Issues and debates AO1

Universality

Characteristics of humans that are capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing regardless of gender or culture

Bias

Treating an invidual or group in a different way from others

Gender bias

One gender is treated less favourably than the other

Consequences of gender bias

Scientifically misleading

Upholding stereotypic assumptions

Validating sex discrimination

Androcentricism

Taking male thinking as normal regarding female thinking as deviant inferior and abnormal when its different

Alpha bias

Exaggerating the difference between men and women

Beta bias

Exaggerating the similarities between men and women

A theory that demonstrates alpha bias

Freuds Psychodynamic theory

Why does Frueds theory of RF have alpha bias?

During phallic stage both boys and girls develop desire for opposite sex parent

In boys this creates a very strong castration anxiety which can be resolved by the boy identifying with his father

But girls are seen as having a weaker superego to boys and so are morally inferior to boys

A theory that demonstrates beta bias

Fight or flight response

Fight or flight response

Early research was based on male animals and assumed to be a universal response to a threatening situation. Recently Taylor suggested female biology has evolved to inhibit fight or flight response, shifting attention to caring for offspring

Cultural bias

tendency to ignore cultural diff and interpret all phenomena through lens of ones own cultural assumptions

This distorts or biases your judgment

Ethnocentricism

Judging other cultures by standards+values of your own culture.

Extreme form is belief superiority of ones own culture leading to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures

Ethnocentricism in psych research

Any behaviour which doesn’t confomr to usual western model are somehow deficient, underdeveloped and unsophisticated

Cultural relativism

Norms, values, ethics, moral standards can only be understood within specific social and cultural contexts

All cultures worth respect so when studying that culture we need to see how that culture sees the world

Etic

Looks at behaviour from outside a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours that are universal

Imposed etic

When we impose western beliefs on people from other cultures and judging them

Strange situation

Emic

Functions from within or inside certain cultures

Identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture

Consequences of culture bias

Cause conflict, bias, misunderstanding, prejudice, feelings of superiority, acts of aggression between groups

Ideographic approach

Focuses on the individual case

Emphasises the uniqueness of each person as a means of understanding behaviour

Qualitative data

Aim of ideographic approach

Describe the richness of the human experience and gain insight into the persons way of viewing the world

No attempt to compare these to a large group, standard or norm

Why does ideographic use qualitative methods?

They’re more interested in the meaning and themes rather than frequency of events occuring

Which approaches are ideographic?

Humanistic - carl rogers explained process of self development using in depth convo with ppl in therapy

Psychodynamic - frued explains human nature using case of Little Hans —> how phobias develop

Nomothetic approach

Studies human behaviour through general principles and universal laws (numbers)

Aim of nomothetic approach

Establish laws and norms based on studying large numbers of ppl

Why does nomothetic use quantitative methods?

They provide reliable scientific data

Which approaches are nomothetic?

Biological - Sperry split brain research

Behavioural - Skinner

Cogntive

Ethical implications

Impact psych research may have in terms of right or other ppl especially pp

Refers to impact of research once its been conducted

Social sensitivity

Studies where there’s potential consequences either directly for pp in research or for class of indv represented by research —> about socially sensitive topics eg race/sexuality. These attract lots of attention

Socially sensitive research

Studies in which there’s potential consequence for pp or society in general

Regarded as emotionally sensitive research

Possible costs for pp directly or indirectly or for group they represent

What threats do SSR pose? For Eg

Intrusive threat - research into ppls sexual behavior

Threat of sanction - illegal or deviant activity

Political threat - education, race, health

Who are people affected by SSR?

Pp who took part in research

Their families and others who are close to them

Subgroups within society

The researchers and their institution

Ethical Issues with SSR

Privacy - skilled researchers may extract more information from vulnerable pps

Confidentiality - whether condifentiality can always be maintained

Informed consent - may be difficult to get from vulnerable groups

Scientific freedom - psych should not harm pps or social groups

Examples of SSR

Bowlby - advocated women stay home and look after kids to avoid MD. May have influence UK GOV decision to not offer free childcare to under 5s. Indirect effect on legal norm to grant custody of children to mum

Nature/nurture debate

An argument about the extent to which behaviours are due to the influence on nature or nurture

Nature

Biology /genetics /hereditary

Nurture

Experiences/learning/environment

What do behaviourist think about nature/nurture?

They include biological elements in their theories.

Eg pavlovs dogs drooling wasn’t learnt so was innate.

What do biological psychologist think about nature/nurture?

Recognise interactions between biological processes and environmental factors.

Eg early trauma can impact brain development

And brain plasticity occurs in response to learning

Nativism

Idea mind is born with certain innate ideas rather than learned from experience

Descartes argued innate knowledge is transmitted biologically through hereditary

Empiricism

Idea knowledge is aquired through experience and observation

Locke describe mind at birth as a blank slate, which is shaped and filled through experience

Psych theories closer to nature perspective

Genetic explanation for OCD

Bowlby’s monotropic theory

Evolutionary theories —> food preferences or mate preferences

Psychological theories closer to nurture perspective

Learning theory of attachment

Ainsworths stages of attachment

Behaviorist phobias

Social learning theory

Cognitive theories

Interactionism

Suggests genes and environment actively interact and influence eachother

Eg diathesis stress model

Hard determinism

Personality traits and behaviour are set by forces outside of our control with no role for free will

Free will

Indivuals consciously decide their behavior without deterministic constraints

Humanistic approach.

Soft determinism

Traits and behaviours are to an extent dictated by internal and external forces. However we do have some level of control over behaviour through conscious thought processes

Environmental determinism

Belief an individuals behaviour is controlled by their experiences.

Skinner free will is an illusion

+SLT behaviour is learnt from experience

Biological determinism

Belief an indv behaviour controlled by their genes, which control dev of brain structure, neurotransmitter and hormone levels

Psychic determinism

Psychodynamic app - belief behaviour is controlled by unconscious conflicts, which were repressed in early childhood

Casual explanations

Scientific research believes all events have a cause, and if a variable is changed you can measure the effect of change on the variable

Means scientific method can be used involves formulating and testing hypothesis under controlled conditions

Means a cause-and-effect relationship can be established

Holism

Argues that behaviours cannot be understood in terms of components that make them up

The whole being greater than the sum of its parts

Reductionism

An approach that reduces a complex phenomenon such as human behaviour to the simplest explanation possible

Biological reductionism

Based on idea all behaviour is at some level biological.

Based on physical and biochemical level —> neurotransmitters, hormones, gene, neurones firing

For eg biological approach to abnormality

Environmental reductionism

Idea the environment controls behaviour, particularly stimulus response

Based on physical level → based on observable behaviour that are the result of environmental stimuli

For eg two process model of phobias

Levels of explanation

Socio-cultural

Physiological

Physical

Biochemical