Issues and debates

• Biological approach


  Application of psychology to everyday life
• If studies + ideas from psychology cannot be used in everyday life

  Then they are not useful
• Usefulness of research


  Extent to which findings can be used or not used in everyday life
• Strength of conducting useful research

  • Main advantage is that it can be used to improve human behavior in some way
  • E.g. if we find a better way to treat mental illness then it is useful to society as a whole
• Problems with conducting useful research

  • Studies might be unethical to gain more valid results
  • Studies need to be high in ecological validity to be of more use to society but this can be quite difficult if they are conducted in a laboratory
• Individual explanations


  Account for behaviours using factors from within person (called dispositional factors, such as personality)
• Situational explanations


  Account for behaviours using factors from external environment (situations that people find themselves in)
• Strengths of individual and situational explanations debate

  • Findings can be very useful to society as a whole
  • If we find out which behaviours are down to individuals + which are down to situations we find ourselves in, we can help explain human behavior more clearly
  • If psychologists find that there is an interaction between both sides of debate then this is useful too
• Problems with individual and situational explanations debate

  • It is not always easy to separate out individual + situational factors
  • Studies might be unethical to gain more valid results
  • Studies need high ecological validity to be of more use to this debate but this can be difficult if they take place in a laboratory
• Nature


  Behaviours that are thought to be hardwired into people pre-birth (innate / genetic)
• Nurture


  Behaviours that are thought to develop through lifetime of person
• Strengths of the nature vs nurture debate

  • Findings can be very useful to society as a whole
  • If we find out which behaviours come from nature + which from nurture we can help to explain behavior more clearly
  • If there is an interaction between both sides of debate this is useful too
• Problems with the nature vs nurture debate


  • It is not always easy to separate out what is nature + what is nurture
  • If behavior is seen to be purely down to nature (genetics) this can be very socially sensitive
  • Sections of society could use this to undertake a 'eugenic' movement to get rid of people with 'inferior genes' = unacceptable
  • Studies might be unethical in order to gain more valid results
• Use of children in psychological research

  • Children aged under 16 cannot give their own informed consent to take part in a study
  • Children under age 16 must get parental or loco parentis permission to participate
  • Use of appropriate language to ensure children understand
  • Children may get bored quicker + tired faster than adults so this needs to be considered
• Use of animals in psychological research

  • Psychologists must work within law about protecting animals
  • Number of animals should be kept to a minimum
  • Social species should be kept together + non-social species kept apart
  • Housing in cages should not lead to overcrowding + increased stress levels
• Strengths of using animals in research

  • We can conduct research on animals that we cannot do on humans for ethical reasons
• Weaknesses of using animals in research

  • Due to differences in physiological + psychological 'make-ups' of animals + humans it can be difficult to generalize from animal studies to human behavior
  • It can be expensive to house animals + they need proper care compared to humans who can participate in + leave a study at will
• How does Dement & Kleitman's study contribute to the application of psychology to everyday life?