debates and issues Flashcards
what are the main debates?
- free will-determinism
- nature-nurture
- holism-reductionism
- nomothetic-ideographic
what are the main issues?
- gender
- cultural
- ethics
What is bias?
- the inclination for or against a person or group, especially in a way considered to be inaccurate or unfair
- the effects the psychologist’s own background eg. values, experiences, social and historical influences, etc. may have on a theory or outcome of a study
- it undermines the ability of psychological research/theories to be applied to every human regardless of differing experience (universality).
alpha bias
- research that exaggerates or overestimates the differences between sexes
- such differences usually devalue individuals sexes experiences/behaviours
- the differences are presented as real, long, and unavoidable.
Eg. sexual behaviours between the sexes (male as promiscuous)
beta bias
- research ignores, minimises, or underestimates differences between the sexes
- such as when one sex is not included as part of the research yet findings are applied equally to all
> androcentrism
Eg. fight or flight was taken from male only studies, more recent studies have also identified tend or befriend
androcentrism
- a type of beta bias
- when females are underrepresented yet results are applied to them in the same way
what are the consequences of gender bias?
- misrepresentation and misunderstanding
- essentialism
Misrepresentation and misunderstanding (gender bias)
within research, misrepresentation of certain groups can bring about misleading assumptions and therefore misunderstood behaviour. In this manner, biased research:
- fails to challenge negative stereotypes
- validates discriminating practices and beliefs
- provides scientific justification
- can prevent opportunity
essentialism (gender bias)
- suggests that there are inherent and unchanging characteristics or qualities that define somethings true nature or ‘essence’
- often implies a belief in fixed and permanent properties that define groups or individuals. It can lead to…
- over-simplification
- stereotyping
- elevation of one group or another
ways of avoiding or overcoming gender bias
- reflexivity
- feminist psychology
- being inclusive
reflexivity
- this involves the researcher having an awareness of their own beliefs, judgements, biases, values, practices, etc. during the research process
- includes acknowledging and critically reflecting upon their own subjectivity and how it may have influenced results through the design, data collection, and interpretation of findings
- this reduces bias by making researchers confront subjective elements to enhance the rigour and objectivity of their research
feminist psychology
- an attempt to correct the male dominance/imbalance within psychological theory and research
- ensuring women take part in investigations, are studied in meaningful contexts, and that research focuses on diversity within groups of women too
- often prioritises research topics that have been historically overlooked or underrepresented
being inclusive
- simplest fix
- including participants of both sexes in research or making it clear within the reporting of findings that any conclusion relates only to the sex/gender of the participants
cultural bias
- the tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the view of ones own culture
- spectrum of bias from ethnocentrism to cultural relativism
what is ethnocentrism?
- ‘centred around one ethnicity’
> when a researcher judges another culture by the standards of their own culture
> when we impose our own cultural understanding on the rest of the world this is known as an imposed etic
example of cultural relativism
Margaret Mead identified differences in the gender roles within indigenous tribes of Papua New Guinea
what is cultural relativism?
- recognising that research may only make sense from the perspective of the culture in which it was carried out
> reduces cultural bias and demonstrates an understanding that ideas/norms/values/moral standards can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts
how can cultural relativism also be dangerous?
can lead to people not stepping in to help others from other cultures due to a belief that they can’t understand the situation
etic
looks at behaviour from outside a given culture and attempts to describe such behaviours as universal
emic
functions from within certain cultures and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture
examples of ethnocentrism
Ainsworth’s strange situation, diagnostic manuals (in 1995, African-Carribbeans were 7x more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness), and intelligence testing
Nature
(nativists)
- heritability coefficient (a number between 0-1, the extent to which a characteristic has a genetic basis)
- 0 (entirely environmental) to 1 (entirely genetic)
- EG. the heritability coefficient for intelligence is 0.5
nurture
- Environmental influences such as the social conditions the child grows up in or the cultural and historical context that they are part of
- also includes the prenatal environment the baby develops in
- Lerner (1986) suggested that environmental influences include:
1. Prenatal environment eg. stress, alcohol, etc.
2. Post-natal environment eg. diet, education, role models, etc.
Gottesman 1997
conducted a large scale family study into concordance rates for Schizophrenia, as genetic similarities increased so did concordance which reinforces the nature side of the debate
the interactionist approach
- the notion that nature and nurture are linked to such an extent that it does not make sense to separate them
- researchers instead study how they interact and influence each other
- eg. the diathesis stress model takes an interactionist approach
> eg. Tienari for nature-nurture
Tienari et al.
found that in a group of Finnish adoptees, those most likely to develop Schizophrenia had biological relatives with a history of the disorder and relationships with their adoptive families that were defined as dysfunctional.
epigenetics
- the study of how your behaviour and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work
> eg. lifestyle like smoking, war, and pollution leave ‘marks’ on our DNA
> these ‘marks’ tell our bodies which genes to ignore and which ones to use
> these may then go on and influence the genetic codes of our children as well as their children
how does epigenetics challenge the nature-nurture debate?
Epigenetics challenges the traditional view of the nature-nurture debate by showing that life experiences can induce epigenetic changes in individual organisms and their offspring
example of epigenetic changes - smoking
studies have found that smoking can lead to the inactivation of tumour suppressor genes which can then be passed down to children and grandchildren (recent studies finding a link between grand-maternal smoking and paediatric disease)
Example of beta bias, what are the consequences of this?
eg. Zimbardo re-created (with some differences) the Milgram obedience study in 1969 on female university students. He concluded that de-individuation leads to an increase in antisocial behaviour.
> it ignores men, making conclusions about the general population without any representation of males within the sample
> it therefore misrepresents the population, possibly leading to inaccurate beliefs about male behaviour
Example of alpha bias, what are the consequences?
eg. Wilson concluded that the reason why 95% of bank managers, company directors, judges, and university professors are male rather than female is because men are more competitive and dominant due to their male hormones.
> it exaggerates the differences between the sexes and undervalues women
> essentialism
> could lead to stereotyping or limit opportunities for women
consequences/impact/implications of cultural bias
- misrepresentation and misunderstanding
- essentialism
misrepresentation and misunderstanding (cultural bias)
- fails to challenge negative stereotypes
- validates discriminating practices and beliefs
- provides scientific justification
- can prevent opportunity eg. within work
essentialism (cultural bias)
- differences are fixed:
- over-simplification
- stereotyping
- elevation of one group over another
Ways of Avoiding/Overcoming Cultural Bias in Psychology
- not extrapolating
- cross-cultural research (native researchers)
- being inclusive
Do not extrapolate
- we can overcome cultural bias within psychology if researchers do not attempt to extrapolate findings and/or theories to cultures that are not represented in the research sample. - prevents an assumption that universal norms and standards exist across different cultures
Cross-cultural research
- instead of sole-cultural research
- preferable to use researchers native to and therefore familiar with and possibly immersed in the culture being investigated
- where non-native researchers are involved, it is important for them to be sensitive to the cultural norms and standards when designing research and reporting findings - this will prevent/reduce the impact of an imposed etic
being inclusive (cultural bias)
- overcoming cultural bias by including participants from a range of backgrounds, reflective of the demographic in which the research is being conducted
- or making it clear within the reporting of findings that any conclusion can only relate to those used within the sample