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Issues & Debates Flashcards

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1
Q

What is holism?

A

human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience

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2
Q

What is the main example of holism?

A

humanistic psychology

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3
Q

What is reductionism?

A

breaking human behaviour down into smaller component parts

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4
Q

What is the highest level of reductionism?

A

social and cultural explanations

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5
Q

What is an example?

A

van izjendoorn

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6
Q

What is the middle level of reductionism?

A

psychological explanations (cognitive, behavioural/environmental)

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7
Q

What is an example?

A

multi-store model of memory

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8
Q

What is the lowest level of reductionism?

A

biological explanations - behaviour is reduced to a physical level and explained with neurons, hormones and brain structure

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9
Q

What is an example?

A

maoa gene

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10
Q

What is environmental reductionism?

A

behaviour can be reduced to simple building blocks of stimulus-response association

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11
Q

What is an example of environmental reductionism?

A

learning theory of attachment (food + baby)

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12
Q

Rank all the approaches from most to least holistic?

A

humanistic, psychodynamic, slt, cognitive, behaviourist, biological

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13
Q

What are the strengths of holism and reductionism?

A

reductionist is scientific

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14
Q

What are the weaknesses of holism and reductionism?

A
  • holism may lack practical value
  • reductionism only understood at a higher level
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15
Q

What is the idiographic approach?

A

focuses more on individual and what makes them unique, rather than aiming to formulate general laws

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16
Q

What are the types of methods used in the idiographic approach?

A

case studies, qualitative, single case observations, unstructured interviews

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17
Q

What are examples of the idiographic approach?

A

humanistic and psychodynamic. carl rogers unconditional positive regard, freud and little hans

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18
Q

What is the nomothetic approach?

A

generates general laws and theories to predict future behaviour

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19
Q

What are the types of methods used in the nomothetic approach?

A

quantitative research, testable hypotheses, large representative samples, statistical testing

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20
Q

What are examples of the nomothetic approach?

A

behaviourist and biological. skinner’s rats, sperry’s split-brain research

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21
Q

What are the strengths of idiographic and nomothetic approaches?

A
  • idiographic can contribute to nomothetic
  • both scientific = nomothetic uses objective, standardised methods. idiographic uses triangulation to improve validity
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22
Q

What are the weaknesses of idiographic and nomothetic approaches?

A

nomothetic is loss of understanding of individual

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23
Q

What parts of the spec can you talk about for idiographic/nomothetic?

A

memory, psychodynamic approach

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24
Q

What is nature?

A

refers to inherited influences or heredity! descartes argues all human characteristics are innate

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25
What is heredity?
the genetic transmission of both mental and physical characteristics from one generation to another
26
What is nurture?
refers to influence of environment and experience. locke argues we are born a tabula rasa at birth.
27
What is the environment?
any influence on human behaviour that is non-genetic. can be pre-natal and post-natal.
28
What is the interactionist approach?
how nature and nurture interact. explains development of behaviour in terms of a range of factors
29
What is the diathesis-stress model?
behaviour is triggered by a biological or environmental vulnerability which is only expressed when coupled with a biological or environmental 'trigger'
30
What is epigenetics?
change in our genetic activity without changing the genes themselves. process that happens throughout life and is caused by interaction with environment
31
What are the strengths of the nature/nurture debate?
- use of adoption studies - epigenetics - real-world application
32
What parts of the spec can you talk about for nature/nurture?
approaches, diathesis stress in Sz
33
What is gender bias?
when any differences between genders are misrepresented
34
What is universality?
conclusions drawn can be applied to everyone, anywhere, regardless of time or culture
35
What is alpha-bias?
exaggerates differences. e.g. sexual selection where men look for physical attractiveness and women look for resources
36
What is beta bias?
minimises differences. assumed flight or fight was universal but women tend to tend or befriend
37
What is andocentrism?
male-centred, when normal behaviour is judged against a male standard (so female behaviour is often viewed as abnormal) e.g. women less likely to be diagnosed with autism
38
Who suffered from andocentric alpha bias?
freud - penis envy
39
Who suffered from andocentric beta bias?
zimbardo, milgram, asch
40
Who had gynocentric studies?
ainsworth and moscovici
41
What are the weaknesses of gender bias?
- differences presented as fixed and enduring - promotes sexism in research process - gender biases may not be published
42
What parts of the spec can you talk about for gender bias?
studies in social, evolutionary in relationships, attachment
43
What is ethnocentrism?
judging other cultures by the standards and values of one's own culture. belief in the superiority of one's own culture which may lead to prejudice towards other cultures
44
What are three consequences of ethnocentrism?
1. lack of external validity and reliability 2. people from other cultures misdiagnosed 3. harmful stereotypes
45
What is an example of ethnocentrism?
strange situation. american norm was a secure attachment so when japanese babies showed a resistant attachment they were called abnormal.
46
What does etic mean?
looks at behaviour from outside a culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal
47
What does emic mean?
functions from inside a culture and identifies behaviour that are specific to that culture
48
How is Ainsworth an example of imposed etic?
studies behaviour inside one culture and assumed their ideal attachment type could be applied universally
49
What is cultural relativism?
the idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts
50
What are the strengths and weaknesses of cultural relativism?
- prevents ethnocentric bias - exaggerates differences between cultures - minimises differences between cultures
51
What are the strengths of culture bias?
- emergence of cultural psychology
52
What are the weaknesses of culture bias?
- most influential studies are culturally bias - led to prejudice against groups of people
53
What parts of the spec can you talk about for culture bias?
attachment, cultural variations in Sz
54
What is free will?
the notion that humans can make choices and their behaviour/thoughts are not determined by biological or external forces (humanistic approach)
55
What is determinism?
the view that an individual's behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal/external forces rather than an individuals' will to do something
56
What is hard determinism?
the view that all behaviour is caused by something so free will is an illusion
57
What approaches are hard determinism?
behaviourism and biological
58
What is soft determinism?
the view that behaviour may be predictable but there is also room for personal choice from a limited range of possibilities (SLT)
59
What approaches are soft determinism?
cognitive and SLT
60
How is SLT soft determinism?
no choice over environment but choice over how we behave
61
What is biological determinism?
the belief that behaviour is caused by biological influences that we cannot control
62
What is environmental determinism?
the belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment that we cannot control
63
What is psychic determinism?
the belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious psychodynamic conflicts that we cannot control
64
What are the strengths of the free will/determinism debate?
free will has practical value - predicting depression
65
What are the weaknesses of the free will/determinism debate?
- brain scans don't support free will - position of legal system goes against determinism
66
What parts of the spec can you talk about for free will/determinsim?
psychopathology explanations, aggression explanations
67
What are ethical implications?
the consequences of any research in terms of the effects on individual pps or the way in which certain groups are regarded
68
What is socially sensitive research?
studies in which there are potential consequences for groups in society
69
What are examples of socially sensitive research?
- mental health - intelligence - attachment - aggression
70
What were the key concerns Sieber and Stanley identified regarding ethical implications of socially sensitive research?
- implications - uses/public policy - validity of research
71
What is implications?
wider impact of research should be carefully considered in advance as some studies could give ‘scientific status’ to prejudice and discrimination.
72
What is uses/public policy?
consideration of how the research findings may be used in advance as they could be used for the wrong purpose e.g. by the government for political ends or to shape public / institutional policy.
73
What is validity of research?
some findings that have been presented as objective and value free have been fraudulent (can be reduced by reflexivity through the process)
74
What did Cyril Burt do?
- Claimed that intelligence was genetic (0.77) based on twin studies. - Lead to the introduction of the 11 plus exam to determine which children should study at a grammar school (impacted children’s life chances)
75
What implications did Burt have?
- self-fulfilling prophecy = belief you're not intelligent and proceed not to try. - discrimination
76
What uses/public policy did Burt have?
- 11+ exam established
77
What was the validity of Burt's research?
- Discovered that data was fraudulent and unreliable. - It is suggested that it is culturally biased and further discriminates against certain parts of the population.
78
What parts of the spec can you talk about for social sensitivity?
attachment and social influence

Psychology (11 decks)

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