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83 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What is universality? |
Anything that can be applied to all - psychologists beliefs cause bias - bias threatens universality |
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What is gender bias? |
The tendency to treat one sex in a different way to the other - view that doesn't represent the behaviour of men and women |
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What is alpha bias? |
Psychological theories which suggest real differences between men and women - typically undervalues females |
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What is an example of alpha bias? |
Sociobiological theory of relationship formation - male sexual promiscuity innate but not for women |
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What is beta bias? |
Theories that ignore and minimise differences between the sexes - when females not included in research process |
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What is an example of beta bias? |
Fight or flight response Taylor: females have tend-and-befriend response |
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What is androcentrism? |
When behaviour is decided as 'normal' from a male standard - female behaviour is seen as abnormal |
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What is an example of androcentrism? |
PMS diagnosis - trivialises female experience - social construction to invalidate human emotion |
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What are the evaluation points of gender bias? |
- implications of gender bias - sexism within the research process - reflexivity - essentialism - feminist psychology |
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What is the 'implications of gender bias' evaluation point of gender bias? |
- creates misleading assumptions of female behaviour=validate discrimination - scientific proof to deny opportunities - damaging consequences that affect lives of real women |
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What is the 'sexism with the research process' evaluation point of gender bias? |
- less women in senior research=fem. concerns not reflected - males researchers=published work - fem. participants w/male researcher=labelled unreasonable/irrational |
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What is the 'reflexivity' evaluation point of gender bias? |
- embrace bias as critical aspect of research Dambrini/Lambert: study of women executives in accounting;reflection on gender experiences influencing interpretation - awareness of personal bias |
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What is the 'essentialism' evaluation point of gender bias? |
- gender difference is 'fixed' in nature
1930s: scientific research;intellectual activity shrivels ovaries - politically motivated;disguised as biological;creates double standard |
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What is the 'feminist psychology' evaluation point of gender bias? |
Worrell: criteria to avoid gender bias in research;women studied in real context and participate in research - diversity within women examined;greater emphasis on qualitative data |
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What is cultural bias? |
- tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret everything from own culture perspective - 1992: 64% psychology researcher were American |
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How does cultural bias affect the universality of findings? |
- psychology claims to find universal truths, but findings only apply to studied culture - assumes Western culture applies to the world |
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What is ethnocentrism? |
- judging a culture by the standards of another - believing own culture is superior=discrimination of other cultures |
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What is an example of ethnocentrism in psychology? |
- behaviour not 'typical' in Western culture=unsophisticated e.g Ainsworth's Strange Situation - only reflected Western norms/values (separation anxiety) - German parenting seen as cold than encouraging independence |
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What is cultural relativism? |
- idea that norms/values (including ethics/moral standards) only understood in specific social/cultural contexts |
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How does Ainsworth's resarch show cultural relativism? |
- imposed etic: imposed her own cultural understanding onto other countries |
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According to Berry, what is emic and etic? |
Emic: identifying behaviours in a culture specific to that culture Etic: looks at behaviour outside a culture and describes these behaviours as universal - psychology uses etic approach when research is emic |
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What are the evaluation points for cultural bias? |
- individualism and collectivism - cultural relativism versus universality - unfamiliarity with research tradition - operationalisation of variables - challenging 'implicit' assumptions |
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What is the 'individualism and collectivism' evaluation point of cultural bias? |
Individualist: Western;value independence Collectivist: China;needs of the group - global communication=no longer distinction Takano/Osaka: 1415 studies of USvsJPN=no evidence of distinction - cultural bias less of an issue than the past |
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What is the 'cultural relativism versus universality' evaluation point of cultural bias?
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- shouldn't assume all research culturally relative/no human behaviour is universal Ekman: basic emotional facial expressions same across humans/animals |
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What is the 'unfamiliarity with research tradition' evaluation point of cultural bias? |
- knowledge/faith in scientific research not extended to other cultures - demand characteristics exaggerated when working with local population=adverse effect on validity |
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What is the 'operationalisation of variables' evaluation point of cultural bias? |
- variables not experienced same by all - emotional behavioural expression different across cultures - invasion of personal space normal in China not West |
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What is the 'challenging implicit assumptions' evaluation point of cultural bias? |
- cross-cultural research challenge Western ways of thinking - promotes sensitivity to individual difference - conclusions more valid if they recognise culture influence |
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What is free will? |
- idea that humans choices aren't determined by biological/external forces e.g. humanistic approach |
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What is determinism? |
- view that individual behaviour controlled by internal/external forces than free will - two types: hard and soft determinism |
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What is hard determinism? |
- free will doesn't exist - behaviour always controlled by internal/external events beyond control |
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What is soft determinism? |
- all events have causes, but behaviour can also be determined by conscious choice |
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What is biological determinism? |
- behaviour is caused by biological influences we cannot control e.g. biological explanation for schizophrenia |
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What is environmental determinism? |
- behaviour caused by features of the environment (reward systems) we can't control e.g. SLT of gender development/behaviour modification/BF Skinner |
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What is psychic determinism? |
- the belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts we cannot control e.g. Freud's psychoanalytic theory of gender development |
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How are determinist approaches more scientific? |
- every event has cause explained by general laws - allows scientists to predict/control events in the future - lab experiment=stimulate conditions/remove extraneous variables=control |
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What are the evaluation points for free will and determinism?
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- case for determinism - case against determinism - case for free will - case against free will - compromise |
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What is the 'case for determinism' evaluation point of free will and determinism? |
- consistent with established sciences - prediction/control led to treatment development e.g. psychotics for schizo - schizo=lose control=doubt of free will |
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What is the 'case against determinism' evaluation point of free will and determinism? |
- hard determinism not consistent with legal system (offenders morally accountable)
- cases of behaviour may not be found=unfalsifiable - determinist approach not entirely scientific |
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What is the 'case for free will' evaluation point of free will and determinism? |
- everyday experience of choice gives impression=face validity - research: internal locus of control=more mentally healthy - illusion of free will has positive impact on mind/behaviour |
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What is the 'case against free will' evaluation point of free will and determinism? |
Libet: brain activity determining simple choices occur prior to awareness of choice (ten seconds before) - basic free will determined by brain before we're aware |
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What is the 'compromise' evaluation point of free will and determinism? |
- interactionist approach=best compromise e.g SLT adopts soft determinism - environment=learning;choose attention/performance of behaviour |
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What is the nature nurture debate? How did it originate? |
- the extent to which behaviour is inherited or learned Descartes: human characteristics innate Locke: mind is blank/learn from environment |
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What is heredity? |
- genetic transmission of mental/physical characteristics from generations |
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What is the heritability coefficient? |
- 0 to 1 indicating extent of characteristic's genetic basis |
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Why is the nature-nurture debate nearly impossible to solve? |
- environmental influence straight after birth - difficult to separate |
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What is the interactionist approach to the nature-nurture debate? |
- attachment: child's innate behaviour influence parent response=nature creates nurture |
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What is the diathesis-stress model approach to the nature-nurture debate? |
- mental illness caused by genetic vulnerability - expressed with environmental trigger |
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What are the evaluation points of the nature-nurture debate? |
- implications of nativism and empircism - shared and unshared environments - constructivism - genotype-environment interaction - relationship to other debates |
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What is the 'implications of nativism and empiricism' evaluation point of the nature-nurture debate? |
- two different schools of thought - nativists: determinist stance=controversy (link race, genetics and intelligence) - empiricism: behaviour changed by environment=practical application |
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What is the 'shared and unshared environments' evaluation point of the nature-nurture debate? |
- siblings raised together may not have same upbringing Dunn/Plomin: individual differences=experience life events different (age/temper) - MZ twins not 100% concordance=gene/environ not separable |
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What is the 'constructivism' evaluation point of the nature-nurture debate? |
- notion that genes and environment interact - create nurture: seek environment appropriate for nature Plomin: niche picking/building=impossible to separate influences |
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What is the 'genotype-environment interaction' evaluation point of the nature-nurture debate? |
- passive interaction: parent genes influence child treatment - evocative interaction: child genes shape environ - active interaction: child creates environment through selected experiences - complex multi-layered relationship |
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What is the 'relationship to other debates' evaluation point of the nature-nurture debate? |
- nativists emphasise nature - empiricists emphasise nurture - equates to biological and environmental determinism |
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What is holism? |
- argument proposing it only makes sense to study indivisible system that has constituent parts as a whole |
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What is reductionism? |
- belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts |
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What are levels of explanation in psychology? |
- different ways of viewing the same psychological phenomena e.g. OCD: Socio-cultural: OCD produces repetitive behaviour Psychological: experience of obsessive thoughts Physiological: hypersensitivity of the basal ganglia |
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What is biological reductionism?
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- attempt to explain social/psychological phenomena at lower biological level - application e.g. psychoactive drugs for schizophrenia |
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What is environmental reductionism? |
- attempt to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links learned through experience e.g. Watson (learning behaviour) |
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What are the evaluation points for holism and reductionism? |
- case for holism - case against holism - case for reductionism - case against reductionism - the interactionist approach |
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What is the 'case for holism' evaluation point for holism and reductionism? |
- aspects of social behaviour only understood in group context e.g. conformity - holistic explanation provides complete understanding of behaviour |
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What is the 'case against holism' evaluation point for holism and reductionism? |
- can't be scientifically tested;vague as more complex (humanistic psychology) - depression: accept many factors=hard to establish most influential - for practical applications, lower level explanations more appropriate |
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What is the 'case for reductionism' evaluation point for holism and reductionism? |
- forms basis of scientific research - create operationalised variables=experiments - better credibility=equal to natural sciences |
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What is the 'case against reductionism' evaluation point for holism and reductionism? |
- oversimplify complex phenomena=lose validity - genetic explanations don't include social contexts (behaviour meaning) - only form part of the explanation |
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What is the 'interactionist approach' evaluation point for holism and reductionism? |
- different levels of explanation combine e.g diathesis-stress for schizophrenia - led to more holistic approach (drugs+therapy)=lower relapse rates |
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What is the idiographic approach? |
- approach focusing on individual case to understand behaviour than aiming to form general laws of behaviour e.g. case studies/unstructured interviews (qualitative data) |
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What is the nomothetic approach? |
- attempts to study human behaviour through developing general principles/laws |
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What are examples of idiographic approach in psychology? |
Psychodynamic: Freud used case studies when detailing patients lives Humanistic: only documented conscious experience of individual |
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What are examples of nomothetic approach in psychology? |
Reductionist/determinist: atavistic form
behaviourist/cognitive/biological: Skinner=laws of learning |
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What are the evaluation points of idiographic and nomothetic approaches? |
- case for idiographic approach - case against idiographic approach - case for nomothetic approach - case against nomothetic approach - complementary rather than contradictory |
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What is the 'case for idiographic approach' evaluation point for idiographic and nomothetic approaches?
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- complete global account of individual=complement nomothetic
- generate hypothesis for further study - insight to normal functioning (HM) |
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What is the 'case against idiographic approach' evaluation point for the idiographic and nomothetic approaches? |
- concepts developed from single case=no meaningful generalisations - methods least scientific - conclusions=subjective interpretation |
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What is the 'case for nomothetic approach' evaluation point for the idiographic and nomothetic approaches? |
- methods more scientific (standardised conditions/statistical analysis) - establish norms of behaviour=psychology scientific credibility up |
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What is the 'case against nomothetic approach' evaluation point for the idiographic and nomothetic approaches? |
- lose the whole person in psychology e.g. knowing about schizo doesn't tell what its like - lab=treated like scores=subjective experience ignored - overlooks richness of human experience |
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What is the 'complementary rather than contradictory' evaluation point for the idiographic and nomothetic approaches? |
- not mutually exclusive;consider both idiographic/nomothetic
- e.g. gender development:nomothetic=Bem's BSRI;idiographic=David Reimer - both involved in modern psychology |
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What are ethical implications? |
- impact on research on rights of others (participants) = influencing how groups are regarded |
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According to Sieber and Stanley, what is social sensitivity? |
- studies with potential consequences for individuals represented by the research - e.g. research into genetic basis of criminality |
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What should researchers be concerned with when conducting socially sensitive research? |
Implications: wider effects of research considered;could give scientific credit to discrimination Uses/public policy: what will research be used for? Used by govt to shape policy Validity: findings shown as objective when not |
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What are the evaluation points of ethical implications of research studies and theory? |
- benefits of socially sensitive research - framing the question - who gains - social control - costs and benefits |
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What is the 'benefits of socially sensitive research' evaluation point of ethical implications of research studies and theory? |
- studying minor groups promotes acceptance - benefit society: research to reliability of eyewitness testimony=down miscarriages of justice |
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What is the 'framing the question' evaluation point of ethical implications of research studies and theory? |
- phrasing influences interpretation of findings Kitzinger/Coyle: research to homo relationships judges from hetero norms - approach research with open mind |
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What is the 'who gains' evaluation point of ethical implications of research studies and theory? |
- used by govt=shape policy despite invalid 1950s: subliminal message research used;Coke sales up;Packard: made findings up - research to manipulate=ethical implications |
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What is the 'social control' evaluation point of ethical implications of research studies and theories? |
1920s: US;compulsory sterilisation of lower people in society (low IQ, alcohol addicts) - supported by scientific/psychological research - socially sensitive research can promote discrimination |
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What is the 'costs and benefits' evaluation point of ethical implications of research studies and theories? |
- some social consequences of vulnerable group research hard to predict - assessments of worth subjective |