Key Idea: Every explanation of behaviour is given from a position, with its own assumptions. Approaches, cultures and researchers each provide one, and none is sufficient alone.
Three lenses
- Biological: the body
- Cognitive: the mind
- Sociocultural: the world around
Together
- One alone is reductionist
- Several together are holistic
- What is left out is an alternative explanation
Whose viewpoint
- Emic: from the inside
- Etic: from the outside
- The researcher as insider or outsider
Ways of knowing
- Theories and models
- Deductive or inductive
- Indigenous perspectives
The words to know
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Perspective | A viewpoint from which behaviour is explained |
| Reductionist | Explaining a behaviour at one level only |
| Holistic | Looking at the whole person, using several levels |
| Theory | An explanation that can be tested against evidence |
| Inductive approach | Starting from observations and building an explanation |
| Emic approach | Studying a culture from the inside, on its own terms |
| Etic approach | Studying cultures from the outside, with the same categories for all |
| Ethnocentrism | Judging another culture by the standards of your own |
| Insider | A researcher who belongs to the group being studied |
| Indigenous peoples | Communities native to a region, with a long connection to that land |
Whose viewpoint is this, what does it show, and what would another viewpoint add?
Exam-style question
Your class practical was an experiment. Your class tested whether instructions read in a friendly voice or in a stern voice affect how many puzzles people solve in ten minutes. You recorded the number solved by each of 30 participants. Explain the concept of perspective in relation to the experiment in your class practical.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Important: Every explanation is given from a viewpoint. Name it, and say what another viewpoint would add.
Tap each card to check yourself.
What does each approach bring with it, besides explanations? Assumptions about causes, and preferred methods.
What is an alternative explanation? A different account of the same behaviour, often from another perspective.
Which reasoning builds a theory from themes in interviews? Inductive reasoning.
Why might emic research come before etic comparison? It shows which concepts matter locally, so that later measures fit.
What are Indigenous psychologies? Ways of understanding behaviour rooted in the context of specific Indigenous communities.
What does a Western model of development tend to treat as the goal? An independent individual.
Exam tips
- Name the perspective before giving its explanation.
- Say what that perspective leaves out.
- Ask who collected the data, and from inside or outside the group.
- Argue for combining views, not for a winner.