Issues and Debates

• Ethnocentrism


  is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important and that all other groups are measure in relation to one's own.
• culture


  group of people that share the same norms and values people that share the same norms and values
• individualistic culture


  Individualistic cultures are concerned with themselves and support independence e.g. USA and Germany
• Collectivist culture

  Collectivist cultures are more concerned with the group or community than themselves. Their decisions tend to be based on what is good for their family or community than themselves e.g. japan
• Cultural relativism


  The idea that cultural norms and values are culture specific and no-one culture is superior to another culture
• Explain what psychologists mean by socially sensitive research.

  • where the group studied can have implications for certain groups in society
  • potentially leading to a change in/justification for the way these groups are treated/perceived
• Briefly explain how the researchers could have dealt with the issue of social sensitivity in this study.

  • Researchers should be aware of the implications of their research:
  • possible negative implications of the research for the reputation of Crayford school and the wider community
  • possible negative impact for the children in the sample
  • possible self-fulfilling prophecy
  • Researchers should take adequate steps to counter these issues:
  • sensitive briefing/debriefing of participants, parents, teachers etc
  • care in relation to publication, disclosure of results and confidentiality/anonymity.

  
• ways of dealing with socially sensitive research:

  • check question for bias: loaded/leading questions must be changed
  • check methodology for harm: make sure no harm is done to participants
  • check how research and its findings may be used
  • check how the findings are interpreted by the media and wider public
• Idiographic AO3:

  • rejects scientific method: less reliable + valid
  • cannot generalise to others
  • finds causes for behaviour that nomothetic cannot due to having a deeper understanding of behaviour
  • expensive
• Nomothetic AO3:

  • scientific: reliable + valid
  • can generalise
  • cheap
  • doesn't have as much depth
  • often doesn't establish cause of behaviour
  • superficial understanding: people with same answer may have different reasoning that is ignored
  • labelling theory: telling someone "what they are" can cause a negative effect of individual having a self-fulfilling prophecy
• types of nomothetic general laws:

  • DSM-5
  • psychological diagnoses
  • establishing principle
  • explaining a behaviour through laws (e.g. Asch + NSI)
  • establishing dimensions
  • universal ways of measuring people (e.g. IQ)
• A psychology student carried out a study of excitement at a theme park. She measured the heart rate of people waiting in the queue for a roller coaster.

  Explain why measuring heart rate in this situation could be an example of biological reductionism.

  • excitement is a broad construct/complex behaviour/has many aspects
  • heart rate is a narrow, biological/physical component/factor in overall excitement
• Millon et al.

  Nomothetic approach should be used first to establish general laws and then further research should use idiographic to get further detail and depth of said behaviour. Allows laws to be established reliably and scientifically and then gives those laws higher validity and depth