Issues and debates

Question 1

Gender bias:

Answer 1

Gender bias: differential treatment of men and women based on stereotypes rather that real differences

Question 2

Alpha bias:

Answer 2

Alpha bias: exaggerated differences between men and women, theories usually devalue one gender in comparison to other- usually women

Question 3

Examples of Alpha bias:

Answer 3

1: Psychodynamic explanation of offending suggests that crime happens due to a faulty superego. Freud argued that because girls don’t experience castration anxiety, they feel less pressure to adopt their same sex parent’s moral values compared to boys. This means that females are less moral than males.
2: Sociobiological theory suggests that male promiscuity is natural and driven by genetics, while female promiscuity goes against their nature. Evolutionarily, women need to be more selective when choosing a mate because they have fewer eggs and reproduction requires more effort. This alpha bias can lead to prejudice and stereotypes against women who engage in these behaviors.

Question 4

Beta Bias:

Answer 4

Beta bias: tendency to ignore difference between men and women, often happens when findings obtained from men are applied to women without additional validation

Question 5

Examples of Beta bias:

Answer 5

1:The fight or flight response only used male lab mice since their hormones are more stable, making adrenaline changes easier to measure. However, the findings were then applied to females, ignoring sex differences in the response.
2: Moral reasoning theory was based on studies of American males answering moral dilemmas like the Heinz dilemma, the results were generalised to both men and women

Question 6

Androcentrism:

Answer 6

Androcentrism: consequence of beta bias and occurs when all behaviour is compared to a ‘male’ standard, excluding women

Question 7

Examples of Androcentrism:

Answer 7

1: PMS has been criticised as a social construct that downplays female emotions, especially anger, while male anger is seen as a rational response to external pressures

2: A key example of beta bias is fight or flight research, which mainly used male animals due to female hormone fluctuations. It was assumed male findings applied to females until researchers found that women show a “tend and befriend” response to stress, which helps protect offspring.

Question 8

Universality:

Answer 8

Universality: argument that certain observed behaviours applies to all humans, regardless of differences in gender, biology or cultural background

Question 9

Cultural Bias:

Answer 9

Culture bias: when human behaviour is judged through the lens of one culture and their norms. Does not consider the behaviours outside the observes cultural context

Question 10

Culture relativism:

Answer 10

Culture relativism: the view that behaviour, morals, standards and values cannot be judged properly unless they are viewed in the context of the culture in which they originate

Question 11

Example of cultural relativism:

Answer 11

Milgram’s obedience study was first conducted with 40 American men but was later replicated in different cultures. Researchers found over 90% obedience in Spanish students, while other researchers found that only 16% of Australian women went to the highest voltage. This suggests Milgram’s findings were specific to American culture.

Question 12

Ethnocentrism:

Answer 12

Ethnocentrism: the assumption that one ethic or cultral group is superior to other cultral groups as we use our own culture as a basis for judgement of others

Question 13

Examples of Ethnocentrism:

Answer 13

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation reflects cultural relativism by defining secure attachment as showing moderate separation and stranger anxiety. This led to German children, who showed little of these behaviors and were labeled as insecure avoidant, being mistakenly seen as having cold and rejecting mothers.

Question 14

Free Will VS Determinism debate

Answer 14

Free will: we have full control over our behaviours
Determinism: we never have control over our behaviour

Question 15

Different types of Determinism: psychodynamic approach

Answer 15

Psychic determinism: behaviour is caused by the unconscious mind- psychodynamic approach (trauma during the oral phase will cause oral fixation- smoking)
-soft determinism: through psychoanalytic therapy, individuals can become aware of their unconscious motivations and gain conscious control over their behaviour

Question 16

Different types of Determinism: behaviourist approach

Answer 16

Environmental determinism: all behaviour is caused by internal forces in our environment (determined by classical and operant conditioning)
-hard determinism: do not include conscious thought processes in their theories, instead they suggest behaviour can be fully explained as a series of stimulus response links

Question 17

Different types of Determinism: biological approach

Answer 17

Biological determinism: all behaviour is caused by internal biological factors (natural selection, genes, neural transmitters)
-hard determinism: biological psychologists use drug treatments that directly influence the functioning of biological processes in the treatment on mental health disorders

Question 18

Hard determinism:

Answer 18

Hard determinism: personality traits and behaviours are set by forces outside of our control, no room for free will- states all behaviour has a cause

Question 19

Soft Determinism:

Answer 19

Soft determinism: traits and behaviours are to an extent, dictated by internal and external forces, however we do have some levels of control (free will) over our behaviours through conscious thought processes

Question 20

What approach is in favour of Free will?

Answer 20

Humanistic approach- humanist reject determinism, argue humans have agency, they are capable of making free choices and are responsible for those choices

Question 21

A03: Free Will VS Determinism

Answer 21

Strength determinism: scientific approach
-determinism suggested that everything has a cause which allows us to study behaviour scientifically, determinism allows researchers to make reliable predictions about behaviour but we can only do this if determinism is true
e.g. cause and effect has led to development of drug treatments, low dopamine causes depression
Counterpoint: 1/3 dont respond to drug treatments

Question 22

A03: Free Will VS Determinism

Answer 22

Strength Free Will: Implications of therapy
-if we treat people as if they have free will, then they will likely believe that they have free will and develop an internal locus of control, researchers showed that people with an ILC were less likely to develop symptoms of depression, so if we treat people as if they have free will, they will have better mental health and will be better off

Question 23

A03: Free Will VS Determinism

Answer 23

Weakness: arguing that behaviour is due to a single determining factor is likely an oversimplification, its more accurate to consider behaviour as coming from the interplay of multiple factors (holism)
e.g biological approach suggests that twin studies show behaviour is not solely down to genes as concordance rates of any trait is never 100%

Question 24

Nature VS Nurture debate

Answer 24

Nature- Nurture: argument as to whether a persons development is mainly due to genes or environmental influences- most researchers accept that behaviour is as product of the interaction between nature and nurture
Nature: any influence on behaviour which is genetic e.g genes, neurotransmitters
Heredity: the process by which traits are passed from parents to their offspring

Question 25

Examples of the influence of nature

Answer 25

Genetic explanations – The closer two people are related, the more likely they are to share behaviors. For example, schizophrenia has a 40% concordance rate in MZ twins but only 7% in DZ twins, showing a genetic influence. However, since MZ twins don’t have a 100% concordance rate despite identical genes, this suggests that environmental factors also play a role. Evolutionary explanations – Behaviors that help survival are naturally selected, Bowlby suggested attachment is adaptive because infants who show social releasers are more likely to receive protection. This increases their chances of survival and later reproduction.

Question 26

Examples of the influence of nurture

Answer 26

Behaviourism – Behaviourists believe all behaviour comes from experience. Skinner explained learning using classical and operant conditioning, suggesting attachment forms through classical conditioning, where food relieves hunger (negative reinforcement) and becomes rewarding. Social Learning Theory – Bandura argued behaviour is learned not just through conditioning but also through vicarious reinforcement (observing and imitating others). He acknowledged biology plays a role, like the urge to be aggressive, but the way aggression is expressed is learned from the environment and role models.

Question 27

A03: Nature VS Nurture

Answer 27

Interactionist: Diathesis stress model- theory that suggests that a combination of genetic and environmental factors can cause an extreme outcome. Suggests that individuals with a genetic vulnerability are more likely to develop a psychological disorder if they are exposed to an adverse environment e.g. while schizophrenia has a strong genetic component, some individuals with genetic susceptibility to the disorder nonetheless remain healthy, as a result psychiatrists is that schizophrenia requires a genetic predisposition in combination with stress later on in life, which then triggers the emergence of the disorder

Question 28

A03: Nature VS Nurture

Answer 28

Researchers study on London taxi drivers showed that experience can shape the brain. Taxi drivers had a larger hippocampus, due to learning and navigating the city for "The Knowledge" exam. The longer they had been taxi drivers, the more pronounced the changes. This shows how nurture (experience) can affect nature (brain structure), supporting the idea that genetics and environment interact rather than work separately.

Question 29

A03: Nature VS Nurture

Answer 29

Plomin’s constructivism suggests that a person’s nature influences their nurture through niche-picking. For example, an aggressive child may choose to play with other aggressive children, reinforcing their aggression. This highlights the complex relationship between nature and nurture, as they continuously interact and shape behavior.

Question 30

Holism VS Reductionism

Answer 30

Holism: behaviour can only be understood by analysing the person or behaviour as a whole Reductionism: studying behaviour by breaking them down into smaller part components

Question 31

Four types of reductionism:

Answer 31

Biological reductionism: explain behaviour using biological systems which could include genetics, neurotransmitters (biological approach) Environmental reductionism: behaviour can be explained in terms of simple stimulus, response relationship between behaviour and environment (SLT, behaviourism) Psychodynamic determinism- behaviour are caused by unconscious and innate drives (psychodynamic) Machine re

Question 32

Which approach is the most holistic?

Answer 32

Humanist approach: focuses on behaviour as a whole and suggests that we can not predict behaviour bases on knowledges of these individual components

Question 33

Levels of explanation: behaviour can be studied at different levels

Answer 33

Highest level: cultural and social explanations of behaviour e.g. depression being explained by a withdrawal from social activities, low energy levels and insomnia (most holistic) Middle level: psychological explanations of behaviour e.g depression being explained by Becks Cognitive theory and Ellis ABC model (middle ground) Lower level: biological explanations of behaviour e.g. depression being explained by action of candidate genes and neural factors (most reductionist)

Question 34

A03: Holism VS Reductionism

Answer 34

Strength Reductionism: -makes psychology more scientific and practical. By breaking behavior into smaller parts, it allows researchers to study cause-and-effect under controlled conditions, increasing psychology’s scientific credibility. This approach has also led to effective treatments, such as SSRIs for depression, which help people manage their condition without needing long-term hospital care

Question 35

A03: Holism VS Reductionist

Answer 35

Weakness Reductionist: -overlook the importance of social context, reducing the validity of explanations e.g. speaking relies on the same biological mechanism for everyone, the meaning behind the speech depends on the situation such as expressing an opinion or warning someone- may over simply complex behaviours

Question 36

A03: Holism VS Reductionist

Answer 36

Holism Strength: Complete picture -some examples of behaviour can only be understood at a holistic level such as conformity and deindivuation of Zimbardos prisoners and guards, therefore holistic explanations may provide a more complete understanding of behaviour

Question 37

A03: Holism VS Reductionist

Answer 37

Holism Weakness: -considering multiple factors makes it difficult to isolate specific causes, making empirical testing harder. By focusing too broadly, holism may overlook the importance of individual elements, just as reductionism can ignore the bigger picture by focusing too narrowly, this means neither approach fully captures the complexity of behavior on its own.

Question 38

Idiographic VS Nomothetic Meaning of Idiographic

Answer 38

Idiographic: less scientific -focuses on the individual and recognition of uniqueness, private and subjective experiences -qualitative methods of investigation e.g case studies and unstructured interviews -idiographic approaches tend to not attempt to create general theories of behaviour

Question 39

Idiographic VS Nomothetic Meaning of Nomothetic

Answer 39

Nomothetic: more scientific (rules that apply to all) -attempts to establish laws and generalisations about people -objective knowledge through scientific methods e.g. lab, larger samples -quantitative methods of investigation on large samples

Question 40

Examples of Idiographic methods

Answer 40

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

Question 41

Examples of Nomothetic methods

Answer 41

-Behaviourists explain all behaviour in terms of 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.

Question 42

A03: Nomothetic

Answer 42

Strengths: Generalisation: Nomothetic -data is easier to replicate, gather precisely and analyse using statistics, allow psychologists to be more confident in generalising findings and predicting future behaviour Strength: Objective measurements -subjective bias is reduced through standardised methods and measurements e.g. controlling confounding and extraneous variables

Question 43

A03: Nomothetic

Answer 43

Weakness:Misinterpretation -general trends may not accurately represent every individual in a group Weakness: Superficial: fixed criteria do not give a complete picture of the individual e.g. two people with a depression diagnosis have different experiences

Question 44

A03: Idiographic

Answer 44

Strengths: Rich in detail -level of detailed information collected argued to provide a more valid perspective on human behaviour Strengths: Hypothesis generation -while unusual cases are not generalisable, they can generate new interesting ideas of research or overturn incorrect theories

Question 45

A03: Idiographic

Answer 45

Weakness: Time consuming -due to depth and detail idiographic reserach can be a drawn out process Weakness: Subjectivity/ Bias -the intensive data collection techniques can result in the researchers losing objectivity when interpreting the data

Question 46

Ethical issues and how to deal with them

Answer 46

Cost Benefit Analysis: ethics committees undergo a cost-benefit analysis, where the benefit of research is compared to the cost of the breaching ethical guidelines Can Do Can’t Do With Ppts -Confidential -Deception -Consent -Debrief -Withdraw -Protection from harm

Question 47

Socially sensitive research

Answer 47

-studies in which there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for the ppts in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the reserach

Question 48

Examples of socially sensitive research

Answer 48

-Bowlby’s monotropic attachment theory suggested that the first two years of life are critical for forming an attachment with the primary caregiver. He argued that maternal deprivation during this period could lead to serious emotional and intellectual issues, such as affectionless psychopathy or lower intelligence. As a result, Britain became one of the only EU countries not to offer free childcare for children under five -Romanian Orphan study

Question 49

Impact and Implications of research

Answer 49

the public: being influenced by the psychological findings groups studied: may suffer bias or discrimination due to public awareness psychological research: research may lead to a self fulfilling prophecy government: may use psychological findings to develop policies and legislation

Question 50

Dealing with socially sensitive research

Answer 50

Ethics committee: makes the ultimate decision on if a study should go ahead, their reasoning includes a cost benefit analysis Peer review: can ensure harmful or misleading research is not publish- check if study is objective -psychologists should consider the possibility that their findings will be misused, researchers need to ensure that they fully explain their findings objectively

Question 51

A03: Socially sensitive research

Answer 51

Strength: It is important that researchers do not avoid socially sensitive research, as it can have major positive impacts, such as challenging stereotypes and debunking discriminatory beliefs. Researchers argue that studying these areas helps both the public and the scientific community better understand underrepresented groups, promoting greater awareness and inclusivity.

Question 52

A03: Socially sensitive research

Answer 52

A cost-benefit analysis is used by ethics committees to weigh the benefits of research, such as its contribution to knowledge, against the ethical costs, like potential harm. However, in socially sensitive research, some ethical implications—such as its impact on public perceptions and legislation—can be difficult to predict, making ethical decision-making more complex.