Issues & Debates

In Freud's psychoanalytic theory, behaviour was often explained largely in terms of male development (e.g. the Oedipus complex), with female development described as a deviation from the male norm. This is an example of which form of bias?

• ABeta bias
• BAndrocentrism✓
• CEthnocentrism
• DImposed etic

Answer: Taking male behaviour as the standard or norm against which female behaviour is judged (and often seen as inferior or deviant) is androcentrism, a form of gender bias. Ethnocentrism and imposed etic concern culture bias, not gender.

A theory minimises or ignores genuine differences between men and women, assuming findings from one sex apply equally to the other. Which type of gender bias is this?

• AAlpha bias
• BAndrocentrism
• CBeta bias✓
• DGynocentrism

Answer: Beta bias minimises or ignores real differences between the sexes, often by assuming findings from one sex (frequently males) apply to all. Alpha bias is the opposite: it exaggerates differences between the sexes.

A Western-developed intelligence test is used to assess people in a non-Western culture, and their lower scores are interpreted as genuinely lower intelligence. This best illustrates which problem?

• AAn imposed etic leading to ethnocentric conclusions✓
• BAn emic approach studying the behaviour within its own culture
• CBeta bias, which minimises real differences between two groups
• DCultural relativism, judging each behaviour by its own cultural norms

Answer: Applying a technique or theory designed in one culture to another while assuming it is universal is an imposed etic; judging the other culture as inferior by the home culture's standards is ethnocentrism. Cultural relativism and the emic approach would, by contrast, study behaviour within its own cultural context.

Which statement best characterises 'soft determinism' as applied in psychology?

• AAll behaviour can be traced to external forces, with no role for personal choice
• BBehaviour is the product of free will and conscious choice, unconstrained by prior causes
• CBehaviour is determined by unconscious biological drives and instincts
• DBehaviour is determined by internal and external factors but people can still exercise conscious choice within those constraints✓

Answer: Soft determinism (associated with James) holds that behaviour has causes but people can still exercise free, conscious choice within those constraints, reconciling determinism with a degree of free will. Hard determinism denies any free will at all.

A psychologist claims that intelligence is best understood as an interaction between inherited potential and environmental experience, rather than as the product of one or the other. Which concept does this most clearly reflect?

• AThe interactionist view of the nature-nurture debate✓
• BHard environmental determinism, which credits upbringing with everything
• CPure nativism, the idea of inherited intelligence
• DReductionism that explains intelligence by breaking it into its parts (genes)

Answer: The modern nature-nurture debate emphasises interaction: traits such as intelligence arise from the interplay of genetic predisposition (nature) and experience (nurture). Pure nativism (nature only) and environmental determinism (nurture only) reject this interactionist view. Diathesis-stress is the interactionist model used specifically for mental disorder, where an inherited vulnerability is triggered by environmental stress.

A researcher argues that complex human memory cannot be fully understood by studying it only as isolated stores and processes, and that the whole experience is greater than the sum of its parts. Which position is being expressed?

• AReductionism
• BHolism✓
• CNomothetic approach
• DEnvironmental determinism

Answer: Arguing that a phenomenon should be studied as an integrated whole, because it is more than the sum of its component parts, is holism (associated with the Gestalt/humanistic traditions). Reductionism would break the behaviour down into its simplest constituent parts.

Which pairing of approach with its position on the idiographic-nomothetic debate is correct?

• AThe humanistic approach tends to be nomothetic because it tests large samples and groups; the behaviourist approach is idiographic
• BThe idiographic approach seeks universal laws; the nomothetic approach studies the individual
• CHumanistic and psychodynamic case studies tend to be idiographic; behaviourist and biological approaches tend to be nomothetic✓
• DBoth the biological and the humanistic approach are idiographic, since each builds a detailed profile of one unique individual over time

Answer: Idiographic approaches study the unique individual in depth (e.g. humanistic, Freud's case studies); nomothetic approaches seek general laws by studying large samples (e.g. behaviourist, biological). Saying that the idiographic approach seeks universal laws while the nomothetic approach studies the individual reverses the two definitions, and labelling the humanistic approach nomothetic or the biological approach idiographic misplaces both.

Research suggesting a genetic basis for criminality is described as 'socially sensitive'. Which consideration best explains why?

• AIt uses only qualitative or anecdotal data, which is extremely hard to generalise from at all reliably
• BIt cannot be peer reviewed, because reviewers avoid controversial topics
• CIt breaches the confidentiality of participants and their families
• DIts findings could have significant real-world consequences for participants or the groups they represent, such as discrimination or policy misuse✓

Answer: Socially sensitive research has potential consequences or implications, directly for participants or for the wider group they represent. Findings on a genetic basis for criminality could be misused to justify discrimination or coercive policy, which is the core ethical implication.

What is alpha bias?

• AExaggerating the differences between men and women✓
• BMinimising the differences between men and women
• CAssuming findings from one culture apply to all cultures
• DJudging other cultures by the standards of your own

Answer: Alpha bias overstates differences, often presenting them as fixed. Beta bias minimises or ignores them, as when female participants are excluded and male findings assumed to generalise.

What is ethnocentrism in psychological research?

• AStudying only those cultures very different from your own
• BExaggerating the differences between two separate ethnic groups
• CJudging other cultures by the standards of your own culture✓
• DAssuming behaviour is determined entirely by genetics

Answer: Ainsworth's Strange Situation is the standard example, since norms derived from American infants make other child-rearing practices look deficient. An imposed etic applies a culturally specific measure universally.

What is the free will versus determinism debate about?

• AWhether behaviour is learned or inherited directly from parents
• BWhether behaviour is chosen or caused by factors beyond control✓
• CWhether behaviour should be studied by scientific methods or not
• DWhether behaviour is best explained at a biological level

Answer: Hard determinism says all behaviour has a cause, soft determinism allows constrained choice, and the humanistic approach argues for genuine free will. The legal system's notion of responsibility assumes free will.

What is holism in psychology?

• AExplaining behaviour by reducing it to its simplest components
• BExplaining behaviour by considering the person as a whole✓
• CExplaining behaviour purely in terms of brain chemistry
• DExplaining behaviour purely in terms of learned associations

Answer: Holism argues that breaking behaviour into parts loses meaning that only emerges at the level of the whole. Reductionism is more scientific and testable, which is the central trade-off in the debate.

What is an idiographic approach?

• AStudying large samples in order to establish general laws
• BStudying individuals in depth to understand them fully✓
• CStudying behaviour only under controlled laboratory conditions
• DStudying behaviour across several different cultures

Answer: Case studies such as HM or Little Hans are idiographic, offering rich detail but limited generalisability. The nomothetic approach seeks universal laws from large samples.

What is socially sensitive research?

• AResearch which the participants find personally embarrassing to complete
• BResearch conducted only within the most socially disadvantaged communities
• CResearch whose findings are kept confidential from the public
• DResearch with potential consequences for the participants' social group✓

Answer: Sieber and Stanley warned that studies of race, gender or sexuality can be used to justify discrimination regardless of the researcher's intent. The argument against avoiding such topics is that ignoring them has consequences too.

What does the nature-nurture debate concern?

• AThe relative merits of qualitative and quantitative data
• BThe relative contribution of inheritance and environment✓
• CWhether psychology should be considered a true science
• DWhether the mind and the body are separate entities

Answer: Modern accounts treat the question as meaningless in its pure form, since the two interact — epigenetics shows environment altering gene expression. The interactionist position dominates.

What is meant by biological reductionism?

• AExplaining complex behaviour purely through simple learned associations
• BExplaining complex behaviour only at the level of the wider social group
• CExplaining complex behaviour purely through physiological processes✓
• DExplaining complex behaviour without reference to any cause

Answer: Reducing depression to serotonin levels makes it testable and treatable but overlooks the social and cognitive context. Environmental reductionism does the same thing with stimulus-response links.

What is cultural relativism?

• AAll cultures should be judged against one single universal standard
• BCultural differences in behaviour do not really exist at all
• CBehaviour is determined mainly by cultural inheritance
• DBehaviour can only be understood within its cultural context✓

Answer: It counters ethnocentrism, though taken to an extreme it makes cross-cultural comparison impossible and could excuse harmful practices. Using an emic approach studies behaviour from within a culture.

A researcher gives a standardised personality questionnaire to 2000 adults to identify traits that apply across the population.

Which approach to research does this illustrate?

• AIdiographic, as it aims to understand each adult as a unique case
• BHolistic, as it aims to explain each adult as an integrated whole
• CIdiographic, as it aims to establish laws that apply across groups
• DNomothetic, as it aims to establish laws that apply across groups✓

Answer: Studying large samples with standardised measures to find general laws is the nomothetic approach. The idiographic approach studies individuals in depth as unique cases, so it does not aim to establish general laws, and holism concerns explaining the whole person rather than generalising across many people.

One textbook explains depression in three ways: through serotonin activity in the brain, through negative thinking patterns, and through unemployment and poverty in the community.

Which concept from issues and debates does this best illustrate?

• ABiological reductionism, as the behaviour is reduced to genes alone
• BLevels of explanation, as the behaviour is described at several levels✓
• CEnvironmental determinism, as the behaviour is caused by social factors
• DThe idiographic approach, as each patient is studied as a unique case

Answer: The same behaviour is explained at a neurochemical, a psychological and a social level, which is the levels of explanation approach. It is not biological reductionism because two of the three accounts are not biological (and none involves genes), it is not purely environmental because the first level is biological, and no individual case is studied.

In a criminal trial, a defence lawyer argues that the defendant should not be held fully responsible for an assault because he carries a low-activity variant of the MAOA gene.

Which position does the lawyer's argument rely on, and what is its implication?

• ASoft determinism, implying he had full conscious control of his actions
• BEnvironmental determinism, implying his upbringing caused the assault
• CFree will, implying he could have chosen to act differently at the time
• DBiological determinism, implying the assault was not freely chosen✓

Answer: The argument treats a gene as the cause of the behaviour, which is biological determinism, and it implies reduced moral responsibility because the act was not freely chosen. This raises a problem for the legal system, which assumes free will. Soft determinism allows some choice and would not support the defence, the argument cites a gene rather than upbringing, and free will would make the defendant fully responsible.

In some communities, hearing the voice of a dead relative during mourning is regarded as normal and even comforting. A visiting Western clinician records it as a symptom of psychosis.

Which issue does the clinician's judgement most clearly raise?

• ABeta bias, as the clinician exaggerated the differences between sexes
• BAndrocentrism, as the clinician used a female standard of normality
• CCultural relativism, as normality should be judged within the culture✓
• DReductionism, as the clinician explained the voices as social learning

Answer: The clinician judges the experience by Western norms rather than those of the community, which ignores cultural relativism: behaviour can only be properly understood in its cultural context. Beta bias minimises sex differences (exaggerating them is alpha bias), androcentrism means taking a MALE standard as the norm, and nothing in the scenario explains the voices as social learning.