ISSUES AND DEBATES
Spec
- Gender bias
- Free will vs. determinism
- Nature-nurture debate
- Holsim and reductionism
- Idiographic and nomothetic approaches
- Ethical implications of research studies, social sensitivity
Gender Bias
Some research findings are affected by the gender of the samples taken.
Andocentrism: when the findings from all male samples are generalised to women as well. Taking male behaviour AS THE NORM, and if female behavior differs from it, it is considered abnormal.
Alpha bias: Theories exaggerate the difference between men and women. Suggests that all males are different to all females.
Beta bias: Minimises the difference between males and females. Assumes that findings found from all male and all female samples can be applied to either
Cultural Bias (universality vs cultural relativisim)
Ethnocentrism: If a study assumes that the norms of its own culture are the same as the norms of all cultures. So behaving one way is normal in one culture and so must e in other cultures.
Universality: the assumption that findings can be applied globally. Most research is conducted in Western societies however isnt always true.
Cultural relativism: the belief that behaviour can differ cross-culturally. There is no global right and wrong. Cultural differences should be tested. Most universities conduct research in Western civilisations and so it is a mistake to generalise their findings for this reason.
Free will vs. Determinism
Free Will
Suggests that humans have a choice in how they behave. There are no restraints on our behaviour and we are free to choose from all available options
Determinism
Hard determinism: that we have no free will and our behaviour is entirely decided by internal and external factors out of our control.
Soft determinisim: There are things that are determinants, but we still have an element of control and are able to excessive control in some situations.
Biological determinism, environmental determinism or psychic determinism(psychodynamic).
Free will vs. Determinism
The focus of empirical evidence has led to an upsurge in determinist theories. AA determinist argument must be ale to show that the behaviour has been caused somethig that is not within the indiviuals control.??
;;;??
Nature vs. Nurture
Genetics and biology vs. our behaviour is all learnt from the environment
INTERACTIONIST
The idea that both genes and our environment lead to our behaviour.
To what extent is our behaviour caused by genes.
Holism and Reductionism
Holism
The idea that behaviour should be viewed as a whole. In order to understand what causes behaviour it is important to exmine systems as a whole rather than the individual parts. Concerned with the higher levels of explanation such as the behaviour of individuals within a group. Qualitative methods.
Levels of explanation
Lowest level: Basic componenets (reductionism)
Middle level is psychological
Highest level: Cultural and social expectations (holism)
Reductionism
When a theory reduces behaviour down to its constituent parts. An explanation is reductionist when it considers only a single cause for behaviour e.g. depression is genetic. Does not consider all the diferent levels of explanation and so could be over-simplistic.
Biological reductionism: The assumption that all behaviour at some level s cause by biological factors.
Environmental reductionism: The assumption that behaviour can be explained in terms of stimulus-response experiences. Behaviourist theory basically.
Usually the experimental method is used to test a solitary reason for behaviour.
Idiographic
Focuses on individual cases to understand the behaviour rather than general laws. Emphasises the importance of uniqueness in an individual and that it is irrelevant to try to develop universal laws of behaviour.
Case studies. Document a unique perso who demonstrates a key characteristic. It just takes one case study to disprove a theory.
Nomothetic
Creates general laws that can be applied universally. Quantitative methods. We can draw conclusions and apply them to the wider population.
Exampes
- THE DSM and ICD
- Establishing laws
Ethical Implications of Research
Ethical guidelines or social sensitivity of research.
Social Sensitivity: any psychological research that has wider ethical implications i.e if the findings are negative it could have an effect on the participants and beond. The degree of social sensitivity must be considered when conductingresearch.
Examples of Socially Sensitive rs
Latane and Darley conducted research following a murder of an American Woman in which more than 30 witnesses didnt help. The media at the time questioned how this could have happened , and this spurred research that used mock scenarios where help was required. The scenarios were not real but did cause distress in the participants. While this goes against ethical guidelines, it was thought to be justified since the benefits outweighed the costs.
Examples of Socially Sensitive rs
Humphreys acted as a gay man to talk to his participants to test homosexual stereotypes. He took their car number pates to check their backgrounds and used a contact at the police to check their backgrounds
He found that gay stereotypes at the time were incorrect
While the findings were positive, they still violated the privacy of the individuals; their details were given to the police. There was a large amount of deception. The research was invasive and sensationalised.
Evaluation of Socially Sensitive research.
Subtitle
ISSUES AND DEBATES
By Zubiya Burney
ISSUES AND DEBATES
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