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Flashcards in Issues and Debates Deck (57)
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1
Q

What is the nature debate?

A

A debate that suggests that behavior is the product of biological or genetic factors

2
Q

What is the nurture debate?

A

A debate that suggests that behavior is the product of environmental factors.

3
Q

What is the interactionist approach?

A

The view that both nature and nurture work together to shape behavior.

4
Q

Give an approach that supports the nature debate

A

The biological approach

5
Q

What is a research study that supports the “nature” debate?

A

Menzies et al’s study testing what dispositional and genetic factors contribute to the development of OCD.

6
Q

What is one approach that supports the nurture debate?

A

Behaviorism and/or Social Learning Theory

7
Q

What is one study that supports the nurture debate?

A

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation study

8
Q

Name one psychological theory that supports the nature debate?

A

Bowlby’s proposal that suggestion that children have an innate biological affinity to form attachments- developed to aid survival and maintained through natural selection.

9
Q

Name one real life situation that supports the interactionist approach?

A

The genetic disorder PKU. People with PKU are unable to break down the amino acid phenylalanine, which can build up in the brain and cause brain damage as well as mental retardation. However, if a child with PKU stays on a low protein diet for their first 12 years of life, they can avoid this brain damage therefore the disorder (nature) can be suppressed by an altered environment (nurture)

10
Q

What is alpha bias?

A

a type of bias that overly emphasises the differences between genders, often causing the study to be more tailored to one gender

11
Q

What is beta bias?

A

A type of bias that minimises the difference between genders. This means that the individual differences or needs of one gender are usually ignored.

12
Q

What is androcentrism?

A

Psychology is a very male-dominated subject. Therefore many of the studies and theories presented are from a male perspective.

13
Q

What is universality?

A

The aim to develop theories that apply to all people, including the real differences between individuals.

14
Q

What is Holism?

A

viewing people and behavior as indivisible beings that we must perceive the whole experience of rather than just individual features out of context.

15
Q

What is reductionism?

A

Viewing people and behavior as a complex system that consists of many small parts that we should study separately.

16
Q

What are the three levels of explanation within holism and reductionism?

A
  • The use of holism and reductionism in social/cultural psychology (e.g. conformity/obedience)
  • The use of holism and reductionism in psychological psychology (i.e . the behavioral approach, the cognitive approach etc.)
  • Biological Psychology (genetics, biopsychology, neuroscience)
17
Q

What is biological reductionism?

A

The theory that explaining behavior can be reduced to a physical level.

18
Q

What is one example of biological reductionism?

A

Determining that genes and neurotransmitters are the factors that determine mental disorder.

19
Q

What is environmental reductionism?

A

suggesting that all behavior can be explained in terms of simple stimulus to response links.

20
Q

What is one example of environmental reductionism?

A

The behaviorist approach.

21
Q

What is experimental reductionism?

A

Reducing complex behaviors to isolated variables - aka reducing behaviors to operationalised variables.

22
Q

What are three examples of holism?

A

Gestalt Therapy, Humanistic Psychology, cognitive psychology

23
Q

What is gestalt therapy?

A

A psychological approach focusing on perception, arguing that the explanation for what we perceive only makes sense through considering the perception as a whole rather than individual elements.

24
Q

How does the humanistic approach relate to holism?

A

It suggests that human reaction is a response to an organised whole environment, rather than specific stimulus having specific behavioral responses. It suggests that people need a sense and unified identity and that a lack of “wholeness” stipulates mental disorder

25
Q

Name five reductionist approaches/theories

A

The behaviorist approach, The cognitive approach, the psychodynamic approach, The biological approach and social learning theory.

26
Q

What is free will?

A

Each individual’s ability to make a meaningful choice between possible behaviors. It suggests our courses of action are self-determined.

27
Q

What is determinism?

A

The idea that all behaviors are determined by external or internal factors acting upon the individual. This suggests that our course of action/behavior is predetermined by situational factors.

28
Q

What is hard determinism?

A

The belief that stimulus directly causes a response an that this dictates the behavior, therefore all behavior is predicted and there is no free will. Hard determinism is incompatible with free will.

29
Q

What is soft determinism?

A

A version of determinism that allows for some element of free will This suggests that everything is determined by our biology, past experiences and environment, but that this still leaves some element of free will in our behaviors.

30
Q

What is reciprocal determinism?

A

Theorised by Bandura, it suggests that a person’s behavior both influences and is influenced by personal factors and their environment.

31
Q

What is biological determinism?

A

The idea that genes, brain structures and neurotransmitters determine our behavior.

32
Q

What is environmental determinism?

A

The idea that all behavior is determined by previous experience. (The behaviorist approach is environmentally determinist)

33
Q

What is Psychic determinism?

A

The idea that internal unconscious factors such as innate drives or early experience determines our behavior ( Freud’s theory of the psychosexual stages is psychic determinism)

34
Q

What is scientific determinism?

A

the theory that all events must have a cause, like how an IV leads to a change in DV.

35
Q

What is one way that the humanistic approach supports free will?

A

It suggests that self-determinism is a necessary factor of human behavior, otherwise self development and self actualisation are not possible. Rodgers suggested that if one does not take responsibility for their own behavior, one can not begin to change their behavior.

36
Q

What is one aspect of free will in criminology and the justice system?

A

Moral Responsibility- the belief that an individual of a sound mind can exercise free will so is therefore in charge of their own actions. This is used in determining whether a criminal is responsible for a crime, if they do not have moral responsibility (i.e. if they are mentally ill or a child) they can not be.

37
Q

What is one piece of neuroscience that supports determinism?

A

Research has shown that our brain makes a decision before we are even consciously aware, judging by activity shown in specific regions when under an fMRI machine.

38
Q

What is one piece of research that supports free will?

A

Trevena and Miller (2009) suggested that brain activity recorded before a conscious decision is actually just a state of readiness rather than an already made decision, and that free will determines the final decision.

39
Q

How is the idea of self-determinism culturally relative?

A

As behavior from individuals in individualist societies are more likely to be self-determined while behavior from collectivist culture may have behavior more determined by the group’s needs.

40
Q

What is gynocentrism?

A

When theories are centred/focused on women.

41
Q

What is one example of Androcentrism?

A

Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment

42
Q

What is one example of Gynocentrism?

A

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Study

43
Q

What is one example of Beta Bias?

A

Asch generalising his findings on social conformity to women despite his sample being entirely male.

44
Q

What is the idiographic approach?

A

When psychologists focus on the individual and emphasise people’s unique personal experiences.

45
Q

What is the nomothetic approach?

A

When psychologists are concerned with establishing general laws, based on the study of large groups of people.

46
Q

What are three example of idiographic research methods?

A
  • Case studies
  • Unstructured Interviews
  • Thematic Analysis
47
Q

What are three examples of nomothetic research methods?

A
  • Experimental Research
  • Correlational Research
  • Psychometric Testing
48
Q

What is socially sensitive research?

A

Any research that might have direct social consequences for the participants in the research or the group that they represent.

49
Q

How can the ethical issue of privacy show itself in socially sensitive research?

A

Research can either cause participants to give more information than they intended too an the effect of the publication of this socially sensitive research can result in the invasion of people’s private lives.

50
Q

How can the ethical issue of confidentiality show itself in socially sensitive research?

A

Participants may be less willing to give information in socially sensitive research if they believe confidentiality might be breached, so further research would be compromised.

51
Q

How can the ethical issue of valid methodology show itself in socially sensitive research?

A

Scientist may be aware of poor methodology and invalid findings, but the media and the public may not, thus having a detrimental impact on the social groups represented by the research.

52
Q

How can the ethical issue of deception show itself in socially sensitive research?

A

In socially sensitive research, self-deception can occur, when research may lead people to form stereotypes which can affect the individual’s performance.

53
Q

How can the ethical issue of informed consent show itself in socially sensitive research?

A

In socially sensitive research, participants may not fully understand what is from them/what is involved in the research.

54
Q

How can the ethical issue of equitable treatments show itself in socially sensitive research?

A

All Participants should be treated equally and resources that are important to a person’s wellbeing (e.g. educational opportunities should not be just available to some and not available to others, for fear of mis-representation if the findings were ever published.

55
Q

How can the ethical issue of scientific freedom show itself in socially sensitive research?

A

The scientist has every right to investigate socially sensitive topics, but they also have an obligation to not have the findings harm participants or institutions in society.

56
Q

How can the ethical issue of ownership of data show itself in socially sensitive research?

A

issues can rise over who owns the data and who has the right to publish the data if the data is sponsored by other people (such as universities or commercial organisations.

57
Q

How can the ethical issue of values show itself in socially sensitive research?

A

Psychologists differ in values. sensitive issues can arise when there is a clash between the scientist (who is likely to have more objective values) and the recipient (who is likely to have more subjective, idiographic values)