AQA A LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY - Issues + Debates

What is the nature-nurture debate?

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

What does nature refer to?

Innate biological factors (genes, neurochemistry, hormones and evolution)

What does nurture mean?

Environmental influences (upbringing, learning, culture)

What does heredity refer to?

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

What is the heritability coefficient?

A numerical figure ranging from 0-1 which indicates the extent of genetic basis of a characteristic (how much of the variation in a characteristic within a population is due to genetic differences)

What is meant by the interactionist approach?

Believing that behaviour is a result of both nature + nurture

What are 2 examples of the interactionist approach?

• diathesis-stress model

• epigenetics

What is meant by the diathesis-stress model?

Behaviour is caused by a bio/environmental vulnerability that when coupled with a bio/environmental trigger is expressed

What is an example of diathesis-stress model?

OCD → individual who inherits genetic vulnerability with the OCD may not develop it unless combined with a traumatic event

What is meant by epigenetics?

A change in genetic activity without changing the genes themselves as a result of interactions with the environment

Explain why epigenetics may lead to lifelong impacts

Certain genes are switched on/off due to aspects of lifestyle/events (E.g. diet, smoking) which can have a lifelong influence even when you stop
Your altered genetic code may impact the genetic code of your children + t`heir children

What is meant by free will?

Concept that humans can make choices + their behaviour/thoughts are not determined by biological/external factors

What is meant by determinism?

View that an individual’s behaviour is shaped/controlled by internal/external forces rather than an individual’s will to do something

What does it mean to believe in free will?

We may still accept that biological + environmental forces exert some influence BUT we can still override these forces + control our own thoughts + behaviour

Which approach advocates free will?

Humanistic

What does believing in determinism mean?

Free will does not determine behaviour in any way

Explain the 2 types of determinism

• Hard determinism = all behaviour is caused (causes that be recognised + identified) by something (internal/external factors - uncontrollable)

• Soft determinism = behaviour may be predictable but we also have free will (restricted - to a limited range of possibilities)

Who + what approach advocates for soft determinism?

William James

Later became apart of the cognitive approach

What is meant by biological determinism?

Behaviour is caused by biological (genes, hormones, evolution) influences that we cannot control

What is meant by environmental determinism?

Behaviour is caused by features of the environment (systems of reward + punishment) that we cannot control

What approach emphasises biological determinism?

The biological approach → e.g. influence of genes on mental health

Also considers influence of environment on our biological structures

Which approach emphasises environmental determinism?

SLT → Skinner believed that choice is a facade and is based on all the net reinforcement that we have received in the past

All behaviour is a result of conditioning

Which approach emphasised psychic determinism?

Freud’s theory → also believed like Skinner that free will was an illusion

Emphasised influence of biological drives + instincts

No behaviour is an accident, even slips of tongue reveal unconscious beliefs

Human behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts, repressed in childhood

What is meant by beta bias?

Research that focuses on the similarities between men + women and presents a view that minimises their differences

Assuming that research findings apply equally to both men + women even if women are excluded from research

What is meant by alpha bias?

Research that focuses on difference between men + women and presents a view that exaggerates these differences
Believes that differences are fixed + inevitable → heightens/devalues value of women in relation to men

What is gender bias?

When a psychological theory/research does not justifiably represent that experience + behaviour of men + women

What is culture bias?

Interpreting all experiences through the ‘lens’ of your own culture, failing to consider the impact of cultural differences on behaviour

What is universality?

Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience + upbringing

What does bias prevent?

universality

Why is bias inevitable?

Psychologists have beliefs + values that are influenced by social + historical context (where they live) → resulting in their research having subjectivity despite claims of it being ‘facts’

What is androcentrism?