debates

• usefulness


  practical applications and provides insight into behaviour that can improve peoples lives
• reductionism


  in order to understand a behaviour we must break it down into its key components in order to identify the crucial causal factor
• holism


  cannot fully understand a behaviour without examining all the factors involved and considering the interaction between these smaller parts to help us understand the whole behaviour
• free will


  behaviour down to humans having the unique intellectual capacity to make their decisions on how they behave in a situation
• environmental determinism


  behaviour shaped by factors in the environment that are beyond an individuals control
• biological determinism


  behaviours shaped by factors within the individual eg brain structure that are beyond the individuals control
• nature


  factors that shape behaviour that are inherited eg hormones and genes
• nurture


  factors that shape our behaviour that are in our environment eg childhood
• situational


  behaviour caused by influences that occur outside the individualeg people around you
• individual


  characteristics within the individual shape behaviour eg genetic and physiological makeup
• ethics


  psychologists should adhere to ethical guidelines eg respect, competence, responsibility and integrity
• socially sensitive


  psychological research that has wider implications that affect wider groups of society eg creating stigma or stereotypes
• psychology as a science

  empirical evidence, objectivity, control, replicability, falsification.