Issues and Debates (P3) Flashcards

Question

What is environmental determinism? | Free will and determinsm

Answer 1

We are determined by conditioning

Answer 2

Behaviourist approach ## Footnote * Skinner believed free will is an illusion and all behaviour is a result of conditioning * Our experience of choice is the sum total of reinforcement contigencies that have acted upon throughout our lives * Behaviour shaped by environmental events and agents of socialisation (parents, teachers, institution etc)

Answer 3

We are directed by unconscious conflicts

Answer 4

Psychodynamic approach ## Footnote * Freud thought free will is an illusion, placed emphasis on biological drives and instincts underpinning psychological responses rather than conditioning * Behaviour as determined and directed by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood * E.g. Freudian slips is determined by unconscious

Answer 5

* Basic scientific principle is every event has a cause and these can be explained with general laws * Knowledge of these allows scientists to predict and control events * In psychology the lab experiment lets researchers stimulate the conditions of the test tube and remove all extraneous variables to demonstrate a casual event

Answer 6

It is consistent with the aims of sciences ## Footnote * Notion that human behaviour is orderly and obeys laws increases pyschology's credibility * The prediction and control of human behaviour had led to development of treatments and therapies e.g. drug treatments for schizophrenia, token economies * Experience of schizophrenia suggests some behaviours are determined as no one chooses to have schizophrenia

Answer 7

Hard determinism is not falsiable thus lacks practical value (legal system) ## Footnote * Offenders are morally accountable forr their actions in law * Only in extreme circumstances are juries instructed to act lienently (e.g. cases of mental illness) * As an approach to scientific enquiry is not falsifiable * It is based on the idea that causes of behaviour will always exist even though they may not yet have been found * As a basic principle it is impossible to disprove this suggests it may not be scientific

Answer 8

We often make choices in everyday life ## Footnote * Everyday experence gives the impression we are constantly making choices everyday * Free will has face validity * Even if we do not have free will the fact we think we do may have a positive impact on mind and behaviour * **Roberts et al (2000)** showed that adolescents with a strong belief in fatalism (life decided by external forces) were more at risk of depression

Answer 9

Challenging neurological evidence ## Footnote * Brain studies of decision-making revea;ed evodemcce ahaomst free will * **Libet and Soon** found brain activity related to the decision to press a button with the left or right hand occurs up to 10 seconds before pariticipants report being aware of making such a decision * Shows even our most basic experiences of free will are decided and determined by our brain before we become aware of them

Answer 10

* Innate and genetic influences * Usually 0.5 heritability ## Footnote * Early natvists (e.g. Descartes) argued human characteristics are innate - result of heridetary * General figure for heritabiltiy of IQ is 0.50 * Fact it isn't 1.0 suggests genetics and the environment are both important factors in IQ

Answer 11

* Environmental influences (e.g. learning) ## Footnote * Empiricists (e.g. Locke) argued the mind is a blank slate at birth upon which experience write (behaviourist approach) * **Lerner (1986)** identified different levels of environment * Defined in narrow prenatal terms (e.g. mother's physical and psychological state during pregnancy) * Defined more generally through postnatal experience (e.g. social conditions the child grows up in)

Answer 12

* Impossible to answer because environmental influences in a child's life begin as soon as it is conceived * Practically and theoretically it makes little sense to try to seperate nature and nurture (e.g. in twin studies it is difficult to tell whether high concordance raes are caused by shared genetics or upbringing)

Answer 13

* The focus of the debate is now on the relative contribution of each influence * Interactionist approach to attachment sees the bond between infant and parent as a two-way process * The child's innate temperament influences how the parent behaves towards them * The paren't responses in turn affect the child's behaviour * **Belsky and Rovine (1987)**

Answer 14

* Diathesis-stress model suggests mental disorder is caused by a biological vulnerability (diathesis) which is only expressed with an environmental trigger (stressor) ## Footnote **Tienari et al (2004)** * Finnish adoptees * Found those most likely to develop schizophrenia had biological relative with a history of the disorder (vulnerability) and had relationships with their adoptive families defined as dysfuntional (trigger)

Answer 15

* Epigenetics is a change in genetic activity without changing genetic code * Lifetsyle events (smoking, diet) leave epigenetic marks on our DNA * These marks tell our bodies which genes to ignore/use and may influence the genetic code of our children * Epigenetics introduced third element into nature-nurture debate of life experiences of prievious generations

Answer 16

1. Real-world applications 2. Understanding nature-nurture relates to other debates 3. Evidence for gene-environment interactions ## Footnote 1. Real-world applications * Extreme beliefs in influence of nature or nurture may have negative implications for how human behaviour is viewed * Nativists suggest genes determines behaviour and characteristics * Led to controversy (eugenics) * Recognising human behaviour is both nature and nurture is a more reasonable way to approach study and management of human behaviour 2. Understanding * A strong commitment to either a nature or nurture position corresponds to a belief in hard determinsm * Nativist perspective suggests anatomy is destiny * Empiricists argue interaction with environment is all * These equate to biological determinsm and environmental determinsm showing how nature-nurture links to other debates

Answer 17

1. Confounding factor of unshared environments ## Footnote * Research that tries to tease out environmental influences is complicated by the fact no one has identical upbringings * There are shared and unshared environments * **Dunn and Plomin (1990)** suggest indivdual differences mean siblings may experience life events differently (e.g. age leads to a life event e.g. parental divorce have a different meaning for each sibling) * Explains why MZ twins reared together don't show perfect concordance rates

Answer 18

An argument/theory wich proposed that it only makes sense to study an indivisible system rather than its constituent parts

Answer 19

Belief that human behaviour is best understood by studying smaller constitutent parts

Answer 20

A form of reductionism which attempts to explain behaviour at the lowest biological level (in terms of the actions of genes, hormones etc) ## Footnote * We are biological organisms made up of physiological structures and processes - all behaviour can be explained through neurochemical, neurophysiological, evolutionary and genetic influences * Assumptions applied successfully to explaining/treatment of mental illnesses

Answer 21

The attempt to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience ## Footnote * Behaviourist approach * Behaviourists study observable behaviour and break complex learning up into simple stimul-response * Mind = blank box * Analysis occurs at physical level * Not concerned with cognitive processes

Answer 22

* There are different ways of viewing the same phenomena in psychology - some are more reductionist than others * Each level is more reductionist than the one before 1. Socio-cultural level 2. Psychological level 3. Physical level 4. Physiological level 5. Neurochemical level

Answer 23

* **Socio-cultural level** - involves behaviour most would consider odd (e.g. repetitive hand washing) * **Psychological level** - obsessive thoughts * **Physical level** - sequence of movements involved in hand washing * **Physiological level** - hypersensitivity to basal ganglia * **Neurochemical level** - underproduction of serotonin

Answer 24

Can explain key aspects of social behaviour ## Footnote * Some social behaviours only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood at the level of individual group members * E.g. the effects of de-individualisation of prisoners and guards in the stanford prison experiment could not be understood by studying participants as individuals * Interaction between indiivduals mattered * Hollistic explanation are needed for a complete comprehensive understanding

Answer 25

Impractical ## Footnote * Typically do not lend themselves to rigorous scientific testing * Become vague and speculative as they become more complex * E.g. if we accept there are many factors contributing to depression it is difficult to establish which is most influential and should be used as a basis for therapy * Suggets limited application

Answer 26

Scienitific credibility ## Footnote * Reductionist approach often forms the basis of scientific research * Target behaviours are reduced to constitutent parts to create operationalised variables * Makes it possible to conduct experiemnts or record observations (behavioural categories) in meaningful and reliable ways * Gives psychology greater credibility placing it on equal terms with natural sciences

Answer 27

Lack of validity ## Footnote * Reductionist explanations at the level of genes or neurotransmitters oversimply complex phenomena and so lose validity * Fail to analyse social context of the behaviour - but this is where behaviour derives its meaning * Physiological processes in pointing one's finger are the same in any context * But an analysis of these processes does not tell us why the finger is being pointed * Can only form limited explanations

Answer 28

* Study of unique experience * Aims to describe nature of the individual * People are studied as unique entities with their own subjective experiences, motivations and values * No attempt to compare these to a larger group standard or norm

Answer 29

Qualitative research methods ## Footnote * Case studies * Unstructured interviews * Other self-report methods * Reflects one of the centeral aims of idiographic research - to describe the richness of human experience and gain insight into the person's unique way of viewing the world

Answer 30

1. Humanistic approach 2. Psychodynamic approach ## Footnote **1. Humanistic** * Rogers and Maslow were interested in documenting the conscious experience of the individual or self rather than producing general laws of behaviour **2. Psychodynamic** * Freud's use of case study method (Little Hans)

Answer 31

* Production of general laws * Main aim is to produce general laws of behaviour * Provide a benchmark against which people can be comapred, classified and measured * Future behaviour can then be predicted and controlled

Answer 32

Questionnaires and psychological tests ## Footnote * Closely assocaited with methods defined as reliable and scientific within psychology * Involved the study of large numbers of people to establish how people are similar/different

Answer 33

1. Behavioural approach 2. Cognitive approach 3. Biological approach ## Footnote * Looks at findings from large numbers of people which are analysed for statistical significance * Questionnares tha test characteristics e.g. personality/IQ are used to diagnose abnormality and predict behaviour

Answer 34

Provides rch data ## Footnote * Provides a complete and global account of the individual e.g. study of HM * A case study may generate hypotheses for further study (e.g. HM helped understanding thaat some procedural memories are more resistant to amnesia) * Such findings from unique case studies may reveal important insights about normal functioning which contribute to overall understanding of behaviour

Answer 35

Lack of scientific rigour ## Footnote * Acknowledge subjective and restrictive nature of their work * Criticism of psychodynamic approach is its many concepts were largely developed from a single detailed case study (Odepius complex, Little Hans) * Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples which means conclusions tend to rely on subjective interpretation of research thus open to bias

Answer 36

Scientific value ## Footnote * Processes involves tend to be more scientific mirroring those employed within natural sciences * Processes include standardised procedures, assessing reliability and validty and using staticcal analysis to demonstrate significance * Greater scientific credibility

Answer 37

Loss of the whole person ## Footnote * Preoccupation on general laws, prediction, and control has been accused of losing the whole person within psychology * Knowing there is a 1% lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like with it * In lab tests of memory participants are treated as a set of scores rather than an individual * In its search for general laws it may sometimes overlook the importance of the human experience

Answer 38

Consequences of any research (studies and/or theory) in terms of the effecs on individual participants or on the way in which certain groups of people are subsequently regarded. There may also be consequences on a wider societal level

Answer 39

When there is conflict ## Footnote Conflict between: * Psychology's need for valid and valuable research * Preserving the rights and dignity of participants

Answer 40

* Researchers can control methods they use and how they treat participants * Less influence on how findings are presented in the media, how their work impacts public policy and how it affects perception of some groups in society

Answer 41

**Sieber and Stanley (1988)** define socially sensitive research as studies in which there are potential consequences or implications either directtly for the participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research

Answer 42

* **Aronson (1999)** * Because of the importance of such research, psychologists may have a social responsibility to carry it out

Answer 43

**Sieber and Stanley (1988)** 1. **Implications** - some studies may give scientific status to prejudice and discrimination (difficult to predict an outset) 2. **Uses/public policy** - What would happen if it was used for the wrong purposes? Findings may adopted by the government for political ends or to shape public policy 3. **Validity of the research** - some findings presented as objective in the past turned ot to be fraudulent

Answer 44

* Influential in establishing the 11+ examination in the UK * Used to decide whether children could go to grammar schools based on their natural intelligence (significant impact on oppurtunities) * Burt believed intelligence is genetic based on his studies of twins showing a heritability coefficient of +0.77 * Discrepencies in the data showed he made much of his data up and invented 2 research assistants * Publically discredited * 11+ (and related public policies) remained for many years

Answer 45

1. Benefits of socially sensitive research 2. Understading potential damage from socially sensitive research ## Footnote 1. Benefits **Scarr (1988)** * Studies of under-represented groups and issues may promote greater understanding to help reduce prejudice and encourage acceptance * Socially sensitive research benefitted society (e.g. research into unreliability of EWT reduces risk of miscarriages of justice within the legal systems) * Suggests socially sensitive research plays a valuable role in society 2. Understanding * Socially sensitive research has been used by governments and other institutions to shape social policy despite nature of findings * **Packard (1957)** claimes sales of coca-cola and popcorn increased when images of the productes were flashed on cinema screens quickly * Later revealed findings were made up * Research that seeks to manipulate the public has obvious ethical implications * Raises question of who benefits from such research

Answer 46

1. May be used for social control 2. Costs and benefits may be difficult to predict ## Footnote 1. Social control * In 1920s and 30s a large number of US states enacted legislation that led to the compulsory sterilisation of many of its citizens * These people were labelled as feeble-minded and a drain on society * Low intelligence, drug addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill etc * Some psychologists argued they were unfit to breed * The fact that socially sensitive research has been used to prop up discriminatory practives in the past is an argumant against its widespread adoption 2. Costs and benefits * Research that carries ethical implications (or socially sensitive) is scrutinised by an ethics comittee - their job to weigh up costs and benefits of the research * However some of the social consequencces of research involving vulnerable groups may be difficult to anticipate * Assessments of the worth of such research are typically subjective and the real impact off research can only ever be known once it has been made public

Issues and Debates (P3) Flashcards

(70 cards)