Deck 4: Issues and Debates in Psychology

Question 1

Which of the following might affect an individual's view on issues in psychology?

A) Socio-cultural context
B) Political beliefs
C) Sources of funding
D) All of the above

Answer 1

All of the above

Question 2

What term is used to describe the view that complex phenomena are best understood by investigating simpler parts?

A) Associationism
B) Reductionism
C) Holism
D) Materialism

Answer 2

Reductionism

Question 3

Which of the following is not recognized as a type of reductionism?

A) Gestalt
B) Physiological
C) Biological
D) Experimental

Answer 3

Gestalt

Question 4

Which of the following is not a source of explanation within physiological reductionism?

A) Brain structure and operation
B) Brain chemistry
C) Muscle operation
D) Genetics

Question 5

Which of the following approaches to psychology does not adopt a biological reductionism perspective?

A) Comparative psychology
B) Behaviourism
C) Psychodynamic
D) Sociobiology

Question 6

What problem may arise in adopting experimental reductionism?

A) It reduces internal validity.
B) It reduces external validity.
C) It reduces reliability.
D) It introduces extraneous variables.

Question 7

What metaphor forms the basis of machine reductionism?

A) That the mind is like a computer.
B) That humans are like robots.
C) That humans are like other animals.
D) That the mind is like an iceberg.

Question 8

How can reductionism be characterized in terms of levels of explanation?

A) As a less specific form of explanation.
B) As a less scientific form of explanation.
C) As an attempt to explain a given phenomenon in terms of a higher level of explanation.
D) As an attempt to explain a given phenomenon in terms of a lower level of explanation.

Question 9

Which of the following is not an advantage of reductionism?

A) It is scientific.
B) It is free of bias.
C) It gives concise explanations.
D) It leads to successful interventions.

Question 10

Why does science require a commitment to determinism?

A) Because science is subjective.
B) Because science is objective.
C) Because scientific methods involve finding causes for effects.
D) Because science emphasizes people's freedom to choose.

Question 11

Which of the following is not an accepted definition of free will?

A) That we have a genuine choice of behaviour.
B) That our behaviour is unconstrained.
C) That our behaviour is voluntary.
D) That our behaviour is unpredictable.

Question 12

Which of the following approaches to psychology is not deterministic?

A) Humanism
B) Behaviourism
C) Psychodynamic
D) Evolutionary psychology

Question 13

What does soft determinism claim?

A) That different psychological phenomena differ in the extent to which they are determined.
B) That we never have a choice in behaviour.
C) That there is no causal explanation for behaviour.
D) That all psychological phenomena are determined to the same extent.

Question 14

What is the main focus of the nature/nurture debate in psychology?

A) Child development
B) Gender difference research
C) Race difference research
D) Personality and intelligence

Question 15

Which of the competing viewpoints of heredity and environment allows for the possibility of change?

A) Neither
B) Heredity
C) Environment
D) Both

Question 16

How do heredity and environment relate to each other?

A) They have separable, measurable effects.
B) They interact with each other.
C) Only one affects all of human psychology.
D) Some phenomena are affected by one, and some are affected by the other.

Question 17

What is the term for our genetic constitution?

A) The allele
B) The phenotye
C) The genotype
D) The genome

Question 18

Which environmental factors lead to physiological change?

A) Stimulative factors
B) Organic factors
C) Broad factors
D) Narrow factors

Question 19

How do different characteristics on the genotype vary?

A) In directness
B) In the number of alleles
C) In whether they contribute to the genotype
D) All of the above

Question 20

What feature of the brain makes it difficult to predict the psychological phenotype from the genotype?

A) It is very large.
B) It has many different parts.
C) It is very complex.
D) It is self-organizing.