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level: ISSUES AND DEBATES

Questions and Answers List

level questions: ISSUES AND DEBATES

Question	Answer
any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all despite differences of experence and upbring.	Universality
psychological research or theory which may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of men or women.	Gender Bias
(male centred) when 'normal' behaviour is judeged according to a male standard often resulting in female behaviour is judged to be 'abnormal' or 'deficient'.	Androcentrism
psychological theories that suggest there are real and enduring differences between men and women. These may enhance or undervalue members of either sex, but typically undervalue women.	Alpha Bias
theories that ignore or minimse differences between the sexes.	Beta Bias
refers to a tendancy to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the 'lens' of one's own culture.	Cultural Bias
judging other cultures by the standards and values of one's own culture - in extreme cases it is the belief in the superiority of one's own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures.	Ethnocentrism
the idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningul and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.	Cultural Relativism
the notion that humans can make choices and are not determined by biological or external forces.	Freewill
the view that an individual's behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individual's will to do something.	Determinism
implies that freewill is not possible as behaviour is caused by internal or external events beyond our control.	Hard Determinism
while everything has a cause, behaviour can also be determined by our conscious choices in the absence of coercion.	Soft Determinism
the belief that behaviour is caused by biological (genetic, hormonal, evolutionary) influences that we cannot control.	Biological Determinsim
the belief that behaviour is caused by features fo the environment that we cannot control.	Environmental Determinism
the belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control.	Psychic Determinism
the genetic transmission of mental and physical characteristics from one generation to another.	Heredity
any influence on human behaviour that is non-genetic. This may range from pre-natal influences in the womb through to cultural and historical influences at a societal level.	Environment
an argument/theory which proposes that it only make sense to study an indivisible system rather than its constituent parts.	Holism
the belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts.	Reductionism
a form of reductionism which attempts to explain social and psychological phenomena at a lower biological level.	Biological Reductionism
the attempt to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience.	Envionmental Reductionism
an approach to research that focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour.	Idiographic Approach
an approach which attempts to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws.	Nomothetic Approach
the impact that psycholgoical research may have in terms of the rights of other people especially partipants, including influencing public policy and/or the way in which certain groups of people are regarded.	Ethical Implications
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. (Sieber and Stanley)	Social Sensitivity