Debates in Psychology

What Debates in Psychology covers

Debates in Psychology is examined on component 02 of OCR Psychology, Psychological themes through core studies. 200 recall questions across 19 subtopics.

The 19 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The nature/nurture debate: concepts, positions and researchRecall questions on the nature and nurture positions, nativism, empiricism, interactionism and diathesis-stress, twin and adoption studies, and research by Casey et al., Baron-Cohen et al., Sperry, Bandura et al., Lee et al., Chaney et al., Blakemore and Cooper, Maguire et al. and Freud.Open →
• The nature/nurture debate: applications and comparison with other debatesRecall questions on how nature and nurture positions shape treatment, social policy and health, the social risks and criticisms of strong positions, and links with freewill and determinism, individual and situational explanations, reductionism and social sensitivity.Open →
• The freewill/determinism debate: concepts, positions and researchRecall questions on free will, hard and soft determinism, biological, environmental and psychic determinism, the arguments for each side, and research by Milgram, Bocchiaro et al., Casey et al., Freud, Bandura et al., Piliavin et al. and Sperry.Open →
• The freewill/determinism debate: applications and comparison with other debatesRecall questions on how the freewill/determinism debate affects the law, treatment and therapy, the risks of hard determinism, soft determinism as a compromise, and links with nature and nurture, science, individual and situational explanations and reductionism.Open →
• The reductionism/holism debate: concepts, positions and researchRecall questions on reductionism and holism, biological, environmental and machine reductionism, levels of explanation, the arguments for each, and research by Sperry, Maguire et al., Loftus and Palmer, Moray, Casey et al., Freud, Piliavin et al. and Gould.Open →
• The reductionism/holism debate: applications and comparison with other debatesRecall questions on applications of reductionist and holistic approaches, the practical problems of holism and weaknesses of reductionism, and links with science, determinism, nature and nurture and the usefulness of research.Open →
• The individual/situational debate: concepts, positions and researchRecall questions on individual and situational explanations, the fundamental attribution error, interactionism, and research by Milgram, Piliavin et al., Levine et al., Bocchiaro et al., Hancock et al., Baron-Cohen et al., Casey et al., Bandura et al. and Grant et al.Open →
• The individual/situational debate: applications and comparison with other debatesRecall questions on applications of situational, individual and interactionist explanations to crime prevention, criminal justice, hospitals and workplaces, the dangers of relying on one side, and links with the areas, freewill and determinism and socially sensitive research.Open →
• The usefulness of research debate: concepts and criteriaRecall questions on what makes research useful, criteria for judging usefulness, how internal validity, sampling and ecological validity limit it, usefulness without immediate application, harmful uses, and the Funhaler as a useful outcome.Open →
• The usefulness of research debate: research illustrating each positionRecall questions on the practical usefulness of Loftus and Palmer, Grant et al., Simons and Chabris, Bandura et al. and Maguire et al., why Moray may seem less useful, Gould's army testing, and Milgram's lasting usefulness.Open →
• The usefulness of research debate: applications and comparison with other debatesRecall questions on replication and usefulness, how demand for usefulness shapes research, evidence-based practice, useful flawed studies, changing usefulness over time, and links with ethics, reductionism and psychology as a science.Open →
• The ethical considerations debate: ethical guidelinesRecall questions on the purpose of ethical guidelines, informed consent, deception, the right to withdraw, protection from harm, debriefing, presumptive consent, and principles for using animals in research.Open →
• The ethical considerations debate: cost-benefit analysis and research illustrating ethical issuesRecall questions on cost-benefit analysis and confidentiality, and ethical issues in the research of Milgram, Bocchiaro et al., Piliavin et al., Bandura et al., Blakemore and Cooper and Freud's Little Hans, including research with children.Open →
• The ethical considerations debate: positions, applications and comparison with other debatesRecall questions on the positions that ethical rules should or should not be broken, how ethical standards are enforced, studying obedience ethically today, ethics in reporting research, and links with socially sensitive research, science and usefulness.Open →
• The socially sensitive research debate: concepts and positionsRecall questions on what makes research socially sensitive, research questions, reporting and labelling, effects on people outside a study, and the arguments for avoiding, conducting and compromising on socially sensitive research.Open →
• The socially sensitive research debate: research, applications and comparisonRecall questions on social sensitivity in the research of Gould, Hancock et al., Baron-Cohen et al., Casey et al., Freud, Levine et al. and Milgram, reducing harm, peer review, funding, positive applications, and links with ethics and usefulness.Open →
• The psychology as a science debate: features of scienceRecall questions on the features of a science, objectivity, falsifiability, replication, the hypothetico-deductive method, paradigms, standardised procedures and empiricism.Open →
• The psychology as a science debate: positions and supporting researchRecall questions on the arguments that psychology is and is not a science, the reactivity of human participants, the view that psychology should not try to be a science, and scientific method in Loftus and Palmer, Sperry, Maguire et al. and Bocchiaro et al.Open →
• The psychology as a science debate: evidence against, applications and comparisonRecall questions on Freud's Little Hans, Gould's analysis and case studies as evidence against psychology as a science, why scientific status matters, applications to therapy, improving credibility, and links with reductionism, determinism and ethics.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Debates in Psychology further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Nativism vs Empiricism

  Nativism: the position that abilities are largely inborn. Empiricism: the position that abilities are largely acquired through experience.

• Hard determinism vs Soft determinism

  Hard determinism: the position that every action is caused and no genuine choice exists. Soft determinism: the position that actions are caused but people still choose within those constraints.

• Reductionism vs Holism

  Reductionism: explaining behaviour by breaking it down into its simplest component parts. Holism: explaining behaviour only as a whole, because the parts cannot account for it.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does the nature side of this debate claim?

   Model answer

   That behaviour and abilities are inherited, arising from genes and other innate biological factors.

2. 2

   What does the nurture side claim?

   Model answer

   That behaviour comes from the environment, through learning, upbringing and cultural experience.

3. 3

   What is nativism?

   Model answer

   The position that important abilities are innate and present, at least in outline, from birth.

4. 4

   What is empiricism in this debate?

   Model answer

   The position that knowledge and behaviour are acquired entirely from experience of the world.

5. 5

   Explain the interactionist position.

   Model answer

   Nature and nurture are inseparable, because inherited potential is expressed, limited or reshaped by the environment a person actually encounters.

6. 6

   What is a diathesis-stress explanation?

   Model answer

   An inherited vulnerability only produces a disorder when it is combined with a triggering environmental stressor.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Debates in Psychology revision questions

What does Debates in Psychology cover in OCR A-Level Psychology?

19 subtopics: the nature/nurture debate: concepts, positions and research, the nature/nurture debate: applications and comparison with other debates, the freewill/determinism debate: concepts, positions and research, the freewill/determinism debate: applications and comparison with other debates, the reductionism/holism debate: concepts, positions and research, the reductionism/holism debate: applications and comparison with other debates, the individual/situational debate: concepts, positions and research, the individual/situational debate: applications and comparison with other debates, the usefulness of research debate: concepts and criteria, the usefulness of research debate: research illustrating each position, the usefulness of research debate: applications and comparison with other debates, the ethical considerations debate: ethical guidelines, the ethical considerations debate: cost-benefit analysis and research illustrating ethical issues, the ethical considerations debate: positions, applications and comparison with other debates, the socially sensitive research debate: concepts and positions, the socially sensitive research debate: research, applications and comparison, the psychology as a science debate: features of science, the psychology as a science debate: positions and supporting research and the psychology as a science debate: evidence against, applications and comparison. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Debates in Psychology organised?

By the OCR H567 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.