Issues and Debates P3

Question 1

Types of determinism

Answer 1

Biological
Environmental
Psychic
soft/hard

Question 2

determinism and free will defininition

Answer 2

Determinism = all behaviour has a set of causes
Free will = humans are free to choose their behaviour

Question 3

Biological determinism

Answer 3

Behaviour is caused by biological influences that we cannot control

The idea that traits and behaviours are governed by internal factors like genes, neurochemistry, brain structure and function

Question 4

Environmental determinism

Answer 4

Behaviour is caused by features in the environment that we cannot control

The idea that traits and behaviours are governed by external forces such as experiences, upbringing, learning, schools, parents, peers etc.

Question 5

Psychic determinism

Answer 5

Behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control

The idea that traits and behaviours are governed by unconscious instincts and drives, the cause of behaviour is rooted in childhood experience

Question 6

Why is determinism incompatible with the legal system?

Answer 6

• retribution/revenge
• Implies that offenders are responsible for their
  actions
• Determinism: people do not freely choose actions
• So, determinism is incompatible with our legal system)

Question 7

Determinism is not falsifiable why?

Answer 7

• Assumes that all behaviour has a cause
• If a cause is found, determinism is supported.
• If not, determinists assume that it will be one day.

Question 8

Determinism is compatible with science and free will not

Answer 8

• Scientific approach to psychology seeks to find cause-and-effect relationships
• This assumes determinism, with the manipulated IV being the determining factor on behaviour, the DV.
• Science assumes that physical causes bring about physical effects, e.g. low serotonin levels cause OCD.
• The idea that something non-physical like free will can have an effect on the physical world in the form of behaviour contradicts this assumption.

Question 9

Libets findings on determinism

Answer 9

• Libet found that a specific pattern of brain activity preceded a conscious decision up to 0.5 seconds before conscious awareness of making the decision. (2)
• This undermines free will as the conscious experience of free choice is determined by the brain. (2)
• Therefore, free will is an illusion

Question 10

Roberts et al. effects of fatalism

Answer 10

• adolescence with strong belief in fatalism greater risk of developing depression
• ppl with external LOC are less optimistic
• free will has a positive impact

Question 11

Difference between hard and soft determinism

Answer 11

Hard determinism
- These are internal/external events outside our control
- Free will is an illusion
Soft determinism
- Some internal mental process are within our control
- This gives us free will

Question 12

Which approach rejects determinism

Answer 12

Humanist approach

Question 13

Adoption studies in the nature nurture debate

Question 14

Twin studies in nature nurture debate

Question 15

interactionist approach nature/nurture

Question 16

Heritability coefficient

Question 17

Heredity

Answer 17

The genetic transmission of mental and physical characteristics from one generation to another

Question 18

What is epigenetics

Answer 18

• A change in genetic activity without a change to the genotype.
• The environment leaves epigenetic ‘marks’ (‘tags) which turn genes on or off.
• Some marks survive in egg and sperm cells…
• … meaning that a person’s experience can affect the lives of future generations.

Question 19

Empiricism/nativism

Question 20

What is Reductionism

Answer 20

Behaviour is best understood by breaking it down to its constituent parts (parsimony - use lowest-level principles)

Question 21

What is holism

Answer 21

To understand a system we should study it as a whole (e.g.
Gestalt psychology, humanistic approach)

Question 22

What is environmental reductionism

Answer 22

Explain behaviour through stimulus-response links learned through experience (behaviourists).

Question 23

What is biological reductionism

Answer 23

Explain behaviour at lowest biological level, e.g. genes, hormones

Question 24

Level of explanations reductionism/holism

Answer 24

Increasingly reductionist = Socio-cultural -> Psychological
> Physical -> Environmental -> Physiological ->
Neurological

Question 25

Strength of the holistic approach

Answer 25

* Holism involves studying and valuing human experience as a whole, considering meaning, feeling, personal experience / context. * Only by studying the whole can we really understand human experience * Types of investigation preferred by humanistic psychologists such as Maslow and Rogers achieve this * Use of case studies, diaries, interviews - to yield richer, more detailed information - enhances validity

Question 26

Weakness of the holistic approach

Answer 26

* Less scientific * Difficult to obtain meaningful information without losing objectivity * Use of qualitative methods less reliable * Overly complex: many variables involve

Question 27

Strength of the reductionist approach

Answer 27

* More scientific: focus on empiricism * Studying basic units of behaviour similar to natural sciences * Parsimonious – the simplest explanation is often the best. * More objective: evidence should be observable and unaffected by opinion/subjective interpretation. * Clarity of understanding, e.g. at the chemical, cellular level * Better able to isolate cause when studying basic units of behaviour, broken down into elements

Question 28

Weakness of reductionism

Answer 28

* Reductionism leads to loss of meaning – basic components do not add up to reflect whole experience- loss of validity * Interaction: simplistic and ignores the complex interaction of many factors * Loss of context: lose sight of behaviour in context * Some behaviours, especially social behaviours, can only really be investigated in the holistic context in which they occur * Other levels: distracts from a more appropriate level of explanation

Question 29

Strength and limitation of the idographic approach

Answer 29

Strength: reveal insights and increase understanding Limitation: results are often open to the subjective conculusion

Question 30

Strength and limitation of the nomothetic approach

Answer 30

+ uses scientific methods - looses the whole person - misses complex interaction of variables

Question 31

how is the nomothetic approach scientific?

Answer 31

Use of quantitative methods *+ statistical analysis *+ large samples *=> measure strength of relationships between variables Use of experimental methods *=> identify causal relationships

Question 32

how does the idiographic approach contributes to the nomothetic approach?

Answer 32

Enhance testing of theories - Some case studies are natural experiments​ - => appropriate test cases for general laws​ Enhance generation of theories​ - Exploration of examples can provide ideas for large scale studies​ - Can identify key variables / hypotheses likely to apply to others

Question 33

explain the processes of the idographic approach

Answer 33

Use of qualitative methods - open to interpretation - open to researcher bias - harder to replicate - explore inner world of participant​ - from their subjective perspective​ Use of case studies - unrepresentative - ungeneralisable​ - involves variety of methods​ - detailed data on participant​ - triangulation of data

Question 34

3 sources of bias

Answer 34

sampling measurent theorising

Question 35

androcentrism

Answer 35

When behaviour is judged to a male standard alpha and beta bias is the concequence

Question 36

universality

Answer 36

Any underlying characteristics of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences in experience and upbringing

Question 37

gender bias

Answer 37

When considering human behaviour, bias is a tendency to treat one individual or group in a different way. In terms of gender, research or theories may offer a view that does not represent male or female behaviour

Question 38

beta bias

Answer 38

Theories that ignore or minimize the differences

Question 39

alpha bias

Answer 39

theroies that suggests thier is more differnce between men and women than is

Question 40

structure of how to answer a question about bias

Answer 40

A01 - failure to consider differnces between women can lead to gender bias - histrocaly smaple based on men - beta bias - alpha bias A02+3 - ugh there is so fucking much j look at the handout

Question 41

examples of smapling gender bias

Answer 41

- social influence classic studies sampling is beta bias - schizophrenia anti-psychotics research sampling is beta bias

Question 42

eaxamples of measurment gender bias

Answer 42

- social conformity task is alpha bias - schizophrenia diagnosis of women is alpha bias

Question 43

examples of theroising/ interpreting finidings gender bias

Answer 43

- Psychodynamic, (kolhberg i think) theroy of moral development, the super ego is androcentrism

Question 44

cultral bias in sampling

Answer 44

Stragne situation - More than ½ of studies in Van IJ & K's meta- analysis from US, rest mostly Western * Collectivistic cultures under- represented * Eastern, African and South American cultures not / under- represented * Non- western cultures more traditional, infants rarely separated from parents- results will not generalise * 12/31 studies using Asch's paradigm for testing conformity took place in collectivistic cultures * This is somewhat biased * 0/9 studies using Milgram's paradigm for testing obedience took place in collectivistic cultures * This is completely biased

Question 45

cultural bias in measurement

Answer 45

* Strange Situation supposed to be mildly stressful, but is very stressful for Japanese children... * ...who are rarely separated from mother... * ... so become very distressed and look like insecure resistant, but aren't really * Using Strange Situation to measure behaviour in other cultures does not work, i.e., involves an imposed etic * Belief in communication with dead common outside Western cultures * Seen as normal and often desirable * But is assumed to be a sign of schizophrenia by Western psychiatrists * Involves an 'imposed etic'

Question 46

cultural bias in interpreations of findings

Answer 46

* Features of atavistic form often associated with those of African descent, e.g., curly hair, dark skin * Atavistic = 'uncivilised, primitive, savage' * Draws on stereotypes of black people * Links to eugenics movement: saw some (usually non- white) as genetically inferior but aslo social infuilence and authoritarian personality

Question 47

what is cultral bias

Answer 47

Refers to a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the “lens” of their own culture

Question 48

ethnocentritism

Answer 48

juding other culturs from the standard of your own culture, somtimes belivng your culture is better and can lead to prejudice and discrimination

Question 49

Werid countries

Answer 49

Western Educated Rrich Industrialised Democratic - 99% of all published studies rely on ppts recurituted form weird countires - 80% of all pps are from these cultures - whilst only representing 12% of the worlds population - 67% of american psych studies use collage students

Question 50

etic and emic approach

Answer 50

etic - looks at behavoir form outside a culture an attempts to desribe said behavoir as universal e.g use of questionares on equity testing in relationships emic - looks at behavoir inside a culture that is spesific to that culture

Question 51

cultrial relatitivism

Answer 51

norms and moral standards can only be understood within a given culture

Question 52

universality

Answer 52

beliving that some behavoirs are the same for all cultures

Question 53

collectivistic/ indiviulaistic

Answer 53

- an etic approach designed to identify and understnad cultral differnce

Question 54

what are ethical implications

Answer 54

wider influnce of reserch on others including impact on minoirites, may effect how people are treated, regarded or

Question 55

examples of ethical impications

Answer 55

- the impact of thoes representing in the research - effect their self esteem feelings and life changes - consider the impact of others opinions in sterotyping and discrimination - should consider wider impilcations - such as when governmtnt usues reserch to make public economic and social policy

Question 56

socially sensitive research

Answer 56

when researchg raieses controversial issues/ potentiollu negative consequences for groups represented in the research / the population particully vunrulbe or minority groups

Question 57

three considerations for socially sensitive research

Answer 57

- government policy - stereotypes - self esteem

Question 58

whats the differnce between socialy sensitve issues and implications?

Answer 58

issues - for the ppts within the study implications - impact on the wider group the ppts represent

Question 59

methods researchers could use to deal with social sensitivity

Answer 59

- consult interested parties (ones represented and experts - valadity of research incerdibly important - when writing research be considerate of language and offer alternative explanations/ clarify findings

Question 60

reduce gender bias in sampling

Answer 60

- proportinal and represeitive of target population - recruite more females in areas that are traditional under represented

Question 61

nature/ nurture

Answer 61

Concerned with the extent to which aspects of behaviour are a product of inherited or acquired characteristics

Question 62

ideographic nomothetic

Answer 62

nomothetic - Attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws ideographic - focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour, rather than aiming to formulate general laws of behaviour