issues and debates

Descartes argues that our behaviour is innat because it is heritability. nativists, measured by the heritability coefficient. a number between 1 -0.1. Plomin found that HC for IQ was 0.5

Locke argues the mind is a blank slate influenced by the environment. empircists. Lerner identified different levels of environmental influence quite narrow pre-natal terms like mothers physiological and physical state during pregnancy or more generally post natal experiences like social, cultural and historical context

they are hard to separate/devise since environment influences a child from the moment it is born. This has led to suggestion that they shouldn’t be separated. the interactionist approach overcome this - Belsky and Rovine argue that nature creates nurture. influences the diathesis stress model; Tienari et al

Changes in genetic activity without changing genetic code as a result of environmental interaction. these interactions like smoking leave marks on DNA which tell our bodies which jeans to ignore and which to use. Epigenetics Add a sad factor into the debate life experiences of ancestors. Dias and Keller Give mice and electric shock when they smell a certain chemical in order to create a fear of it in them. Their children and grandchildren have the same fear

nativist view is very deterministic which is controversial when linking grace, gender, and the application of eugenics. in contrast empiricist can lead to desirable behaviours being reinforced and undesirable behaviours punished which creates a modern society we have shaped ourselves

Research into debate uses MZ twins, but they have the same jeans and environment often. Dunn and Plomin also said they interpret their environments differently, hence they don’t have 100% coordinates rates

Create our own nurture by choosing experiences which suit our nature; and naturally aggressive child will choose aggressive friends. Plomin calls this niche-picking and niche-building And says it is evidence that nature/nurture shouldn’t be separated

Strong commitment to either nature or nurture is hard determinism. nativists are biological determinists whereas empiricists are environmentally determinists

Humans are self determining and they choose their own thoughts and feelings. Biological and environmental influences can be suppressed and ignored. This is a humanistic approach.

No choice, no free will, no control

Fatalism - All humans behaviour is determined by external and internal factors. It is a science with a cause and effect. Compatible with the aims of science.

Philosopher William James suggested human behaviour has a cause but we have some control over how we Behave. Does not detract From our our rational conscious choices. Like the cognitive approach

Biology determines behaviour. Neurological and physiological processes like ANS are not in our control. Mental disorders have biological basis. Hormones affect behaviour like testosterone and aggression. Biopsychologists say that the environment influences biology which is doubling determinist

Skinner said free will was an illusion because it was a result of conditioning. Our choices is a sum of reinforcement due to experiences. Agents of socialisation shaped by the environment.

Freud said free wheel is an illusion behaviour determined by unconscious drives and instincts. Behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts Repressed in childhood. Freud said nothing is an accident but we can be explained by unconscious authority.

Basic principles of science is that every event has a cause that can cause can be explained through general laws. Knowledge of causes can help to predict the future

Face validity - Every day experiences of choice suggest free will. This has cognitive sense. Research suggests internal locus of control means people are more mentally healthy. Roberts et al Sad those who believe in fatalism are more likely to develop depression so free will has a positive impact on the mind

Neurological evidence against free will. Libet and Siong Soon Sad that the brain activity determines are a choices. They found that when asked to push a button either left or right the brain decided up to 10 seconds before the participant was consciously aware of having an answer

Consistent with the aims of science. Led to the development of treatments and therapies because if we can predict behaviour we can control it. Is used to treat depression and schizophrenia but also drugs can treat biologically determined mental illnesses like OCD. Unlikely anyone chooses to suffer mental illnesses.

hard Determinist stance has implications on the legal system. How can you punish someone if they couldn’t help their choice in court? Offenders have to be held morally accountable. Determinism is Unfalsifiable. Determinism says the cause of behaviour will always exist even if not found and you cannot prove this wrong. Determine or may not be as scientific as first seems

Approaches with a cognitive element like social learning theory tend to adopt soft determinism. Bora said that environmental influences affect our choices but ultimately we We choose to imitate. Differential association theory.

German psychologists say a whole is better than the sum of its parts. They say any attempt to break up behaviour and experiences is inappropriate and can only be understood as a whole. Humanist support this as they say successful therapy brings together all aspects of a person.

Analyses behaviour in relation to individual parts. Based on scientific principal of parsimony - That all phenomena should be explained at its most basic level. Levels of explanation different ways of viewing the same phenomena in psychology some more reductionist than others

It’s the level of what things phenomena can be explained that so sociology, Psychology, biology, chemistry, physics. OCD can be explained at a social cultural level (repetitive handwashing) physiological level (obsessive thoughts) physiological level(hypersensitivity in the basal ganglia) neurochemical level ( production of Seroton) which is the best explanation is open to debate

All behaviour is at some point Biological and can be explained through Neurochemical , neurophysiological And genetic influences

behaviourist approach is environmentally reductionist as it only looks at observable behaviours and sees behaviour at a physical response to stimulus with no cognitive influence

Some behaviour can only be understood in groups and not individuals like conformity in Zimbardo study social roles was due to interaction within individuals. Holism is more complete.

there is no scientific testing that can be done because of vague and complex ideas. Humanistic approach is criticised for the lack of empirical Evidence and being based on loose concepts. Because holism consider different elements it can be hard to decide which is most important when considering what therapy to use. Hard to find solutions to real world problems.

more scientific because it allows for the operationalisation of variables. Experiments are more meaningful and reliable. The behaviourist approach allows for complex behaviours to be understood in a simple way.

Oversimplifies complex phenomena leading to a loss of validity. Biological explanations ignore environmental influences which is where the behaviour may derive Meaning. Reduction his arm is only a part explanation.

Because holism is a higher level of explanation of group behaviour whereas interactionism looks at combining the different level levels of reductionism. The diathesis stress model

Attempts to explain nature of individuals believes people have their own unique experiences and that individuals are subjective. No attempt to generalise findings. Qualitative data like case studies and questionnaires., Humanistic approach is the most idiographic approach. Rogers and Maslow took a phenomenological approach To studying Human beings And were only interested in documenting conscious experiences of the self. Anti-scientific psychodynamic approach is often described as an ideographic approach because of little hands, but he was actually interested in universal laws

General laws on human behaviour. Provides a benchmark which individuals can compare against so future behaviour can be predicted and controlled scientific explanations with large samples, Links approaches which are determinist, reductionist and use scientific methods. Hypothesis are formulated, tested and findings generalised to large groups of people. The behaviourism, cognitive approach and biological approach are nomothetic. Skinner used 100 rats to create universal laws of learning. Cognitive psychologists have ins third processes of memory based on participants in lab experiments. brain scans of humans have being generalised to understanding localisation of function

Qualitative data which is rich in detail and provides full accounts. Some case studies have led to new hypothesis being generated like the case study of HM this led to understanding of all humans.

Restrictive -One case study cannot explain all behaviour. Metodology Is least scientific and relies on subjective interpretation

Scientific methodology Without subjective judgements, reliable with greater scientific credibility

Based on general laws, which loses individuality. knowing there is a one percent chance of developing schizophrenia towers little about schizophrenia itself. Overlooks the richness of human experiences, studies of memory are just treated as scores and not human experiments.

Possible to study something using both approaches. In gender there are general patterns established through Bems androgyny Scale and case study like David Reimer. contemporary understanding of both terms was introduced by Windelband - modern psychologists want rich detailed accounts of human experiences within a framework of general laws

Alpha bias, beta bias

Research Which exaggerates the difference between males and females normally leading to women being undervalued. An example is the sociobiological theory of forming relationships (Wilson) which says that male jeans mean they want to impregnate as many women as possible to pass on their jeans. For a female it’s suggest that they are choosier and preserve her for the right man. The central idea is that sexual promiscuity in males is genetically determined, but in women this is against their nature and exaggeration of gender difference and an essentiallist argument in psychology.

Underestimates the differences between males and females occurring when females are not involved in the research but it is assumed findings generalised to them. e.g Asch. fight or flight research was conducted on male animals and assumed to be universal response but Taylor has shown that actually women have a different approach a tend And befriend approach where they care for the young and for defensive networks with other females

It’s a consequence of beta bias if research into normal behaviour is drawn from males then anything outside of this may be considered an abnormality leading to Female behaviour being misunderstood. PMS Is now considered a social construction with medicalise female emotion. males on the other hand have their anger explained by a rational response to external pressure Broscoll and Ulhurn

Leads to misleading assumptions about female behaviour and females to challenge female stereotypes. Ends up giving scientific justification for denying women opportunities. Travis says it’s becomes normal for women to feel abnormal.

lack of women in senior research teams leads to women’s views being left out of research questions. Mail research is more likely to be published along with documents that have no gender bias. In experiments women are often placed in an equal relationships with male researchers leading to them being believed to be un , reasonable and irrational and unable to complete complex tasks (Nicolson) psychology may be responsible for creating institutional sexism (Denmark et al)

Gender differences are fixed and inevitable. Walkerdine comments on how in the 1930s it was believed that intellectual liability in women would shrink her ovaries. Often essentialist views are politically motivated arguments Disguised as biological facts

modern researchers are beginning to understand the Affect bias has on their own work. In the study into the lack of women in executive positions Dambrin and Lambert Include reflection on how their own feelings may have influenced the study. Such reflectivity is important in leading to greater awareness of the role of personal biases in research.

Worrell put forward criteria from how women should be studied in research. They should be studied in meaningful reflective settings and participate in the study rather than being objects of the study

Attendance to ignore cultural differences and look at phenomenon through the lens of one’s own culture. 64% of psychologists are American and 94% of Participants are American. Reduces universality of research.

ethnocentrism, cultural relativism

A form of cultural bias where the researcher believes their culture is superior and any behaviour outside of that cultural norm is abnormal with SST, Ainsworth claimed to have universal findings but in Germany infants were much more independent than Ainsworth found in Takahashi set the study didn’t work in Japan. SST is now determined inappropriate outside of US cultures.

Ainsworth is also an example of imposed etic where research in her own culture was inappropriately applied to all cultures. Berry has looked at emic and etic in studies. emic identifies behaviour that is specific to our culture and Barry says that too much research takes and etic Approach over an emic Approach. Cultural relativism says that norms and values can only be understood within their culture.

Culture being studied in this way in the past, but critics say that this is no longer appropriate. Takano and Osaka Looked at studies comparing Japan and USA and 14/15 found no Distinction between individualistic and collectivist

some research is on universal and therefore not everything is appropriate subject to cultural relativism. Even with SST interactional synchrony has been seen to be universal.

Western cultures tend to be familiar with research aims however this level of knowledge may not apply to all cultures. This means demand characteristics may be exaggerated in familiar cultures.

not all behaviours are measured in the same way across cultures. If measuring a aggression in UK And China Invasion of personal space may be seen as aggressive in Britain but in China this is normal. This affects interactions between research and participants often.

Cross cultural research may challenge typical western views. it develops understanding of individual differences helping to overcome scientific racism

Debate for many years between gaining valid research Resorts and maintaining ethical standards. Ethical guidelines help this to happen. Social impacts are hard to protect people against as the media could misinterpret things impact policies and influence perception of groups and society.

defined by Stanly and Sieber as ‘ research where there may be implications on the individual involved or groups they represent’ research into cognitive function may not be SSR but research into taboo topics like race sexuality gender might be. They attract attention but psychologists should not shy away from them. Aronson says some have a responsibility to carry out this research as it is important. Sieber and Stanly outlined concerns that researchers should be mindful of when conducting SSR.

Implications -Some research could give scientific credibility to prejudice and discrimination, Uses/public policy - Consider what the research will be used for, Validity of the research - some findings may seem objective but may actually turn out to be fraudulent like Burt’s

Scarr argues that studies of underrepresented groups lead to less discrimination and more acceptance. SSR can benefits society research into the the unreliability of ET can prevent miscarriages of justice. The valuable role in society.

Sieber Stanley say that the question can lead to misinterpretation. Cross cultural research can be blighted by ethnocentrism. Kitzinger and Coyle how research into alternative relationships often compares homosexual and heterosexual relationships which is not a fair comparison. Researches must keep an open mind when conducting SSR.

SSR’s have been used to shape government policies despite their result sometimes being dubious. Burt’s Research saw the creation of the 11+ test because he found that IQ has a heritability Coefficient of 0.77 but it was soon proven false. In the 1950s research into subliminal Messages was used by marketing companies in advertisements Packared Claimed that sales of Coca-Cola and popcorn increased when the Ad flashed up so quickly that viewers couldn’t see it. It was then revealed that Packard Had made up his results research which manipulates the public has ethical implications

sSR’s has been used to gain social control. In the 1920s and 30s research said that those who were alcoholics. promiscuous All on drugs were feebleminded and therefore unfit to breed. This led to compulsory sterilisation. SSR were therefore used for discriminatory Processes