Exploring Key Issues and Debates in Psychology

• Psychology
• Further Education (Key Stage 5)

Exploring Key Issues and Debates in Psychology

We will introduce new debates for year 2 of A level which we will use throughout to evaluate our 2 chosen specialist subjects.

Learning Objective

• To be able to understand and apply the four new key issues and debates in psychology to various topics and concepts.
  

• To be able to describe and evaluate the new debates in relation to some approaches in Psychology

What key approaches and debates do you already know?

Biological

approach

Cognitive

approach

Learning

approach

Social approach

Nature

vs Nurture

Use of animals

Application to 

everyday life

What key approaches and debates do you already know?

Learning approach means therefore it is

Cultural Differences

• Culture refers to shared attitudes, values, beliefs and norms for socially acceptable behaviour within groups. 
• Geert Hofstede said 'the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes members of one group from another' (Hofstede, 1980). 
• Many of us are exposed to multiple cultures throughout our lives and our cultural identity refers to the culture(s) or social group(s) to which we feel that we belong.

One of the variables that determines differences between individuals is cultural identity.

Cultural Differences

• The development of our cultural identity begins with enculturation, the ongoing process by which we learn about the culture into which we were born.

• This learning starts in the home with interactions between family members but gradually the individual will learn more about their culture, both directly and indirectly, via formal education, religion and the media.

Cultural Differences

• Many people consider themselves bi-cultural. This may be due to having parents who identify with two or more different cultures, but it is also often the case when a person identifies with the culture of their own family as well as the majority culture of the place where they live or when people move/migrate from one culture to another.

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Cultural Differences

1. Individualism vs collectivism: degree of interdependence between group members within a culture.
2. power distance - the extent to which less powerful members of groups and organisations expect and accept that other people have power over them
3. uncertainty avoidance - how threatened people feel by ambiguous or unknown situations and create beliefs to try to avoid uncertainty.
4. long-term orientation - the extent to which a society attempts to maintain links with its past (such as traditions) versus dealing with present and future challenges, such as through thriftiness (saving money) and investing in education

TextGeert Hofstede (1980) identified six cultural dimensions which can be used to describe differences between cultures around the world.

Cultural Differences

5. indulgence versus restraint - whether people try to control their desires and impulses or whether they allow themselves to have/take what they want

6. masculinity versus femininity - Hofstede defines masculine cultures as ones where

people are driven by competition, achievement and success, whereas feminine cultures are those that value care for others and quality of life

In Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, doctors and other clinical practitioners are highly respected members of society. How do you think this might affect the way people would interact with therapists?

TextGeert Hofstede (1980) identified six cultural dimensions which can be used to describe differences between cultures around the world.

Reductionism vs Holism

Psychology is full of interactions between multiple variables. This can make it difficult to identify which factors are the most important in determining how a person thinks, feels or behaves under certain circumstances.

Reductionism involves breaking down complex phenomena into their constituent parts in order to explore how they fit together and what influence they have on each other. 

Reductionism

• When psychologists use the experimental methods, they are taking a reductionist approach. Experiments involve isolating an independent variable and altering it under controlled conditions to see whether it causes a change in a dependent or measured variable. 

• Through this process, psychologists are able to draw conclusions which allow them to identify the necessary and/or sufficient conditions under which a certain behaviour, thought or feeling will arise, for example.

Holism

The holistic approach acknowledges the complexity of human experience and is guided by the principle that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts"

Psychologists that embrace explanations from each of the four approaches - biological, cognitive, learning and social - and do not overestimate the value of any one of these over the others are seen

as taking a holistic approach.

Holism

In practice, psychologists who take a more holistic approach tend to use a wide variety of research methods, including those that are seen as less

scientific - 

E.G, unstructured interviews and participant observation. These methods are often beneficial in understanding the broad array of individual circumstances that have led an individual to behave, think and/or feel a certain way. When we take account of all of these possible influences, we are taking a holistic approach.

Holism

Reductionism

Strengths/

Weakness?

Strengths/

Weakness?

Pros

• Breaking down phenomena means empirical methods can be used (prediction, easily tested and falsified)

• Demonstrates importance of biology in understanding behaviour, and the role of genetics

Cons

• Ignores complexity of behaviour and mental functioning in behaviour (oversimplified)

• Explanations may distract attention from other levels such as cultural context, irrational thinking

Reductionism

Determinism vs Free Will

Exploring the extent to which behaviour is determined by internal and external factors or if individuals have free will to make choices.

How much control do we have over behaviour?

Determinism

• Hard determinism refers to the idea that everything that all behaviour is outside our control

• Soft determinism suggests that some behaviours are more constrained than others and that there is an element of free will in all behaviour. 

• We can choose how to behave, but normally we only have a limited number of behaviours to choose from.

 

Free Will

• Free will is not the opposite of determinism, each human being possesses the ability to make conscious choices, and voluntarily control their own destiny.

• It is our belief in free will that means people are held moraly responsible for their actions and thus provides the basis of criminal justice systems around the world.

What approach would take a deterministic view?

Biological

-The brain

-Hormone system

-Genetics/heritability 

What approach would view

our behaviour as having

free will?

Learning approach

-Born as a 'blank slate' 

-Experiences and interactions with the environment shape our behaviour

and these changes are directly observable

-Classical conditioning

Idiographic vs Nomothetic

• Differentiating between understanding individuals in their uniqueness (idiographic) and identifying general laws of behavior (nomothetic).

Idiographic 

"IDIO"- Own/private 

• Is about investigating the subjective experiences of individuals. Generals laws cannot be established.

• Often ............. methods are used to gather information about the individual's unique experiences, how these experiences have affected their interpretation of events and in turn the ways in which they think, feel and behave

Nomothetic

"NOMO"- Laws

• Focuses on general laws of behaviour, studies large numbers of people and seeks to understand why they behave in similar ways. 

• It involves studying and comparing groups of people, measuring aspects of their behaviour, thoughts or feelings in a ................ way and then, most importantly, calculating averages that describe what was typical of the group.

qualitative

Idiographic 

"IDIO"- Own/private 

• Is about investigating the subjective experiences of individuals. Generals laws cannot be established.

• Often ............. methods are used to gather information about the individual's unique experiences, how these experiences have affected their interpretation of events and in turn the ways in which they think, feel and behave

Nomothetic

"NOMO"- Laws

• Focuses on general laws of behaviour, studies large numbers of people and seeks to understand why they behave in similar ways. 

• It involves studying and comparing groups of people, measuring aspects of their behaviour, thoughts or feelings in a quantitative way and then, most importantly, calculating averages that describe what was typical of the group.

Strength/

weakness?

qualitative

What is enculturation?

1. The adoption of a new culture
2. The study of different cultures
3. The ongoing process of learning about one's culture
4. The process of globalization

According to Geert Hofstede, what distinguishes members of one group from another?

1. Physical appearance and abilities
2. Personal interests and hobbies
3. Collective programming of the mind
4. Economic status and wealth

What does reductionism involve in psychology?

1. Exploring complex interactions between multiple variables
2. Identifying the most important factors in psychology
3. Breaking down complex phenomena into constituent parts
4. Combining multiple variables to determine behavior

What is the key belief of psychologists adopting a holistic approach?

1. The learning approach is most important
2. The biological approach is most important
3. The value of each approach is not overestimated
4. The cognitive approach is most important

What guiding principle is the holistic approach guided by?

1. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
2. The parts are greater than the whole
3. The whole is equal to the sum of its parts
4. The whole is less than the sum of its parts

What is hard determinism?

1. The idea that all behavior is outside our control
2. The belief that everyone has free will
3. The idea that some behaviors are more constrained than others
4. The concept that we choose our destiny

What does free will allow humans to do?

1. Be controlled by external forces
2. Make conscious choices and control their destiny
3. Act without any constraints
4. Make unconscious decisions

Which approach studies large numbers of people and seeks to understand why they behave in similar ways?

1. Nomothetic
2. Idiographic
3. Descriptive
4. Comparative

Which approach focuses on investigating the subjective experiences of individuals?

1. Nomothetic
2. Phenomenological
3. Idiographic
4. Ethnographic

Write down 3 things you learned in this lesson.

Have students enter three things they learned in this lesson. With this they can indicate their own learning efficiency of this lesson.