issues and debates Flashcards
(65 cards)
What is the holism reductionism debate?
debate over which position is preferable for psychology - study the whole person (holism) or study component parts (reductionism).
what is holism and give example?
the idea that human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience, and not as separate parts
for example humanistic psychology focuses on experience which cant be reduced to biological units, qualitative methods etc.
what is reductionism?
the belief based on the scientific principle of parsimony, that human behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into simpler component parts, using the simplest (lowest level) principles.
levels of explanation from highest to lowest: (most holistic -> most reductionist)
highest level = social & cultural explanations
middle level = psychological explanations
lowest level = biological explanations
for example, OCD. may be understood in different ways:
- socio-cultural level - behaviour most people would regard as odd e.g repetitive hand washing
- psychological level - the individuals experience of the obsessive thoughts
- physical level - the sequence of movements involved in washing ones hands
- environmental level - learning experiences (conditioning)
- physiological level - abnormal functioning in the frontal lobes
- neurochemical level - underproduction of serotonin.
what is biological reductionism
suggests all behaviour can be explained through neurochemical, physiological, evolutionary, and/or genetic influences
for example, drugs that increase serotonin are used to treat OCD. therefore low serotonin may be a cause of OCD. we have reduced OCD to the level of neurotransmitter activity.
what is environmental reductionism
proposes that all behaviour is acquired through interactions with the environment, e.g behaviourists explain behaviour in terms of conditioning which is focused on stimulus reponse links, reducing behaviour to these basic elements
for example, the learning theory of attachment reduces the idea of love (between mum and baby) to a learned association between the mother (neutral stimulus) and food (unconditioned stimulus) resulting in pleasure (conditioned response).
one limitation of holism (practical value):
Holism lacks practical value
- Holistic accounts of human behaviour become hard to use as they become more complex which presents researchers with a practical dilemma.
- if many factors contribute, to say depression, it becomes difficult to know which is the most influential and which to prioritize for treatment.
- this suggests holistic accounts lack practical value (whereas reductionist account may be better)..
one strength of reductionism + CP (scientific status / oversimplifying):
its scientific status.
- in order to conduct well controlled research, variables need to be operationalised - target behaviours broken down into constituent parts.
- this makes it possible to conduct experiments or record behavioural categories that are objective and reliable.
- this scientific approach - gives psychology greater credibility, placing it on equal terms with natural sciences.
CP:
reductionist approaches have been accused of oversimplifying complex phenomena. e.g explanations at the level of the gene or neurotransmitter do not include an analysis of the context within which behaviour occurs and therefore lack meaning
this suggests that reductionist explanations can only ever form part of an explanation.
one limitation of reductionism (higher level explanations):
- the need for higher level explanations
there are aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood in terms of the individual group members
for example, the Stanford prison study could not be understood by observing the participants as individuals, it was the behaviour of the group that was important
this shows that, for some behaviours, higher (or even holistic) level explanations provide a more valid account.
universality and bias:
Universality = when characteristics of human beings are capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experiences and upbringing
Bias is leaning towards a personal view that doesn’t reflect reality. psychological theory and research may not accurately represent the experience and behaviour of the men and women = gender bias.
what is alpha bias
research that focuses on differences between men and women, and therefore tends to present a view that exaggerates these differences
these differences occasionally heighten the value of women but are more likely to devalue females in relation to males.
examples of alpha bias:
An example of alpha bias is freuds theory of psychosexual development:
- during the phallic stage, both boys and girls develop a desire for their opposite-gender parent
-in a boy, this creates strong castration anxiety. the anxiety is resolved when the boy identifies with his father. - but a girl’s eventual identification with the same gender parent is weaker, which means her superego is weaker - therefore girls/women are morally inferior to boys/men
- alpha bias can sometimes favour women in the psychodynamic approach.
-Chodrow suggested that daughters and mothers have a greater connectedness that sons and mothers because of biological similarities - as a result of the childs closeness, women develop better abilities to bond w others and empathise.
what is beta bias?
research that focuses on similarities between men and women, and therefore tends to present a view that ignores or minimizes differences
ignoring or underestimating differences between men and women often occurs when female pts are not included in the research process but it is assumed the research findings equally apply to both sexes.
examples of beta bias:
fight or flight, tend and befriend:
- early research into fight or flight was based on male animals (because female hormones fluctuate).
- fight or flight was assumed to be a universal response to threat
- Taylor et al (2000) suggest that females exhibit a tend and befriend response governed by the hormone oxytocin which is more plentiful in women (but also present in small quantities in men) and reduces the fight or flight response
- it is an evolved response for caring for young.
What is andocentrism?
This means ‘male centred’, when normal behaviour is judged according to a male standard. Therefore female behaviour is often judged to be abnormal or deficient by comparison.
Over the years psychology has presented a male-dominated version of the world; e.g. APA’s list of only included 6/100 women..
One limitation of gender bias + CP (fixed / females)
That gender differences are often presented as fixed and enduring when they are not
Maccoby and Jacklin concluded that girls have better verbal ability and boys better spacial ability - due to hardwired biological brain differences. these findings become widely reported and seen as facts
Joel et al used brain scanning and found no such gender differences
thus suggests that we should be wary of accepting research as biological facts when it might be explained better as social stereotypes
CP:
Research suggests the popular social stereotype that females are better at multitasking may have some biological truth to it - their hemispheres are better connected
this suggests that there may in fact be biological differences but we still should be wary of exaggerating the effect they may have on behaviour.
another limitation of gender bias (sexism):
that gender bias promotes sexism in the research process:
women are underrepresented in university departments (Murphey et al 2014). Research is therefore more likely to be conducted by males which may disadvantage females
for example, a male researcher may expect female participants to be irrational an unable to complete complex tasks which may mean they underperform
this means that the institutional structures and methods of psychology may produce findings that are gender bias.
A further limitation of gender bias (publishing):
that research challenging bias may not be published:
Formanowicz et al analysed 1000 articles relating to gender bias - such research is funded less often and is published by less prestigious journals
this still held true when gender bias was compared to ethnic bias, and when other factors were controlled (e.g the gender of the authors and methodology)
this suggests that gender bias in psychological research may not be taken as seriously as other forms of bias.
what is the definition of cultural bias?
the act of interpreting and judging behaviour and psychological characteristics of another culture by standards of ones own culture.
Americans and students over represented in research:
A review found that 68% of research pts came from the United States, and 96% from industrialized nations (Henrich et al)
another review found that 80% of research pts were undergraduates studying psychology.
WEIRD people set standard:
What we know about human behaviour has a strong cultural bias. Henrich et al coined the term WEIRD to describe the group of people most likely to be studied by psychologists - westernised, educated people from industrialised, rich democracies
if the norm of standard for a particular behaviour is set by WEIRD people, then the behaviour of people from non western, less educated, agricultural and poorer countries are inevitably seen as ‘abnormal’, ‘inferior’, or ‘unusual’.
What is ethnocentrism?
The belief that our own group or culture is superior to all other groups or cultures
in psychological research this may be communicated through a view that any behaviour that does not conform to a European/american standard is somehow deficient and underdeveloped.
What is an example of ethnocentrism?
Ainsworth and Bells strange situation - research on attatchment type reflected the norms of US culture
they suggested that ideal (secure) attachment was defined as a baby showing moderate distress when left alone by the mother figure
this has led to a misinterpretation of child rearing practices in other countries which deviated from the US norm, e.g Japanese babies are rarely left on own, more likely to be classed as insecurely attached as they showed distress on seperation (Takahashi)
Other examples of ethnocentric research:
WW1 IQ testing
Jahoda - failure to function
deviation from social norms.
What does cultural relativism do?
it helps to avoid cultural bias
One cannot judge a behaviour properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates, e.g. understanding ‘hearing voices’ is seen as normal in some cultures..
