AQA Psychology: Issues and Debates Vocabulary

Key vocabulary terms and definitions grounded strictly in the Issues & Debates topic notes for AQA Psychology.

Bias

A tendency for psychological research or theories to produce a distorted or inaccurate view of behaviour because of the influence of particular beliefs, values or perspectives.

Gender bias

Refers to a lack of proper consideration of potential differences between men and women, leading to improper representation in psychological theories and/or treatment for one gender, usually women.

Alpha bias (Gender)

The tendency to exaggerate or over-emphasise differences between men and women, often resulting in one gender being devalued or disadvantaged.

Essentialism

The perspective that gender differences are fixed and innate because they are down to people's biology.

Beta bias (Gender)

The tendency to minimise or overlook differences between men and women, often by assuming that findings based on one gender apply equally to both.

Universality

The assumption or idea that a behaviour or characteristic applies equally to all people, regardless of their culture, gender or individual experiences.

Androcentrism

A male-centred or male-biased view of the world in which male behaviour and masculine traits are treated as the norm, while female behaviour and feminine traits are viewed as less acceptable or desirable.

Culture

The shared social behaviours, ideals, laws, customs and arts that originate within a certain geographical area.

Cultural bias

The tendency to make assumptions about the norms and traditions of other societies based on the norms, values and standards of one's own culture, leading to a distorted view of other cultures.

Imposed etic

An approach that takes research methods developed in one culture and uses them to investigate the same behaviour in another country, uncritically assuming that it is possible to measure human experiences in the same way across cultures.

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to judge other cultures according to the norms, values and standards of one's own culture, involving at its extreme believing that one's own culture is superior to others.

Eurocentrism

Assuming that European values are the default norm and that cultures who differ from these values are somehow lesser.

Cultural relativism

The view that behaviour can only be properly understood within the cultural and social context in which it occurs.

Emic approach

An approach to research that emphasizes the unique nature of culture and occurs within a culture, preferably by indigenous researchers or researchers who have spent enough time living in that culture.

Social sensitivity

Refers to research that has potential implications or consequences for individuals or groups within society, such as contributing to prejudice and discrimination or influencing public policy.

Environment

The external influences and experiences that can affect an individual's behaviour and development, such as their upbringing, social relationships and culture.

Heredity

The transmission of characteristics from parents to their offspring through their genes.

Interactionist approach

The view that behaviour is determined by the interplay between biological factors (nature) and environmental influences (nurture).

Nativism

The position on the nature side of the nature-nurture debate arguing that heredity is more influential than environmental factors in determining behaviour.

Tabula rasa

The idea that individuals are born as a 'blank slate', emphasizing the nurture position that personality and behaviour are shaped through experience.

Diathesis-stress model

An example of the interactionist approach stating that a disorder or illness will only be exhibited if an individual has a genetic predisposition combined with environmental triggers.

Holism

The view that behaviour and experience should be understood as a whole, considering all relevant aspects of the person and their context, rather than reducing behaviour to smaller component parts.

Reductionism

The view that complex behaviour and experiences can be explained by breaking them down into smaller, more fundamental components.

Parsimony

The scientific principle that if there are competing explanations which explain an idea equally well, researchers should use the least complex one.

Biological reductionism

The view that behaviour can be explained by reducing it to physiological factors, such as genes, brain structures or neurotransmitters.

Environmental reductionism

The view that behaviour can be explained by reducing it to external causes in our environment, such as stimulus-response relationships and learning experiences.

Levels of explanation

The different ways in which the same behaviour can be accounted for, ranging from holistic explanations that consider the whole person to reductionist explanations focusing on smaller component parts.

Idiographic approach

An approach to psychological investigation that involves studying an individual in depth to gain insight into their unique, subjective experiences, without intending to generalize to other people or propose general laws.

Nomothetic approach

An approach to psychological investigation that involves studying a large sample of participants to identify general patterns and generate or support general laws or models of behaviour.