issues and debates

Question 1

gender bias

Answer 1

refers to misrepresnation in attitudes abd beliefes based on prejudice or pre-existing ideas concerning gender
e.g women more nurturing then men

Question 2

alpha bias

Answer 2

refers to theories which exaggerate diffrences betweeen men and women

may enhance or undervalue memebers of either sex, typically undervalue females

Question 3

beta bias

Answer 3

refers to theories which ignore or minisme sex differences

assume findings from males can equally be applied to females

issue when all ppts are males

Question 4

example of alpha bias

Answer 4

evolutionary explanations

evolution explains humans need to survive, therefore reproduce

provides explantion of how females and males are innately different

males tend to be more dominant and women have more empathy and partental investment to aid survival of offspring

Question 5

example of beta bias

Answer 5

kolhberg
conducted longtudinal study
over period of 12 years
gave 75 youndg americas series of moral dilmeas in the form of short stories
aged 10-16 at start of study
22-28 end of study

examples of dilemas to 10 year old
more impornt to save one imporant person or loads of unimportant people

based on male orientated principle-though argued such priciples are universal and represnt moral reasoning to both males and females

Question 6

limitation of gender bias-promotes sexism in research process

Answer 6

females remain underrepresnated in unniversity departments particualry science
phsycologys undergraduate intake is females
more lectures are males
means research more leiekly to be conducted by men
male researcher may assume female to be unable to complete complex tasks and expectations may mean women may underperfrom

Question 7

strength of gender bias-feminsit pshcyologuists have proposed how gender bias can be avodied

Answer 7

worrey and renner
put forward criteris that researchers should follow in order to avoid gender bias
suggests women should be study in real life contexts and partcipats in resaerch rather then object of study
diversity within groups of women, rather then comaprison between men and women

strength as way of doign research is less gender biased then lab based research

Question 8

culture bias

Answer 8

refers to a tendncy to ignore cultural difference and interpet all phenomena throughput lens of ones own culture

Question 9

etic construct

Answer 9

approach that looks at behaviours from outside a given culture and attempts to describe behaviour that is universal

Question 10

emic construct

Answer 10

looks within/inside cultures and identifies behaviour specific to that culture

psyshologtics truly devloping udnerstnaing of that cultures practices and developing research procedures

Question 11

ethnocentirsim

Answer 11

judging other cultures by standards and values of ones own culture
belief in superiority of ones own culture which may lead to prejudice, discrimination towards other cultures

Question 12

example of ethnocentrism

Answer 12

ainsworth SS

only reflects norms and values of american culture

Question 13

nature debate

Answer 13

view that behavioru is a product of innate (biolgoical and gentic) factors

Question 14

nurture debate

Answer 14

view that behaviour is a product of environmental influences

Question 15

example of nature

Answer 15

Bowbly

proposed that children come into world biologically programmed to form attachments

this will enable them to survive

suggests attachment behaviour are naturally selected on a result of genetic inheritance

supported by animal research lorenz and harlow

Question 16

nurture example

Answer 16

behaviorusit that explain attachment in terms of classical conditioning

food is associated with the mother
through many parinings, mother becomes condisiotned stimulus who propts conditioned reposne in child
child forms attatchment based of pleasure of being given food

Question 17

measuring nature and nurture

Question 18

diathesis-stress model

Answer 18

suggests behaviour is caused by bioloigcal or enviormental vulnerabiltity

e.g person who is inherits a gentic vulnerability for OCD may not develop the disorder

Question 19

free will and detmernism debate

Answer 19

extent to which our behaviour is the result of forces over which we have no control or whether people are able to decide for themselves whther to act or behave a certain way

Question 20

free will

Answer 20

humans play an active role and can choice the way in which they behave
assumption is people are free to choose their behavuour, not detmerined by biological or externcal factors

Question 21

how does humanstic approach take free will stae in psychology

Answer 21

suggests we are ultimanetly reposnible fir our own behaviour (active agents)
regardless of external events in past or presnt

roger and maslow calim humans have self determinsim and free will and that behaviour is not result of any single cause

freddom is necceassry to become fully functional human beaviour

Question 22

detmerminism

Answer 22

view that individual behaviour is controlled and shaped by internal or external factors

example of external force e.g partents
internal force example-hormones

Question 23

what are all the types of detemrinsim

Answer 23

hard
soft
biolgical
enviromental
psychic

Question 24

hard determinsim

Answer 24

implies that free will is not psossible asour behaviour is always controlled by interenal or external forces

seen as incompatible with free will

Question 25

soft detmerminism

Answer 25

behaviour is contained by enviorment
or biological make up but only to certain extent, element in free will in al, behaviour

Question 26

biological determinism

Answer 26

belief behaviour based by biological infleunces that we cannot control
e.g high levels of testerone will casue aggressive behaviour

Question 27

enviormnetal determinsim

Answer 27

belief behaviour casued by feautures of the enviroment
such as systems of reward and punishment beyond our control

Question 28

psychic detemrinsim

Answer 28

belief that behaviour is casued by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control

Question 29

strength-free will has internal validity

Answer 29

Robert et al
found that adolescents with an internal locus of control are more liekly to have better mental health and less liekly to develop depression then those with an external locus of control

Question 30

holism v reduction

Answer 30

concerned with the levl at which ias appropriate to explain human behaviour
reductionist explanations break thoughts into simplest parts
holistic explanations consider the person as a whole

Question 31

holism

Answer 31

view that beahviour can only be understodd by analyysing the person or behaviour as a whole ratehr than its consistuent parts

Question 32

reductiosnism

Answer 32

analysying behaviour by breaking it down intp more simple components as complex beahviour is best understood in terms of a simplier level of explantion

Question 33

levels of explanation in relation to reductionism

Answer 33

rose proposed that there are different levels of explanation

lowest leevl of explanation would include biolgoical explanations where behaviour explained in its smallest lart e.g gentics
at this level explanations are considered reductionist

middle level explaantions reduce explaations to psychological explanations

highest level considers both social and cultural explanations where behaviour explained by influence of social groups

Question 34

what are the two types of redcutionism

Answer 34

biological redcutionism
enviromental reductionism

Question 35

bioloigal reductionsm

Question 36

idiographic

Answer 36

focuses more on indivudal

empathises unique personal experience of human nature

Question 37

examples of idiographic approach in psychology

Answer 37

humanist pshycology-rogers and maslow only concerned with studying the whole person and seeing the world from the perspective of that persob

psyhcoofdynais approach case stduy little hans

Question 38

nomethetic approach

Answer 38

approach that attempts to study human behaviour tharough development of laws that apply to large groups of people

Question 39

example of nometheic approach in spcyhology

Answer 39

behaviorusim-classical condiditon gand operant condiditoning studied repsonses of hundreds of rats, cats pigeons etc