Eduqas A-Level Psychology: the controversies (Component 3) overview

What the controversies demand

Component 3 includes controversies that challenge psychology as a discipline. For each you must outline the two sides, ground them in concepts and examples, and reach a judgement. This guide maps the five controversies and how they are examined, with matching dot-point pages for practice.

The five controversies

Ethics in psychological research

The conflict between scientific value and participant welfare (Milgram, Zimbardo), resolved by guidelines, ethics committees and prospective cost-benefit analysis. Judgement: ethical research is possible; harm is justified only when benefits clearly outweigh costs.

The use of non-human animals

Scientific arguments (control, procedures impossible in humans, Pavlov and Skinner) and ethical arguments (welfare, no consent, speciesism), regulated by the 3Rs. Judgement: justifiable under the 3Rs and cost-benefit analysis, minimised and replaced where possible.

Cultural bias

Ethnocentrism, the imposed etic, WEIRD samples, and alpha and beta bias (the Strange Situation), reduced by emic, cross-cultural and indigenous research. Judgement: a real threat to validity that can be reduced.

The scientific status of psychology

The features of science (objectivity, control, replicability, falsifiability, paradigms) met by the experimental approaches (Raine) but not the psychodynamic (Freud). Judgement: scientific in parts, varying by approach.

Gender bias and sexism

Androcentrism and alpha and beta bias (all-male samples), with consequences for diagnosis and stereotypes, reduced by representative samples and reflexivity. Judgement: a real threat that can be reduced.

Check your knowledge

1. Name two studies used in the ethics controversy. (2 marks)
2. State what the 3Rs stand for. (3 marks)
3. Define ethnocentrism. (1 mark)
4. Explain why the psychodynamic approach weakens the case that psychology is a science. (2 marks)