Issues and debates

What’s determinisim?

The view that an individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individual’s will to do something.

What is free will?

The suggestion that as human beings we are self-determining and free to chose our own thoughts and actions at all times.

What is biological determinism?

The belief that behaviour is caused by biological (genetic, hormonal, evolutionary) influences that w cannot control

Give an example of biological determinism

A mutation of the MAOA gene can lead to aggressive behaviour

What is environmental determinism?

The belied that behaviours is caused by features of the environment (such as system of reward and punishment) that we cannot control

Give an example of environmental determinism

The research into obedience and conformity

What is psychic determinism?

The belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious psychodynamic conflicts that we cannot control

Give an example of psychic determinism

Frauds argument that behaviour is unconscious

What is hard determinism?

The view that all behaviour is caused by something (internal or external factors), so free will is an illusion.

What is soft determinism?

The view that behaviour may be predictable (caused by internal/external factors) but there is also room for personal choice from a limited range of possiblilities (restricted free will)

What is causality?

The idea that every event in the universe has a cause and therefore the key principle of science is to investigate these causes to explain them. E.g the effect os the IV on the DV

What is reciprocal determinism?

As well as being influenced bu our environment we also insert some influence upon it through the behaviours we choose to preform

What is a strength of determinism

Scientific research seeks causal relationships with the aim of predicting future behaviour. (Manipulation of IVs and the implication of prediction and control

What are the limitations of determinism?

• Science now accepts that there is no such thing as total determinism (twin studies only find an 80% similarity between MZ twins)

• Can oversimplify complex behaviours . (Only appropriate for non human animals e.g mating behaviour)

• The postition of the legal system on resposibility. (Ignoring individual choice doesn’t align with the operation of the legal system)

Give a strength of free will?

Only when an individual takes responsibility for their action is personal growth possible (Rogers (1959) claims that as long as an individual remains controlled by other people or other things, they cannot take responsibility for their behaviour and therefore cannot begin to change it.

What are the limitations of free will?

• Recordings of brain activity suggest seemingly conscious decisions are predetermined (activity in the motor area recorded before the person was consciously aware of the decision to move the finger. Counterpoint Trevena and Miller (2009) suggested the activity was simply a readiness to act.)

• May only be relevant to individual societies (Collectivist culture place greater value on behaviour determined by group need and not individual needs)

What is the nature-nurture debate?

It’s concerned with the extent to which aspects of behaviour are a product of inherited or acquired characteristics.

What is the perspective of the nature side of the debate?

Behaviour is seen as a product of innate factors (biological or genetic)

What are nativists?

People who supports the nature side of the debate and believe we are born with genetic predispositions and preprogrammed behaviours.

What is the key support for the nature side of the debate?

Twin studies e.g Joseph 2004, the concordance rate for a mental disorder such as schizophrenia is approx 40% for MZ twins and 7% for DZ twins. If there is a high concordance rate it suggests the contribution of nature

What is evolution?

The idea that natural selection suggests behaviours that promote survival are more likely to be passed on (e.g. Bowlby’s attachment theory)

What is heredity?

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

What is environment?

Any influence on human behaviour that is non-genetic. This may range from prenatal influences in the womb through to cultural and historical influences at a societal level. It includes biological influences e.g. the food you eat may affect your mental development and physical growth.

Who are empiricists?

Supporters of the nature side of the debate as they believe all behaviour is the result of observation and experience

What is an example of support for the importance of nurture?

The behaviourist approach as it assumes all behaviour is learned through experience. E.g. Classical and operant conditioning (Pavlov, Skinner) and Social learning theory (Bandura)

Give an example of how all types of environmental interactions shape our behaviour

Bateson et al’s (1936) double blind theory emphasised the role of communication style within a family on the development of schizophrenia by having parents give mixed messages about wether their child was doing the right thing.

What is the heritability coefficient?

A method of assessing heredity, it’s a number ranging from 0 to 1.0 which indicates the extent to which a characteristic has a genetic basis (a value of 1 means the characteristic is determined entirely by genetics. E.g The general heritability in IQ is 0.5 across multiple studies of varying populations (Plomin, 1994)

What is the interactionist approach?

A way to explain the development of behaviour in terms of a range of factors including both biological and psychological ones. Most importantly factors don’t simply add together but combine in a way that cant be predicted by each one seperately i.e they interact

Give an example of the interactionist approach

Belsky and Rovine (1987) suggests that a child’s innate temperament will influence the way its parents respond to it and there responses will in turn affect the child’s behaviour

What is the diathesis-stress model?

A mental disorder caused by a biological/genetic vulnerability; however, the disorder only develops when an individual is exposed to an environmental trigger or ‘stress’

Give an example of the diathesis-stress model

Tiernari et al (2004) found in a group of Finnish adoptees, those more likely to develop schizophrenia had biological ellatives with a history of disorder, which developed through their relationship with dysfunctional adoptive families

What are epigenetics?

Change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code. This is a process that happens throughout life and is caused by interactions with the environment. These interactions leave ‘marks’ on our DNA whch determines which genes to use and which to ignore, effectively switching them off

What are the strengths of the nature-nurture debate?

• supporting research found in adoption studies.( similarity to adoptive or biological parents, Rhee and Walkman (2002) found genetic influence accounted for 41% of the variance in aggression)

• Real world application (OCD Nedstat et al (2010) faut the heritability rate at .76, can inform genetic counselling, prevention for people at high genetic risk)

Give a limitation of the nature-nurture debate

The negative implications of the debate (nativists suggestion that ‘anatomy is destiny’, its an extremely determinist stance which has led to controversy e.g ethnicity, genetics, intelligence and eugenic policies)

What is holism?

The idea that can behaviour can only be explained by analysing the whole individual rather that breaking it down into its constituent parts. Such approaches are quite rare in psychology

What is reductionism?

The idea that to understand human behaviour and experiences, we need to break it down into its smaller constituent parts. It’s based on the principle of parsimony, which is the idea that all phenomena should be explained using the most basic principles.

What does holism consider?

The whole person’s experience: cognitive emotional, spiritual, developmental, social, cultural, environmental, economic.

What does reductionism consider?

The major systems involved: biological: serotonin system, behaviourist: learned behaviours; stimulus, response.

What is biological reductionism?

The assumption that all behaviour is on some level biological and so can be explained through neurochemical, neurophysical, evolutionary and genetic influences.

Give an example of biological determinism

Mental disorders such as OCD and schizophrenia, can be explained at a biochemical level

What is environmental reductionism?

Where complex learning can be broken up into stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience and are measurable writhing the laboratory.

Give an example of environmental determinism

The behaviourist approach reduces behaviour down to environmental influences e.g. classical and operant conditioning

What is psychodynamic reductionism?

The reduction of human behaviour to sexual drives and biological instincts but Freud’s argument that personality is a dynamic interaction between 3 parts is often viewed as a more holistic explantion

What is machine reductionism?

The presentation of people as information processing systems, ignoring the influence of emotions on behaviour.

Give a strength of holism

Some topics such as conformity to social roles and deindividualisation cannot be understood without taking a holistic approach.

What are the limitations of holism?

• holistic explanations such as the humanistic approach can be criticised for a lack of empirical evidence

• Holism lacks practical value (accounts become hard to use as they become more complex, its difficult to know what factors are more important

What are the strengths of reductionism?

• to ensure a scientific approach, behaviour needs to be operationalised to ensure measurement is valid and cause and effect is observed in relation to the effect of the IV and the DV

• It has practical value (accounts are easy to use and analyse, helps pinpoint the most important factors)

Give a limitation of reductionism

It’s overly simplistic as it ignores the complexities of human behaviour and experience… Behaviour often has lots of different causes.

What is the idiographic approach?

Derived from the Geek ‘idios’ meaning ‘private’ or ‘personal’. An approach to research that focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour, rather than aiming to formulate general laws of behaviour.

What is the nomothetic approach?

Derived from the Greek ‘nomos’ meaning ‘law’. The nomothetic approach aims to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws.

How is idiographic data gathered?

Using qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews, case studies and thematic analysis

How is nomothetic data gathered

Using quantitative methods

What did Radford and Kirby suggest?

That the application of the nomothetic approach in psychology has produced 3 general laws:

• classifying people into groups

• Establishing principles of behaviour

• Etablishing dimensions

What are the strengths of the idiographic approach?

• it contributes to the nomothetic approach (qualitative methods, sheds light on general laws, e.g the case of HM)

• It fits within the aims of science (seeks to objectify methods, triangulation is used whereby findings from a range of studies using different qualitative methods are compared as a way of increasing their validity

Give a limitation of the idiographic approach

It is not possible to generalise finding from idiographic research due to the restricted sample size which limits the overall usefulness of the research

Give a strength of the nomothetic approach

It fits within the aims of science (research processes involved are similar to natural sciences, standardisation, quantitative methods, control and statistical testing.

What are the limitations of the nomothetic approach?

• the loss of the understanding of the individual (preoccupation with general laws, knowing there’s a 1% lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia doesnt tell us about the individuals experience which could be useful when devising an appropriate treatment

• Lacks causality ( a large data set cannot explain the subjective experience of the individual which may actually be more important and useful than a statistically significant result)

What are levels of explanation?

The idea that there are several ways that can be used to explain behaviour. The lowest level considers physiological/biological explanations, the middle level considers psychological explanations and the highest level considers social and cultural explanations.