Paper 3 Essay Plans
Based off of predictions for 2025 paper
Issues and Debates
Discuss culture bias in psychological research. Refer to one topic you have studied in your answer (8)
AO1:
Universality
- Psychological research is mostly based on WEIRD cultures, so research findings aren’t universal
- Westernised, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic
Culture bias
- Interpreting behaviour through the ‘lens’ of your own culture, so behaviour in non-WEIRD cultures is seen as
unusual
Cultural relativism
- One can’t judge a behaviour properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates
Imposed ethic
- Theory developed in one culture and used to study the behaviour of people in another culture
- Strange Situation outside the US/UK
Emic approach
- Something that applies only in one culture
AO3:
- Limitation most influential studies in psychology are culturally-biased
- Both Asch’s and Milgram’s original studies were conducted with white middle-class US ppts
- Asch-type experiments in collectivist cultures found significantly higher rates of conformity than in
individualist cultures (US)
- This suggests our understanding of topics such as social influence should only be applied to individualist
cultures
- Strength emergence of cultural psychology
- The study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience (emic approach)
- Research is conducted from inside a culture, often alongside local researchers using culturally-based
techniques
- This suggests that modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias and are taking steps to
avoid it
Discuss idiographic and monothetic approaches to psychological research (16)
AO1:
Idiographic approach research that focuses on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour
- Qualitative research with small number of ppts
- Rogers’ concept of counselling was based on his work as a therapist
- Freud’s explanation of phobia was based on the detailed case study of Little Hans over many years
Nomothetic approach study human behaviour through the development of general principles
- Quantitative research, samples of people are gathered and data analysed for its statistical significance
- Skinner studied animals to develop the general laws of learning
- Sperry’s split-brain research involved repeated testing, was the basis of understanding hemispheric
lateralisation
Objective vs subjective
- Nomothetic approach
- Standardised methods of assessing people
- Ensures true replication occurs across samples of behaviour, removes influence of bias
- Idiographic approach
- Doesn’t believe that objectivity is possible
- People’s individual experience of their unique context is what is important
AO3:
- Strength idiographic approach contributes to the nomothetic approach
- Idiographic uses in-depth qualitative methods which complement nomothetic by providing detail
- In-depth case studies such as HM may reveal insights about normal functioning which contribute to our
overall understanding
- This suggests that even though the focus is on fewer individuals, the idiographic approach may help form
‘scientific’ laws of behaviour
, - Strength both approaches fit with the aims of science
- Nomothetic research seeks objectivity through standardisation, control and statistical testing
- Idiographic research seeks objectivity through triangulation, and reflexivity
- This suggests that both nomothetic and idiographic approaches raise psychology’s status as a science
- Limitation nomothetic approach has a loss of understanding of the individual
- Focuses on general laws and may ‘lose the whole person’ within psychology
- E.g. knowing about a 1% lifetime risk of schizophrenia says little about having the disorder
- This means that, in its search for generalities, nomothetic may sometimes fail to relate to experience
Nature vs Nurture
AO1:
- Interactionist approach
- How nature + nurture influence each other, makes no sense to try and separate them
- Diathesis stress model
- Genes create a vulnerability and stressors in the environment trigger behaviours
- Epigenetics
- Change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code
Nature
- Heredity, characteristics are innate
Nurture
- Experience, environment shapes the mind
- Levels of the environment include physical, psychological, social, etc
Measuring nature + nurture
- Heritability coefficient (0-1)
- Proportion of differences between individuals in a population that is due to genetic variation
AO3:
- Strength adoption studies
- When comparing similarities between adopted child and biological parents + adoptive parents, genes account
for 41% of variance
- Strength epigenetics
- Dutch Hunger Winter, pregnant mothers had low birth weight babies who were x2 more likely to later
develop schizophrenia
- Strength real-world application
- Genetic counselling for e.g. OCD, understand likelihood and how to prevent
Ethical implications of research studies + social sensitivity
AO1:
Ethical implications
- Consequence of psychological research for individuals, groups and wider society
Social sensitivity
- When research has potentially negative consequences for groups represented in the research
Implications for research
- Research question
- Phrasing may have negative impact on groups
- Dealing with ppts
- Informed consent, protection from harm and confidentiality are especially important
- How findings are used
- May give ‘scientific’ credibility to prejudice and discrimination, used to justify public policy, media
sensationalism
AO3:
- Strength benefits for groups
- Homosexuality listing in DSM, but Kinsey report showed it was ‘normal’
- Strength real-world application
- Decisions on childcare, crime etc. use socially sensitive research
- Limitation Poor research design
- Burt’s research in 1950s on IQ led to 11+ exam but later shown to be fraudulent, but too late to change
consequences
Based off of predictions for 2025 paper
Issues and Debates
Discuss culture bias in psychological research. Refer to one topic you have studied in your answer (8)
AO1:
Universality
- Psychological research is mostly based on WEIRD cultures, so research findings aren’t universal
- Westernised, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic
Culture bias
- Interpreting behaviour through the ‘lens’ of your own culture, so behaviour in non-WEIRD cultures is seen as
unusual
Cultural relativism
- One can’t judge a behaviour properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates
Imposed ethic
- Theory developed in one culture and used to study the behaviour of people in another culture
- Strange Situation outside the US/UK
Emic approach
- Something that applies only in one culture
AO3:
- Limitation most influential studies in psychology are culturally-biased
- Both Asch’s and Milgram’s original studies were conducted with white middle-class US ppts
- Asch-type experiments in collectivist cultures found significantly higher rates of conformity than in
individualist cultures (US)
- This suggests our understanding of topics such as social influence should only be applied to individualist
cultures
- Strength emergence of cultural psychology
- The study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience (emic approach)
- Research is conducted from inside a culture, often alongside local researchers using culturally-based
techniques
- This suggests that modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias and are taking steps to
avoid it
Discuss idiographic and monothetic approaches to psychological research (16)
AO1:
Idiographic approach research that focuses on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour
- Qualitative research with small number of ppts
- Rogers’ concept of counselling was based on his work as a therapist
- Freud’s explanation of phobia was based on the detailed case study of Little Hans over many years
Nomothetic approach study human behaviour through the development of general principles
- Quantitative research, samples of people are gathered and data analysed for its statistical significance
- Skinner studied animals to develop the general laws of learning
- Sperry’s split-brain research involved repeated testing, was the basis of understanding hemispheric
lateralisation
Objective vs subjective
- Nomothetic approach
- Standardised methods of assessing people
- Ensures true replication occurs across samples of behaviour, removes influence of bias
- Idiographic approach
- Doesn’t believe that objectivity is possible
- People’s individual experience of their unique context is what is important
AO3:
- Strength idiographic approach contributes to the nomothetic approach
- Idiographic uses in-depth qualitative methods which complement nomothetic by providing detail
- In-depth case studies such as HM may reveal insights about normal functioning which contribute to our
overall understanding
- This suggests that even though the focus is on fewer individuals, the idiographic approach may help form
‘scientific’ laws of behaviour
, - Strength both approaches fit with the aims of science
- Nomothetic research seeks objectivity through standardisation, control and statistical testing
- Idiographic research seeks objectivity through triangulation, and reflexivity
- This suggests that both nomothetic and idiographic approaches raise psychology’s status as a science
- Limitation nomothetic approach has a loss of understanding of the individual
- Focuses on general laws and may ‘lose the whole person’ within psychology
- E.g. knowing about a 1% lifetime risk of schizophrenia says little about having the disorder
- This means that, in its search for generalities, nomothetic may sometimes fail to relate to experience
Nature vs Nurture
AO1:
- Interactionist approach
- How nature + nurture influence each other, makes no sense to try and separate them
- Diathesis stress model
- Genes create a vulnerability and stressors in the environment trigger behaviours
- Epigenetics
- Change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code
Nature
- Heredity, characteristics are innate
Nurture
- Experience, environment shapes the mind
- Levels of the environment include physical, psychological, social, etc
Measuring nature + nurture
- Heritability coefficient (0-1)
- Proportion of differences between individuals in a population that is due to genetic variation
AO3:
- Strength adoption studies
- When comparing similarities between adopted child and biological parents + adoptive parents, genes account
for 41% of variance
- Strength epigenetics
- Dutch Hunger Winter, pregnant mothers had low birth weight babies who were x2 more likely to later
develop schizophrenia
- Strength real-world application
- Genetic counselling for e.g. OCD, understand likelihood and how to prevent
Ethical implications of research studies + social sensitivity
AO1:
Ethical implications
- Consequence of psychological research for individuals, groups and wider society
Social sensitivity
- When research has potentially negative consequences for groups represented in the research
Implications for research
- Research question
- Phrasing may have negative impact on groups
- Dealing with ppts
- Informed consent, protection from harm and confidentiality are especially important
- How findings are used
- May give ‘scientific’ credibility to prejudice and discrimination, used to justify public policy, media
sensationalism
AO3:
- Strength benefits for groups
- Homosexuality listing in DSM, but Kinsey report showed it was ‘normal’
- Strength real-world application
- Decisions on childcare, crime etc. use socially sensitive research
- Limitation Poor research design
- Burt’s research in 1950s on IQ led to 11+ exam but later shown to be fraudulent, but too late to change
consequences
