Issues and debates Flashcards
What is alpha bias?
Research that exaggerates differences between men & women
Give an example of research that has alpha bias and state why
Freud - believed that because boys experience castration anxiety they grow up to have a stronger superego - for the most part his theories focused on male development
What is beta bias?
Research that minimises differences between men & women
Give an example of research that has beta bias
Asch
Milgram
Zimbardo
ALL USED MALE PARTICIPANTS
If something applies to everyone, everywhere it is….
Universal
What is androcentrism
Viewing the world from a male point of view and seeing male behaviour as the norm (often leaving female behaviour as abnormal)
Having an androcentric view often leads to ______ bias
Gender bias
How does having an androcentric view often lead to gender bias?
Women are either deemed as abnormal when they don’t fit the male standard (alpha bias)
OR
Women are assume to fit the male standard without evidence (beta bias)
Give an example of androcentric research
PMS has been researched by male psychologists and pathologises female emotion as irrational or illogical therefore assuming male emotion is rational and logical
Give one strength of research with gender bias
Improving gender bias: increasing the number of female psychologists and using more representative samples when conducting research (reflective, looking back and correcting) rather than using only men and generalising the findings to men and women - acknowledgment of gender differences
Give three limitations of gender bias in research
Socially sensitive : the research could potentially have wider consequences for a whole gender e.g. women as it can create misleading assumptions about female behaviour providing ‘scientific justification’ to deny women opportunities in society - research into attachment (Bowlby’s theory of maternal deprivation) may have discouraged women from entering the workplace due the research solely focusing on the role of the mother - Therefore GB has damaging consequences on society not just a methodological issue
Mental health diagnosis: in some cases women may be over or under diagnosed with mental illness due to gender bias with diagnostic tools e,g, women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, anxiety & eating disorders than men as they are stereotypically viewed to be ‘stronger’ and less diagnosed - this may mean that men are under diagnosed or women are over diagnosed - this means that gender bias can impact mental health diagnoses having severe life long effects on an individual
Gender & cultural bias: whilst women are likely to be ignored by psychological research so are ethnic minority groups e.g. the most studied group in psych are white western men and the least studied are non white non western women - therefore certain groups of women are incredibly underrepresented revealing the increased likelihood of research being inaccurately generalised to certain factions of society it is not applicable to
Reviews of psychology journals have found that ___% of participations come from industrialised nations
96
What does WEIRD stand for?
Western
Educated
Industrialised
Rich
Democratic
If the norms for behaviour are set by _______ participants then behaviour from people that don’t fit this criteria is often deemed as abnormal
WEIRD
What is ethnocentrism?
Ethnocentrism is a form of cultural bias consisting in the belief of the superiority of your own culture
Ainsworth’s strange situation is an example of ______ etic
Imposed
How were the findings of Ainsworth’s strange situation ethnocentric?
Ainsworth’s strange situation was conducted in America and secure attachment was deemed the norm - therefore when replicated in other cultures e.g. Japan & Germany (highest in Jap = IR highest in Germ = IA) and different results were obtained these were seen as abnormal - not in alliance with western norms
What are the two approaches a psychologists can take when studying cultural behaviours?
Emic & Etic
What is emic research? (Give an example)
Research that looks for culturally specific behaviours e.g. Mead’s gender research (looked for typical western gendered behaviours in different tribes - western behaviour = the norms so the tribe’s behaviours = abnormal)
What is etic research? (Give an example)
Research that compares behaviours across cultures e.g. Berry’s conformity study - this is where we can find universality
What are imposed etic’s
Emic research that disguises itself as etic by making claims of universality when they only truly looked into one culture
Give two ways cultural bias is being improved
Cross cultural research: more recent research has challenged “scientific racism” where research once suggested that white people were more intelligent than members of other ethnic groups - we are becoming more culturally relative which minimises the risk of imposed etic research - well designed cross cultural research can challenge stereotypes and lead to greater understanding of other cultures
West v east divide: cultural bias may be less of an issue today as it is suggested that due to globalisation the divide between collectivist and individualist cultures has narrowed - Takario & Osaka looked into 14/15 studies that compared the USA & Japan and found no evidence of traditional distinction - therefore showing how cultural bias is now less of an issue than before as cultures are more similar than ever
What are two limitations of cultural bias?
Socially sensitive: ethnic minority children ended up in ESN schools due to scoring low in culturally biased IQ tests - cultural bias can have effects on a individuals self esteem and self perception due to the perception that behaviours that dissent from western norms are abnormal
Mental health diagnosis: black African and Caribbean men are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia - mental health diagnosis is biased as the symptoms for schizophrenia may also be culturally biased since hearing voice in some cultures can be perceived as a spiritual privilege rather than abnormal - therefore cultural bias in psychology can impact on the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness for ethnic groups
Which approach is more strongly associated with the nature debate?
Biological
Which approach is strongly associated with the nurture debate?
Behaviourism
What is the key assumption of the nurture debate?
That all behaviours are conditioned/learned as we are born tabula rasa
What is the key assumption of the nature debate?
That all behaviours are innate and internal
What are epigenetics?
Epigenetics refers to a change in genetic activity without changing the genetic material - this change in genetic activity can be passed down and inherited by our future generations (their nurture has become our nature)
The _________ stress model is an interactionist approach
Diathesis
What is the diathesis stress model?
The DS model combines the influence of nature & nurture - we may have a biological or environmental vulnerability to a behaviour, but without a trigger (biological or environmental) it may never develop
E.G. we may have a gene that is associated with schizophrenia, but unless we experience a traumatic stressor, it may not present
What are some strengths of the nature debate?
Practical application - the biological approach supports nature and has led to the development of treatments specifically for mental disorders e.g. SSRI’s that allow a sufferer to live their lives normally - therefore suggesting certain behaviours can be linked to mental health disorders and treated using drugs to improve an individuals quality of life - illustrates the effectiveness of the nature debate/ boosts validity
Research support - Gottesman’s study of SZ supports the role of nature in influencing our behaviours
What are some strengths of the nurture debate?
Practical application: the behaviourist approach is nurture based and has had lots of far reaching implications e.g. behavioural treatments like systematic desensitisation and flooding for phobias or token economies for schizophrenia - therefore the nurture stance has external validity as it can effectively applied and enlisted in the real world
Adoption studies - allow us to seperate the influence of nature v nurture to determine the basis for behaviours
What are two limitations of the nature debate?
Not conducive with our legal system: the idea that all behaviours have a biological basis/ are innate and internal is not an excuse for criminal behaviours yet some attempt to use it as such and therefore the nature stance has limited application within the justice system
Socially sensitive: research that focuses on nature has been used to justify differential treatment of ethnic groups e.g. IQ tests based on white ideals were used to suggest that black people were biologically less intelligent - therefore this extreme stance can cause discrimination against certain groups
What is a limitation of the nurture debate?
Not conducive with our legal system: your childhood experiences/ past trauma cant’ act as a justification from crime yet some attempt to use it as one - therefore the nurture stance has limited application within the judicial system - this limited applicability diminishes the usefulness of the nurture stance
The free will vs determinism debate is centred around …..
How much control we have over our behaviours
What is free will?
The idea that we are autonomous and have complete control over actions
