Issues and Debates Flashcards
Gender bias
Differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences.
Androcentrism
A theory based on male behaviour but applied to females and therefore is biased.
At best, this leads to female behaviour being misunderstood, and at worst, pathologised (e.g. seen as mentally ill).
Alpha bias
Theories that are alpha-biased exaggerate gender differences.
Differences may heighten the value of women, or may devalue females in relation to males.
Beta bias
Theories that ignore or minimise gender differences and assume that what is true for one gender is true for all human kind.
May occur when females not included as part of research process but assumed that research findings apply equally to both sexes, e.g. Kolhberg’s theory of moral development.
Universality
Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing.
Cultural bias
Tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions.
Means that cultural differences in behaviour may be seen as ‘abnormal’ or ‘inferior’.
Ethnocentrism
The belief that one’s own group is central or even superior, e.g. Strange Situation reflected norms of US culture.
Cultural relativism
One cannot judge a behaviour properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates, e.g. understanding ‘hearing voices’ is seen as normal in some cultures
Imposed etic
A technique or theory developed in one culture and used to study the behaviour of people in another culture, e.g. using the Strange Situation outside the US/UK
Emic approach
Something that applies only in one culture, e.g. culture-bound syndromes.
Free will
Assumes humans are free to choose their behaviour, and that influences (biological or environmental) can be rejected at will
Hard determinism
Behaviour is caused by events outside an individual’s control. Free will is an illusion.
Soft determinism
Behaviour is caused by a person’s own character or conscious desires. If our actions are voluntary and in line with our conscious desired goals, then they are free
Biological determinism
Behaviour is caused by internal biological factors, e.g. genetics, neurochemistry, brain structure and hormones
Environmental determinism
Behaviour is caused by past experience and controlled by external forces in the environment, e.g. reinforcement and punishment
Psychic determinism
Unconscious forces and innate drives control behaviour. All we say and do has a cause
Nature
Inherited, innate factors (genetic). A biological approach.
Nurture
The environment, e.g. learning, socialisation and experience. A behaviourist approach; we are a ‘blank slate’ at birth.
Levels of the environment
Range from the pre-natal environment in the womb to life outside the womb in the external world
Interactionism
Heredity (nature) and the environment (nurture) have an influence on each other.
Diathesis-stress model
An interactionist approach. Genes create a vulnerability and stressors in the environment trigger behaviours.
Holism
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. (Gestalt psychology.)
Analysing component parts is not enough; it does not capture the whole person
Reductionism
Explaining a phenomenon by breaking it down into its constituent parts.
Biological reductionism
Reducing behaviour to physiological levels, e.g. brain structures or genes.
Environmental reductionism
Reducing behaviour to stimulus–response links which can be tested and explained using laboratory experiments.
Idiographic approach
Focuses on the uniqueness of the individual.
It looks at in-depth details and subjective experiences
Uses qualitative methods such as case studies
Nomothetic
Aims to establish laws and generalisations that apply to many people. Focuses on similarities between people and gaining objective knowledge
Collects large amounts of data
E.g., Skinner and the behaviourists studied the responses of hundreds of rats, cats, pigeons, etc., in order to develop the laws of learning
Ethical issues
Arise when there is a conflict between gaining valuable research and preserving the rights and dignity of participants.
Ethical guidelines
Ethical guidelines were established to help protect those involved in research
Ethical implications
The impact that research has on society, how it influences public policy and/or the way in which certain groups of people are seen
Socially sensitive research
Any research that may be controversial, e.g. sexuality or race
Implications of socially sensitive research
Socially sensitive research may be seen as giving ‘scientific’ credibility to prejudice and discrimination, and can be used to justify public policy, e.g.be adopted by the government for political means.
