Cultural and Gender Issues

Question 1

Gender

Answer 1

Either of the two sexes, especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones.

Question 2

Gender Bias

Answer 2

Ideas about Gender misrepresented

Question 3

Gender Stereotypes

Answer 3

Labels that a false that can be present in someone in a certain way, attributing certain qualities to person based on their Gender (Freud: Anatomy is destiny and so psych diffs is due to that)

Question 4

Types of Biases in Gender Research

Answer 4

Hare-Mustin and Maracek:

1. ) Alpha Bias: Differences between genders are exaggerated (More likely to occur as sig results over not when it comes to G diffs)
2. ) Differences are minimised

Question 5

Methodological Gender Bias

Answer 5

When the design of the research biases the chance of the researcher obtaining particular findings about a gender
=Bjorkqcist: Found boys displayed more phy agg than girls but they showed more indirect aa which suggests males are more aa due to tasks that demonstrated this but it might not be true

Question 6

Culture

Answer 6

A way of life for a group of people

Question 7

Cross-Cultural Research

Answer 7

• More than one country due to repeating procedure

- Can compare to each other to see if a behaviour is a nature or nurture

Question 8

Cross-Cultural Research: Strengths and Weaknesses

Answer 8

+HG: Multiple Countries means rep of differing behaviours
+HV: Made aware of cultural differences in behaviour which is sensitive and subject to interpretation
-LRE: Miscommunication issue in diff countries leading to inconsistencies in data
-LV: Researcher still have preconceptions based on own social norms which would bias the interpretation of behaviour they don’t understand

Question 9

Ethnocentric

Answer 9

Evaluating other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one’s own culture.

Question 10

Ethnocentricism and Research

Answer 10

• Lowers V of Research as it is a subjective interpretation of behaviours
• Which could be misinterpreted and present that culture negatively or positively overly

Question 11

Cultural Relativism

Answer 11

The belief that the norms and values of a culture cannot be fully understood in other languages due to being specific to that culture and so to understand individuals beliefs and behaviours it must be seen in terms of there culture

Question 12

Emic Research

Answer 12

• Culturally specific behaviours
• Behaviour explained using native concepts
• Studying behaviour only within a culture producing findings within it

Question 13

Etic Research

Answer 13

• Universal behaviours that appear in a range of cultures

- Assumes that a particular behaviour is common but cultural factors affect the display of those behaviours

Question 14

Strengths and Weaknesses of Studying Culture

Answer 14

+Ethnocentrism can be avoided by allowing the researcher to be immersed within the culture being studied meaning HV due to a higher understanding of that culture’s beliefs and behaviours
-With etic research, the same procedures and measurements are used for different cultures which may not be valid assessments of behaviour in some cultures which means it loses meaning from the behaviour od that culture

Question 15

Gender Similarities and Differences in Social Psychology

Answer 15

Obedience

Question 16

Supporting Evidence of Gender Differences Obedience

Answer 16

1) Sheridan and King:100% of women were fully obedient in administering real electric shocks to a puppy that increased in voltage compared to 54% of men
= have LV due to the learner being a puppy limiting the amount the ppts can empathise with the pain of the animal and so will not reflect obedience in real life on humans
2) Kilham and Mann: 40% of Austr males obeyed compared to 16% of F giving the max shock level (Milgram Rep)
=LV as the women were ordered to shock another woman by a male AF, so sided with the victim, not reflecting true obedience

Question 17

Rejecting Evidence of Gender Differences in Obedience

Answer 17

1) Milgram’s: No sig difference between the amount of women and men who administered 450V
=HV as ppts were unaware of the true aim so their obedience would reflect real life
2) Burger’s: Milgram’s procedure but only going up to 165V with verbal protests from the learner at 150V and found no sig gender differences
=LTV of electrocuting people which doesn’t represent everyday obedience

Question 18

SP: Sherif and Gender Issues

Answer 18

• 22, 11-year-old boys
• Affects conclusions because it doesn’t represent girls who may behave differently in terms of prejudice
• Tasks of baseball, tug-of-war, and scavenger hunts which are mainly male activities so replication would be bias towards males
• Replicate the study with more gender-neutral activities and the representation of girls in the sample

Question 19

Cultural Similarities and Differences in Social Psychology

Answer 19

Obedience and Prejudice

Question 20

SP: Culture and Obedience

Answer 20

1.) Schurz: Culture DOES affect obedience replicated Milgram’s (1963) study in Austria (collectivist) and found an 80% obedience rate compared to Milgram’s 65% in America (individualist)
=LR due to using ultrasound saying that high amounts can cause skin damage instead of Milgram’s voltage which is harder to compare due to having different levels of threat
2.) Triandis’s: Culture DOESN’T affect obedience as he reported that countries governed by dictators have high levels of obedience, the situation over culture
=LV doesn’t establish an explanation for when countries with high obedience aren’t governed by dictators such as Norway’s 58% level of obedience (Milgram)

Question 21

SP: Culture Does Affect Obedience

Answer 21

1.) Minard: 80 white miners had friendly relations with black miners but only 2o above ground (Cultural values)
=LA. Not modern day P as during seg was when it was conducted
2.) Al-Zahrani and Kaplowitz: Saudi people (c) reported more in-group favouritism than American People (i)
=LV. Self-report which is open to SD. American making themselves looks good.

Question 22

SP: Sherif and Cultural Issues

Answer 22

• 22, 11-year-old boys from Oklahoma, USA
• Biases finding as it only reps manifestation and solution of P in American and Western societies not eastern
• Tasks in Ep was biased to western society due to baseball and the setting of a summer camp using boy scouts. USA institutions
• Could rep in other cultures using emic produces of activities and settings normal to them or an etic approach of more neutral activities like football so that they may be rep in their P and solutions

Question 23

Gender and Cultural Differences in Cognitive Psychology

Answer 23

Memory

Question 24

CogP: Memory models that suggest a difference in gender

Answer 24

1.) Tulving’s as different genders may experience different E memories based on their gendered lives (Girls will lack E memories of shaving)
=Case study of KC supports whose hippocampus was destroyed as a result of a motorcycle accident leaving his E memory impaired but S memory intact
2.) Schematic theory as diff genders experience different things that form diff schemas as a result due to having experienced different ideas of what a situation will be like
=Brewer and Treyans: rejects due to finding that ppts recalled unusual objects in an office environment due to their uncommonness in that situation (skull)

Question 25

CogP: No Gender Difference in Memory

Answer 25

Memory is considered universal and so wouldn’t be affected by dispositional or environmental variables.

Question 26

CogP: Baddeley and Gender Issues

Answer 26

• 72 male and female volunteers from Cambridge Uni
• Wouldn’t affect the conclusion of study as memory is considered universal
• All 10 words on the 4 lists were neutral and mono-syllabic and the interference task involved copying a sequence of digits 8 times meaning there was no bias
• No improvements in terms of gender bias

Question 27

CogP: Memory models that suggest a difference in culture and memory

Answer 27

1.) WMM: Difference in DS of the phonological loop across cultures due to the difference in language and how the length of words may vary with Spanish words being longer than English words meaning that less words will be held in their STM
=Sebastian and Hernandez-Gil support due to finding the average digit span as 5.8 at age 15 in 570 Spanish children when development of this stops versus an average of 7 in Anglo-Sax
2.) Schematic Theory: Schemas alter our memories through reconstruction whereby the schema is an idea of what a situation will be like which can be affected by our culture due to different norms and values forming different ideas of a situation
=HR as the abstract noun of the accuracy of memory recall can be operationalised to the amount of features of a story remembered accurately and so is objective, quant and scientific as reductionist

Question 28

Cog P: Baddeley and Cultural Issues

Answer 28

• 72 British volunteers from studying the Applied Psychological Research Unit at Cambridge Uni
• No cultural affects as processes in memory are considered to be universal, such as types of encoding in STM and LTM
• However, the 4 lists of 10 words used were English which doesn’t rep other languages and how the encoding may differ
• Replicate the study in multiple cultures to strengthen the cred of memory encoding being acoustic in STM and semantic in LTM as a universal

Question 29

Biological Psychology Theories that Suggest Difference in Gender and Behaviour

Answer 29

Evolution and Hormones

Question 30

BioP: Evolution as an explanation for a difference in gender and aggression

Answer 30

1. ) Men are more agg due to being the ones who protect their mates and offspring in order to survive. Killing for food and fighting for shelter. They would pass on the agg gene to their offspring to due it aiding their survival and being seen as desirable.
2. ) Men may act aggressively towards females (domestic abuse) when they fear they’re being unfaithful due to not wanting to share his resources with another man’s child. Women may act agg through jealousy of suspecting they’re being unfaithful and fears the survival of her and her child being at risk

Question 31

BioP: Evaluation of Evolution and Gender Differences

Answer 31

=Lorenz: Male animals used agg to fight off other males to protect their offspring. Low G due to using animals as ppts who would have qual diffs to social situations between animals and humans
=Daly and Watson: Modern males have developed mate retention through domestic abuse when jealous of suspecting infidelity
=Theory has low cred as it suggests that aggression comes from men protecting offspring to pass on genes so cannot account for all types of relationships (e.g. same sex)

Question 32

BioP: Hormones as an explanation for a difference in gender and aggression

Answer 32

• Increased testosterone levels is associated with increased aggression
• Which is more commonly found in men due to being a male reproductive hormone though also found in women in lesser amounts

Question 33

BioP: Hormones Explanation Evaluation

Answer 33

=Dabbs: Testosterone levels were high in the saliva of 10/11 violent criminals compared to non-violent criminals
=Wagner: When injecting castrated rats with testosterone their agg levels increased. HV as there were controlled conditions so a causal relationship was established due to the control over EVs so nothing other than testosterone would have affected their agg levels.
=Reductionist as its explanation of testosterone causing increased agg being high in males doesn’t account for females who commit violent crimes similar to males

Question 34

BioP: Raine and Gender Issues

Answer 34

• 39 men and 2 women NGRI murderers and 41 controls
• Beta bias in the results as identifying a difference in the brains of murders and non-murders didn’t fully rep whether there was a diff between men and women due to only have 2 women in the sample, therefore differences are underreped
• No gender bias in the methodology as it involved a mundane and neutral task of spotting targets for the CPT whilst the 32 min PET scan was taking place
• Gain a higher sample of women in case there is a diff in activity due to diff in biology and so the assumption that women’s brain functioning could be different to men (using the right side more than the left)

Question 35

Biological Psychology and Culture

Answer 35

This approach states that all behaviour is governed by nature in that nurture (culture) should have little impact.

Question 36

BioP: Raine and Cultural Issues

Answer 36

• 41 murderers pleading NGRI and controls from California, America
• This should not affect the findings of a difference as biology suggests little interference from nurture however it may affect conclusions and applications drawn from this as some countries don’t use NGRI as a plea in court and would therefore not consider how some criminals may not be fully accountable
• There wasn’t any ethnocentrism in the methodology due to using a PET scan with a CPT of spotting targets for 32 mins
• Should find ways to replicate the study in a way which represents the courts of different cultures and how not having full accountability as a result of a difference in brain activity may affect sentencing

Question 37

Learning Psychology Theories that suggest a difference in gender and behaviour

Answer 37

• Social Learning Theory

- Classical and Operant Conditioning

Question 38

LP: SLT supporting Gender Differences

Answer 38

• People are more likely to idolise role models of the same sex due to seeing them as more alike
• Therefore pay attention to the RMs behaviours that can be gender specific
• Retain the info via rehearsal for complex behaviours through exposure to the RM
• Reproduce the observed behaviour in the same fashion as their same-sex RM leading to gender diffs in behaviour

Question 39

LP: Evaluation of SLT supporting Gender Differences

Answer 39

=Bandura (1961) found that boys reproduced 25% of agg behaviour displayed by male RM while girls reproduced 5%, so boys are more likely to reproduce observed agg behaviours.

• HIRR due to multiple researchers observing the behaviours of the children, agreeing on when a particular behaviour was reproduced allowing for objectivity in the interpretation and analysis of the behaviour
• But LV, as the children had never seen a bobo doll before, could have thought you were supposed to be agg towards it so doesn’t accurately rep the diff in genders observing agg

Question 40

LP: CC and OC as an explanation of Difference in Gender

Answer 40

No Gender Difference
-The principles of learning via conditioning are considered universal
Gender Difference
-What is learnt through cc and oc may differ in terms of gender
-A mother teaching her daughter how to play nicely by taking her toys away if she acts agg or unkindly, which would go against the gender stereotypes as a norm

Question 41

LP: Evaluation of CC and OC

Answer 41

=CC is deterministic due to not taking into account the free will of the learner who may reject the process of conditioning of behaviour while the theory suggests learners don’t control their actions
=OC has HPA of a token economy system used in some treatments for mental disorders (anorexia) as it uses principles of positive secondary reinforcers of a token when the desired behaviour is shown such as gaining weight to exchange for primary reinforcers such as money if they get enough

Question 42

LP: Watson and Rayner and Gender Issues

Answer 42

• A 9-month-old baby boy
• The gender of the ppt did not affect the findings or conclusions as principles of CC mean that the way in which behaviour is learnt is universal
• No gender bias in the methodology as the object of the fear was a rat being paired with a loud bang which does not have any gender stereotype or bias attached
• Rep of the study should be carried out to ensure there are no diff in the effects of conditioning on F using the same object of fear as a rat and the loud noise of a bang to create fear

Question 43

LP: SLT and Cultural Differences

Answer 43

• RM is anyone a person idolises
• Differing norms and values of cultures may cause someone from one culture to idolise an RM from one over the other to idolise based on principles that are closer to them
• Behaviour will be retained and rehearsed through exposure to their RM
• Behaviour produced will be different in different cultures due to their RM behaving in a way more alike to their culture (cultural-specific behaviour of a mom in China will be different to that of one in USA so diff behaviour learnt)

Question 44

LP: SLT and Cultural Differences Evaluation

Answer 44

=Scott Van-Zealand: Rejects nurture being the sole cause of learnt behaviours such as AN as he found that the gene EPHX2 (cholesterol/mood regulation) is related to the disorder and is inherited meaning the cause is nature
=SLT has LG as its core research uses child ppts and its difficult to put adults in the same controlled conditions with realistic RMs so data cannot rep adults and their diffs in the social context of more complex RM

Question 45

LP: CC and OC and Culture

Answer 45

No Culture Difference
-The principles of learning via conditioning is considered universal
Cultural Differences
-People in different cultures are exposed to different ways of life with norms and values therefore what is conditioned will vary in the context of the culture
-Such as the operant conditioning of how to behave in a Western society vs Eastern

Question 46

LP: Watson and Rayner and Cultural Issues

Answer 46

• American boy age 9 months
• Culture did not affect the findings or conclusions as principles off CC mean that the way in which behaviour is learnt is universal
• No culture bias in the methodology as the object of the fear was a rat being paired with a loud bang
• Replication of the study should be carried out to ensure there are no diffs in the effects of conditioning of other cultures using the same object of fear as a rat and the loud noise of a bang to create fear

Question 47

Clinical Psychology Theories regarding Gender and Mental Health

Answer 47

• Genes

- Socio-cultural Explanation

Question 48

ClinP: Genetics Reject Gender Differences

Answer 48

=Scott Van-Zealand: The gene EPHX2 having a correlation with AN due to its relation with cholesterol and mood regulation.

• HR due to the use of scientific methods such as DNA sequencing which can be replicated easily and analysed objectively by multiple researchers
• HV as twin studies are often used to determine if a behaviour is genetic and they are a naturally occurring variable in which the researcher won’t have a bias operationalising variables to obtain certain findings
• LV has twin studies never have a 100% concordance rate for genes suggesting that nature is not the only factor in behaviour

Question 49

ClinP: Socio-Cultural Support Gender Differences

Answer 49

• Girls make up the majority of cases of anorexia (90%)
• SLT as an explanation
• Girls are exposed to the media which presents desirable women that they idolise as skinny and praises people for losing weight
• Girls will want to be like them and so will retain the information of being skinny by rehearsing dietary plans
• Reproduce behaviour of starving, developing AN and will receive motivation through vicarious reinforcement of praise from the media

Question 50

ClinP: Socio-Cultural Evaluation

Answer 50

=Barlow and Durand: Found that over half of the Miss America contestants were 15% below their healthy BMI
=Deterministic as it states that mere exposure to the media will cause development of AN doesn’t take into account the free will of the individual to reject its influence. Only 10% develop

Question 51

ClinP: Rosenhan and Gender Differences

Answer 51

• Staff in the study were of mixed gender, nurses and doctors
• No gender bias affecting the result as it was assessing the reliability and validity of the DSM and hospital conditions
• No methodological gender bias as it involved pseudo-patients recording interactions with patients and conditions of the hospital
• No improvements for removing gender bias

Question 52

Clinical Psychology and Cultural Differences in Mental Health

Answer 52

• Factors affecting diagnosis

- Socio-cultural explanation

Question 53

ClinP: Factors Affecting Diagnosis and Culture

Answer 53

• The practitioner assessing a patient may have different cultural norms and values to patient and so may misinterpret their symptoms and behaviours as something in their culture that may not be prevalent in the patient’s
• Some cultures are less likely to disclose the full detail of their emotions and symptoms to the practitioner leading to misdiagnosis
• A disorder may not exist in the culture of the practitioner or patient causing a misdiagnosis

Question 54

ClinP: Factors Affecting Diagnosis Evaluation

Answer 54

=Casas: African Americans do not like to disclose personal info with people of a different race
=Rack: Asian people don’t disclose depression as a symptom due to not believing it is something you should go to the doctor for
=HV as the DSM-IV has been revised to include known culture-bound syndromes to allow for a more sensitive and comprehensive evaluation of a patient of a different culture
=LR if the patient doesn’t disclose all of their symptoms to one practitioner but a different amount of detail to another when gaining a second opinion causing inconsistencies

Question 55

ClinP: Socio-cultural Explanation Differences in Culture

Answer 55

• States exposure to the media can cause the development of disorders like AN via SLT
• They idolise the skinny models and celebrities due to them being seen as desirable by the media
• Reproduce the desired behaviour by starving self in which anorexia is developed to become as skinny as the models
• Motivation through vicarious reinforcement of the celebrity being praised for weight loss
• Varies for culture (Eastern) don’t have as much exposure to the same media, therefore, less likely to develop AN
• Eastern values are also different as they view plumpness as desirable

Question 56

ClinP: Socio-cultural Explanation Differences in Culture Evalation

Answer 56

=Nasser: Supports culture affecting the development of disorders. Found 12% of 50 Egyptian women studying in London developed AN compared to none of the 60 Egyptian women in Cairo
=Eysenck and Flanagan: Almost all of the West are exposed to the media yet only 3% of them develop AN and so there must be more than nurture

Question 57

ClinP: Rosenhan and Cultural Issues

Answer 57

• 12 psychiatric institutions in America across different states, West and East coast
• Didn’t affect the conclusions much as it was assessing the reliability and validity of the DSM and diagnosis of SZ (global disorder), however, does affect results of the implications of mental health labels
• Ethnocentric as it only assessed the reliability and validity of the diagnosis of Americans which doesn’t represent how people with mental disorders are diagnosed in other countries
• Improve by assessing the reliability and validity of diagnosis in other countries and the conditions of their psychiatric institutions to represent the treatment of disorders and how labels of an affect people there

Question 58

Criminal Psychology and Gender Differences

Answer 58

• Brain injury
• XYY syndrome
• Self-fulfilling Prophecy

Question 59

Crim: Brain Injury and Culture

Answer 59

• Men are more likely than women to receive a traumatic brain injury due to exposed to risky situations more often such as manual labour
• And so the brain injury would more likely cause criminality in men than women

Question 60

Crim: Brain Injury Evaluation

Answer 60

1) High reliability as researching brain injuries involves using brain imaging techniques (e.g. PET scan to measure activity via glucose uptake) which are objective and highly scientific
2) Low validity in case studies of brain damage causing criminal behaviour (e.g. Charles Whitman) due to establishing correlations rather than cause and effect as we cannot be sure of the behaviour prior to the injury

Question 61

Crim: XYY and Culture

Answer 61

• This syndrome involves an extra Y chromosome in the 23rd pair which can only affect males due to females having XX
• Syndrome is correlated with lower IQ and increased physical activity causing outcast
• Explains why there are more male criminals

Question 62

Crim: XYY Evaluation

Answer 62

1) Jacob’s (2012) research supports as he found a link between XYY syndrome and the prison population with the norm of XYY in a population being 1/1000 whereas it was 15/1000 in the prison
2) Low validity due to not being able to establish a causal relationship as chromosomes are not something that can be scientifically studied and identified

Question 63

Crim: SFP and Culture

Answer 63

• Men receive labels of aggression due to their stereotypical boisterous, trouble-making behaviour in school
• Women have labels of passivity and kindness
• Men internalise these labels due to questioning their self-concept and therefore start to exhibit the behaviour they were labelled with

Question 64

Crim: SFP and Culture Evaluation

Answer 64

1) Jahoda’s (2004) research supports SFP explaining difference in gender and crime as he found that at an African tribe 22% of violent criminals were boys with Wednesday names (being labelled as aggressive) and 6.9% of boys had Monday names (being labelled as placid) which showed that labels led to the behaviour
2) Reductionist due to biological explanations of crime as well, as Charles Whitman had a tumor pressed against his amygdala and he killed 16 people including himself
3) Unethical to study as it is attributing negative labels

Question 65

Culture and Criminal Psychology

Answer 65

Social Learning Theory

Question 66

Crim: SLT and Culture

Answer 66

• Role models are anyone a person idolises
• The differing norms and values of cultures may cause someone from one culture to idolise a role model and someone from another to idolise someone different based on principles that are closer to them
• Their behaviour will be retained and rehearsed through exposure to their role model
• Therefore criminal behaviour produced will be different in different cultures due to their role model behaving in a way more alike to their culture

Question 67

Crim: SLT and Culture Evaluation

Answer 67

Huesmann and Eron (1986) supports culture affecting criminal behaviour as they found that the more violence people watched on TV the more likely they were to have committed a crime by the age of 30 which can be generalised to different cultures and their depictions of violent TV and the behaviours shown in that.