WJEC Psychology A-level

Contemporary Debates
Notes

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Part 1: Gender Bias
Gender bias – The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on
stereotypes rather than real difference.

Alpha Bias – A tendency to exaggerate differences between men and women, suggesting
that there are real and enduring differences between the two sexes. The consequences
are that theories devalue one gender in comparison to the other, but typically devalue
women.

Examples of Alpha Bias:

1. Psychodynamic explanations for offending behaviour suggests that criminality occurs

due to a deviant superego. According to Freud, since females do not experience
castration anxiety, they are under less pressure and have less of a need to identify with
the moral standards of their same-sex parent, as compared to boys. This suggests that
females, in line with the psychodynamic approach, are less moral than males - an idea
which has been refuted by Hoffman et al.

2. Wilson’s sociobiological theory of relationship formation suggests that sexual

promiscuity in males is genetically determined, whereas promiscuous females are going
against their ‘nature’. Females, from an evolutionary standpoint, need to be more
selective when choosing their mates, due to having a limited supply of eggs and
requiring more energy and effort to reproduce, compared to men. Therefore, such
alpha bias may lead to prejudice and stereotyping of women who engage in these
behaviours.

3. Historically, since the 1980s, schizophrenia has been diagnosed more frequently in men
compared to women, whereas before this time there had been no significant
differences. This is an example of alpha bias, according to Cotton et al, because women
are more likely to be able to continue working, maintain good interpersonal
relationships and show less distress than men. This means that the schizophrenic
symptoms of women may be masked or not severe enough to merit a diagnosis.

Androcentrism – The consequence of beta bias and occurs when all behaviour is compared
according to a ‘male’ standard, often to the neglect or exclusion of women.

Example of Androcentrism:

PMS has been criticised by some as being a social construction, which trivialises female
emotion, particularly anger. On the other hand, male anger is seen as a logical response to
external pressures (Brescoll and Uhlman).

Androcentrism can result in people assuming that what is true for men is also true for
women, thus minimising the differences between men and women. An example of beta
bias is research on fight or flight, research is usually conducted with male animals as in
females the variation in hormone levels would make research more difficult – it has been
assumed that only male samples are needed as what is true for males is true for females,
until Shelley Taylor 2000 challenged this, they provided evidence that females produce a
tend and befriend respond at times of stress which is adaptive as it ensures the survival of
the offspring. This beta bias meant that a real difference was ignored.

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Beta bias – A tendency to ignore or minimise differences between men and women. Such
theories tend to ignore questions about the lives of women, or insights derived from
studies of men will apply equally well to women.

Examples of Beta Bias:

1. Early research conducted into the fight or flight response exclusively used male lab
mice because they experience fewer hormonal fluctuations and so changes in
adrenaline, due to environmental stressors, could be more reliably measured. However,
results from these studies were then generalised to females, ignoring differences
between the two sexes (e.g. speed and extent of the fight or flight response).

2. Kohlberg’s levels of moral reasoning theory was developed on the basis of studying
groups of American males, who all answered questions based on moral dilemmas e.g.
the Heinz dilemma. These results were then generalised to represent levels of moral
reasoning for both men and women.

Universality – The aim to develop theories that apply to all people, which may include
real differences. This describes any underlying characteristic of human behaviour which
can be applied to all individuals, regardless of their differences. Bias, lack of validity and
issues with reliability reduce the universality of psychological findings.

Evaluation

+ Feminist psychology = Feminist psychology argues that difference psychology arises from
biological explanations of behaviour. The social constructionist approach aims to
understand behaviour in terms of social processes. Feminist psychology argues that there
are real differences but socially determined stereotypes make a far greater contribution
to perceived differences. Androcentrism can be countered by a feminist view and the
balance can be readdressed. For example, Eagly (1978) acknowledged that women may be
less effective leaders than men but this knowledge should be used to develop suitable
training programmes and therefore create a future with more women leaders.

— Bias in research methods = If theories and studies are gender biased, the research may
find differences between genders but it may not be the genders that differ but simply the
methods used to test or observe them. For example, Rosenthal (1966) found that male
experimenters are more pleasant and encouraging to female participants and subsequently
they perform better in tasks/male participants appeared to perform less well. Secondly,
fewer women being appointed at senior research positions means that female concerns
are less likely to be reflected in the experimental questions.

— The laboratory experiment may also be an example of institutionalised sexism within

psychology = Male researchers have the authority to deem women as “unreasonable,
irrational and unable to complete complex tasks” (Nicolson, 1995). Eagly and Johnson
noted that studies in real settings found women and men were judged as more similar in
styles of leadership than in lab settings, hence having higher ecological validity.

+ Reverse alpha bias describes the development of theories that show a greater emphasis
on women = Research by Cornwell et al (2013) showed that women are better at learning
because they are more attentive, flexible and organised. Such research challenges the
stereotype that in any gender differences the male position must be better and challenges
people’s preconceptions.

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+ Avoiding a beta bias = Beta bias has allowed women greater access to educational and
occupational opportunities. However Hare, Mustin and Marecek pointed out that arguing
for equality draws attention away from women’s special needs, for example equal
parenting ignores the biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth and the special needs of
women. Therefore, this suggests that some elements of beta bias may actually
disadvantage women.

— Assumptions need to be challenged = Gender bias remains unchallenged in many

theories. Darwin’s theory of sexual selection portrays women as choosy and males as the
ones who compete to be chosen, arguing that women are coy and males as aggressive as
they are in competition with other males. However, this view has been challenged as it has
been found that women are equally competitive when needed. DNA evidence supports the
idea that it is a good adaptive strategy for females to mate with more than one man and
this puts females in competition with other females (Vernimmen, 2015)

Part 2: Cultural Bias

Culture – The rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members
of a society or some other collection of people.

Cultural bias - The tendency to judge all cultures and individuals in terms of your own
cultural assumptions. This distorts or biases your judgements.

Cultural relativism – The view that behaviour, morals, standards and values cannot be
judged properly unless they are viewed in the context of the culture in which they
originate.

Example of Cultural Relativism: Milgram’s study into obedience was originally conducted
using 40 male American participants, but then also replicated using Spanish students
(Miranda et al. found over 90% obedience rates in Spanish students) and Australian
students (where only 16% of female participants continued to the highest voltage setting,
as shown by Kilham and Mann). This suggests that Milgram’s original results were
specifically bound to American cultures.

Alpha bias — Cultural relativism can lead to an alpha bias, where the assumption of real
differences lead psychologists to overlook universals.

Beta bias — Cultural relativism is often discussed in the context of defining mental
disorder. Behaviours that are statistically infrequent in one culture may be more frequent
in another, i.e. schizophrenia is claiming to hear voices but this experience is more
common in African cultures, where hearing voices is a sign of spirituality and so individuals
are more likely to openly report these experiences to their psychiatrist. By assuming the
same rules universally we may diagnose some people as mentally ill but relative to the
culture they may not be.

Alpha and Beta Bias in Cross-Cultural Research:

Alpha bias — With regards to culture refers to the assumption that there are real and
enduring differences between cultural groups. An example is the distinction that is often
made between individualistic and collectivist cultures. We would expect individualistic
cultures to be less conformist as they are less orientated towards group norms and value
the needs of the group over the individual. For example, Takano and Osaka reviewed 15
studies that compared the US and Japan in terms of collectivist/individualism and found

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that 14 out of 15 studies did not support the common view about differences in
conformity. This suggests that there is less of a collectivist/individualist divide in an
increasingly global world.

Beta bias — Refers to theories that minimise or ignore cultural differences, They do this
by assuming that all people are the same and therefore it is reasonable to use the same
theories for different cultural groups. An example is IQ tests. Psychologists use IQ tests to
study intelligence in many different cultures as they assume that their view of intelligence
applies equally to all cultures. However this may not always be the case. Western societies
see intelligence as something within the individual whereas in a collectivist culture
intelligence is a functional relationship depending on shared information between the
individual and society. The result is that non-western people may appear less intelligent.
Such tests are described as taking an “imposed etic” approach, where a test is made in
one group and then imposed on another. This approach studies behaviours outside a given
group and behaviours which can be universally applied to all groups.

Ethnocentrism – An example of alpha bias and leads to beta bias. Seeing things from the
point of view of ourselves and our social group. Evaluating other groups of people using
the standards and customs of one’s own culture. In its extreme form, ethnocentrism can
lead to prejudice and discrimination against ‘lesser’ cultures.

Indigenous psychologies - A method of countering ethnocentrism, the development of

different groups of theories in different countries.

Example of Ethnocentrism: Ainsworth’s Strange Situation is an example of cultural

relativism due to suggesting that a secure attachment was only characterised by moderate
separation and stranger anxiety. Therefore, German mothers, whose children showed little
separation and stranger anxiety (thus being insecure-avoidant according to Ainsworth’s
system), were deemed as cold and rejecting.

The emic-etic distinction — Emic approach is one that emphasises the distinction of
uniqueness in every culture, problem with this is that findings are only significant for that
culture. The “etic” approach seeks universal aspects of behaviour - one way to do this
whilst still avoiding cultural bias is to use indigenous researchers in each cultural setting.

Evaluation
— Bias in research methods: Smith and Bond surveyed research in one European textbook
on social psychology and found that 66% of the studies were American, 32% European and
2% from the rest of the world. A considerable amount of psychology is based on middle
class academic young adults who are males. This suggests that there is almost an
institutionalised cultural bias in psychology, as students would be learning about
‘universal’ behaviours that were demonstrated only in certain cultures.

— Consequences of cultural bias: The US army IQ test showed that European immigrants
fell slightly below white Americans in terms of IQ. This data has a profound effect on
attitudes held by Americans towards certain groups of people, leading to stereotyping and
discrimination.

— Not all behaviours are affected by cultural bias: Although there may be differences in
rates of obedience (Milgram) and conformity (Asch) between collectivist/Eastern and
individualist/Western cultures, universal behaviours still exist. For example, Ekman et al.

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demonstrated that facial expressions for anger, guilt and disgust were universally
recognised across all cultures. In terms of attachment, interactional synchrony and
reciprocity are universal features of infant-caregiver interactions. Therefore, this suggests
that to fully understand behaviour, we must look at both universal and culture-bound
examples.

— Worldwide psychology: Researchers are now able to travel more and therefore have a
greater understanding of other cultures, alongside having increased opportunities to
conduct cross-cultural research. Academics meet to discuss and share ideas at
international conferences, which reduces ethnocentrism in Psychology through
appreciating that behaviours found in one culture may not be the same as in others, as
well as real differences being identified and valued. For example, Bond and Smith noted
that not all cultures will be familiar with research traditions and the aims of science,
leading to a greater ‘Please-U’ demand characteristic effect, which may bias the findings.

Part 3 - Free Will and Determinism

Key words
Determinism — The belief that behaviour is controlled by external or internal factors
acting upon the individual and beyond their control. There are 3 types of determinism:
biological, environmental and psychic.

Biological determinism — The view that behaviour is always caused by internal biological
forces beyond our control, such as the influence of genes. For example, research on
intelligence has identified particular genes in those with high intelligence, such as the
IGF2R gene (Hill et al,1999). Also, genes which affect brain structure and neurotransmitter
production (i.e. serotonin and dopamine) may also determine our behaviour e.g. the
CDH-13 and MAOA gene being candidate genes for criminality.

Environmental determinism — The belief that behaviour is caused by previous experience

through classical and operant conditioning. i.e. phobias are a result of conditioning, as
demonstrated by Watson’s study on Little Albert and Skinner’s Box (operant conditioning
determining the behaviour of lab rats). These are external forces, over which we have no
control.

Psychic determination — Freud’s theory of personality suggests that adult behaviour is

determined by a mix of innate drives and early experience. These result in unconscious
conflicts over which we have no control. For example, Freud’s psychosexual stages of
development suggests that each stage is characterised by a conflict which, if unresolved,
leads to fixation in adulthood e.g. anal expulsive personalities being the result of fixation
at the anal stage.

Free will — Each individual has the power to make choices about their behaviour, without
being determined by internal or external forces beyond their control. A common feature of
the humanistic approach.

Hard determinism — The view that all behaviour can be predicted, according to the
action of internal and external forces beyond our control, and so there can be no free
will. For example, behaviourism suggests that all behaviour is the product of classical and
operant conditioning, the biological approach sees behaviour as the product of genes and

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neurochemistry, whilst social learning theory suggests that behaviour is the product of
vicarious reinforcement and mediational processes.

Soft determinism — A version of determinism that allows for some element of free will
and suggests that all events, including human behaviour, has a cause. For example, the
cognitive approach suggests that individuals can reason and make decisions within the
limits of their cognitive system.

The importance of scientific research — scientific research is based on the belief that all
events have a cause. An independent variable is manipulated to have an effect on the
dependent variable. Through repeating the research under controlled conditions (e.g.
using a laboratory experiment) and performing statistical tests, a ‘cause and effect’
relationship can be established between two variables. This increases the scientific
credibility of Psychology, through enabling the prediction and control of behaviour.

Evaluation of determinism
— 100% genetic determinism is unlikely to be found for any behaviour. = Studies that
compare monozygotic twins have found 80% similarity for intelligence and 40% for
depression. This suggests that genes do not entirely determine behaviour and supports an
interactionist standpoint. The fact that concordance rates for MZ twins are often higher
than for siblings, despite both sharing 50% of genes, may be due to MZ twins being more
likely to share the same environment.

— Determinism simplifies human behaviour. = This may be appropriate for non-humans but
human behaviour is less rigid and influenced by many factors i.e. cognitive factors which
can override biological impulses. For example, aggression cannot be simplified to the
action of the endocrine system and adrenaline. There are cognitive factors and
accompanying emotions which are just as, or more important, than the biological aspects.

— A determinist position may be used for people to try and justify behaviours if they have
committed a crime. = This would be undesirable as it excuses their behaviour. Therefore,
a hard deterministic stance is not in line with the principles of the judicial system, which
sees individuals as taking moral responsibility for their actions. Determinism has also led
to treatment methods for mental disorders, such as depression through the control of
serotonin by using SSRIs and SNRIs. However, this biological deterministic approach does
not allow the use of other treatments which are not based on biological mechanisms, such
as CBT.

Free Will
The Humanistic Approach — Humanistic psychologists argue that self-determinism is a
necessary part of human behaviour. Rogers (1959) claimed that as long as an individual
remains controlled by other people or other things they cannot take responsibility for their
own behaviour and therefore cannot change it. Only when an individual takes self
responsibility is personal growth or ‘self-actualisation’ possible. By taking such a stance,
humanism has been praised as a positive approach, essentially seeing people as good and
free to ‘better themselves’.

Moral responsibility — The basis is that an individual is in charge of their own actions. The
law states that children and those who are mentally ill do not have this responsibility but
other than this, there is an assumption that normal adult behaviour is self determined.

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Therefore, humans are accountable for their behaviour regardless of innate factors or
early experience.

Evaluation of free will

— Illusion of free will — A person may choose to do something but these choices are
determined by previous reinforcement contingencies, as suggested by the behaviourist
approach. This is a hard deterministic stance.

— Challenge to the idea of free will — Benjamin Libet et al (1983) recorded activity in
motor areas of the brain before the person had a conscious awareness to move their
finger. Chun Soon et al (2008) found activity in the prefrontal cortex up to 10 seconds
before a person was aware of their decision to act. This suggests that the motor activity
preceding movement occurred before the conscious decision was made, and so implies
that all behaviour is pre-determined by up to 10 seconds.

+ Free will has good face validity — In everyday scenarios, we appear to be making our
own decisions. Therefore, the idea of free will has good face validity because we appear
to have free will in our day to day lives.

+ Free will has high internal validity — Robert et al. found that adolescents with an
internal locus of control (an individual’s idea of what controls events in their lives) are
less likely to develop depression and are more likely to have better mental health,
compared to those with an external locus of control. These differences in LOC and
mental health states supports the idea that free will can be used to help us determine
what controls our life events, and so we make such conscious decisions.

Part 4: The nature – nurture debate

Key words

Environment — Everything that is outside our body, including people, events and the
physical world. Any influence on behaviour which is non-genetic.

Lerner identified different ‘levels’ of the environment, which ranged from pre-natal
experiences (e.g. the mother’s physiological and psychological state during preganancy) to
post-natal experiences (e.g. the socio-historical context within which the child grew up
in). The view that the mind is a ‘blank slate upon which experience writes upon’ is typical
of an empiricist/behaviourist approach e.g. John Locke.

Nature — Any influence on behaviour which is genetic e.g. the action of genes,
neurochemistry, neurotransmitters and neurological structures.

Heredity — The process by which traits are passed from parents to their offspring, usually
referring to genetic inheritance. The heritability coefficient can be used to quantify the
extent to which a characteristic has a genetic basis. For example, intelligence appears to
have a heritability coefficient of 0.5 (Plomin et al, 1994) and so the influences of nature
and nurture are equal.

Interactionist approach — With reference to the nature-nurture debate, this is the view
that the processes of nature and nurture work together rather than in opposition. They are
linked in such a way that it does not make sense to separate the influences of the two.

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Nature - Nurture Debate — The argument as to whether a person’s development is mainly
due to their genes or to environmental influences. Most researchers accept that behaviour
is a product of the interaction between nature and nurture.

Examples of the influence of nature

Genetic explanations — The more closely related two individuals are, the more likely that
they will develop the same behaviours. The concordance rate for a mental disorder such
as schizophrenia is 40% for MZ twins and 7% for DZ twins. This illustrates how nature plays
a part in contribution to the disorder. However, concordance rates for MZ twins are not
100%, despite being genetically identical. This suggests that nurture and the environment
also plays a significant role in development.

Evolutionary explanations — These are based on the principle that a behaviour which
promotes survival will be naturally selected e.g. running away from fire or avoiding deep
water. This is because such behaviours are adaptive, so the individual is more likely to
survive to adulthood and reproduce. Bowlby proposed that attachment was adaptive as it
meant an infant was more likely to be protected due to displaying social releasers (innate,
‘cute’ behaviours which activates the adult mammalian attachment system) and features
of infant-caregiver interactions (such as interactional synchrony and reciprocity). As such,
the infant would be more likely to survive and reproduce as an adult.

Examples of the influence of nurture

Behaviourism — Behaviourists assume that all behaviour can be explained in terms of

experience alone. Skinner used the concepts of classical and operant conditioning to
explain learning and suggests that attachment could be explained in terms of classical
conditioning where the food reduces the discomfort of hunger (negative reinforcement)
and is therefore rewarding.

Social learning theory — Bandura proposed that behaviour is acquired indirectly through
operant and classical conditioning but also by directly through vicarious reinforcement. He
acknowledged that biology had a role to play e.g. the urge to act aggressively could be
biological but the way a person learns to express anger is through environmental
influences (such as through observing and imitating the methods of expression of anger
displayed by the identified role models).

Other explanations — The double blind theory of schizophrenia (Bateson et al, 1956)
suggests that schizophrenia develops in children who frequently receive contradictory
messages from parents and these conflicting messages prevents the child from developing
an internal consistent construction of reality. This is because when the child behaves
incorrectly, they are punished by a withdrawal of love from their parents, leading them to
believe that the world is dangerous (reflected in paranoid delusions) and confusing
(reflected in disorganized thinking).

Evaluation of the nature - nurture debate

+ Diathesis-Stress Model — A diathesis is a biological vulnerability. However not everyone
with these ‘candidate’ genes will develop a disorder. The expression of the gene depends
on experience in the form of a stressor which triggers the condition (a diathesis). This has
been illustrated by Tienari et al (20040 who studied 145 Finnish adoptees whose mothers
had schizophrenia and were then matched with a sample of 158 adoptees without this

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genetic risk. The two groups were independently assessed after 12 years and of the total
303, 14 developed schizophrenia and 11 of these were from the high risk group. Children
without a genetic risk but raised in a family climate characterised by tension and a lack of
empathy did not develop SZ. However, children with a genetic risk and who experienced
the same family climate did go on to develop SZ. This illustrates how being raised in a
“healthy adoptive family” has a protective effect.

+ Nurture affects nature — Maguire et al study of london taxi drivers showed that the
region of their brains with spatial memory was bigger than in controls, this is because the
hippocampi had responded this way. Maguire et al. studied the brains of London taxi
drivers and found a larger grey matter volume in the mid-posterior hippocampus, an area
of the brain associated with spatial awareness (skills needed for taxi drivers when they are
learning and completing ‘The Knowledge’ exam). There was a positive correlation between
increasingly pronounced changes and an increasing length of time that individuals had
been taxi drivers. This demonstrates the interactionist nature of empiricism and nativism,
and gives further reason as to why the influences of the two cannot be separated.

+ Epigenetics — Refers to the material in each cell that acts like a switch to turn genes on
or off e.g. DNA methylation and histone tail modification. Life experiences control these
switches and these switches are passed on when the DNA is replicated semi-
conservatively. This is why MZ twins may differ in weight even though they were given
the same diets, due to differences in upbringing/experiences causing differences in the
individual expression of genes. For example, Caspi et al (2002) assessed antisocial
behaviour in 1000 participants between birth and the age of 26. The researchers found
that 12% of men with less MAOA gene expression had experienced maltreatment when
they were babies but were responsible for 44% of crimes. This brings a third element into
the nature-nurture debate: the experiences of previous generations!

+ Constructivism — Plomin suggested that an individual’s ‘nature’ would determine their

‘nurture’ through niche-picking or niche-building. For example, a naturally aggressive
child would be more likely to play with and befriend other aggressive children. This in
turn would increase the aggressiveness of the child. Therefore, the idea of
constructivism further emphasises the multi-layered relationship between nature and
nurture.

Part 5 - Holism and reductionism

Key Words
Holism — With respect to a behaviour such as memory or mental disorder, perceiving the
whole experience rather than the individual feature and or the relations between them.
Gestalt psychologists suggest that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ and so it
does not make sense to break down target behaviours into their constituent parts, but
rather study behaviours as part of an indivisible system.

Reductionism — An approach that breaks complex phenomena into more simple

components and implies that this is desirable because complex phenomena are best
understood in terms of a simpler level of explanation. This is in contrast with holism. For
example, a reductionist explanation of depression would be the consequence of low levels
of serotonin in the brain. This is biological reductionism and a neurochemical viewpoint.

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Levels of explanation — These are different ways of viewing the same phenomena in
Psychology e.g. socio-cultural, psychological, physical, physiological and neurochemical.
Reductionism suggests that lower-level explanations will eventually replace higher-level
explanations, according to the reductionist hierarchy of science i.e. Sociology, Psychology,
Biology, Chemistry and Physics (from top to bottom). Explanations begin at the highest
level and progressively reduce down to the bottom of the hierarchy.

Highest level — Cultural and social explanations of behaviour e.g. depression being
explained by a withdrawal from social activities, low energy levels and insomnia, which is
viewed as odd by society.

Middle level — Psychological explanations of behaviour e.g. depression being explained by

Beck’s Cognitive Theory (the product of the cognitive triad of automatic negative
thoughts, faulty information processing and negative self-schemas) and Ellis’ ABC model
(an activating event produces an irrational belief which leads to an emotional or
behavioural consequence).

Lower level — Biological explanations of behaviour e.g. depression being explained by the
action of candidate genes (e.g. 5HT1-D beta controlling the efficiency of synaptic
serotonin transport) and neural factors (e.g. abnormal functioning of the left
parahippocampal gyrus and the lateral frontal lobes).

Types of Reductionism

Biological reductionism — Reducing behaviour to biology as it is based on the premise than

we are biological organisms. i.e. depression can be explained biochemically as a result of
low levels of serotonin in the synaptic gaps between neurons. A characteristic feature of
the biological approach.

Environmental reductionism — Behaviourist explanations suggest that all behaviour can be

explained in terms of simple stimulus response links, i.e. phobias are obtained and
maintained using classical and operant conditioning (through repeated pairings between
the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus to produce an unconditioned
response, and then leading to a conditioned stimulus producing a conditioned response, as
shown through Watson and Rayner’s study of Little Albert).

Evaluation of Holism
+ Provides a more complete picture: Some examples of behaviour can only be understood
at the holistic level, such as the conformity and deindividuation of Zimbardo’s prisoners
and guards in his Stanford Prison Experiment. Research into resisting conformity, such as
Gamson’s work into the role of social support in groups, also makes use of holistic
explanations by looking at the interactions within and between groups. Therefore, holistic
explanations may provide a more ‘complete’ picture of behaviour.

— However it is difficult to investigate the many differing types and levels of explanations:
This poses a practical problem for researchers who attempt to combine many higher-level
explanations, because it becomes difficult to identify which explanation is most influential
and therefore which explanation it would be most useful to base treatment upon.
Therefore, holistic explanations may not lead to the development of effective treatments
for mental health disorders.

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— More hypothetical and not based on empirical evidence — Holistic explanations are
frequently used by the humanistic approach. However, there is a lack of empirical
evidence associated with higher-level explanations and holistic viewpoints may simplify
complex phenomena too far. As such, humanism is still seen as a set of rather loosely-
joined abstract concepts. Therefore, holistic explanations may not be suited towards more
complex behaviours.

Evaluation of reductionism
+ Consistent with the scientific approach — Scientific psychology aims to be able to
predict and control behaviour. Therefore, reductionism is consistent with the aims of
science because it allows for this. Smaller, constituent parts of behaviour are easily
measured and manipulated under strict laboratory conditions, and so ‘cause and effect’
relationships between variables can be reliably established. Hence, reductionism raises
the scientific credibility of psychology.

+ Practical application in the development of drug therapy — A reductionist approach

towards researching and explaining mental disorders has led to the development of
powerful and effective drug therapies e.g. SSRIs to treat depression, based on the view
that a deficiency in serotonin causes depression (biological reductionism). This also
reduces need for institutionalisation, where sufferers can continue with their day to day
lives through the use of non-invasive treatment and without regular hospital visits.
Therefore, reductionist approaches have had a positive impact on people’s lives.

— Ignores the complexity of behaviour — Reductionist explanations may lead to a loss of

validity because they ignore the social context where behaviour occurs, which often gives
behaviour its meaning. For example, from a reductionist viewpoint, the act of speaking
would be the same across all scenarios due to each individual having the same biological
mechanism for this. However, such a view ignores the social context of this speaking, such
as with the aim of alerting someone, voicing an opinion etc. Therefore, reductionist
explanations may simplify complex phenomena too much.

Part 6 - Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological

investigation

Key Words
Idiographic approach — A method of investigating behaviour which focuses on individuals
and emphasises their uniqueness. Subjective and rich human experience is used as a way
of explaining behaviour, without the aim of developing general principles and unifying laws
(which is the view of the nomothetic approach).

Associated with methods that produce qualitative data. These methods include studying
the individual and not groups and therefore not generalising findings to others. An
example is the study of HM and KF, where the idiographic approach was used in the form
of case studies, and informed further research into the different types of long-term
memory.

Examples of the Idiographic Approach:

1. The psychodynamic approach: Freud used case studies and in-depth interviews to
collect qualitative data from Little Hans; data which later formed the basis of the

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 Oedipus and Electra complexes. However, Freud also established his psychosexual stages
of development on the basis of similar research methods, arguing that all children pass
through the same sequence of stages. This is more similar to a nomothetic approach.

2. The humanistic approach adopts a holistic and ‘phenomenological’ approach to

research, which focuses on the experience of the individual. Such research methods
were then used to develop the client-centred approach to therapy and Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs.

Nomothetic approach — Seeks to formulate general laws of behaviour based on the study
of groups and the use of statistical, quantitive techniques. It attempts to summarise the
differences between people through generalisations, whilst developing general laws and
unifying principles which can be used to accurately predict and control behaviour.

According to Radford and Kirby, the nomothetic approach has produced 3 general laws in
psychology:

- classifying people into groups

- establishing the principles of behaviour that can be applied to people in general

- establishing dimensions along which people can be placed, compared, measured

This method is associated with the scientific method such as laboratory experiments and
controlled observations, where the influence of extraneous and confounding variables are
removed, allowing reliable conclusions to be drawn.

Examples of the Nomothetic Approach:

1. Behaviourists explain all behaviour in terms of simple stimulus-response links which

have been learnt through experience. In order to collect valid and reliable data,
behaviourists often use laboratory experiments, where strict control upon extraneous
and confounding variables allows for a ‘cause and effect’ relationship between variables
to be established.

2. The cognitive approach uses objective methods of measuring brain activity, such as EEG
and PET scans. This allows cognitive psychologists to draw inferences about the
workings of mental processes.

3. The biological approach also makes use of brain scans to make inferences about
localisation of brain function. For example, the use of PET scans by Tulving et al. helped
to establish that semantic memories were recalled from the left prefrontal cortex,
whilst episodic memories were recalled from the right prefrontal cortex.

Evaluation of the Idiographic approach

+ Qualitative data produces an in-depth and more complete account of an individual = This
may support existing theories or challenge general laws and lead to development of
improved psychological theories, through the process of deduction. For example, the case
studies conducted on HM and Clive Wearing demonstrated that different types of long-
term memory are located in different areas of the brain. This led to the further research
of localisation and memory.

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— However it offers a narrow and restrictived perspective = Theories developed from case
studies and (unstructured) interviews may struggle to be generalised beyond the
individual, thus reducing the ecological validity of these findings. For example, the
humanism widely uses the idiographic approach but is still viewed by many as a set of
rather loose, abstract concepts, due to a lack of empirical evidence as well as being
specific to the individual. Generalisations cannot be made without further examples to act
as a baseline comparison. This means that the idiographic approach does not improve the
scientific credibility of psychology.

— The research methods used, such as case studies and unstructured interviews, lack
scientific rigour = These methods rely heavily on individual and subjective interpretation.
Therefore, conclusions are open to researcher bias, which reduces the reliability of the
findings and the extent to which they can be generalised to other individuals. This
translates to a lack of validity when developing theories and assumptions based upon the
idiographic approach.

Evaluation of the nomothetic approach

+ Highly scientific methods = The nomothetic approach makes use of research methods
which objectively produce reliable data through adopting standardised conditions and a
high level of control of extraneous and confounding variables. Constituent parts of the
target behaviour can be reliably measured through the use of operationalised behavioural
categories, thus increasing the internal validity of the findings. Since the findings will not
be influenced by researcher bias, the findings have greater scientific creditability due to
their method of collection.

+ Enables unifying laws and general principles to be reliably established = The focus on
objectively collecting reliable data has led to certain ‘norms’ or standards of behaviour to
be established, such as the average IQ score being 100. Such norms act as a good baseline
comparison for intellectual abilities and mental disorders.

— May undervalue the impact of individual experiences = Some have criticised the
nomothetic approach as ‘losing the whole person’ in psychology due to such an emphasis
on establishing universal norms and unifying laws of behaviour. For example, research into
the frequency of depression or bipolar disorder tells us little about the experiences of
sufferers and so little about what treatments may be most beneficial. Therefore, the
nomothetic approach, from this standpoint, has done little to improve people’s lives in
comparison to the idiographic approach.

+ Nomothetic and idiographic approaches may be complementary to each other, rather

than contradictory. = For example, Milton and Davis (1996) suggest that research should
start with a nomothetic approach and once general laws have been produced the focus
should switch to an idiographic approach to develop our understanding and
[Link], either approach can be used depending on the aims and nature of the
research.

Ethical implications of research studies and theory

Key words
Socially-sensitive research — Any research that might have direct social consequences for
the participants in the research or the group that they represent. Sieber and Stanley

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defined ‘socially sensitive’ research as “studies in which there are potential consequences
or implications, either directly for the participants in the research or for the class of
individuals represented by the research”.

The major BPS ethical guidelines are respect, competence, responsibility and integrity.
The potential ethical issues which arise as a result of breaching these guidelines include:
privacy, confidentiality, valid methodology, deception, informed consent, equitable
treatment, scientific freedom, ownership of data, values and the risk/benefit ratio.

Examples of socially sensitive research:

1. Bowlby’s monotropic attachment theory = Bowlby was an advisor to the World Health
Organisation in the 1950s, following his theory that the critical period for attachment
formation with the primary caregiver was the first 2 years of life, and maternal
deprivation during this time could have severe emotional and intellectual consequences
for the child i.e. affectionless psychopathy/criminality and mental retardation.
Therefore, this led to Britain being one of the only countries in the EU not offering free
childcare for children under the age of 5.

2. Burt’s research into intelligence = Burt (1955) fraudulently published research

demonstrating that the heritability coefficient for intelligence was 0.77, and so played a
significant part in the development of the 11+ examinations. Despite his work being
proven as false and fraudulent, the 11+ exams still exist to this day, as well as the idea
that children can be organised according to their ‘natural intelligence’ from an early
age.

3. The consequences of socially sensitive research are: Uses/public policy (e.g. Burt’s
influence on the 11+ exams), the validity of research (e.g. Burt’s work being proven as
false) and the implications of the research (on the way in which individuals or groups of
people view themselves and the way in which they’re viewed by society).

Evaluation of ethical implications of research studies and theory

+ Important that researchers do not stay away from socially sensitive research = This is
important because such research may have major positive impacts, such as challenging
stereotypes or ‘scientific justifications’ for discrimination. For example, Scarr argues
that only by studying these areas will the general public and scientific community
develop a greater understanding for these underrepresented groups.

— Social Control = Socially sensitive research has historically been used as ‘scientific
justification’ for discriminatory practices. For example, during the 1920s and 1930s, some
states in the USA issues voluntary sterilization programmes for citizens who were deemed
as ‘unfit to breed’. These included the mentally ill, the disabled and drug addicts. This
was based upon William Shockley’s Voluntary Sterilisation Bonus Plan, which encouraged
low-IQ individuals to undergo sterilization. Such a programme was based upon his
fraudulent and incorrect research where “preliminary research suggested that an increase
of 1% in Caucasian ancestry raises Negro IQ an average of one point for low IQ populations,
with diminishing returns approaching 100 IQ”. Therefore, socially sensitive research can be
and has been used for malicious and unjust ends.

— Research could be potentially misused so psychologists should take responsibility for the
presentation of findings = For example, Packard proposed the idea of ‘subliminal

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messaging’, where he found that when pictures of Coca Cola and popcorn were projected
onto cinema screens for split seconds, so that audience members could not see it, their
sales increased significantly. However, it was discovered that Packard had completely
made up his results! Although the implications in this case were not serious, such an
example shows the power of socially sensitive research and how it can be misused.

+ Cost-benefit analysis = When deciding whether certain research projects should be

allowed to continue, ethics committees undergo a cost-benefit analysis, where the benefit
of the research (such as contribution to the existing field of knowledge) is compared to
the costs of breaching ethical guidelines. However, some ethical implications of socially
sensitive research may be particularly difficult to predict, such as the impact of such
research on legislation and the way in which certain groups of people are perceived by the
public.

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