issues & debates

• Nature-Nurture debate

  possibility that behaviour is governed by nature (genes) and by nurture (environment, experiences)

  - relative importance of heredity and environment in determining behaviour

  - relative contribution and interaction of nature and nurture
• Nature

  · view that behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors

  · founded in nativist theory that knowledge/abilities are innate, the result of our genes.

  · Study or approach: biological approach
• Nurture

  · empiricist theory that knowledge derives from learning and experience

  − Locke's view of the mind as a 'tabula rasa' or blank slate on which experiences are to be written.

  · Study or approach: behaviourist approach

  · Lerner identified different levels of the environment:

  -Pre-natal terms e.g. the mother smoking or hearing music

  -Post-natal experiences, e,g, the social conditions a child grows up in.
• Knowledge of interactionism

  diathesis-stress and epigenetics
• Measuring nature and nurture

  Measuring nature and nurture: concordance rates and heritability
• (+) AO3 - Nature and nurture: supporting research

  · evidence to support/contradict each side of the argument, eg twin evidence, adoption studies, studies of learning

  i.e explanations of SZ and implications for treatment
• (-) AO3 - Nature and nurture: hard determinism + reductionism


  · Links to approaches and debates e.g. hard determinism and consequence of this on criminal justice system.

  - Extreme nature and nurture stances are also reductionist
• (+) AO3 - Nature and nurture: real life implications

  · Implications of accepting nature or nurture as the primary driver of behaviour e.g. opportunities to change and unlearn behaviour
• Reduction vs Holism

  Whether complex behaviours/experiences should be studied/explained breaking it down into smaller component parts/constituents (reductionism)or whether experiences/people should be studied as a whole (holism)
• Reductionism

  Based on the scientific principle of parsimony

  -all phenomena should be explained using the most basic lowest levels and principles

  - explaining/studying complex and meaningful behaviour/experience by breaking it down into smaller component parts/constituents/elements

  
  

  · Objectivity, use of empirical methods

  - basic scientific principle that evidence should be observable and unaffected by opinion/subjective interpretation.
• Link between reductionism and objective, empirical methods

  - explaining/understanding behaviour at the basic component level of biological units is objective and empirical, eg measurement of levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine

  
  

  - explaining/understanding behaviour at the basic component level of stimulus-response links (eg classical/operant conditioning) is objective, empirical as it involves manipulation of stimuli and observation/recording of responses

  
  

  -explaining information processing at the level of processing units each with separate features (eg multistore model) is objective - involves empirical manipulation/observation of variables in experiments
• Levels of explanation

  basic unit level (e.g. neurochemical) to more complex holistic level, multivariable level (e.g. socio-cultural, how social groups affect our behaviour)

  
  

  explanations vary from those at a lower or fundamental level focusing on basic components or units to those at a higher more holistic multivariable level.
• Types of reductionism

  · biological - explaining behaviour at the level of genes, brain chemicals

  · environmental - explaining behaviour at the level of stimulus-response units

  · experimental reductionism- complex behaviour simplified to a single (isolated) variable for the purpose of testing

  · machine reductionism - explaining behaviour in terms of mechanistic models e.g. computer analogy, failing to consider emotions
• Holism

  · Gestalt psychologists state that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, therefore it only makes sense to study a person as a whole indivisible system

  · Holism uses several levels of explanation, including biological, environmental, and social factors.

  
  

  · Humanistic psychologists, saw successful therapy/understanding of human behaviour should bring together all aspects of the person e.g. the self-concept, relationships, past (conditions of worth in childhood), present (actual self) and future (self-actualisation)
• (+) AO3 - Reductionism: real-life application

  dopamine hypothesis and treatment (antipsychotics)

  phobias and treatment (flooding + SD)
• (+) AO3 - Holism: complexity of human experiences


  - human behaviour cannot be reduced to simple lower level biologically reductionist explanations. - - higher social or cultural levels are necessary/many factors contribute to behaviour e.g. in the case of depression or SZ, environmental triggers or stressors also need to be considered as well as genetic predispositions

  This means that holistic approach are likely to capture the human experience and have higher validity
• (-) AO3 - Reductionism: social behaviours


  lower levels fail to consider the social context of a behaviour and complexity of a behaviour.

  - only form part of the explanation and fails to consider the many variables to constitute human behaviour E.g. effects of conformity in Stanford Prison experiment - the interaction between people and behaviour and group is important, not studying participants as individuals.

  - some behaviours, particularly social behaviours can only really be investigated in the holistic context in which they occur
• (+) AO3 - Reductionism: scientific status

  - target behaviours are reduced to constituent parts to create operationalised variables

  - allows for the inference of causal relationships (establishing a cause and effect)

  - easier to conduct experiments or record observations in meaningful and reliable ways (empirical method).

  - gives psychology greater credibility placing it on equal terms with the natural sciences.
• (-) AO3 - Holism: lacks practical value


  - difficult to investigate the many differing types and levels of explanations.

  - these do not lend themselves to rigorous scientific empirical testing due to its complex nature and many variables to be studies.

  - difficult to identify which explanation is most influential and therefore which explanation it would be most useful to base treatment upon.
• Idiographic and Nomothetic

  Whether psychological research should carry out detailed studies of one individual or group to provide an in-depth understanding (idiographic) or study larger groups of people with the aim of discovering general laws of behavior (nomothetic)
• Idiographic

  · People are studied as unique entities, each with their own subjective experiences

  · Is associated with the following methods that produce qualitative data e.g.

  · Case studies, unstructured interviews and other self report measures.

  · Humanistic psychology- documenting the conscious experience of the self, emphasising the self-concept and client-centred therapy

  · Psychodynamic approach- Use of case studies, however Freud also identified general laws of the development of personality (psychosexual stages).
• Nomothetic

  · involves studying a (large) sample of participants • using the findings to generate or substantiate general laws/models of behaviour; make inferences about the wider population/make generalisations; make predictions

  · Provides a benchmark against which people can be compared, classified and measured

  · Future behaviour can be predicted and controlled.

  · Tends to be a feature of approaches that are reductionist, deterministic and scientific

  · Behaviourists, cognitive and biological psychologists tend to focus on discovering laws or establishing generalisations.

  · Methods include experiments and questionnaires (closed questions) which study a large number of people- quantitative research. Hypotheses are formulated and stats testing involved
• (+) AO3 - Idiographic and Nomothetic: working together


  memory research

  - case studies may provide hypotheses for further study or provide detail that compliments nomothetic research

  - Tulving's theory of the types of LTM is supported by cases such as Patient HM or CW may reveal greater insights about normal functioning

  - Suggesting idiographic approach may help form or support scientific laws
• (+) AO3 - Idiographic and Nomothetic: both fit aims of science


  nomothetic

  - seeks objectivity through standardisation, replication, control and statical testing.

  
  

  idiographic

  - seeks objectivity through triangulation and reflexivity (researchers examine their own biases).

  
  

  Both contribute to raising psychology's status as a science.

  
  

  CA: However, such small sample sizes within idiographic research decrease its population validity and generalisability
• (-) AO3 - Nomothetic: loss of individual experience


  Fail to consider that not all behaviour is predictable and does not recognise there are differences in the way people are affected by maternal deprivation, harsh parenting, or ISI and NSI.
• (-) AO3 - Idiographic: impractical


  very time-consuming and expensive to study individuals in depth

  - if a researcher is using the nomothetic approach, once a questionnaire, psychometric test, or experiment has been designed, data can be collected and analysed relatively quickly

  - nomothetic provides more scope for research opportunities and data to be collected.
• Free will and Determinism

  Whether humans choose their own thoughts and actions (free will) or behaviour is due to internal/external factors beyond our control (determinism)
• Types of determinism

  · Soft determinism = the idea that behaviour/actions/traits are to an extent governed/dictated by internal/external forces. despite this, we still have some element of control over/some free will to control our behaviour/actions/traits

  · Hard determinism = free will is not possible, behaviour is due to factors beyond our control

  · Biological determinism = behaviour is caused innate factors e.g. genetics, differences in brain structure and activity that we cannot control

  · Environmental determinism = behaviour is caused by external that we cannot control e.g. conditioning → free will is an illusion.

  · Psychic determinism = adult behaviour, eg anxiety, pen-chewing, tidying, relationship problems, is determined by childhood/early experiences and by innate, unconscious drives/motives
• (+) AO3 - Determinism: consistent with aims of science


  - ability to create general laws, predict behaviours

  - establish cause and effect

  - lead to applications, early interventions and understanding of factors that put people at risk of conditions or harm
• (-) AO3 - Determinism: hard determinism

  not consistent with the legal system

  cannot morally punish someone for a crime they did not have free will to commit

  crimes out of their control
• (-) AO3 - Free will: unfalsifiable


  - non-physical phenomenon

  - difficult to quantify and measure empirically

  - as psychology is a science, the fact that something without a physical presence can affect behaviour is at odds with the discipline
• (+) AO3 - Free will: initiative appeal/face validity

  In everyday life we make decisions that are not guided or forced by the determining influence of biological factors or conditioning

  
  

  This suggests we are the directors of own lives and therefore take responsibility and 'credit' for the behaviours we exhibit.

  
  

  C.A. some people with psychological disorders do not appear to have free will, perhaps free will is a spectrum, some have more than others
• Gender bias

  • failure to consider adequately differences between men and women can lead to gender bias • historically in psychology there has been predominance of research based on samples of men

  · research or theories offer a view that might not justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of men or women (usually women)

  • researchers might have different expectations of men and women, which might then affect research outcomes
• Universality

  any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing.
• Types of gender bias

  · Alpha bias: misrepresentation of behaviour researchers/theorists overestimate/exaggerate gender difference between men & women.

  · Beta bias: misrepresentation of behaviour because researchers/theorists underestimate/minimise gender differences between men & women, often happens when female participants are not included in the research process.
• Androcentrism

  · 'male centred'

  - when 'normal' behaviour is judged according to a male standard (meaning female behaviour is judged to be 'abnormal' or deficient by comparison)

  - leads to female behaviour being misunderstood and pathologised (taken as a sign of illness e.g. PMS medicalise female emotions e.g. anger by explaining it in hormonal whereas male anger is a rational response to external pressure)
• (-) AO3 - Gender bias: societal implications

  gender-biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour

  - fail to challenge negative stereotypes and validate discriminatory practices

  - provide a scientific 'justification' to deny women opportunities in the workplace & society (PMS example)

  - lasting & damaging consequences for real women.

  - glass ceiling = social barrier preventing women from being promoted to top jobs in management
• (-) AO3 - Gender bias: sexism within research process


  more male than female researchers at a senior scientific level

  - concerns of women are less likely to be addressed

  - male researchers more likely to have their work published

  Nicholson (1995)

  - female pps in lab studies are placed in an inequitable (unfair) relationship with male researcher, who has the power to label them as irrational and unable to complete tasks

  - psychology may be guilty of supporting a form of institutional sexism that creates bias in theory & research. (Denmark et al., 1988)
• (-) AO3 - Gender bias: essentialist perspective


  the idea that there are fixed, unchanging differences between the genders (biologically determinist).

  - this perspective is outdated, but is often used as 'fact'

  - Link to Bem's research
• (+) AO3 - Gender bias: feminist psychologists propose how it can be avoided


  Worrell (1992)

  a number of criteria should be adhered to in order to avoid gender bias:

  - women should be studied in real life context

  - they should genuinely participate in research, not be objects of study

  - diversity within groups of women should be examined as opposed to differences between men and women.

  - there should be a greater emphasis on collaborative research methods that collect qualitative data. T

  
  

  his way of conducting research may be preferable, and less gender-biased than lab-based research. Detailed, valid, real accounts from the perspective of women themselves