Issues and Debates
Free Will and Determinism
1. Define free will
2. What do psychologists who favour free will say about determinism
3. How do cognitive psychologists, to a lesser degree, support free will and choice? Give an example.
4. What is the cognitive view of free will known as
5. Give two schools of psychological thought
6. How does Brehm (1966) support free will [freedom threatened]
7. Give 6 evaluation points for free will [emphasis; view of society; self-efficacy; objectivity; unscientific;
realism of control of the individual]
8. How does Libet (1985) argue against free will [brain processing]
9. Define determinism
10. Name four types of determinism
11. What is environmental determinism as argued by Skinner (1971)
12. What is biological determinism-give an example [Chorney et al. 1998 & IGF2R gene]
13. What is psychic determinism
14. What is hard determinism
15. What is soft determinism-remember this is not really a type of determinism as it is an example of free will
16. Give 5 evaluative points for determinism [scientific; plausible; reductionist; no individual differences;
implications-hard determinism and crime]
17. How can you use forensics and psychopathology in this debate [Explanations of crime; OCD]
18. Can you relate any other subjects to this debate
Nature-Nurture
19. What is the question at the centre of the debate
20. Which two approaches lean towards the nature side
21. Which two approaches lean towards the nurture side
22. What approach treads the line between nature and nurture
23. Define nature and the argument posed
24. What type of explanation exemplifies this view
25. What did Bowlby suggest about attachment behaviours [survival]
26. What do evolutionary psychologists assume about behaviour
27. What is physiological psychology
28. Give three issues of the nature argument [Bowlby; Nature my actually be nurture; transgenerational effect]
29. Outline the argument of nurture
30. What is the name given to supporters of the view of nurture
31. What approach is the clearest example of nurture
32. What approach proposes much of what we learn is through observations and vicarious reinforcement-in
what study
33. What does this theory support [provided model]
34. Describe how the double-blind hypothesis in schizophrenia is a nurture-based assumption
35. Give 5 evaluation points of nurture [Emp. Ev; behaviourism genetics basis; interactionist research;
psychopathological use of interactionism; Diathesis-stress model in schizophrenia
36. What topics can you relate to the debate
37. Discuss the theory of interactionism in relation to the nature-nurture debate
Holism-Reductionism
38. Define holism
39. Give two examples of holistic theories
40. What is holism often referred to as
41. What does it argue
Free Will and Determinism
1. Define free will
2. What do psychologists who favour free will say about determinism
3. How do cognitive psychologists, to a lesser degree, support free will and choice? Give an example.
4. What is the cognitive view of free will known as
5. Give two schools of psychological thought
6. How does Brehm (1966) support free will [freedom threatened]
7. Give 6 evaluation points for free will [emphasis; view of society; self-efficacy; objectivity; unscientific;
realism of control of the individual]
8. How does Libet (1985) argue against free will [brain processing]
9. Define determinism
10. Name four types of determinism
11. What is environmental determinism as argued by Skinner (1971)
12. What is biological determinism-give an example [Chorney et al. 1998 & IGF2R gene]
13. What is psychic determinism
14. What is hard determinism
15. What is soft determinism-remember this is not really a type of determinism as it is an example of free will
16. Give 5 evaluative points for determinism [scientific; plausible; reductionist; no individual differences;
implications-hard determinism and crime]
17. How can you use forensics and psychopathology in this debate [Explanations of crime; OCD]
18. Can you relate any other subjects to this debate
Nature-Nurture
19. What is the question at the centre of the debate
20. Which two approaches lean towards the nature side
21. Which two approaches lean towards the nurture side
22. What approach treads the line between nature and nurture
23. Define nature and the argument posed
24. What type of explanation exemplifies this view
25. What did Bowlby suggest about attachment behaviours [survival]
26. What do evolutionary psychologists assume about behaviour
27. What is physiological psychology
28. Give three issues of the nature argument [Bowlby; Nature my actually be nurture; transgenerational effect]
29. Outline the argument of nurture
30. What is the name given to supporters of the view of nurture
31. What approach is the clearest example of nurture
32. What approach proposes much of what we learn is through observations and vicarious reinforcement-in
what study
33. What does this theory support [provided model]
34. Describe how the double-blind hypothesis in schizophrenia is a nurture-based assumption
35. Give 5 evaluation points of nurture [Emp. Ev; behaviourism genetics basis; interactionist research;
psychopathological use of interactionism; Diathesis-stress model in schizophrenia
36. What topics can you relate to the debate
37. Discuss the theory of interactionism in relation to the nature-nurture debate
Holism-Reductionism
38. Define holism
39. Give two examples of holistic theories
40. What is holism often referred to as
41. What does it argue
