Gender and culture in psychology – universality and bias. Gender bias including androcentrism and alpha and beta bias; cultural bias, including ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. Free will and determinism: hard determinism and soft determinism; biological, environmental and psychic determinism. The scientific emphasis on causal explanations.
The nature-nurture debate: the relative importance of heredity and environment in determining behaviour; the interactionist approach.
Holism and reductionism: levels of explanation in psychology. Biological reductionism and environmental (stimulus-response) reductionism.
Idiographic and nomothetic approaches to psychological investigation.
Ethical implications of research studies and theory, including reference to social sensitivity.