Issues and debates

Holism

________ proposes that human behaviour should be viewed as the product of different influences, which all interact.

* ‘the whole is greater than a sum of its parts’
* humanistic psychology - maslows hierachy

Reductionism

________ involves breaking human behaviour down into more simple components.

* types; biological and environmental reductionism

H AND R- Psychologists prefer..

reductionist explanations and methods of research because reductionism is a powerful research tool

Parsimony

Reduction is based on the scientific principle of ___: all phenomena should be explained using the most basic (lowest level) principles.

Biological reductionism

* all behaviour can be explained at a lower biological level
* genes, neurotransmitters etc
* The dopamine hypothesis

Environmental reductionism

* simple stimulus response links
* Phobias

Levels of explanation

* behaviour can be explained at different levels ranging from lower- level (reductionistic) explanations which focus on basic components or units to higher- level (holistic) explanations which consider multi-variables
* biological,psychological, social/cultural

Reductionism provides a basis for scientific research

* most psychologists are drawn to them
* operationalised variables
* behavioural categories
* holism - integrated, cannot isolate, cause and effect
* reductionism - greater credibility, natural sciences

Reductionism ignores the complexity of human behaviour

* oversimplifying complex phenomena
* ignores complexity of human behaviour
* antipsychotics - nothing more than imbalaced neurochemicals
* cause not addressed
* purely bio. understanding is inadequate
* only ever form part of explanation

Holistic explanations provide a more complete understanding of human behaviour

* aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood by purely examining the individual group members
* zimbardo - interaction
* global, complete understanding

4) Holistic approaches do not lend themselves to rigorous scientific testing

* vague and speculative as they become more complex
* practical dilemma - many factors contributing, most influential? for therapy
* finding solutions for real world problems, lower level more appropriate

nature nurture debate

* the relative importance of how much of our behaviour is innate and how much is acquired
* contributions of heritability and environmental factors

Nature

* human behaviour is the result of innate influences and that heredity is more influential.
* through the process of heredity, characteristics and traits are genetically transmitted from one generation to the next.
* nativist theory
* pre-programmed
* ‘born this way’.
* example: lorenz’s animal attachment study (imprinting)

Nurture

* environmental influences.
* empiricist theory
* learning and experience. Locke s
* ‘blank slate’- physical, mental and social interactions with the world.
* ‘made this way’.
* Example: family dysfunction explanation for sz
* Environment: everything outside the body. pre-natal, post-natal and historical and cultural context.

interactionist approach

* both genetics and environment contribute
* how these factors affect each other
* diathesis-stress model. explains that schizophrenia results from an interaction between a diathesis (predisposition) such as a biological vulnerability, for example, a genetic abnormality and a stress factor such as a dysfunctional family.

Research evidence to support the importance of the nature argument

* family, twins and adoption studies show
* closer the relatedness of two people, the more likely
* schizophrenia 1% of the general population.
* However, Gottsman and Shields: 40 family studies and found that the risk increases to 46% for those with two parents who have schizophrenia.
* Joseph 40% for MZ twins and 7% for DZ twins for schizophrenia
* significant genetic component

Methodological issues concerned with separating nature from nurture

* practically and theoretically impossible to separate
* core assumption that the only difference between MZ and DZ twins is their genetic similarity is strongly criticised.
* Furnham MZ same sex and usually look alike
* treat them more similarly than DZ twins
* DZ twins are more likely to experience differential reinforcers, more unique experiences.
* difficultly in determining the importance of heredity (nature) and environment (nurture) b
* ‘genetically’ explained differences in concordance rates can actually be accounted for by environmental influences.

Research evidence that nurture affects nature

* Maguire et al; physical changes in the brains of humans (nature) due to environmental experience (nurture).


* not born this way
* Blakemore & Cooper - kittens, vertical or horizontal stripe, unable to see and process lines of the opposite orientation.
* ethically questionable BUT strong empirical evidence, altered through experience.


* account for nature, nurture and the interaction between the two.

Both nature and nurture are deterministic viewpoints –

* hard deterministic
* excludes the notion of freewill.
* legal responsibility - deterministic positions are undesirable ‘excuse their behaviour’.
* fatalist position, linked with poorer mental health.
* Roberts - adolescents who believe they have control in their lives were less vulnerable to becoming depressed whereas those who did not believe that they had control over their lives were at a significantly greater risk of developing the disorder.
* supported by a large amount of research into mental health
* significant link between good mental functioning, and freewill.
* goes far beyond the nature-nurture debate.

Research support for the interactionist approach

* Tienari et al. (2004)
* High levels of parental criticism and conflict with low levels of empathy was implicated in the development of schizophrenia, but only for the children with a high genetic risk.
* importance of using an interactionist approach to explaining human behaviour, in this case schizophrenia
* contribution of both a genetic vulnerability (diathesis) and family dysfunction (stress) are important in the development of schizophrenia.

* Practical application of adopting an interactionist approach

* combining both nature and nurture= more effective therapies for a variety of psychological disorders.
* research support for the use of eclectic therapy in the treatment of schizophrenia.
* Guo et al (2010)
* value and effectiveness of combining treatments in patients with schizophrenia.

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free will and determinism

* whether we are in control of what we do.
* considers the extent to which behaviour is the result of controllable conscious decision and autonomous choice and the result of uncontrollable internal factors or external factors

Freewill

* free to choose their own thoughts and actions
* active role in controlling their behaviour
* self-governing
* not acting in response to any external or internal pressures.

Determinism

* human behaviours are controlled.
* result of causal factors
* no choice
* governed by internal forces or external forces
* predictable.

hard determinism

* sometimes referred to as fatalism
* result of forces which are entirely out of the control of the individual
* freewill is not possible.
* highly compatible with the aims of science; to uncover causal laws.

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soft determinism

* opportunity to exercise freewill.
* traits and behaviours are still governed by external and internal forces but an individual can exert some conscious mental control over the way they behave in some circumstances,

three types of determinism

* biological
* environmental
* psychic

biological reductionism

* all human behaviour is controlled by internal forces in aspects of our biology
* no control over these systems
* example: lorenz imprinting

environmental reductionism

* controlled by external influences
* skinner - freewill is an illusion ‘tricked’
* result of specific physical and psychological reinforces which sre continuously received throughout life
* environmental event and agents of socialisation
* example: Romanian orphan studies, conformity

psychic determinism

* unconscious mental processes, instincts and drives
* childhood experiences
* freud - free choice is an illusion
* similar to biological reductionism - internal factors
* examples: forensic psych - underdeveloped superego

The Scientific Emphasis on Causal Explanations

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· The basic principles of science are that all events have a cause and can be explained through general laws.

· isolate = cause and effect

· predict outcomes.

· Determinism is all about causation. A determinist argument must be able to show that behaviour has been caused by something that is not within the individual’s control.

· evidence is more persuasive if it is the result of scientific experimentation. Laboratory experiments, adopt the features of the scientific approach (objectivity, replicability) allows research to observe the effect of the IV whilst eliminating and controlling extraneous variables.

Evidence for mental illness being determined –

* studies of Psychopathology
* Schizophrenia- loss of control over their own thoughts and behaviours
* distressing and negative experiences of schizophrenia sufferers are undoubtedly not ‘chosen’ therefore casts strong doubt on the freewill argument.
* research into OCD shows that the symptoms may be determined by the function of the orbitofrontal cortex (Pauls et al, 2014.)
* mental illness behaviour would appear to be determined.
* individuals can choose to take some conscious mental control over their thoughts and behaviours to alleviate some of the symptoms
* soft determinist view is a better argument.

Legal implications for a deterministic argument –

* incompatible
* criminals are personally and morally responsible for their own behaviour.
* Stephen Moberly killed a shop manager in 1991 his claim of ‘Born to Kill’ was rejected
* long family history of violence was evidence that through his biology he was destined to commit crime.
* undesirable ‘excuse their behaviour’.
* rare cases the deterministic argument has led to more favourable treatment; Abdelmalek Bayout had his sentence for murder reduced when the judge learned he had a mutated gene linked to aggression.
* biological and/or environmental determinism can be used as legal argument.

Freewill leads to better mental health

* research into locus of control
* more mentally healthy
* Roberts - adolescents who have an internal locus of control were less vulnerable to becoming depressed whereas those with a strong belief in fatalism, who felt they had no control in their lives were at a significant risk.
* even if freewill is an illusion, the belief that we have freewill leads to a positive impact on people’s lives.

Much more compelling evidence for determinism than for free will

* Libet (1985) and Chun Siong Soon - brain activity determines the outcome of simple choices.
* left or right hand to press a button up to 10 seconds before the individual reported being aware of consciously making a decision.
* already made the ‘decision’ before they believed they were
* compelling evidence - ‘free’ choices are actually predetermined
* freewill is an illusion, predetermined by factors outside of our control.

idiographic-nomothetic debate

* idiographic approach - what makes people unique
* nomothetic approach - studying groups of people in order to formulate general laws/principles of behaviour so people can be compared and measured.
* Each approach has implications for the types of research method
* Idiographic approaches use qualitative research methods, whereas nomothetic approaches use quantitative research methods.

Idiographic

* individual
* unique entities
* subjective experiences
* richness of human experiences
* qualitative - case studies , unstructured interviews
* humanistic psychology

nomothetic

* identify general laws and principles
* a group of people or phenomena
* compared
* scientific - experiments
* biological, behaviourist, SLT - general laws, lab experiments, generalisations

idiographic provides a complete account of behaviour

* in depth qualitative methods
* humanistic - too much emphasis on measurement
* allport - truly understand, predict
* useful, complete, better understanding

restrictive, not scientific

* freud - oedipus complex, little hans
* method - case study least scientific
* subjective interpretations, open to bias
* nomothetic more scientific

nomothetic - allows us to make preedictions

* patterns of behaviour
* mental illness
* dopamine hypothesis - same for all, develop drugs for chemical imbalance
* therapies - time

nomothetic - loses the whole person

* preoccupied on general laws
* guo et al - eclectic most effective for sz
* individual, best overall results
* overlooks richness of human experience

nomothetic and idographic approaches

* cognitive psychology makes general laws and uses case studies
* the psychodynamic approach - uses case studies and makes general laws about innate drives

Universality

All humans are alike

Research applied Equally to both genders

Bias

Views distorted in some way

Gender presented in biased way in psych

Gender bias

* Differential treatment / rep
* Stereotypes, not real differenves
* Result from sampling bias - mostly males, assumed apply females

Androcentrism

* Research leans in favour of males
* males centred view of word
* Zimbardo conformity to social roles

Alpha bias

* Exaggerate / overestimate differences
* More likely to devalue females
* Bowlbys role of father

Beta Bias

* Minimise/ignore differences
* Female participants not included in research
* Assumed findings apply equally
* Aschs conformity study

Gender bias often goes unopposed

* Issue - some examples go unchallenged
* Evolutionary theory of sexual selection - women choosy
* DNA - equally competitive
* important to challenge early gender research
* reduce gender bias, valid pic

Reducing gender bias

* Ways to reduce
* Value and positive attrtibutes of woman
* Cornwell - women better at learning, more attentive, male position not better
* change misconceptions
* challenge stereotypes

Implications of gender bias

* negative implications
* dont challenge negative stereotypes - workplace
* PMS - social construct, medicalises
* male anger - rational
* damaging consequences

Sexism and bias within the research process

* lack of female researchers
* female concerns not reflected
* methods - observe genders biased
* lab - little about women outside
* eagly and johnson - meta analysis men and women more similar in leadership than in lab
* institutionalism sexism

culture bias - universality

some behaviours same for all cultures

cultural bias

judge all people in terms of own cultural assumptions

* distorts judgement
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ethnocentrism

* own cultural perspective
* normal correct
* superior - others strange
* own cultural group as basis
* predjudice
* asche’s research - US, individualistic

cultural relativism

* consider cultural context..
* no global right wrong
* social norms are culturally relative
* DMS - list of cultural norms

emic approach

investigates behaviour from within culture and identifies behaviour specific to that culture

etic approach

* outside culture
* behaviours univeral
* culturally biased research
* ainsworth strange situation

consequences of cultural bias

* damaging stereotypes
* culturally biased IQ test
* african americans - bottom low mental age
* negative effect attitudes
* ethnic - low iqs\`

countering ethnocentrism with indigenous psychologies

* diff group of theory in diff countries
* Afrofuturism - European values not universal, irrelevant to those of African descent

cultural bias reducing over time

* culturally aware
* takanio - 14/15 studies no cultural bias between USA and Japan
* travel, increase understanding, professional level
* real differences identified

practical applications of cultural bias are a major contribution to psychology

* understanding culturally specific behaviours
* misdiagnose
* DSM - culturally specific behaviours
* validity and reliability

ethical implications of research

* wider implications beyond study
* participants involved, how its applied

socially sensitive research

* social consequence
* participants, who they represent; social group, institution, ethnicity..
* justify or change the way they’re viewed

ethical implications on socially senitive research

* the research question
* treatment of participants
* the institutional context
* interpretation and application of findings

the research question

* wording of question - damaging
* goddard - immigrant feeble minded IQ test, culturally biased
* scientific credibility to discriminatory actions

treatment of participants

* break confidentiality / privacy
* HIV positive had unprotected sex, must break confidentiality
* social group may be unwilling to ppt in future research

misunderstanding od findings by general public

* misunderstand
* correlatory - relationship, public thinks its causal
* hazan and shaver love quiz - insecure resistant doomed
* mindful

socially sensitive research shouldn’t be avoided

* discussion, debate
* PMS - devalue female emotions
* researchers more careful w gender sifferences
* important

socially sensitive research can negatively shape public policy

* world health organisation
* bowlby - maternal love, emotional care
* UK gov - no free daycare places under 5
* generation
* feminists critical
* long lasting

socially senitive research can benefit margianlised groups

* poor populational validity
* homosexuals underrepresented
* understand sub-cultural context
* humphreys - gay men stereotypes untrue
* health campaigns reduce societal homophobia