Issues And Debates Flashcards
(3 cards)
Social influence- Social and Cultural Issues
A03- Milgrams obedience research shows obedience is higher at 65% to 450V when authority is wearing a uniform so would contribute to our understanding of social and cultural issues
Milgrams research took place in labs so may not represent real life situations so lack of validity to social and cultural issues
Piliavin found people more likely to help someone of the same race such as 68% of white victims being helped by white helpers so supports idea that people are more willing to help others similar to them explaining social and cultural issues such unlawful killing of those who are different
A01- Obedience involves following a direct order from a legitimate authority figure in a given situation
Compliance is when an individual goes along with a group majority even when they disagree
Bystander intervention is when someone chooses to help a person in need or not
Asses how psychological understanding of the brain has changed over time
AO1 : localisation vs holism
Initially little thought was given to how the brain affected behaviour until case studies suggested brain affects behaviour (Phineas Gage as an example)
Research which initially linked the influence of stressful life events to depression has been updated over time to incorporate the idea of individual differences
Over time experimental surgery (fMRI and EEG) has lead to new psychological understanding such as the corpus collosums transfer of info)
AO3 : Finding of studies such Damasio rely onaccounts of case studies but accuracy of Phineas Gage questionable so conclusions may not be valid
Caspi longitudinal design over 23 years offers credible evidence of the influence of genes on depression, supporting updated psychological perspective of the role of genetics
Since Sperry newer methods of brain scanning enabled psychologists to study the brain in greater spatial and temporal resolution so more detailed psychological understanding
Nature vs Nurture (Psychological Problems)
AO1 Nature arguments state internal factors are responsible for addiction such as addictive genes
Nurture arguments state external factors are responsible for addiction such as roles models being observed
Observation of role models may trigger genetic predisposition
AO3 Blum et al found alcoholics had increased frequency of alleles of dopamine D2 receptor gene compared to non alcoholic controls
Bandaranaike showed children imitate role model
Lots of studies failed to replicate the findings concerning DRD2 and alcohol addiction so the link is controversial
