Issues and Debates 🤐 Flashcards
Paper 3 (111 cards)
1
Q
what does socially sensitive research refer to?
A
- studies in which there are potential social consequences or implications
- either directly to the participants or the class of individuals represented by the research
2
Q
what is an example of research that is socially senstive?
A
- investigating crime rates against Black youths
3
Q
what are the areas mainly concerned with socially sensitive research?
A
- race
- gender
- sexuality
- social and cultural diversity
4
Q
what is the difficulty with the current ethical guidelines when considering socially sensitive research?
A
- focus on protecting the research participants during their participation in the study
- doesn’t deal with ways in which the research may be harmful beyond the study and how it could inflict damage on the groups or sections of society represented in the study
5
Q
what aspects in the research process can ethical issues with social consequences occur and why?
A
- research question (appears to add scientific credibility to prevailing predjudice)
- conduct of research and treatment of participants (main issue is confidentiality)
- institutional context (may be funded/ managed by private organisations who may misuse or misunderstand the data, or media may obtain the reports and misreport the findings)
- interpretation and application of findings (may be used for purposes other than originally intended)
6
Q
does research have to be published to be socially sensitive?
A
- both published and unpublished research can be socially sensitive
- there are ethical implications beyond publication bias and censorship that can impact individuals represented by the study
- ie. drug companies often only publish positive results
7
Q
what are the 10 ethical issues raised in socially sensitive research?
A
- privacy
- confidentiality
- valid methodology
- deception
- informed consent
- equitable treatment
- scientific freedom
- ownership of data
- values
- risk/ benefit ratio
8
Q
how is privacy an ethical issue in socially sensitive research?
A
- skilled investigators could extract more information than participants originally intended to give
- some research could lead to social policies that are an invasion of people’s private lives
- ie. AIDS research could lead to compulsory testing
9
Q
how is confidentiality an ethical issue in socially sensitive research?
A
- participants could be less willing to divulge information in the future if data is shared and confidentiality is breached
- compromise further related research
10
Q
how is valid methodology an ethical issue in socially sensitive research?
A
- poor methodology (therefore poor findings) may be recognised by scientists but the media and public may not be aware of this
- poor studies might shape important social policies detrimental to groups represented by the research
11
Q
how is deception an ethical issue in socially sensitive research?
A
- includes self deception whereby research may lead people to form untrue stereotypes
- could affect their own performance
12
Q
how is informed consent an ethical issue in socially sensitive research?
A
- potential participants may not always comprehend what is involved in a research study
13
Q
how is scientific freedom an ethical issue in socially sensitive research?
A
- scientist has a duty to engage in research but is also obligated not to harm participants as well as institutions within society
14
Q
how is equitable treatment an ethical issue in socially sensitive research?
A
- all participants must be treated in an equitable manner
- resources vital to participants’ well being are not withheld from one group whilst being available to another
15
Q
how is ownership of data an ethical issue in socially sensitive research?
A
- some problems involved with ownership of data involve sponsorship of the research and the public accessibility of the data
16
Q
how is values an ethical issue in socially sensitive research?
A
- psychologists differ in their orientation towards subjective (idiographic) approaches and more objective (scientific) approaches
- sensitive issues arise when their is a clash in the values between the scientist and the recipient of the data
17
Q
how is risk/ benefit ratio an ethical issue in socially sensitive research?
A
- risks or costs should be minimised
- problems arise in determining risks as well as benefits
18
Q
how can the wider impact of research be used to evaluate socially sensitive research in issues and debates?
A
- some social consequences to participation in research but there is also the increased potential for a more indirect impact on the participants family, coworkers and even the group represented by the participants
- shouldn’t just safeguard the interests of the individuals in the research
19
Q
should socially sensitive research just be avoided (evaluation of socially sensitive research in issues and debates)?
A
- could leave psychologists with noting to examine but unimportant issues
- Sieber and Stanley’s view is that to ignore this research is not a responsible approach to science
- avoiding controversial topics is an avoidance of responsibility
20
Q
how is engaging with the public and policymakers useful in evaluating socially sensitive research in issues and debates?
A
- important applications, ie. in order to reduce the likelihood of misuse of data, psychologists should take responsibilities for what happens to their findings
- they should be aware that their research could lead to abuse or discrimination
- BPS has a press centre that aims to promote evidence based psychological research to the media
21
Q
what is the nurture-nature debate?
A
- considers the relative importance of heredity and environment, in explaining behaviour
22
Q
what does nature mean (nature-nurture debate)?
A
- behaviour is seen to be a product of innate factors
- ie. biological or genetic factors
23
Q
what does nurture mean (nature-nurture debate)?
A
- behaviour is the product of environmental influences
24
Q
what approach does the nature-nurture debate relate to and why?
A
- interactionist approach
- processes of nature and nurture work together rather than in opposition
25
what are the two examples of the influence of nature (nature-nurture debate)?
- genetic explanations
- evolutionary explanations
26
what are examples of genetic explanations of nature in the nature-nurture debate?
- family studies show that the closer two individuals are genetically, more likely they will develop the same behaviours
- studies of monozygotic twins show high concordance for many behaviours
27
what are examples of evolutionary explanations of nature in the nature-nurture debate?
- assumes behaviours giving an adaptive advantage will be naturally selected and passed on in the genes
- Bowlby proposed attachment was adaptive as it meant an infant was more likely to be protected and therefore survive
28
what are examples of nurtures affect on behaviour in the nature-nurture debate?
- social learning theory, proposed by Bandura due to the affect of vicarious reinforcement
- double bind theory of schizophrenia suggests schizophrenia develops if a child receives mixed or contradictory messages from their parents
- behaviourism assumes behaviour can be explained in terms of experience alone, through classical and operant conditioning (ie. Little Albert study)
29
how can diathesis-stress be used to evaluate the nature-nurture debate?
- diathesis stress is often used to explain mental disorders such as phobias or schizophrenia
- diathesis is a biological vulnerability such as being born with certain genes that predispose a person to developing a disorder
- research has shown that not everyone with those genes develop the disorder
- expression of the gene depends on experiences (stressors) which trigger the conditions
- therefore a persons nature is only expressed under certain conditions of nature
30
how can the idea that nurture affects nature be used to evaluate the nature-nurture debate?
- Maguire et al's study of London taxi drivers showed that the region of the brain associated with spatial memory was bigger than in controls
- this is not because they were born this way but because their hippocampi has responded to the increased use
31
how can the idea that nature affects nurture be used to evaluate the nature-nurture debate?
- genes may exert an indirect effect in a number of ways (ie. genetic factors create an infant's microenvironment)
- Plomin et al called this reactive gene-environment interaction as the child is reacting to genetically influenced behaviours
- Plomin identified a second kind of interaction called passive influence (parents genes determine aspects of the child's behaviour)
- third kind of influence is active influence (AKA niche picking) which suggests as children grow older they seek out experiences/ environments that suit their genes (influence of genes increases as children get older)
32
what is universality (culture bias)?
- belief that humans are alike, so what is true for one person is true for everyone
- ie. nomothetic approach
33
what does the term bias refer to (culture bias)?
- when a person's or society's views are distorted in some systematic way
34
what is culture bias?
- tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions, resulting in potentially distorted conclusions
- researchers misrepresent differences between cultural groups
35
what are the forms of cultural bias?
- ethnocentrism (eurocentrism)
- imposed etic
36
what is ethnocentrism (culture bias)?
- tendency to use the standards, norms and values of one's own culture as the baseline against which other cultures can be evaluated
- focusing on own cultural perspective
- the 'normal' way/ more important
37
what can ethnocentrism lead to (culture bias)?
- ethnocentric bias
38
what are the consequences of ethnocentric bias (culture bias)?
- decreases validity and reliability of research
- misdiagnosis (ie. DSM)
- harmful stereotypes (devalue other cultures as abnormal)
39
what is an example of a key study that suffered from ethnocentric bias (culture bias)?
- Ainsworth's strange situation only used US middle class mothers and infants
- generalised to other cultures
- however there were cultural variations in attachment styles (individualistic vs collectivist)
- ie. Japanese vs US infants
40
what is eurocentrism (culture bias)?
- form of ethnocentrism that is particularly focused on the Western world's viewpoint
41
what is cultural relativism (culture bias)?
- idea that a behaviour can only be properly understood/ only makes sense in the context of the norms and values of the society/ culture in which it occurs
42
what is an example of cultural relativism (culture bias)?
- AMERICAN researcher studying AMERICAN behaviours
43
what is a strength of carrying out cultural relativism research (culture bias)?
- prevents ethnocentric bias
- prevents prejudice and discrimination
44
what is a limitation of carrying out cultural relativism research (culture bias)?
- may exaggerate differences between cultures (alpha bias)
- can ignore cultures within a culture (beta bias)
45
what is cross cultural research (culture bias)?
- replicating studies in other cultures, with researchers of that culture
46
what is gender bias?
- misrepresent the differences between men and women
47
where can gender bias arise in research?
- in observations
- in conclusions/ interpretations
- in design (ie. Asch, Milgram, Zimbardo)
48
what are the two types of gender bias?
- alpha bias
- beta bias
49
what is alpha bias (gender bias)?
- researcher exaggerates differences between men and women
50
what is beta bias (gender bias)?
- researcher minimises or ignores differences between men and women
- ie. women sleeping when driving due to Stilnox (sleeping pills only tested on men)
51
what is androcentrism (gender bias)?
- theories/ studies only focused on the male perspective
- 'male centred'
- not always biased (only when generalised to all genders)
- ie. using men to study only the male body
52
what could androcentrism lead to (gender bias)?
- androcentric bias (alpha or beta)
53
what studies demonstrate androcentric bias (gender bias)?
- Milgram
- Asch
- Zimbardo
54
how did Freud demonstrate androcentric bias (gender bias)?
- thought women were inferior
- thought psychological differences were enormous and permanent which was an incorrect claim (Penis envy)
- didn't follow scientific method either
- androcentric alpha bias
55
what is a significant problem with androcentric bias (gender bias)?
- not always obvious (ie. unconscious)
- become norm and therefore remain unchallenged
56
what is gynocentrism (gender bias)?
- theories/ studies only focused on the female perspective
- 'women centred'
- not always biased (only when generalised to all genders)
- less common than androcentrism
57
what could gynocentrism lead to (gender bias)?
- gynocentric bias (alpha or bias)
58
what studies demonstrate gynocentric bias (gender bias)?
- Moscovici (minority influence)
- many studies using psychology university students (usually female)
59
how did Bowlby demonstrate gynocentric bias (gender bias)?
- research into attachment focused on women as thought mother's are primary caregivers
- led to further research on mothers
- influences court cases to favour mothers over fathers in custody cases
60
what is free will (free will vs determinism)?
- full control over our behaviour
61
what approach suggests behaviour occurs due to free will (free will vs determinism)?
- humanistic approach
62
what is determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- never have control over our behaviour
- all behaviour has a cause (so can make reliable predictions)
- scientific
63
what are the three types of determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- psychic
- environmental
- biological
64
what is psychic determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- behaviour is the cause of repressed childhood experience
65
what approach demonstrates psychic determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- psychodynamic approach
66
what is environmental determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- behaviour is the cause of our environment
67
what approach demonstrates environmental determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- behaviourist approach
68
what is biological determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- behaviour is the cause of our biology (ie. genes)
69
what approach demonstrates biological determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- biological approach
70
what are the two variations of determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- soft determinism
- hard determinism
71
what is soft determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- choices are constrained by biology or environment, but we have free will over the remaining choices
72
what is hard determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- never have control over our behaviour
73
what approach demonstrates soft determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- social learning
- we have some free will through mediational processes
- don't have control over our environment (determinism)
- do have freedom to choose how to behave in that environment (free will)
74
how can determinism be supported through causality (free will vs determinism)?
- allows us to make causal relationships
- behaviour has a cause
- make reliable predictions
- use scientific approach
75
how can free will be criticised through falsifiability (free will vs determinism)?
- can't falsify free will or test it at all
- can't make predictions as people choose their behaviour
- doesn't fit scientific approach
76
how can determinism be criticised through falsifiability (free will vs determinism)?
- unfalsifiable as we can only falsify claims that suggest a specific cause for behaviour
- we cannot falsify the general idea that behaviour has a cause
77
what does free will claim, which determinism opposes (free will vs determinism)?
- behaviour matches our subjective experience (as assumed by humanistic approach)
- determinism claims our subjective experience doesn't matter, and our theories should be based on our objective criteria (scientific basis)
- free will is an illusion
78
how can free will be favoured over determinism in the case of societal implications (free will vs determinism)?
- free will is associated with an internal locus of control
- determinism is association with an external locus of control
- link between locus of control and mental health
- Benassi et al (meta analysis) found patients with an external locus of control will be more likely to show symptoms of depression (feel powerless)
- treating people as if they have free will improves their well being and mental health
79
what is the main problem with assuming free will (free will vs determinism)?
- everyone is in charge of their own behaviour even if they have a cause
- 'their fault'
- leads to unfairly blaming people
80
what is the main problem with determinism (free will vs determinism)?
- doesn't blame people for any of their behaviour (caused)
- would majorly affect the legal/ justice system
- however, still be able to punish people as a deterrent even if determinism is assumed
81
what is an idiographic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- focuses on individuals
- emphasises uniqueness
- favours qualitative methods
82
what are examples of the idiographic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- psychodynamic
- humanistic
83
why is the psychodynamic approach idiographic (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- Freud used case studies of his patients to understand human behaviour
- ie. Little Hans
- produced generalisations from his case studies
84
why is the humanistic approach idiographic (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- concerned with studying the whole person and the individual's subjective experience of the world
85
what methods is the idiographic approach associated with (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- interviews (unstructured)
- observation
- case studies
- self reports
- autobiographies
86
what are the strengths of the idiographic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- provides a detailed and global understanding of an individual
- focus psychology back on the more individual level
- leads to new ideas to research using more general methods
87
what are the main limitations when using an idiographic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- as it relies on qualitative methods, it can be time consuming
- hard to generalise as we can't be sure whether the data is representative of the larger group, subgroup or unique to the individual
- data is subjective and therefore unreliable
- researcher bias (data will need interpretation)
88
what is a nomothetic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- based on study of groups
- seeks to make generalisations and formulate general laws of behaviours
- uses quantitative methods
89
what is an example of the nomothetic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- Ainsworth's strange situation led to the classification of attachment as either secure, insecure-resistant or insecure-avoidant
90
what methods is the nomothetic approach associated with (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- experiments
- correlations
- observations
- questionnaires
91
what are the three types of law theories using the nomothetic approach can fall into (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- classifying people into groups
- creating principles of behaviour
- producing behaviour scales or dimensions
92
what is an example of classifying people in groups within the nomothetic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- DSM classification
- establishes how people belong to particular groups and how this knowledge helps us to explain the kinds of behaviour people will display
93
what is an example of creating principles of behaviour within the nomothetic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- positive reinforcement increases likelihood that a behaviour will be repeated
- laws that determine how people or animals will behave in certain situations
94
what is an example of producing behaviour scales or dimensions within the nomothetic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- personality dimension of extraversion allows identification of how extroverted/ introverted a person it
95
what are strengths of the nomothetic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- can be considered more scientific than the idiographic approach as it uses quantitative methods and controls variables
- provides predictions about large numbers of people
- leads to construction of laws and theories which can be empirically tested
96
what are the main limitations when using a nomothetic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- predictions made about a group may not apply to all individuals within the group
- may not explore differences in motivations behind a behaviour
- methodology may lack ecological validity (particularly if carried out in a laboratory setting)
97
how can the distinction between idiographic and nomothetic approaches be criticised?
- false dichotomy (division)
- both involve a degree of generalisation
- are complimentary rather than mutually exclusive (findings of idiographic research may lead to nomothetic research and the creation of theories/ laws)
- some psychologists use both (ie. Freud)
- Stephenson developed Q methodology (lots of detail and lots of participants)
98
what approach uses the idiographic approach only (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- humanistic
99
what approach uses the nomothetic approach (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- psychodynamic
- however, Freud did rely on case studies of dreams so used idiographic methods to establish nomothetic theories
100
what approaches use the nomothetic approach to establish general laws/ theories but achieve this through idiographic research (idiographic vs nomothetic approach)?
- cognitive
- biological
- behaviourist
- social learning theory
101
what is reductionism (reductionism vs holism)?
- view that we can understand things by breaking them down into smaller parts
102
what is holism (reductionism vs holism)?
- view that, to understand something, we must look at is as a whole
103
what are the three levels of explanations (reductionism vs holism)?
1. social/cultural
2. psychological
3. biological
- closer to the bottom = more reductionist
- closer to the top = more holistic
104
what are the main reductionist approaches (reductionism vs holism)?
- behaviourist (environmental reductionism on the psychological level)
- biological (biological reductionism/ level)
105
what is the main holism approach (reductionism vs holism)?
- humanistic (social/ cultural level)
106
what approaches are a mixture of reductionist and holist (reductionism vs holism)?
- cognitive (psychological level)
- SLT (psychological level)
- psychodynamic (social/ cultural level)
107
how can reductionism be supported as being scientific (reductionism vs holism)?
- involves cause and effect relationships
- can be empirically tested
- falsifiable and studied using the scientific method
108
how can holism be criticised as not being scientific (reductionism vs holism)?
- can't be studied scientifically
- can't establish cause and effect
- however, the cognitive approach is partly holistic and still uses the scientific method
109
how can the reductionism vs holism debate be evaluated through the principle of parsimony?
- shouldn't make an explanation more complicated unless necessary (use the simplest level of explanation)
- reductionism can be
supported through this
- holism violates this principle
110
how can reductionism be supported through its application to treatment (reductionism vs holism)?
- through biological reductionism
- ie. SSRI's are effective in reducing the symptoms of OCD and depression by altering serotonin levels
- however may not address the cause of a condition, only symptoms
- ie. low levels of serotonin may be a symptom but negative schemas may be the cause of depression
- so can be more effective to consider holistic explanations long term
111
how can the reductionism vs holism debate be evaluated through interactionism?
- all explanations interact with each other (holism AND reductionism)
- doesn't ignore any causes
- fits evidence we have about the causes of conditions like depression
- however, interactionism is less scientific than reductionist explanations and violates the principles of parsimony (uses more than one explanation and includes higher levels)
