What are individual explanations of human behaviour?
Those that are centered on the person (individual's personality or dispositions - mind/character).
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What do situational explanations focus on?
Focus on the situation that the individual is in e.g. group pressure or environment.
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What do situational explanations suggest causes the behaviour?
Suggests the cause is something in their cirumstances.
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What do most examples of research show?
Show that behaviour has both an individual and situational explanation.
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What can individual and situational explanations be classed as?
Classed as reductionist.
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How can Wikstrom's research be said to provide an individual explanation?
Because 3 groups were found including propensity induced where youths had an enduring propensity to offend it was a characteristic/personality.
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How can Wikstrom's research also suggest situational explanations?
Wide range of risk factors identified such as weak family and school bonds suggesting youths were influenced by their environment and by others. Situationally limited and lifestyle dependent focused on environment and not personality.
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How can Watson and Raynor be said to provide situational explanations?
Little Albert previously unfeared the rat e.t.c and was taught to fear them through their environment.
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How can Watson and Raynor be said to provide individual explanations?
Little Albert feared the steel bar already and developed the fear in his personality and reacted to these objects like this due to his character.
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Is the developmental approach individual explanations or situational?
Both individual and situational but more situational. Says maturation and experience influence behaviour and so does upbringing (situational). Also individual because the genes we inherit affect our development.
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What side of the debate does the social approach support?
Supports situational explanations as it looks at influence of environment and others on our behaviour including groups, Doesn't look at genes (individual).
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What side of the debate does the individual differences approach support?
Individual explanations as it focuses on how we all differ from one another. Focus on genetics and how we are born different.
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What are 3 difficulties with individual and situational explanations?
Validity, reliability and ethnocentrism?
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Why is validity a difficulty with this debate?
How can we be sure we had measured something as a person's characteristic and not as a result of their situation.
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Why is reliability a problem with this debate?
Can we assume that characteristics stay the same or can characteristics change even if circumstances don't affect them?
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How can ethnocentrism be a problem for this debate?
Dispositions and situations in which they find themselves differ across cultures. May not be helpful when applied to very different cultures.
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
What are individual explanations of human behaviour?
Back
Those that are centered on the person (individual's personality or dispositions - mind/character).
Card 3
Front
What do situational explanations focus on?
Back
Card 4
Front
What do situational explanations suggest causes the behaviour?
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