Psychological Theories of Crime

There are five psychological theories of crime: biological, behavioural, social learning, social ecological and situational explanations.

Attention has been directed to human cognition (mental content, process and abilities) and affect (moods and emotions), and to the biological foundations of and the environmental influences of behaviour.

Biological

• Individual genetic variations may be linked to criminality; transferring these genetic variations to biological offspring
• This heritability of criminality may exist in a genetic foundation for crime-related behavioural tendencies such as aggression, addiction, selfishness, impulsivity and sexual deviance.
• Biological changes such as those during adolescence provide an increase in physical strength and sexual urges. This may help to understand the increase in the crime rate for males peaking in early adulthood and steadily declining afterwards.
• Children of criminal parents are more likely than children of non-criminals to becomes criminals.
• This intergenerational transmission of crime may be a product of learning.
• The ingestion of alcohol and other drugs, act on the CNS producing poor social judgment and aggression as well as other environmental contributions such as brain injuries/damage and toxins increasing the likelihood of deviant behaviour occurring.
• From an evolutionary perspective the biological make-up serves the fundamental purpose of survival and reproduction.
• r/K theory: r-selected strategy; opportunistic, impulsive, aggressive and dominant. K-selected strategy; cautious, self-controlled and socially co-operative.

Behavioural

• Behavioural focuses on the way that individuals learn, using classical and operant conditioning.
• Classical conditioning is the pairing of a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus which produces a conditioned response. The previously neutral stimulus is then a conditioned stimulus.
• Operant conditioning uses two types of consequences: reinforcement; the behaviour is more likely to occur and punishment; the behaviour is less likely to occur. Both types of consequences can be positive or negative.
• It is possible in classical conditioning for a learned association to occur with a single trial learning although classical conditioning typically corporates multiple pairings.
• A concern for the justice system would be that operant conditioning sees that unless punishment occurs immediately after (typically) the behaviour, the individual will not associate the punishment with the behaviour.

Personality

1. The three types of mental processes comprising Freud's topographic model are conscious, preconscious and unconscious.

2. Ambivalence; conflicting feelings or motives. Conflict; tension between opposing motives.

3. Freud's developmental model and the five psychosexual stages involved are: oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital.

Notes on Emotion

1. The James-Lange theory states that emotions originate in the peripheral nervous system, which then gets interpreted by the central nervous system. The Cannon-Bard theory however says that emotion-inducing stimuli simultaneously elicit both an emotional experience and bodily responses.
2. Emotional disclosure has been found to increase the overall health who frequently discuss (talk about) or write about stressful or unpleasant events.
3. Facial expressions have the ability to influence a person's emotional state.
4. There are six facial expressions that are recognised by people of most cultures. These are:
   (a). Surprise
   (b). Fear
   (c). Anger
   (d). Disgust
   (e). Happiness
   (f). Sadness
5. Display rules are controlled expression of emotions by individuals that are considered appropriate for that culture.
6. There is a difference in how men and women experience and express emotion. Where women are more likely to feel emotions more intensely and to be able to read the emotions of others, males do not show this strength of empathy. Although the exact reasons are unknown, from an evolutionary perspective gender roles may have played a part in this emotional expression.
7. Positive affect (pleasant emotions) drives pleasure-seeking, approach-oriented behaviour, whereas negative affects (unpleasant emotions) leads to avoidance-oriented behaviour.
8. A hierarchical system for classifying emotions are: Positive and negative emotions; basic categories such as love, joy, anger, sadness and fear; subordinate categories such as fondness, pride, jealousy, agony and worry.
9. There are two types of ways that individuals regulate their emotions. Reframe; putting it into perspective and suppression; ignoring and hiding the feeling.
10. According to the Schachter-Singer theory of emotion, physiological arousal and cognitive interpretation interact by making inferences about the way that an individuals body is behaving and the situation that that individual is in.

Notes on Motivation

1. According to Freud, aggression and sex are the two drives that motivate human behaviour.
2. Psychodynamic theorists now emphasise another two motives; the need for relatedness to others and the need for self-esteem. They have also moved away from using the concept of 'drives' to 'wishes and fears'.
3. Implicit motives can be measured using the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), where explicit motives are more reliably measured through self-reports.
4. According to the behavioural perspective a primary drive is an innate or biological drive where a secondary drive is learned.
5. The conditions necessary for maximum job performance according to goal-setting theory are:
   (a). Experience a discrepancy between what she has and wants;
   (b). Define specific goals rather than general ones;
   (c). Receive continuing feedback that allows her to gauge her progress towards the goal;
   (d). Believe she has the ability to attain the goal;
   (e). Set a high enough goal to remain motivated; and
   (f). Have a high degree of commitment to the goal.
6. Three innate needs suggested by self-determination theory are competence, autonomy and relatedness to others. Self-determination theory view's rewards as a possible hinderance on the intrinsic value of that activity. When these innate needs are met without offering an external reward, the intrinsic value increases.
7. Maslow's five categories of needs starting from the lowest needs are physiological, safety, love or belongingness, esteem and self-actualisation.
8. The three levels of needs that form the basis of ERG theory are; existence, relatedness and growth.
9. The theory of inclusive fitness accounts for the motivation to care for close relatives as a need to protect the reproduction of genetically related individuals.
10. Motivation can be shaped by culture as emphasis on things such as material objects and wealth may be praised in some societies but looked down on by others.
11. The two phases of metabolism are absorptive; ingesting food and fasting; not eating.

Perspectives of Motivation

Psychodynamic: Looks at the differences between conscious or explicit and unconscious or implicit motives.

Behavioural: Humans repeat behaviours that lead to reinforcement and avoid behaviours linked to punishment.

Cognitive: Human behaviour is based on values and the belief that it is achievable.

Humanistic: Works of the self-actualisation theory of Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Problem solving

1. Preparation: Identify facts

2. Production: Separate truly relevant from those that are irrelevant

3. Evaluation: Define his or her ultimate goal

Common barriers fo effective problem solving

• Confirmation bias; trying to confirm pre-existing positions or beliefs whilst ignoring contradictory evidence
• Availability heuristics; judging the likelihood of an event based on how readily available other instance of the event are in memory
• Representativeness heuristics; estimating the probability of something based on how well the circumstances match a representation example or prototype
• Functional fixedness; the tendency to view objects only for their usual customary use
• Mental sets; persistently returning to old solutions even when they are not working now

Language development

For many years, psychologists have debated the existence of a critical period for language learning. The first three years of life seem to be the optimal time to attain native fluency.

Language development progresses through a series of stages.

Before infants can start to acquire vocabulary or syntax, they have to learn to segment the continuous streams of speech they hear into units. They then have to learn to classify words into syntactic categories.
Babies' first recognisable speech sounds occur as babbling in the first year. Sometime in the second year they begin to speak in one-word utterances. Young children use telegraphic speech, leaving out all but the essential words. By age four, most of the sentences children produce are grammatical.

Memory

The standard model of memory is predicated on the metaphor of the mind as a computer; it distinguishes three memory stores: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM)


Working memory


Working memory refers to the temporary storage and processing of information that can be used to solve problems, respond to environmental demands or achieve goals

Long-term memory


Declarative memory refers to the memory for facts and events; it can be semantic (general knowledge) or episodic (specific events). Procedural memory refers to 'how to' knowledge of procedures of skills and include habits.

Explicit memory refers to conscious recollection and recall
Implicit memory refers to memory that is expressed in behaviour

Everyday memory refers to memory as it occurs in daily life

Remembering, misremembering and forgetting

• Psychologists often distinguish between the availability of information in memory and its accessibility
• People make memory errors for a variety of reasons
• Psychologists have proposed several explanations for why people forget, including decay, interference and motivated forgetting
• Memories recovered in therapy cannot be assumed to be accurate, but they also cannot be routinely dismissed as false
• Specific kinds of distortion can also occur within the memories of people whose brains have been affected by illness or injury. Anterograde amnesia involves the inability to retain new memories. By contrast, retrograde amnesia involves losing memories from a period before the time that a person's brain was damaged.

Consciousness

The nature of consciousness


Consciousness refers to the subjective awareness of metal events and serves two main functions;

1. Monitoring the self and the environment and
2. Controlling thought and behaviour

Perspectives on consciousness


The psychodynamic perspective. Freud distinguished three types of mental activities conscious processes, of which of the person is currently subjectively aware; preconscious processes, which are not presently conscious but could be readily brought into consciousness; and the unconscious processes, which are dynamically kept from consciousness because they are threatening.

The cognitive perspective. The cognitive unconscious focuses on information-processing mechanisms that operate outside of awareness, such as procedural knowledge and implicit memory.

The behavioural perspective. Consciousness was considered analogous to a continuously moving video camera, surveying potentially significant perceptions, thoughts, emotions, goals and problem-solving strategies. The two functions of consciousness - monitor and control - allow people to initiate and terminate thought and behaviour in order to attain goals.

The evolutionary perspective. Consciousness evolved as a mechanism for directing behaviour in adaptive ways, which was superimposed on more primitive psychological processes such as conditioning. The primary function of consciousness is to foster adaptation.

Sleeping and dreaming


The sleep cycle is governed by circadian rhythms, cyclical biological 'clocks' that evolved around the daily cycles of light and dark

Sleep proceeds through a series of stages that can be assessed by EEG. The major distinction is between rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM (NREM) sleep. Most dreaming occurs in REM sleep, in which the eye dart around and the EEG takes on an active pattern resembling waking consciousness.

Three theories on dreaming:

1. Freud believed that dreams have meaning and distinguished between the manifest content (story line) and the latent content (underlying meaning) of the dream

2. The cognitive perspective suggests that dreams are the outcome of cognitive processes and that their content reflects the concerns and metaphors people express in their waking cognition

3. Some theorists propose that dreams are biological phenomena with no meaning at all

Altered states of consciousness


Altered states of consciousness, in which the usual conscious ways of perceiving, thinking and feeling are modified or disrupted, are often brought about through meditation, hypnosis, ingestion of drugs and religious experiences

Meditation creates a deep state of tranquility by altering the normal flow of conscious thoughts

Hypnosis is characterised by deep relaxation and suggestibility

The most common way people alter their state of consciousness is by ingesting psychoactive substances - such as alcohol and other depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens and marijuana - that operate on the nervous system to alter mental activity

Approaches to Intelligence

The psychometric approach examines which intellectual abilities tend to correlate statistically with one another. This approach uses factor analysis to identify common factors that underlie performance across a variety of tasks

The information processing or cognitive approach aims to describe and measure the specific cognitive processes that underlie intelligent behaviour, including the following: speed of processing, knowledge base, and the ability to learn and apply mental strategies

Current multifactor theories of intelligence include Sternberg's triarchic theory (analytical, practical and creative) and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences

Intelligence Testing

Intelligence tests are measures designed to assess the level of cognitive capabilities of an individual compared to other people in a population

Alfred Binet developed the first intelligence test to identify children performing in school at a level below that of their age peers

James Wilson-Miller (1982) created the Koori IQ test to show the cultural bias in typical IQ tests held in the education system

Terman brought intelligence testing to North America, adapted the concept of intelligence quotient (IQ) and expanded the meaning of the IQ from a predictor of school success to a broader index of intellectual ability

IQ = (MA/CA) x 100


Raven's Progressive Matrices can be used when looking at non-verbal cognitive skills

James Flynn found that each generation has a higher IQ than the last

Perception

Perception refers to the closely related process by which the brain selects, organises and interprets sensations.

Perceptual organisation integrates sensations into meaningful units, locates them in space, tracks their movement and preserves their meaning as the perceiver observes them from different vantage points.

Gastalt principles:

• Figure-ground perception
• Similarity
• Proximity
• Good continuation
• Simplicity
• Closure

Form perception refers to the organisation of sensations into meaningful shapes and patterns (percepts).

Depth perception is the organisation of perception in three dimensions. Depth perception organises two-dimensional retinal images into a three-dimentional world, primarily through binocular and monocular visual cues.

Motion perception refers to the perception of movement. Two systems appear to be involved in motion perception. The first calculates motion from the changing image projected by the object on the retina; the second makes use of commands from the brain to the muscles in the eye that signal eye movements.

Bottom-up processing; seeing as it is; emphasises the role of sensory data in shaping perception

Top-down processing; shaped by experience; emphasises the influence of prior experience on perception

Divisions of the Nervous System

Level One. Nervous System: Provides the biological basis for psychological experience

Level Two. Peripheral Nervous System: Carries information to and from the central nervous system

Level Three. Somatic Nervous System: Conveys sensory information to the central nervous system and sends motor messages to muscles

Level Three. Autonomic Nervous System: Serves basic life functions, such as the beating of the heart and response to stress

Level Four. Sympathetic Nervous System: Readies the body in response to threat; activates the organism

Level Four. Parasympathetic: Calms the body down; maintains energy

Level Two. Central Nervous System: Directs psychological and basic life processes; responds to stimuli

Level Three. Spinal Cord: Receives sensory input; sends information to the brain; responds with motor output

Level Three. Brain: Directs psychological activity; processes information; maintains life supports

Level Four. (Brain): Forebrain, midbrain, hindbrain

Basic Anatomy of a Neuron

Dendrites
Cell body
Nucleus
Axon hillock
Axon
Myelin sheath
Node of ranvier
Collateral branches
Terminal buttons


Neurons generally have a cell body that contains a nucleus, dendrites are branch-like extensions connected to the cell body, an axon a longer extension from the cell body is used to transmit information to other neurons, axons then have collateral branches, at the end of these branches are terminal buttons used to send signals to adjacent cells. Most axons are covered with a myelin sheath used to facilitate transmission of information to other neurons.

Quantitative Research Methods

Descriptive Designs

• Concerned with describing behaviour
• Uses case studies (limited in size), naturalistic observation, survey research (interviews, questionnaires)
• Possible research bias/observer bias

Correlation Designs

• Concerned with predicting behaviour
• Correlation coefficient (positive/negative correlation or none at all (0))

Experimental Designs

• Concerned with establishing the causes of behaviour
• Three main goals - description, prediction and understanding
• Independent variables (outside participants control)
• Dependent variables (responses depend on their exposure to the independent variable)
• In order to assess cause and effect, participants are presented with different possible variations or conditions, of the independent variable and study the way participants react

History of Psychology

Do we have free will to choose out actions or is our behaviour caused or determined by things outside of our control?

The mind-body problem of how mental and physical events interact with one another

The first psychological laboratory was founded in Germany by Wilhelm Wundt in 1879

Edward Titchener initiated the school of: Structuralism (uncovered the basic elements of consciousness through introspection, the process of looking inward and reporting on one's conscious experience)

William James, one of the founders of the school of: Functionalism (explains psychological processes in terms of the role, or function, they serve)

Neuronal Communication

1. Resting state/potential: Is at a polarised state with negatively charged inside and positively charged outside. Not currently firing but has the potential to depending on the next processes.
2. Depolarisation: Stored energy and if stimulated will either reduce (open briefly to let positive ions in) or increase the difference
3. Graded potential: Either depolarised, the charge on the outside and inside become more similar (more likely) or hyperpolarised the charge becomes less similar (less likely) and is cumulatively charges
4. Action potential: When it crosses a threshold, the membrane becomes permeable allowing positive ions to enter changing the action potential, increasing likelihood of it firing that is not cumulative
5. Neurotransmitter: Neuron fires sending message

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning involves learning reflexive involuntary responses to stimuli that do not normally cause such responses.

A neutral stimulus is a stimulus that before conditioning does not naturally bring about the involuntary response of interest.

The unconditioned stimulus illicit's a reflexive response without previous conditioning.

During the classical conditioning process, the neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus to produce the unconditioned response.

After repeated pairings the neutral stimulus is now considered to be a conditioned stimulus.

7 Major Perspective in Contemporary Psychology

1. Psychoanalytic/psychodynamic (unconscious):

• People's actions are determined by the way their thoughts, feelings and wishes are connected in their minds
• Many occur outside of conscious awareness
• The mental processes may conflict, leading to compromises among competing motives (ID 'now', ego 'reasoning', superego 'conscience'
• Sigmund Freud emphasised on unconscious mental forces
• Many of the associations between feelings and behaviour or situations that guide our behaviour are done unconsciously
• Uses dreams, free associations, sexuality, subconscious mind (Allowing patient to talk without guidance or influence)

2. Behaviour (learning):

• Focuses on the way objects or events in the environment come to control behaviour through learning (E.g. Classical or Opperant Conditioning)
• B. F. Skinner observed that behaviour can be controlled by environmental influences that either increase (reinforce) or decrease (punish) their likelihood of occurring
• Uses observations of environment and is focused on the short term change

3. Humanist (individual):

• Focuses on the individual and assumes people are motivated to reach their full potential
• Carl Rogers' client-centred therapy emphasised conscious, goal-directed choices and the need for individuals to realise their true potential in order to self-actualise
• As this perspective focuses on self-actualisation it does not account for people in third-world countries and is biased to Western culture.

4. Cognitive (thought/memory):

• Focuses on the way people perceive, process and retrieve information
• Rene Descartes' early philosophical questions led many cognitive psychologists to emphasise the role of reason in creating knowledge
• Modern-day cognitive psychologists use experimental procedures to infer the underlying mental processes in operation
• When talking about language, Noam Chomsky took the side of nature believing that the rules of grammar is innate
• James Wilson-Miller created the Koori IQ test in 1982 to show that IQ tests were culturally biased

5. Neuroscience/Biopsychology (physical):

• Examines the physical basis of psychological phenomena such as motivation, emotion and stress
• Aristotle determined that there was a connection between the psychological states and physiological processes

6. Evolutionary (evolved):

• This perspective argues that behavioural tendencies in humans have evolved because they helped our ancestors to survive and rear healthy offspring
• It supports Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection - the most adaptive behavioural traits are those that helped our ancestors adjust and survive in their environment

7. Sociocultural (societal):

• Tries to distinguish universal psychological processes from those that are specific to particular cultures
• Lev Vygotsky that the environment and all its factors had a great impact on the development of higher order functions

Nature vs. Nurture Debate in regard to Intelligence.

The great nature versus nurture debate has recently shifted from, whether our genetics or the environment influences our psychological processes, to how much both, biology or the environment has an impact. Both nature and nurture have been researched thoroughly with evidence to support both sides of the debate. The nature side or the genetic side argues that intelligence is inherited in the way that a person is born with their maximum mental ability. To say that a person’s genetics solely established their mentality is to say that the environment has no influence at all. On the other hand the nurture side or environmental side argues that the environment plays a significant role in a person’s mental ability. This discussion will look at the research and compare the evidence that supports both sides of the debate.

It has been a well known fact for some time now that traits such as hair, eye and skin colour, are all determined by specific genes passed down from our parents. The nature theory takes it further to say that traits such as intelligence, personality, aggression and sexual orientation are also in our genetics. This can be tested thanks to the birth of monozygotic or identical twins born from the same cell. Most data suggests that the genetic effect is more powerful. For example, identical twins reared apart show an average IQ correlation of about .75, which is even larger than DZ twins reared together (Burton, Weston, Kowalski, 2012). Although this correlation is not likely to be as strong in low socioeconomic groups as this is the group that has the greatest amount of risk factors. The greater amount of risk factors, the greater chance that a person will not reach their full potential (Hackman, Farah, Meaney, 2010).

Francis Galton was the first to use twin studies to collect evidence for this hypothesis to explain intelligence and many other researchers continuing to use this same technique. These studies involved sets of twins, both identical and fraternal twins, which are used to correlate IQ. They are conducted so that the results can compare the influence of heritability and the environment. As monozygotic twins share 100 percent of their genes, and dizygotic twins share 50 percent it gives us the ability to compare variables. If genetic factors are important in IQ, monozygotic twins should be more alike than dizygotic twins, siblings, and parents and their off-spring (Sternberg, Grigorenko, 1997). Biological relatives should also be more alike than adopted children and their adoptive parents or siblings. (Burton, Weston, Kowalski, 2012) These studies also involve comparing the results to the family, comparing IQ to parents and other siblings.

Research on adoption is also used for both sides of the debate, comparing variables between siblings or twins reared apart in order to examine the relative influence of genes and the environment. Adoption is highly beneficial for nature as it shows the effects of children brought up in the same family compared with those of different genetics in the family (Sternberg, Grigorenko, 1997). An example in favour of nature would be, if a set of monozygotic twins were to show similar intelligence even after being raised in different environments. It has been seen that monozygotic twins reared apart still have a higher correlation of IQ than dizygotic twins reared together(Burton, Weston, Kowalski, 2012). If genetics did not play a part in intelligence then dizygotic twins reared together would resemble each other strikingly close regardless of their only 50 percent in genetic relatedness. The interesting evidence is that dizygotic twins show a higher correlation than their other siblings even when reared apart supporting the theory once again that genetics does have a major influence on human intelligence. By using monozygotic twins as the control group any differences would have to be explained by environmental factors (Sternberg, Grigorenko, 1997). Studies have also shown that adopted children compared to the family’s biological children have no correlation although they have been brought up in the same family, school, and economic environment (Sternberg, Grigorenko, 1997). These studies have all found that it is the genetics that have a stronger influence on intelligence of a person rather than the environment.

On the other side of the debate we have the nurture theory that believes that intelligence is caused by a person’s environment. This means that environmental factors may include education, socioeconomic status, nutrition, parents behaviour, alcohol, criminal behaviour, emotional adaptation, down to the amount of time spent reading or even watching television amongst many others (Flynn, 1992). Research has focused much on infants and children, nutrition, twin and adoption just like supporters of the nature theory. It has also been noticed that IQ has been rising about 3 IQ points per decade across all industrialised countries, this means that since WWII the average IQ has risen over 1 standard deviation (Flynn, 1992). This suggests that social and environmental conditions lead to changes in IQ (Burton, Weston, Kowalski, 2012). Although studies have shown that nutrition plays a large role in development, the increase in IQ cannot be explained by diet alone. Another explanation is that children have experienced a wide variety of new technological creations stimulating them, helping with visual puzzles like those on IQ tests (Neisser, 1998). Many researchers have attempted to explain the theory, yet it is still unknown to what causes this increase in IQ. Many environmental factors have shown to have only slight contributions and are often unrelated to one another.

Psychological experiments of conditioning are an example of ways of controlling a person’s environment and show how important a person’s environment is in effecting how they think and therefore their intelligence. It has been demonstrated through experiments on children that fear can be learned. If it were not learned from the environment then it would likely never develop to show how important the environment is for the development of humans in many aspects. Burrhus Frederic Skinner’s experiments on pigeons is an example of how much is possible with conditioning (Burton, Weston, Kowalski, 2012). He was able to produce pigeons that could do figure eights, play tennis, dance and do certain actions in order to receive food. Although this is not an example of humans it shows a distinct connection between the environment and potential if just given the chance a person or animal is highly capable. This is an example of both nature and nurture working together, with the necessary genetics available and the environmental stimulus.

The study of twins for the nurture side is done by looking at identical twins and the fact that they are not 100% the same with different characteristics, behaviour and intellectual ability is proof enough that the environment must have had an impact on them. Just as adoption studies have also shown that a person’s environment plays a part in their assisting with intelligence (Sternberg, Grigorenko, 1997). Studies on interracial adoption in particular have shown that black children adopted by white middle class families who are tested before and later down the track have had a significant improvement of average IQ 83 to IQ 103, a 15 point increase and 20 point increase than their biological mother (Williams, 1997). This could be due to a numerous amount of factors whether it is schooling, opportunity, family or social environment. Schooling has been proven to improve a child’s IQ and with other environmental factors such as change of post code and resources combines can make significant changes to help with developing a person’s intelligence.

Looking at all the research covered although much has not been discussed, there is significant evidence that would prove that both sides have a great influence on our intelligence. There are high correlations for monozygotic twins even when raised apart are an extremely strong point in favour for nature. (Sternberg, Grigorenko, 1997). Although most studies are done on middle class white families where environmental risk factors are significantly lower than in lower class families. It does not show how influential the environment can be, if it were to be done on lower class monozygotic twins it would likely show a lower correlation and from their other siblings as well (Hackman, Farah, Meaney, 2010). Both sides work together complementing each other contributing and influencing a person’s intelligence. As this has been a topical debate for some time now, it isn’t surprising that an interactionist perspective has come about on explaining intelligence (Sternberg, Wagney, 1994). This perspective argues that both nature and nurture interact and work together, that neither nature nor nurture are capable of explaining intelligence entirely. ‘The person and the situation each contribute components to be integrated in successful performance’ (Sternberg, Vagner, 1994). A person is born with their genetic component and as they grow and experience life, the environment shapes and teaches that person assisting with intelligence. According to this theory it would be unlikely for a person to reach their full potential as the environment is filled with positive but also negative risk factors that would affect a person’s abilities. A person’s environment must require certain interactions and possibilities to learn in order to reach their biological potential already built in from birth.

Reference

Burton, L., Westen, D., Kowalski, R. (2012). Psychology (3^rd ed). John Wiley and sons inc.

Flynn, J. R. (1992). Cultural distance and the limitations of IQ. In J. Lynch, C. Modgil, & S. Modgil (Eds.), Education for cultural diversity: Convergence and divergence (pp. 343-360). London: Palmer Press.

Hackman, D. A., Farah, M. J., Meaney, M. J. (2010). Socioeconomic status and the brain: mechanistic insights from human and animal research. Macmillian Publishers Limited

Sternberg, R. J., Grigorenko, E. (1997). Intelligence, Hereditary, and Environment. Cambridge University Press

Sternberg, R. J., Wagney, R. K. (1994). Mind in context: Interactionist Perspectives on Human Intelligence. Cambridge University Press

Neisser, U. (1998). The rising curve: Long-term gains in IQ and related measures. Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.

Williams, W. M., Ceci, S. J. (1997). Are Americans Becoming More or Less Alike? Trends in Race, Class, and Ability Differences in Intelligence. American Psychological Association

My First Year. Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods Essay

It was a bit rushed and is missing a few things (like a conclusion :/) .. But it still got me a HD :) . So i'm happy!!


Qualitative research methods are conducted in a natural setting that allows for an in-depth analysis to find meaning and are taken in the form of words, sounds, pictures or objects. This allows for precise recordings of events and any consequences that may have occurred as a direct or indirect effect of such an event. Quantitative research methods are precise and focus on a specific topic at hand. It does this by largely depending on specific measurements, analysis and interpretation of numerical and non-numerical data. I will be comparing each type of research method and the different methods used within them, the differences between qualitative and quantitative as well as the methodologies, epistemologies, and ethical issues that are involved with the research methods.

When using qualitative research methods a precise question or hypothesis does not need to be in mind but a general topic of interest that you would like to conduct an experiment on (Willig, 2001). This may become a difficulty though as all research proposals are reviewed by special committees who like to know exactly what and why you are doing the particular experiment. This is why research is based on well thought out and justifiable principles that are relevant to the research. Qualitative researchers take an interpretative approach whilst being subjective. This allows the researcher to have an increased understanding of the meaning behind what is being observed and recorded. These methodologies contribute to the in-depth analysis to have a greater specificity of a smaller number of participants (Willig, 2001). Qualitative research does not require a large number of participants as it is rather exploratory and is not sure what it may uncover so may change as research continues. It is aiming to uncover the larger picture behind an event and is interested in the more humanistic point of view, opinions, experiences and attitudes of the participants rather than solid facts that can be used for generalisability (Willig, 2001). Qualitative research is often used as a starting point to look further into a topic, which may not be as well understood. Such topics like cultural values and social behaviour require in-depth interviewing and intense observation as such qualitative research methods should be used as it is capable of collecting sensitive data that quantitative data cannot.

Unlike qualitative research methods quantitative research methods use ‘The Scientific Method’ to systemically acquire information about behaviour and other phenomena to be researched. This method is done firstly by defining a question or hypothesis to be answered, then by creating a way of measuring or a way to prove the hypothesis, create a study plan for how the research will be conducted, decide on the sample that will be analysed, collect data, analyse data collected and interpret this data.

Qualitative methods are often associated with the aim for social development. Some qualitative research methods include observation, ethnography, interviewing, action research and participatory research. Observational research is used for most psychological research whether it be structured or unstructured. These experiments may be recorded, either video or audio which is an advantage as the researcher can play back and listen or watch recordings to find anything which may have been missed (Flick, 2009). Ethnography is concerned with gaining an understanding of people and communities in their environment and does this by observing, talking to people in these communities, asking questions and coming to conclusions. Interviews can be structured where all questions are specific and the researcher guides the researched, semi-structured where the researcher half guides the researched but allows for other input, and unstructured where the researcher allows the researched to have control over the interview and discuss what they like (Flick, 2009). Action research is motivated by a desire for social change, and often involves questions that relate to an entire community or even nation.

When qualitative researchers are analysing data there are five methods of analysis, which are grounded theory, content analysis, interpretive phenomenology, thematic discourse analysis and Foucauldian discourse analysis. Grounded theory is used to analyse what is said only and is organised into categories that are used for comparative analysis. From these categories and comparative analysis a theory is then created (Coffey, Atkinson, 1996). Content analysis involves looking at what has been said by who and the frequency of this occurrence to bring out significance. This data is now in the form of quantitative data is analysed and conclusions are made. Interpretive phenomenology is interpreting exactly what someone has said and finding meaning. Thematic discourse analysis infers meaning from text and interprets these findings. They then ask questions about the text and analyse trying to find answers, which allows conclusions to be made.

There are three types of research methods for quantitative research they are experimental designs, correlational designs and descriptive designs. An experimental design includes being able to manipulate an outcome, may have a control group but not always, participants are assigned to different groups or conditions on the basis of chance, it uses statistical analysis to confirm the hypothesis and the ability to replicate the experiment again and produce the same or similar findings. In some occasions a placebo may be used or a double-blind to prevent bias from occurring. Correlational designs or method is aimed to find to what extent or even at all if two variables are related. They determine correlations of data of experiments, case studies or surveys. Although it may or may not find a correlation this does not imply causation.

The methods of analysis for quantitative data are statistical analysis both descriptive and inferential statistics, which include the standard deviation, T-test, correlation, chi-square, mode, mean, and median which are used for central tendency. The researcher must also be aware that participants may not have filled out such things like surveys or answered truthfully, which can lead to possible flaws and inadequacy of data collection and reliable data.

From a qualitative perspective the positivism approach is taken, that meaning exists in the world and that our knowledge is a reflection of reality. Positivist research involves predicting general patterns of human activity by empirical observations of individual behaviour. Whereas, when analysing data quantitative researchers use an interpretisvism approach where our meaning comes from the way we interpret the world. What we know can only come from our interpretations of what we have discovered. As quantitative data is in the form of numerical data this interpretation of the results is much more reliable but only if our interpretations are correct.

Some of the differences between the two types of methods are that qualitative research is in-depth, larger amounts of information is collected from each subject, captures and discovers meaning once the researcher becomes immersed in the data, that concepts are in the form of themes and generalisations, measures are often specific to the individual setting or researcher, data are in the form of words and images from documents, observations and transcripts, theory can be casual or non-casual, research procedures are particular and replication is unlikely, analysis proceeds by extracting themes or generalisations from evidence and organizing data to present a coherent consistent picture. Whereas quantitative research is concerned with breadth, smaller amounts of information collected from each subject, tests a hypothesis that the researcher starts with, concepts are in the form of specific variables, measures are systemically created before data collection and are standardized, data is numerical, theory is largely casual and is deductive, Procedures are standard and is replicable, analysis proceeds by using statistics, and tables or charts and discussing how what they show related to the hypothesis.

As quantitative research methods use ‘The Scientific Method’ the methodologies are to keep the method as plausible as possible. These five methodologies are objective measurement, generalizability, reliability, and validity. Objective measurement requires a solid way to determine the value of a variable. Generalisability is the ability for the results to be applied to the entire population, which had been researched. As a population tends to be a significant number of people an experiment tends to look at a sample that should represent the entire population. Reliability is the ability to produce consistent measurements over time.  To check reliability is to see if results give similar values if the same participant does it numerous amounts of times. Inter-rater is when a number of testers who rate the same person on the same criteria and give similar ratings to the participant. Validity is whether or not the experiment measures the variable of interest. Internal validity is whether or not the experiment procedures was conducted correctly, and external validity is whether or not the experimental situation resembles a real situation or the ‘real-world’. Standardisation is having each participant experience the same experience to ensure there is no bias or interference from the researcher.

Researchers of both qualitative and quantitative methods must be respectful for the basic rights of humans and animals when conducting research. As all proposals are reviewed by special committees researchers must be aware of the ethical issues that come into play when conducting and experimental research project. This includes having an understanding of informed consent and being aware that participants need to understand any potential risks and benefits of the study and consent to participate as well as provide a signed statement. Any risks to the participant must be minimised and deception to the participant strongly considered. Although some studies may require the participant to be deceived as to not bias the results there are strict guidelines, which have been made by the Australian Psychological Society (2007) Code of Ethics. At the end of the study all participants are required to be debriefed and informed of any deception, which has occurred. It is also in the Code of Ethics that all participants must not be coeheresed in any way and must be a voluntary participant (Flick, 2009).

Reference List

Coffey, A., Atkinson, P. (1996). Making sense of qualitative data: complementary research strategies. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications

Flick, U, (2009). An Introduction to Qualitative Research. Thousand oaks, Sage publications Ltd

Willig, C, (2001). Introducing qualitative research in psychology: adventures in theory and method : ISBN    0 335 20535 6

Wolf, M. F., Meta-analysis: Quantitative methods for research synthesis. Sage Publications