Issues & Debates

AO1

Bias can lead to misrepresentation

Androcentrism - male dominated

Alpha bias - exaggerating differences e.g. Freud - can devalue one gender

Beta bias - minimising differences e.g. Fight or Flight response - may misrepresent

Is a threat to universality

AO3

- Androcentrism in research process

+ Acknowledges differences

- Are males / females different?

- Lack of publication of research which challenges gender bias

​

​

​

​

​

​

​​

​

​

AO1

Nature: biological factors, heredity e.g. Bowlby's evolutionary theory

Nurture: environmental factors e.g. learning theory of attachment

Modern argument is the relative contribution of each

Interactionist approach e.g. Diathesis-Stress Model

AO3

+ Empirical evidence - adoption studies

+ Support for epigenetics - sz babies of Dutch Hunger Winter

+ Real world application - mental health disorders

- Hard to disentangle factors of nature & nurture

AO1

Socially sensitive research leads to change in perception of a group

Examples: Burt - IQ tests led to Hadow Report - 11+ exams

Bowlby (theory) - socially sensitive for mothers & fathers

Milgram (study) - socially sensitive for destructive authority 

Considerations: Posing research question, dissemination of findings, reflexivity, ethical guidelines

AO3

+ Deeper understanding of minority groups

+ Now a greater understanding & only 50% of SSR passes ethics

- In past SSR has led to discrimination (cost v benefit)

- Need to consider who is benefitting from the research

AO1

Bias can lead to misrepresentation

Ethnocentrism - judging other cultures by the standards of one's own culture e.g. Ainsworth.

Imposed etic applying theories/ findings from one culture to other cultures without considering cultural differences.

Cultural relativism - behaviours should be understood within their cultural context e.g. IQ tests

Bias is a threat to Universality​​

AO3

+ Psychology recognises it today e.g. 67% of ppts are USA Psychology students

- Hard to operationalise variables when studying another culture

+ Academics are exchanging cultural ideas at conferences

​

​​​​​​​​​

​

​

​

AO1

Holism - humans should be studied as integrated experience e.g. Humanism, qual. methods

Reductionism - breaking a complex behaviour into component parts

Levels of explanations: different ways behaviour can be understood from the most reductionist to the most holistic.

Biological -lowest level e.g. neurotransmitters: OCD

Environmental - mid level e.g. behaviourism: phobias

Social - highest level e.g. Zimbardo's deindividuation

AO3

+ Reductionism = scientific

- Ignores the complexities

+ Holism considers wider context

- Holism is unscientific

AO1

Determinism - free will = illusion forces outside of your control determine your behaviour

Free will - free choice in behaviour e.g. Humanism

Hard determinism - incompatible with free will e.g. causal explanations

Soft determinism - constrained by forces but element of free will

Biological - innate /genes e.g. OCD high dopamine & low serotonin

Environmental - conditioning by environment e.g. phobias

Psychic - childhood & innate drives e.g. psychodynamic approach

AO3

Free Will

+ Face validity

- Libet - evidence to support determinism

Determinism

+ Consistent with laws of science

- Legal system assumes free will

AO1

Idiographic: focus on the individual. Use of case studies & unstructured interviews etc. Qualitative data.

Example: Case study HM

Nomothetic: concerned with studying large groups to create universal laws. Use of experiments and correlational research.. Quantitative data and statistical analysis to draw conclusions. 

Example: Drug treatment OCD

Holt (1967) a combined approach should be used

AO3

+ Nomothetic approach, quantitative data, objective findings

- Nomothetic ignores individual differences

+ Idiographic approach: case studies can be a powerful tool

- Idiographic: less scientific