Issues And Debates In Psychological Research

In psychological research, researchers must be aware of the various issues and debates that arise in psychology. There are some arguments present, with psychologists agreeing with either one, the other, or impartial about where they stand in these debates. The debates, and a brief definition of each, are outlined below:

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Free will

a phenomenon that implies that all humans are self-regulating with their behaviour.

vs.

Determinism

a phenomenon that implies that human behaviour cannot be controlled because something is determining that behaviour.

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Reductionism

occurs when a theory/approach attempts to explain human behaviour by reducing it to its basic counterparts.

vs.

Holism

an approach that considers the wider picture of human behaviour.

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Nature:

we are naturally pre-disposed to behave in a certain way/have a certain condition/express a certain gene etc...

vs.

Nurture:

our behaviour is directly influenced by our environment: human behaviour is a reaction to environmental stimuli.

Interactionist:

an approach that takes both nature and nurture into account.

Idiographic:

approaches/methods that focus on the individual. Prefer qualitative data, interviews, and focus groups.

vs.

Nomothetic:

approaches/methods that focus on the wider collective. Prefer quantitative data, objective, scientific studies.

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Ethnocentrism:

the belief that one s own culture is superior to other cultures.

Universality:

underlying human characteristic is said to be applied to all humans.

Cultural relativism:

the idea that norms and values, alongside ethics and morals, can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.

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Androcentrism:

when normal behaviour is judged from a male standpoint.

Alpha bias:

research that focuses on the differences between men and women and tends to over exaggerate these differences.

Beta bias:

research that focuses on similarities between men and women and ignores./minimises any differences.

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These are very brief summaries of the types of issues and debates that exist in psychology. In my tutoring sessions, we would explore this phenomena in a lot more detail and come up with examples of when each of these could possibly occur. We would then use these to go through psychological research that you have studied and criticise them by using these issues and debates!

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