Issues & debates studies

Gender bias evaluations

Cultural bias evaluations

The nature-nurture debate

Free will & determinism evaluations

Holism & reductionism evaluations

Idiographic & nomothetic evaluations

Ethical implications of studies & theory evaluations

Lack of women at senior research level may mean that female concerns not as represented, as well as female participants being labeled by male researchers.

Though many modern researchers arte reflexive of their own work, e.g. Dambrin & Lambert reflected on how their gender related experiences influenced their representation of results, in their study on lack of women in executive positions in accountancy firms.

Gender bias in psychology may cause damaging consequences to lives of women, i.e. Research provides scientific justification to stereotype women.

Shouldn't assume there is no universal behaviour.

Research outside of western culture shouldn't assume participants have same knowledge & expectations of scientific testing.

Due to increased global connections, their may not be as much distinction between past collectivists & individualist countries.

Takano & Osaka:

  • 14/15 studies comparing US & Japan found no evidence of distinction between individualist & collectivist cultures.
  • Culture bias less problematic than before.

Enkman: Basic facial expressions, e.g. Happiness, is universal for humans & animals.

Some aspects of human attachment, e.g. Reciprocity & interactional synchrony, are universal.

Therefore demand characteristics may be exaggerated.

Free will

Determinism

Diathesis-stress model

Epigenetics

Tienari et al:

  • Group of Finnish adoptees.
  • Most likely to develop schizophrenia had biological relatives of the disorder.
  • Also relationship with adoptive families defined as 'dysfunctional'.

Dias & Ressler:

  • Male lab rats given electric shock with every exposure to acetophenone.
  • Rats showed fear with exposure to smells.
  • Rats' children & grandchildren also feared smell, even with no previous exposure.

Evaluation

Shared & unshared environments suggested by Dunn & Plomin states that individual differences mean that siblings experience life events separately.

Constructivism - people create own nurture by selecting environments appropriate for nature. E.g. Naturally aggressive child likely chooses environment with others like them.

Nativists may lead to controversy, e.g. Link to race & intelligence, as well as promoting eugenicist philosophy.

The way that research questions are phrased may influence interpretation of results, e.g. Kitzinger & Coyle found research into alternate relationships have heterosexual bias, where homosexual relationships judged against heterosexual norms.

Research into socially sensitive topics may promote greater understanding, which can reduce prejudice, e.g. EWT.

Findings may be misused or abused, e.g. Packard claimed sales of coca cola & popcorn increased when flashed quickly on cinema screen, but findings were made up.

Nomothetic

Idiographic

Holism

Reductionism

For:

  • High face validity as everyday life gives us the impression of free will.
  • Robert et al: adolescents with belief in fatalism (life out of their control), were more at risk of depression.
  • Therefore belief in free will can help mental health.

For:

  • Allows for the prediction & thus control of behaviour, e.g. Psychoactive drugs.

Against:

  • Hard determinism not consistent with the legal system, where offenders held accountable for actions.
  • Unfalsifiable as based on the idea that causes always exist, even if they've not been found.

Against:

  • Studies by Libet, and then Chun Siong Soon et al: activity of pressing left or right button occurs in brain up to ten seconds before participants consciously aware of decision.

Behaviour shaping may lead to manipulation of citizens within a society.

Therefore explains why MZ twins reared together don't have perfect concordance rates.

For:

  • Often aspects of social behaviour that can only be understood within a group context. E.g. Conformity to social roles.

Against:

  • Holistic explanations tend not to have rigorous scientific testing & more vague & speculative, e.g. Humanistic approach.
  • Higher level explanation also combine many different perspectives, which is problematic as can't determine the most influential or one as the basis of, perhaps, therapy.

For:

  • Variable can be broken down for meaningful & reliable experiment.

Against:

  • Oversimplifying phenomenon to the extent where validity if lost, e.g. physiological processes involved in pointing a finger doesn't tell why the finger's been pointed.

For:

  • Provides global account of individual, which can support general law of nomothetic approach or challenge it. E.g. HM

Against:

  • Work is narrow & restrictive, e.g. Freud's study on little Hans criticised for generalising based on a single case study.
  • Methods associated tend to be less scientific, e.g. Subjective interpretation of an interview.

For:

  • More scientific processes, therefore may give psychology its scientific credibility.
    • Can predict phenomenons.

Against:

  • Critised for losing the whole person, where the person is reduced to set of scores.
  • Gives superficial understanding, e.g. Milgram's research with obedience in participants, doesn't explain why each person obeyed.