer 3

• psychological research that ignores / underestimates differences between men + women.

EG: Fight / flight response: biological research has often favoured using male animals as female behaviour is affected by regular hormone changes due to ovulation - F/F suggests both respond in same way + ignores differences.
- ‘love hormone’ Oxycontin production increases in women in F/F response = want to ‘care + tend’ instead

• studying aggression in both men + women same = ignores biological differences as males have more testosterone = will naturally be more aggressive

Question 4

Androcentrism

Answer 4

male-centred
when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to male standards

alpha + beta bias are consequences of this.

Question 5

implications of gender bias (AO3)

Answer 5

1. gender biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour.
2. gender bias promotes sexism in the research process.

Question 6

1. gender biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour

Answer 6

Gender biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour + fails to challenge negative assumptions + validates discriminatory practices.
It may provide a justification to deny women opportunities within the workplace or in wider society.
For this reason, gender bias in research/theories have damaging consequences which affect the lives + prospects of women.

Question 7

2. gender bias promotes sexism in the research process

Answer 7

Gender bias promotes sexism in the research process.
Women remain underrepresented in university departments (esp science).
Although psychology’s undergraduate intake is mostly women, psychology lecturers are more likely to be men (Murphy)
= research more likely to be conducted by men = disadvantages women ps as the male researcher may have low expectations from women, expecting them to be irrational = causes them to underperform in research studies.
= methods of psychology may produce findings that are gender-biased.

Question 8

Culture bias

Answer 8

interpreting all situations through the ‘lens’ of ones own culture, ignoring the effects that cultural differences may have on behaviour.

Question 9

Ethnocentrism?

EG?

Answer 9

• seeing the world only from one’s own cultural perspective + believing that this 1 perspective is both normal + correct
• Judging other cultures by the standards + values of one’s own culture
• could lead to prejudice + discrimination to other cultures

EG: Ainsworth’s strange situation
reflects only the norms + values of ‘western’ culture. ‘ideal’ secure attachment was low in some countries due to eg child bearing practises, in Japan, meant they’re classed as insecurely attached due to high separation distress due to Japanese babies being rarely separated from mothers.

• SZ diagnosis = british african-caribbean over diagnosed due to cultural differences leading of meanings of different symptoms

Question 10

Cultural relativism?

EG?

Answer 10

Idea that norms, values + behaviour can only be meaningful + understood if specific cultural context is considered.

EG: The meaning of intelligence is different in every culture - Sternberg pointed out that coordination + motor skills (for shooting bow + arrow) may be seen as ‘intelligence’ in preliterate society cultures, but mostly irrelevant in what a more literal + developed society would classify as ‘intelligence’.

Question 11

John berry:

1. Etic approach
2. Emic approach

Answer 11

Etic approach:
- looks at behaviour from the outside

Emic approach:
- Considers behaviour from the inside

Question 12

Implications of culture bias:

Answer 12

• culture bias in research/theories can lead to racial discrimination
• Culture bias also results in scientifically misleading research findings/ explanations:

Question 13

1. Culture bias in research, theories and diagnostic manuals can led to racial discrimination:

Answer 13

Culture bias in research, theories + diagnostic manuals can lead to racial discrimination which has been validated by science.
For eg Cochrane + Sashidharan found that
African-Caribbean immigrants are x7 more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness.
= diagnosis can led to stigma, an individual being ostracised by their community/ wider society + could have an overall impact on their life chances.
This finding also questions the validity of
DSM + ICD for diagnosing individuals who are born outside of the dominant culture + suggest that cultural differences displayed by patient may be ignored by practioners.

Question 14

2. Culture bias also results in scientifically misleading research
   findings/ explanations:

Answer 14

Culture bias also results in scientifically misleading research findings / explanations -
a full understanding of human behaviour requires the study of both universal + variation among individuals + groups.
For this reason psychologists should adopt a emic approach to psychological investigations.

Question 15

Socially sensitive research
-Sieber + stanley

Answer 15

Sieber + Stanley define socially sensitive research as:
- studies that have potential consequences / implications either directly for ps in research or for the ‘group’ they represent.

• warn that the way in which research questions are phrased + investigated may influence the way these findings are interpreted.

Question 16

EG of socially sensitive research:

Answer 16

1. Cyril Burt- 11+
2. Bowlby- MDH
3. Goddard- IQ test

Question 17

1. Cyril Burt - 11+

Answer 17

Influential in establishing the 11+ exams which determines the type of secondary school a child goes to = significant impacts on their later life opportunities.

Gov based policies on Burt’s twin studies which showed that intelligence was heritable + can be detected at 11.

Imposed that children should be separated based on their ‘natural’ intelligence

was later found to be ‘fake’ as he made it all up

Question 18

2. Bowlby - MDH

Answer 18

researched into attachment + maternal deprivation..

• influenced gov decision not to give childcare places to kids under 5
• in court, mums more likely to get custody of child even if not always better

Question 19

3. Goddard - IQ test

Answer 19

proposed definitions for classifying individuals based on IQ + and used terms:

Moron : IQ 51-70
Imbecile: IQ 26-50
Idiot: IQ 0-25

‘morons’ claimed unfit for society + should be removed from society through sterilisation / institutionalisation.

Question 20

AO3 for socially sensitive research

Answer 20

1. There’re benefits to conducting socially sensitive research = greater understanding
2. Socially sensitive research has been used to influence/ shape policy
3. Research into socially sensitive areas have been used to justify social control + oppression of some groups

Question 21

1. There are benefits to conducting socially sensitive research

Answer 21

There are benefits to conducting socially sensitive research-
* greater understanding of understudied groups
* May help to reduce prejudice and discrimination
* They can lead to positive social change policy changes- EWT and miscarriages of justice + homosexual marriage becoming legal as before it was seen as mental illness

Question 22

2. Socially sensitive research has been used to influence/ shape policy

Answer 22

It is also important to note that socially sensitive research has been used to influence/ shape policy- Cyril Burt 11+ Researchers must be prepared for their findings to be used in this way and therefore must consider their research question carefully

Question 23

3. Research into socially sensitive areas have been used to justify social control and oppression of some groups

Answer 23

However, research into socially sensitive areas have been used to justify social control + oppression of some groups.
For example Goddard classifying individuals based on IQ + and used terms:
Moron : IQ 51-70
Imbecile: IQ 26-50
Idiot: IQ 0-25
He claimed these groups unfit for society + should be removed from society through sterilisation / institutionalisation = led to discrimination and hatred towards them.

Question 24

Free will?

Answer 24

humans are self determining and free to choose their own thoughts + actions.

• not determined by biological or external thoughts

Question 25

Determinism?

The different types of determinism?

Answer 25

the view that behaviour is controlled by internal / external forces rather than the individual’s will to do something.

• Hard determinism
• Soft determinism
• Biological determinism
• Environmental determinism
• Psychic determinism

Question 26

Hard v soft determinism

Answer 26

Hard determinism - All behaviour is caused by something (internal / external forces)

Soft determinism - View that behaviour may be predictable but there is also room for personal choice.

Question 27

Biological determinism

Environmental determinism

Psychic determinism

Answer 27

Biological - Behaviour is caused by biological causes we cannot control (BING)
[biological approach]

Environmental - Behaviour is caused by features in the environment we cannot control
[behavioural approach]

psychic - Behaviour is caused by unconscious thoughts we cannot control.
[psychodynamic approach]

Question 28

Arguments for free will / against determinism

Answer 28

• limitation of determinism is the position of the legal system on responsibility.
• hard determinism states that individual choice is not the cause of behaviour = doesn’t correlate with way legal systems operate
• legal system holds offenders responsible for their actions as they used their free will in committing crime.
• Determinism provides an ‘excuse’ allowing people to misuse this + justify their immoral actions as it’s ‘determined’ + not their fault.
  = suggests in real world determinism arguments do not work + pose a threat to society if criminals are not imprisoned or seen responsible for their actions.

Question 29

Argument against free will / for determinism?

supporting evidence + counterpoint

Answer 29

• Brain scans don’t support free will but rather determinsim.
• Supporting evidence: Libet et al found that there was unconscious activity in the brain half a second before the action / movement was carried out
  = shows that even though we think we are choosing our behaviour through free will, the behaviour is actually already determined by the unconscious part of our brain.
• counter point of Libet et al.
  Findings show that brain is involved in decision making which is expected
  = Just because actions after conscious awareness does not mean that there was not a decision to act but just that decision took time to reach consciousness

Question 30

Argument against free will / for determinism?

Answer 30

Schizophrenia (include hearing voices / seeing things that are not real)
-Evidence have shown that you’re more likely to develop schizophrenia if you have family members who has experienced it.
-Researchers think that some genes might make it more likely + that people can be more likely to experience schizophrenia if their brain development was disrupted during pregnancy or early childhood.
Suggesting that people aren’t choosing willingly to hear these voices and see things, but this is caused by determined factors such as brain structures and genetics = biological determinism

Question 31

Reductionism v Holism

Answer 31

Reductionism:
- studying human behaviour by studying the smaller parts that make them up

Holism:
- studies systems as a whole rather than breaking it into smaller units
- Studies as a ‘whole’
- Behaviour can only be understood by analysing the person or behaviour as a whole E.g humanistic psychologists

Question 32

1. Machine reductionism
2. Biological reductionism
3. Environmental reductionism
4. Methodological reductionism

Answer 32

1. Machine reductionism:
   reducing human behaviour to the level of a computer and ignoring the role of emotion on actions.
2. Biological reductionism:
   Explains behaviour at the lowest biological level (genes / hormones)
3. Environmental reductionism:
   Explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links which have been learnt through experience.
4. Methodological reductionism:
   reducing behaviour to a set of variables that can be controlled or measured

Question 33

Levels of explanation?

(came up last 2 years + always answered wrong)

Answer 33

• there are several levels (ways) that can be used to explain behaviour

lowest level:
Considers physiological / biological explanations

middle level:
considers psychological explanations

Highest level:
considers social + cultural explanations

Question 34

Holistic approach: FOR

Answer 34

-A strength of holistic approaches in research is that it addresses an entire group at once.
-EG: there are aspects of behaviour that only emerge within a group context + cannot be understood at the level of the individual group members
(eg the effects of conformity to social roles could not be understood by studying the Ps as individuals, it was the interaction between people + behaviour of the group that was important.)
-Strength because holistic explanations provide a more complete + global understanding of behaviour than the more reductionist approaches = can be more easily generalised to wider societies + larger cultures.
= provides support for the use of holistic methods within psychological research

Question 35

Holistic approach: AGAINST

Answer 35

-Weakness of holistic explanations is that they tend to be more vague + speculative as they become more complex.
-EG humanistic psychology which takes a holistic approach to behaviour tends to be criticised for its lack of empirical evidence + is instead seen by many as a rather loose set of concepts.
-Is an issue because higher level explanations that combine many different perspectives (holism) present researchers with practical dilemmas, such as if they accept that there are many factors that contribute to depression, it becomes difficult to establish which is most influential and which one to use as a basis for therapy.
-Suggests that when it comes to finding solutions for real-world problems,more specific explanations may be more appropriate.

Question 36

Reductionist approach: FOR

Answer 36

-Strength of the reductionist approach is that it is very scientific.
-It conducts experiments / records observations (behavioural categories) in a way that is meaningful + reliable as you can operationalise the variables.
-This is a strength as it allows us to break target behaviours down into constituent parts for the research = we can draw more reliable + therefore arguably more accurate conclusions from the research.
- EG the behaviourist approach was able to demonstrate how complex learning could be broken down into simple stimulus-response links within the lab
= gives (reductionist) psychological research greater credibility, placing it on equal terms with the natural sciences.

Question 37

Reductionist approach: AGAINST

Answer 37

-weakness of the reductionist approach is that it oversimplifies complex phenomena/behaviour.
-EG: explanations that operate at the level of the gene / neurotransmitter / neuron do not include and analysis of the social context within which behaviour occurs – and this is where the behaviour in question may derive its meaning.
-This is an issue because it tells us very little in reality about why we act a certain way. It can only ever form part of an explanation.
-This means that validity of reductionist research can be questioned, due to the lack of depth + full explanation.

Question 38

Idiographic approach?

research methods?
approaches?

Answer 38

Focuses on individuals to understand behaviour rather than through using general laws of behaviour.

• case studies + unstructured interviews (Qualitative data)
• Humanistic approach + psychodynamic approach

Question 39

Nomothetic approach?

research methods?
approaches?

Answer 39

Studies human behaviour through general principles + universal laws.

• structured questionnaires + lab experiments (Quantitative data)

Question 40

Idiographic approach: FOR

Answer 40

-It uses qualitative methods of data collection such as case studies.
-This is beneficial as the more in-depth data provides more detailed subjective accounts which may be used to support/challenge existing theories / lead to theories being developed.
-EG of this is HM, whose case study demonstrated that different types of LTM are associated with different regions of the brain.
-This led to further research on both memory and localisation which furthered our understanding and the study of individual experiences gives us an insight into individual uniqueness.

Question 41

Idiographic approach: AGAINST

Answer 41

• narrows + restricts work as theories and fndings developed from idiographic approaches such as case studies, cannot be generalised beyond the individual,
  = reducing the ecological validity of these findings,
• As a result, generalisations cannot be made without further examples, meaning that the idiographic approach alone cannot be used to improve the scientific credibility of psychology
• This suggests that the idiographic approach is not suitable for developing psychological treatments and nomothetic approaches may be useful as they formulate general rules of behaviour by focusing on a large group of people = allowing generalisations to be made.

Question 42

nomothetic approach: FOR

Answer 42

1- Unlike the idiographic approach, the nomothetic approach uses quantitative methods of data collection.
-The nomothetic approach is associated with the scientific method, such as lab experiments + controlled observations.
-highly scientific nature means that results attained are objective + reliable as the conditions used to attain them are standardised + have a high degree of control.
= As a result of this, the findings have scientific credibility and can be used to prove theories proposed by psychologists

Question 43

Nomothetic approach - AGAINST

Answer 43

• Ignores human experience – at risk of losing sight of the whole person + their experience of a certain mental disorder.
  = although predictions can be made about groups, these may not apply to individuals as individual differences are not taken into consideration with the nomothetic approach.

Question 44

both approaches should be used together

Question 45

Nature (nativists) v Nurture (empiricists)

1. Nature

Answer 45

Nature (nativists) :

• human characteristics innate
• herditary - passed from one generation to another
• Biological / genetic factors

Question 46

2. Nurture

Answer 46

Nurture (empiricists) :

• Behaviour is a product of environmental factors (physical + social world)
• Experiences before birth (pre-natal) - mother’s psychological + physical health

Question 47

interactionist approach

Answer 47

• nature + nurture are linked closely intertwined
• both contribute behaviour + characteristics
• psychological evidence: twin studies - high concordance rate but difficult to separate environmental + genetic factors
• Cardno et al: Investigated genetic hypothesis for SZ = 40% concordance rate in MZ twins compared to 5.5% in DZ twins.

Question 48

What’s the Interactionist approach split into?

Answer 48

1. Epigenetics
2. Diathesis stress model

Question 49

1. Epigenetics

Answer 49

• nurture effecting nature
• change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code
• caused by interactions with the environment / lifestyles + events we encounter
• marks left on our DNA

Question 50

2. Diathesis stress model

Answer 50

diathesis: vulnerability
stress: negative psychological experience

EG: A person who inherits a genetic vulnerability for OCD may never develop the disorder
but combines psychological trigger (eg traumatic experience) may result in disorder appearing

Question 51

Implications of nativism (nature)

Answer 51

• Nativist believe that anatomy is destiny has serious wider implications and could be used to oppress + control.
• Eugenic policies in the past used to justify the mistreatment + event killing of certain ethnic groups including the holocaust, swanda genocide, killing of black people.
• This extremely deterministic view is not compatible with our legal + moral responsibilities.

Question 52

Implications of Empiricism (Nurture)

Answer 52

• Empiricists suggest that all behaviour can be shaped + modified.
• This is evident in behavioural therapies such as token economy where desirable behaviours are reinforced + undesirable behaviours are ignored or punished.
• However, in extreme circumstances this belief can be destructive and be used for social control and manipulation of people.