issues and debates case studies

maccoby and jacklin (1974) + eval

said that girls have hardwired better vocal ability and boys have hardwired better spatial ability

popular study be ause it fit stererotypes of girls as 'speakers' and boys as 'doers'

2015 brain scan found no such differences in brain structure or processing

however this doesn't mean we should never do studies like this, ingalhalikar study on women being better at multi tasking had brain scan proof

formanowicz (2018)

research in gender bias is funded less often and usually published by less prestigious journals

henrich (2010)

96% of study participants are from western, educated, industrialised, rich democracies

berry (1969)

too much imposed etics like ainsworths strange situation

not enough emics (approaching functions from inside a culture)

takano and osaka (1999)

14/15 studies that compared us and japan on collectivism vs individualism found no evidence of either, lazy and simplistic distinction

cohen (2017)

cultural psychology strives to avoid ethnocentric assumptions

gould (1981)

the first intelligence tests lead to eugenic us social policies

many items on test were ethnocentric like naming us presidents, so african american recruits scored poorly and were deemed feeble minded / culturally inferior

roberts (2000)

fatalist adolescents who believe their lives are decided are at greater risk for developing depression

libet (1983)

asked participants to consciously flick their wrists at a random moment

unconscious brain activity occurred half a second before

descartes (nature) + locke (nurture) + eval

epigenetics - aspects of lifestyle can leave 'marks' on our dna which can have lifelong influence and be passed down to children

tabula rasa - blank state

adoption studies are useful for showing the balance of nature nurture

people can choose their own nurture to match their nature, like aggressive children wanting to be around other aggressive children

ocd has high in heritability at 76% which makes genetic counselling important, but it is not 100% so nor fully nature

holism and reductionism + eval

different levels like socio cultural down to neurochemical

biological reductionism says all behaviour is genetic, stimulus response says all behaviour is learned

holism might not be practical, if we know someone is depressed for a variety of reasons then that isn't saying which is most influential

reductionism forms basis for scientific approach, but can oversimplify the social reasons for a behaviour. the biological cause of someone one waving doesn't ex0in the social reason why they waved

idiographic and nomothetic + eval

idiographic - little hans

nomothetic - skinners rats to make general laws on animal behaviour

single case study can generate further hypothesis that get attention and are studied (hm and the brain)

idiographic view is still narrow

nomothetic studies are quantative and good for standardisation

nomothetic approach loses the individual as it can't consider the subjective experience

kinsey (1984)

sociopathic personality disorder was removed from dsm-1

after kinsey report of 5000 men, homosexuality was considered typical sexual behaviour

11+

even though burts research was exposed as fraudulent, the 11+ is still used as a legitimate selection tool in some counties