issues and debates

Ao3 - nature impact nurture

Passive gene environment interaction - definition + example

• parents contribute to their child’s development by passing on their genes and providing an environment for the genetic predisposition to grow

• Example = if a parent has a genetically determined mental illness this can create an unsettled home life which can indirectly lead to the children developing that disorder.

• Evidence from tienaris finnish adoption study - 5.8% healthy family, 36.8% not healthy facility

Evocative gene environment interaction - definition and example

• heritable traits influence the reaction of others and hence the environment provided by others

• Example - a happy outgoing child elicits smiles and friendly responses from others and so is more likely to be in a happy environment with friends. The inherited trait (nature) of being happy and outgoing has influence the child’s environment/ how others react to them (nuture)

Active gene environment interaction - definition and example

• the child’s inherited traits lead them to make choices in their environment, this is called niche picking or constructivism

• Example = a child who is genetically predisposed to be aggressive might purposely engage in watching, participating and learning from violent behaviours, like taking part in contact sports or playing violent video games. The child’s inherited aggressive traits has led them to make choices in their environment that complement their nature.

Ao3 - nature impacts nurture

As psychological knowledge has deepened, the nature nurture debate has grown increasingly complex and now some argue it is a distraction from more important matters.

• plomin (1977) suggested the idea of ‘passive influence’ where a parents genes determine aspects of a child’s environment which then affects their behaviour. For example if a parent has a genetically determined mental illness this can create an unsettled home life which can indirectly lead to the child developing that disorder.

• Evidence of this comes from tienaris Finnish adoption study where children of schizophrenic mothers adopted into healthy families only had an incidence of schizophrenia 5.8% compared to those raised in dysfunctional families which was 36.8%

• This demonstrates that without the biological mothers influence on the environment, schizophrenia was less likely to develop and those with a unsettled home life (passive influence) the genetic predisposition is 31% more likely to develop demonstrating the interaction between nature and nurture.

AO3 nuture impacting nature

Other psychologists have argued that the influence can work in the other direction with life experiences sharing our nature. Neuroplasticity is a term which describes the changes in the structure of the brain (nature) as a result of life exxperiences (nurture).

• demonstrated by maguire et al investaging the hippocampi volume of London taxi drivers’ brains. She found that this region of the brain (heavily involved in station skills in humans and animals) was larger in taxi drivers in comparison to non taxi drivers.

• Consequently Maguire concluded that rigourous training including learning and recalling all the London streets and routes as well as experience driving taxi (nuture) influenced the size of the hippocampi (nature) supporting the theory of neural plasticity and the interaction of nurture and nature

Ao3 nature vs nurture - interactionist approach more useful

As most psychologists now consider it far too simplistic to consider nature and nurture in isolation of one another an interactionist approach is often adopted instead.

• a celebrated example being the hiathesis stress model that states even though a person may have a biological vulnerability, for e.g. the SERT or COMT candidate gene linked to OCD, OCD will only be triggered by a stressor in the environment

• Research has suggested that not everybody with these candidate genes go on to develop OCD and this interaction with the environment (nurture) is needed.

• The diathesis stress model then suggests it is impossible to say which is more important, nature or nurture, as for nature to be expressed nurture must be involved.

• Also looking at behaviour in terms of an interactionalist approach rather than nature or nurture has led to improvements in the way we explain and treat many physical and psychological illnesses so therefore interaction is is more useful way of looking at behaviour

Free will vs determinism

The free will versus determinism debate explores the extent to which our thoughts and behaviour are influenced by forces beyond our conscious control

Determinism definition

• the view that free will is an illusion and that we are government by internal or external forces over which we have no control over.

• Behaviour is therefore viewed as predictable as it always has a cause.

• The causal laws of determinism form the basis of science

• Internal causes would include biological factors such as the influence of genetics or hormones on behaviour.

• External forces can include elements of the environment including e role of parents in reinforcing behaviour.

• There are varying degrees of determinism including hard and soft determinism

Scientific emphasis on causal explanations

• one of the basic principles of science is that all events have a cause.

• Knowledge of causes and the formulation of causal laws allow scientists to predict behaviour.

• In psychological research, the lab experiment allows for an independent variable to be manipulated and observe the causal effect on a dependent variable.

• Extraneous variables are able to be controlled which can enable psychologists to precisely predict human behaviour.

• Must be scientifically rigorous

• Example - Banduras research causal - IV - the role model they were exposed to, the DV - aggression of the children

Soft determinism

• suggests that behaviour is constrained by the environment or biology however only to a certain extent.

• Soft determinism suggests that some behaviour may involve an element of free will

• Soft determinism therefore argues that although behaviour may be predictable, it does not mean it is inevitable as ultimately we can choose how to behave.

Hard determinism

• the view that we have absolutely no control over our behaviour and internal and external forces shape our behaviour.

• Hard determinism is therefore incompatible with free will.

• Biological, environmental, and psychic determinism

Biological determinism

• emphasises the role of biology in behaviour.

• Refers to the idea that behaviour is innate and determined by genetic influences (including hormonal and neurochemical explanations)

• Example - gottsman study on concordance rate in twins with OCD - MZ and DZ 87%-47%

Psychic determinism

• claims that human behaviour is directed by innate drives and unconscious conflicts repressed from childhood.

• Freud claimed that child development occurs in five stages each marked by a different conflict the child must resolve.

• If a child has unresolved conflicts then this leads to a fixation and the child can carry associated behaviours through to adult life.

Environmental determinism

• view that behaviour is determined by our experience.

• Skinner proposed that free will is an illusion and all behaviour is a result of conditioning

• Behaviour can also be shaped by socialisation

• The behaviourist approach suggests the two process model which is to do with phobias being acquired in classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning. Watson and raynor - classical conditioning little Albert and white rat.

Free will definition

• notion of free will suggests behaviour is self determined.

• The concept believes that humans can choose their thoughts and actions and therefore have control over their behaviour.

• A belief in free will does not deny that internal and external forces contribute to behaviour but ultimately that humans have choice over how to behave in response to these.

• Humanistic psychologists argue that against determinism and claim that humans have self determinism and free will and therefore behaviour cannot be a result of any single cause.

• Humanists such as carl rogers and Abraham Maslow believe that individuals are in troll of their behaviour and are trying to achieve personal growth

Ao3 free will vs determinism - negative implications of determinism

• one argument for adopting a free will stance over one of hard determinism is the negative implications of a hard determinist way of explaining behaviour.

• If behaviour is determined by outside forces such as biology, then it provides a potential excuse for criminal acts.

• Court cases in the US, for example, have used the defence that a genetic variant called the MAOA gene was responsible for violent acts and even murders committed by offenders.

• Determinism as a defence has never been successful in preventing conviction so isn’t compatible with the legal system or with conventional views on morality.

• Free will then is more compatible with societies views on responsibility but also more appropriate as suggests that people can change and be rehabilitated rather than control by their biology or upbringing

Ao3 free will vs determinism - free will may be an illsion but is more positive than determinism

• psychologists such as skinner argue that free will vs determinism debate is a pointless one as free will is just an illusion

• Libet et al support this claim wit their research that found motor regions of the brain become more active at least 2000 milliseconds before a person registers conscious awareness of a decision, i.e. the decision to move the finger was actually a pre-determined action of the brain

• This strongly suggests that many actions are biologically determined and that even though we may believe we have free will, skinners claim it is an illusion may be correct

• However even if it is true that free will is an illusion the idea of free will is appealing for many and is therefore viewed as intuitively correct. It is this experience that means the determinism vs free will debate continues.

• Free will is also supported by the positive psychology movement and has had such a positive influence with the effectiveness of such treatments including client based therapy supporting the value of recognising free will as a more positive approach to explaining human behaviour

Ao3 free will vs determinism - determinism consistent with science

• there is an argument that the determinism view point is stronger as it is consistent with the features of science unlike free will.

• The determinist way of studying behaviour allows for the manipulation of an independent variable to see its effect on the dependent variable to establish cause and effect. This allows psychologists to adopt an objective approach through the drawing of causal relationships that can predict future behaviour.

• Whereas the concept of free will is simply impossible to test. It is a non physical vague concept that cannot be observed or quantified. This means that the concept cannot be falsified and as psychology is a science this idea is challenged by many who believe that if it is not measurable, it does not exist.

• However, those who adopt a free will stance criticise sciences determinism for making sweep generalisation about behaviour and with so many potential variables influencing human behaviour it is arguable impossible to identify one single cause for any one behaviour or to predict behaviour effectively, whereas free will looks at each person individually avoiding the seeping generalisations.

Reductionism vs holism definition

The debate concerned with whether it is best to understand the complexity of human behaviour by reducing it to their simplest structures or parts or to view human behaviour as a whole integrated experience.

Reductionism definition

• the view that human behaviour can be explainied through reducing the individuals behaviour down into simpler parts

• People suggest that behaviour as a whole is best understood if we explore the parts contributing to the system.

• Reductionism is based on scientific assumptions of parsimony: the idea that all should be explainied in the simplest terms possible

• Similar to the concept of occasional razor which argues the answer to any problem is often the simplest explanation.

• Two types of reductionism - biological and environmental

Biological reductionism definition

• refers to the way that biological psychologists reduce behaviour to its physical level.

• Biological psychologists reduce behaviour to single biological components such as genetics, neurons, neurotransmitters and hormones

• Explanations of psychological illness that highlight a biological cause are biologically reductionist.

• The theory that schizophrenia this caused by excessive activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine is reducing schizophrenia to the single component dopamine

Environmental determinism - definition

• also known as stimulus response reductionism.

• Behaviourists support the concept of classical conditionning which assumes behaviour can be reduced to a stimulus-response where behaviour is shaped by learnt associations.

• Complex behaviours are explained here by a series of S-R chains.

• Behaviourists reduce the complex behaviour of attachment down to a stimulus-response. The infant responds with pleasure when a caregiver feeds them and the learned association forms with the care giver becoming the conditioned stimulus creating the conditioned response of pleasure in the infant

Levels of explanation

• Rose proposed there are different levels of explanation

• Lowest level - biological explanations where behaviour is explained in its smallest parts including genetics, neurochemicals and biological structures. At this level explanations are considered reductionist

• Middle level - reduce behaviour to psychological explanations - cognitive and behavioural.

• The highest level considers both social and cultural explanations where behaviour is explained in regards of the influence of social groups

Holism definition

• holism is the argument that human behaviour should be viewed as a whole integrated experience and not through separating its parts.

• Holism is suPorted by Gestalt psychology which explores how, when we perceive something in the real world and argues that we do so as a whole rather than as a collection of pieces.

• We only make sense of and perceive our world accurately through considering the whole image.

• Therefore by separating human behaivour into parts, this means that complex behaviour can be easily misunderstood.

• Humanists support the holistic approach as they argue that humans experience stimuli as a whole.

• Humanists such as Maslow propose theories such as the ‘hierarchy of needs’ that consider all contributors to human behaviour uses.

• Humanists use qualitative methods to support their holistic investigation of psychology

Ao3 reductionism vs holism - reductionism is scientific

• one argument supporting a reductionist way of explaining behaviour is that reductionism supports a scientific approach unlike holism.

• Studying basic units of behaviour underpins the scientific way of studying behaviour and so is more objective.

• It also provides empirical support for psychological theory e.g. the role of serotonin in symptoms of OCD.

• Holism however has been criticised due to its untestable nature and its ability to objectively evidence behaviour, as it looks at vague concepts like free will and human motivation.

• Reductionists argue that science is a reductionist endeavour and if psychology is truly a science, then it should be too.

Ao3 reductionism vs holism - effective way of explaining behaviour and looks at context

• a holistic way of explaining behaviour may be considered more appropriate as reductionism is considered the lowest level of explanation.

• Reducing behaviour to component parts such as biology by saying depression is caused by low serotonin for example may result in other variables being overlooked which can lead to an incomplete understanding of the behaviour.

• Reducing psychological illness to the biological level doesn’t focus on the complexity; context and function of such behaviour whereas adopting a more holistic/interactionalist approach in considering psychological explanations as can inform more holistic explanations which have been found to be much more efffective in explaining the cause of conditions such as schizophrenia and depression.

• This is because they will look at the context they occur in and by looking at the body and mind with inevitably and intensely interact together.

Ao3 reductionism vs holism - holistic treatments more effective long term than reductinist ones

• a strength of biological reductionism has been that it has led to successful therapies.

• By reducing depression to one single cause such as low serotonin for example, it has allowed drug therapies to be developed such as SSRIs which have been successful at reducing symptoms of depression and allowing people to go back to work and live a normal life.

• However some would argue that this is a limited way of treating behaviour as if a person stops taking the drugs the symptoms will return.

• Those who advocate a holistic/Interactionalist approach to treating mental illness would suggest that looking at using biological and psycholgicaltherapies simultaneously.

• research by craighead and Dunlop found a combination of CBT and drugs was more effective at treating depression than either of them separately

• therefore while reductionist approaches have led to successful outcomes and treatment, perhaps this biological reductionist approach only addresses part of the problem.

Idiographic vs nomothetic definition

• considers the extent to whether idiographic or nomothetic approaches to research in psychology are more appropriate aiding our understanding of behaviour. Is it more important to establish norms and similarities across groups or to study the individual seeing them as unique

The idiographic approach

• focuses on the individual emphasising the unique personal experience.

• Researchers use qualitative methods such as case studies, unstructured interviews and thematic analysis which give depth and insight into individual behaviour.

• The idiographic approach does not aim to formulate laws or generalise results of others

• Case studies provide an in depth insight into an individual or small group which can be used to evaluate a theory. They can be found to undermine a whole theory and inspire future enquiry for example the case study of Clive wearing was useful in evidencing the existence of the different memory stores of long term memory

The nomothetic approach

• usually concerned with establishing general laws of behaviour based on the study of large groups of participants.

• Nomothetic approaches will use statistical analysis through quantitative data collection.

• Research methods supporting a nomothetic approach include experiments, correlations and meta analysis

• Example : biological psychologists adopt scientific methods to identify trends and generate causal laws. For example when explaining OCD they pinpoint biological factors that tend to be responsible for disorders and use this law to inform treatments such as drug therapies to treat patients.

• Also in psychopathology, classification systems such as DSM and ICD are used to diagnose psychological illness and these are nomothetic classification tools

Ao3 nomothetic vs idiographic debate - psychology as a science

• Nomothetic approach is considered scientific as it adopts quantitative experimental methods and findings from such research which has the ability to predict behaviour

• whereas the qualitative methods used in idiographic approach is criticised for its essentially unscientific nature, subjectivity and inability to draw general laws or predictions.

• This limits the usefulness of the idiographic approach particularly in its application and treatment of psychological disorders.

• However supporters if the idiographic approach still argue that it is only through understanding of a single individual that psychologists can truly predict behaviour and its in-depth analysis increases the validity of its findings over the reliance of statistics

Ao3 idiographic vs nomothetic - nomothetic approaches are useful

• as the nomothetic approach adopts the law of science, it is useful in identifying trends; predictive and controlling behaviour which has useful applications.

• The biological perspective adopts a biological approach when explaining the cause of disorders such as OCD. This has led to the development of drug therapies to treat chemical imbalance such as SSRIs.

• Some psychologists argue however that alternate treatments such as talking therapies and CBT are more suitable as they adopt a more person centred approach which is based on the principles of an idiographic approach.

Ao3 idiographic vs nomothetic approaches- combination

• an idiographic stance such as a case study is often the seed that prompted an idea for further research. An idiographic study explores a behaviour or phenomenon with depth and detail that will often lead to new research ides of challenge previous theory and assumption from the nomothetic approach.

• What this suggests is that both methods have value and psychology should adopt a mixed methods approach with idiographic and nomothetic methods used to complement and challenge each other.

• This can be seen in approaches such as the cognitive approach using nomothetic methods to draw general laws but also use the idiographic method to explore topics such as memory with more depth.

• Eysencks theory of personality explaining uniqueness through drawing on general laws of personality.

• Thereogfre the idiographic/nomothetic distinction could be argued to be a false separation

Gender bias definition

• differential treatment or representation of males and females based on stereotypes and not real evidenced differences

• Psychological research is at Risk of exaggerating differences in males and females or completely ignoring them

• Can be a result of socially constructed gender stereotypes and not real differences

Androcentrism

• being centred on or dominated by males or the male viewpoint

• Can be conscious or unconscious bias.

• In the past psychologists were more male and therefore constructed theory tended to represent a male viewpoint of the world and therefore a level of bias

Alpha bias

Theories that exaggerate the differences between males and females

Freud psychodynamic approach

• argued boys and girls experience different conflicts in their psychosexual development

• Girls do not suffer the same Oedipal conflict as boys and therefore do not identify with their moths as strongly as boys with fathers

• Freud argued this impoacted development saying girls are weaker than boys and develop weaker superegos - emphasising the differences between males and females

Evolutionary explanations for attachment

• explains how males and females are innately different to help their adaptation to roles, which would aid survival off a special

• Males are more dominants and women have more empathy and parental investment to aid the survival of the offspring

• Bowlby - argues deprivation from the mother would cause long term social and emotional effects suggesting the mother should be the primary caregiver and not the father

Beta bias

• ignores or minimises sex differences

• Gender

  • Kohlbergs cognitive explanation of gender suggests that all children develop their gender identities through progressing through 3 maturational stages

  • Kohlbergs theory therefore assumes that boys and girls progress through at the same rate and develop their gender in the same way

  • Evidence suggests that boys have a less flexible concept of gender roles than girls and boys show much greater resistance to opposite sex activities than girls

  • Research has found boys less likely to play with dolls than girls play with trucks

  • Likely to be due to social/cultural origin and cannot be explanation end in terms of kohlbergs cognitive theory

  • Highlights beta bias as assumes that girls and boys develop concepts of gender in same way

Ao3 gender bias - can affect validity of research

• gender bias may result in research finding differences between genders that do not actually exist and this can result in biased research methodologies and as a result of the gender of the researcher

• ROSENTHAL found that male experiments are more pleasant towards female ps than male ps and in the same research, male ps performed less well on tasks involved

• Feminists argue that research has found that lab based studies disadvantage women because of their controlled nature

• Although women and men displayed different leadership styles in labs, in real settings they were more similar

• Therefore showing impact of gender bias on validity of research

Ao3 gender bias - gender bias and stereotyping

• issues of gender bias have gone unnoticed and theory and research has contributed to the forming of rigid gender stereotypes

• Eg the assumption that females should be the primary caregiver as they are innately programmed to be more nurturing

• These assumptions have contributed to widespread beliefs about gender roles in the sawmill and caregiving responsibilities in females over males

• Socially sentiive for both mothers and fathers and can have negative economic implications for instance if the mother is the breadwinner but assumes she should stay home with her child

• This assumption has only been challenged with research supporting role of the father as primary caregiver

• Demonstrates issue with biased research

Culture bias

• the tendency to judge others in terms of ones own cultural assumptions

• Alpha bias - when theory assumes cultural groups are profoundly different

• Beta bias - real cultural differences are ignored or minimised which is seems when research are applied universally drawing conclusions that all cultures are the same

• Ethnocentrism is a form of culture bias where the researcher sees the world from their own cultural perspective believing this is correct - occurs due to lack of awareness that other wats of seeing things can also be valid

Culture bias - psychopathology

• definitions of abnormality demonstrate culture bias in psychopathology as defining abnormality varies from culture to culture.

• It has been found that African-carribeans in Britain are diagnosed as psychologically ill on the basis of behaviour such as hallucinations which are perceived as normal in their subculture

• Therefore challenges the bias and validity of the definitions of abnormality and diagnostic tools

Culture bias - attachment

• ainsworths strange situation - ethnocentric

• Was designed in America to assess attachment types assuming the strange situation has the same meaning for infants from other cultures

• The strange situation has been argued to demonstrate imposed Etic

• Cross cultural research has found differences in the findings across culture

• Eg - German children had a higher rate of insecure avoidant behaviour -

• may be a result of methodology used as children in Germany to be more independent and therefore would respond differently in strange situation

• This culture bias challenges the validity of the findings and universality of the research in explaining and understanding attachment

Cultural relativism

• argues that behaviour can only be properly understood if culture is taken into consideration

• Social norms are culturally relative and context is vital in understanding human behaviour

• Attachment type can arguably only be understood if the childrearing and parenting styles are taken into account therefore it is culturally relative

• Psychological disorders are affected greatly by culture. Anxiety disorders are informed by culture in regards to what situations likely to cause fear

• Some anxiety disorders are therefore specific to cultures such as in japan there is a syndrome for fearing upsetting others

• In the uk there is no such phobia and would be classified as a normal social phobia

• Therefore demonstrating how psychological illness is relative to culture

Ao3 culture bias - recognising cultural bias in psychology

• one way of dealing with culture bias is identifying when it occurs

• SMITH AND BOND surveyed research on social psychology in a textbook and found that 66% of research was American, 32% was European and 2% was rest of world

• Also been found that in 2010 that 67% of participants in research are American psychology undergraduates

• Suggesting that research is severely unrepresentative but also that this can simply be improved through sampling different cultural groups

• Therefore via recognising cultural bias, we can be sure that it doesn’t continue

Ao3 culture bias - consequences of culture bias

• culturally biased research can have severe implications through amplifying or validating, damaging stereotypes

• Tests in psychology which are formed with cultural bias may advantage those participants who are from the culture from which it is derived.

• Eg Americans more likely to perform well on IQ tests created in America than other cultures are

• The results from this research would then lead to attitudes on intelligence of different cultures suggesting that Americans possess higher intelligence than others

• Not only would such findings be invalid and inaccurate but they could contribute to negative stereotypes.

Ao3 culture bias - progress in culture bias

• although it is difficult to approach research completely objectively without any level of conscious or unconscious culture bias, psychological researchers do give consideration to these matters and an increased understanding of this issue is helping to reduce ethnocentrism in psychology

• Psychologists today are well travelled and academics hold international conferences which exchange research ideas across cultures again aiming to minimise the effects of the issue

• Indigenous psychology has been developed which aims to explicitly draw on the experiences of individuals with the importance for recognising African context of behaviours and attitudes

• Such approaches are said to hold strength in regard to cultural relativism however some still argue that these are still biased views of behaviours and new forms of ethnocentrism which possess the same issues of the approaches they are aiming to replace

Ethical implications

This issue is concerned with the ethical implications of psychological researchers and theory on participants and also the way in which the findings impact the public

ethical implications of research studies

• milgrams research -

  • several ethical issues as p’s were highly deceived and were unable to give fully informed consent.

  • Methodology caused distress

  • Participants felt could not withdraw

  • May have found the results of the research, the fact they obeyed authority with the potential to cause another individual harm, difficult to accept

Ethical implications of theory

• bowlbys theory of attachment + monotropy

  • Suggests children form one special attachment bond - usually with mother

  • Must be formed in critical period

  • This can form the internal working model for future relationships

  • This theory argues a women’s role is to be the primary caregiver in the home which may make women feel guilty for wanting to or returning to work

  • Fathers may also be discouraged to be the caregiver and may cause single parent fathers to doubt their abilities

Social sensitivity

• the way in which findings impact the public

• SIEBER AND STANLEY defined research or theory as socially sensitive where there are potential consequences for the participants or the group of people represented by the research

• 1 - the research question - the researcher must consider their research questions carefully, asking questions like ‘are there racial differences in IQ’ or ‘is intelligence inherited’ may be damaging to members of a particular group

• 2 - the methodology used - the researcher needs to consider the treatments of the participants and their right to confidentiality and anonymity. Eg if someone admits to committing a crime, or to having unprotected sex if they are HIV positive should the researcher maintain confidentiality

• 3 - institutionally context - the researcher should be mindful of how the data is going to be used and consider who is funding the research. If the research is funded by a private institution, why are they funding the research and how do they intend to use the findings

• 4 - interpretation and application of findings - finally the researcher needs to consider how their findings might be interpreted and applied in the real world

Socially sensitive research

• RAINE et als research used brain scans of violent criminals to examine level of impulse control

• Found there was damage to most areas of the brains Focused around the frontal lobe which specialises in impulse control

• The research could be seen as socially sensitive as the findings may be interpreted in a way that suggests that children should have brains scans to identify predispositions for offending behaviour

• Children, their parents and soociety would feel unease as to then what to do with knowledge that a child could have a predisposition to violent criminals behaviour.

• This could lead to support for genetic engineering to avoid criminal genes being transmitted which is highly sensitive

• Also could have sensitive legal implications as the theory supports a determinist view where the individual is not culpable in a criminal act and therefore not lead to convictions

Ao3 ethical implications and socially sensitive research - can lead to discrimination

• Socially sensitive research can have negative implications on members of society.

• Eg bowlbys maternal deprivation hypothesis argues that attachment forms a primary caregiver which is usually the mother

• This has negative implications on society as it may cause or increase levels of discrimination towards fathers who are primary care givers or anxiety and concern for single parents in their ability to form attachments

• It could also enhance stigma around mothers who return to work and place their children in childcare.

• A solution to this is to ensure psychologists consider the wider implications of their research not just prior to but after publication

• This could involve psychologists engaging more actively with the media and with policy makers after publication.

Ao3 socially sensitive - can reduce prejudice through challenging misconceptions

• through highlighting the potential implications of research and theory psychologists are able to potentially safeguard the participants as well as their family are able to consider the wider implications of their research on society

• This awareness has greatly improved and is undoubtedly important

• However it is also important that psychologists are able to conduct important socially sensitive research that may have the potential to benefit society.

• Eg studies investigating gender identity disorder which could be deemed to have ethical implications as may be sensitive to participants.

• Avoiding the study of vulnerable or underrepresented groups such as those with GID may be detrimental as research into these topics may actually promote a greater sensitivity and understanding of gender which can help reduce prejudice and stigma

Ao3 socially sensitive - may be useful and beneficial for society

• often investigation into socially sensitive research topics provides conclusions that are highly useful and ones which can directly impact policy and practice to benefit society.

• Research into the unreliability of eyewitness testimony and the role of anxiety in EWT has reduced the risk of miscarriages of justice

• Socially sensitive research can be used by the government and other organisations to positively shape policy

• For example research into the role of same sex parents and the role of the father in attachment has contributed to relatively recent introduction of paternity leave for fathers and introduction of father skin on skin contact with their babies shortly after birth.

• This further demonstrates the importance and usefulness in conducting socially sensitive research in psychology