Issues and Debates

Question 1

What does it mean in psychology if something is gender biased

Answer 1

The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes (or beliefs and values) rather than real differences

Question 2

What is universality

Answer 2

The aim to develop theories that apply to all people

Question 3

What are a range of consequences of gender bias in psychology

Answer 3

• Scientifically misleading
• Upholding stereotypical assumptions
• Validating sex discrimination

Question 4

What is alpha bias

Answer 4

A tendency to exaggerate or overestimate differences between the sexes
Difference represented as fixed and inevitable
More likely to devalue females in relation to male counterparts

Question 5

How is the sociobiological theory related to gender bias and what is it

Answer 5

(Example of alpha bias) :

For men to preserve their ‘good’ genes they should go out and ‘sow their seed’ with as many women as possible and therefore male sexual promiscuity is natural and acceptable

For females to preserve their genes their best bet is to ensure the survival of their offspring so therefore female promiscuity is seen as unnatural and unacceptable

Question 6

What is beta bias

Answer 6

A tendency to ignore or minimise differences between men and women.
This often occurs when female participants are not included as part of the research and it is assumed that research findings apply equally to both sexes

Question 7

How is the fight or flight response relevant to the gender bias and how

Answer 7

(Example of beta bias) :

Early research into fight or flight was based exclusively on males (preferred to research because female hormones fluctuate) and was assumed to be a universal response to a threatening situation

Question 8

What is androcentrism

Answer 8

Centred or focused on men often to neglect or exclusion of women

Question 9

What is the likely outcome of androcentrism in psychology

Answer 9

If our understanding of what counts as ‘normal’ behaviour is being drawn from research that involves all-male samples, then only behaviour that deviates from this standard is likely to be judged as ‘abnormal’, ‘inferior’ or ‘deficient’ by comparison
This leads to females being misunderstood

Question 10

What did Brescoll and Uhlman say about gender bias in psychology

Answer 10

Womans anger is written off as ‘hormones’ or ‘PMS’ but male anger is seen as a rational response to a stressor

Question 11

What are some examples of gender bias in research (3 examples)

Answer 11

Insitutional sexism - Denmark et al:
- Men predominate at senior researcher level
- Research agenda follows male concerns, female concerns may be marginalised or ignored

Use of standardised procedures:
- Women and men might respond differently
- Women and men might be treated differently by researchers
- Could create artificial differences or mask real ones)
- Lab experiments tend to be male researchers researching female participants

Dissemination of research results:
- Publishing bias towards positive results
- Research that finds gender differences more likely to get published than that which doesn’t
- Exaggerates extent of gender differences

Question 12

How should psychologists address gender bias

Answer 12

Gilligan - accept there are biological differences but realising that it is social expectations that limit females not biology

• Re-examining the ‘facts’ about gender
• View women as ‘normal’ humans not deficient men (Freud)
• Scepticism towards biological determinism
• Research agenda focusing on womens concerns

Warrel - women should not just be studied but should be seen as active participants in the research
- Should be studied in real-life, meaningful contexts
- Should be more of a focus on qualitative date for a valid input

Question 13

What are some evaluation points about gender bias in psychology

Answer 13

• Gender bias may have damaging consequences which affect the lives and prospects of real women - gender biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour, reinforce negative stereotypes and validate discriminatory practises
• A lack of women appointed at senior research level means that female concerns may not be reflect in research questions asked
• Many modern researchers are beginning to recognise the effect their own values and assumptions have on the nature of their work - such reflexivity is an important development in psychology and may lead to greater awareness of the role of personal biases in shaping research in the future

Question 14

Definition of culture

Answer 14

The rules,customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people

Question 15

a) What percentage of researchers are fromthe US
b) In the textbook of social psychology what is the percentage of studies conducted in North America

Answer 15

a) 64%
b) 94%

Question 16

What is cultural bias

Answer 16

The tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions. This distorts or biases your research (how it’s carried out, the findings, the conclusions reached)

Question 17

What is an example of cultural bias (social influence studies)

Answer 17

Milgram (Obedience) & Asch (conformity) - originally completed with US participants

Revealed very different results when replicated in other parts of the world (findings not universal eventhough claimed to be - imposed etic)
E.g Kilham and Mann (Milgram replication)- Australians have low levels of obedience and females much lower than males)

Question 18

What is ethnocentrism

Answer 18

• Belief in the superiority of ones own cultural group
• Evaluation of other cultures according to preconception origination in the standards and customs of their own culture

Question 19

What is an example of ethnocentrism (Attachment study)

Answer 19

Ainsworth - ‘Strange Situation’:
- Reflecting only the norms and values of American culture
- Identified the key defining variables of attachment as the childs experience of anxiety and separation
- She suggested that the ‘ideal’ (secure) attachment was characterised by the infant showing moderate amounts of distress when left alone by the mother

• This led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practises in other countries seen to deviate from the American norm
• For example, German mothers seen as cold and rejecting rather than encouraging independence (High numbers of insecure avoidant)

Question 20

What is eurocentrism

Answer 20

Viewing the world from a European or generally western perspective with an implied belief in the pre-eminence of western culture
This reflects a tendency to interpret the world in terms of European or Anglo-American values

Question 21

What is cultural relativism

Answer 21

An individual persons belief and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individuals own culture
The ‘things’ they discover may only make sense from the perspective of the culture within which they discovered

Question 22

What is the emic and etic approach (and give a relevant example of a study for each) - Berry

Answer 22

Emic:
Emphasises every cultures uniqueness by focusing on culturally specific phenomena
Studies behaviour from within a culture
Studies only that culture
For example, Margaret Mead - Gender (New Guinea)

Etic:
Studies behaviour from outside a culture
Attempts to find ‘universal’ truths that can apply to all cultures
For example, Ainsworth (American -Types of attachment) or Shaffer and Emerson (Glasgow - stages of attachment)

Question 23

What is imposed etic

Answer 23

Assuming that theories or models can be applied universally

Question 24

What are 2 + strengths of cultural bias

Answer 24

• Cultural bias in research is less of an issue than it once was - age of global communication and increased interconnectedness that such a ‘lazy’ and simplistic distinction between cultures no longer applies
  For example, Takano & Osaka - 14/15 studies that compared the US and Japan found no evidence of the traditional distinction between individualism and collectivism
• Critiques of Ainsworths strange situation should not obscure the fact that some features of human attachment - such as imitation and interactional synchrony are universal
• Benefits of conducting cross-cultural research is that it may challenge our typically western ways of thinking and viewing the world - promote a greater sensitivity to individual differences and cultural relativism

Question 25

What are 2 weaknesses of cultural bias

Answer 25

• Knowledge and ‘faith’ in scientific testing may not extend to cultures that do not have the same historical experience of research - demand characteristics may be exaggerated when working with members of the local population - adverse effect on validity
• Nobles – (1976): argues that Western psychology has been a tool of oppression and dominance. Cultural bias has also made it difficult for psychologists to separate the behaviour they have observed from the context in which they observed it.

Question 26

What is freewill

Answer 26

Each individual has the power to make choices about their behaviour

Question 27

What is determinism

Answer 27

Behaviour is controlled by external or internal factor acting upon the individual

Question 28

What is the difference between soft and hard determinism

Answer 28

Soft - a version of determinism for some element of freewill
Hard - the view that all behaviour can be predicted and there is no freewill

Question 29

what are the 4 types of determinism

Answer 29

• Biological
• Environmental
• Psychic
• Scientific

Question 30

What is biological determinism and what are some examples of this

Answer 30

• The biological approach emphasises the role of biological determinism in behaviour
• Many of our physiological and neurological processes are not under our concious control - such as the influence of the autonomic nervous system during periods of stress and anxiety
• Lots of behaviours and characteristics (such as mental disorders) are thought to have a genetic basis (e.g, effect of hormones - testosterone on aggression)

Question 31

What is environmental determinism and what approaches and psychologists support this

Answer 31

The belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment (such as systems of rewards and punishment) that we cannot control

• Behaviourists believe that behaviour is caused by experiences (through classical and operant conditioning and the social learning theory)
• E.g Phobias and Little Albert - Watson and Rayner
• Skinner (operant conditioning) - freewill is an illusion and argued that all behaviours are the result of conditioning

Question 32

What is psychic determinism and what approaches and psychologists support this

Answer 32

Behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot conotrol

• Freud (psychodynamic approach) - personality is determined by innate drives and early experiences
• Behaviour is driven by libids - focuses on erogeneous zones (e.g mouth) if a child is stressed at any stage of development then the individual is fixated to that area
• Method of obtaining satisfaction that characterised the stage will dominate their adult personality

Question 33

What is scientific determinism

Answer 33

• Scientific research based on the concept all events have a cause
• Cause can be explained by general laws
• Knowledge of causes and the formulation of laws are important as they allow to predict and control events in the future

Question 34

What approach is associated with freewill and why

Answer 34

Humanistic approach -
Self-determination was a necessary part of human behaviour, without it healthy self-development and self-actualisation aren’t possible

Question 35

What are 2 (+) negatives of determinism (one negative for each type of determinism - bar psychic and soft)

Answer 35

• Biological determinism - studies comparing monozygotic twins found they have 80% similarity on intelligence or about 40% for depression - genes do not entirely determine behaviour (concordance rates vary and aren’t 100%)
• Environmental determinism - the concordance rates in heritability studies equally show that environment cannot be the sole determining factor in behaviour
• Scientific determinism - The chaos theory proposes that very small changes in initial conditions can result in major changes - in conclusion casual relationships are probabalistic
• Hard determinist stance is inconsistent with the way in which our legal system works (offenders held morally accountable for their actions)

Question 36

What are 2 strengths of determinism

Answer 36

• Determinism is consistent with the aims of science - human behaviour is orderly and obeys laws places psychology on equal footing with other more established sciences - predicition and control of human behaviour has led to the development of treatments, therapies and behavioural interventions that have benefitted many
• The experience of mental disorders like schizophrenia casts doubts on freewill

Question 37

What are 2 (+) weaknesses of freewill

Answer 37

• The illusion of freewill - being able to decide between different courses of action is not freewill but may give the illusion of it
• Culturally relative - the idea of self-determination may be a culturally relative concept appropriate for individualist societies only

-Libert et al - recorded activity in motor areas of the brain before the person had a conscious awareness of the decision to move their finger

Question 38

What is one strength of freewill

Answer 38

Everyday experience ‘gives the impression’ that we are constantly exercising free will through the choices we make on a given day
Offers face validity - people with a high internal locus of control tend to be more mentally healthy
Even if we do not have freewill the fact that we think we do may have a positive impact on mind and behaviour

Question 39

What do nature and nurture both mean

Answer 39

Nurture - Behaviour is fabricated/down to your environment and is learnt

Nature - Behaviour is due to genetic and biological factors

Question 40

Who is Descartes and what does he say about nature vs nurture (+ what years)

Answer 40

(1596 - 1650)
Human characteristics and even some aspects of knowledge are innate and the result of heredity

Question 41

Whos is Locke and what does he say about nature vs nurture (+what type of psychologist and what years)

Answer 41

(Empiricist)
(1632 - 1704)
The mind is a blank slate at birth (taba la rasa) upon which learning and experience writes - result of the environment

Question 42

Heritability co-efficient - what does it range between and what do each numbers mean

Answer 42

Rages from 0 to 1.0
1.0 - Completely genetically inherited
0 - No genetic influence

Question 43

What did Lerner say about environment

Answer 43

The environment is such a broad and all-encompassing concept
Different levels of the environment:
Pre-natal - e,g mothers physical and psychologicals tate during pregnancy
Post natal - e,g social conditions a child grows up in and the cultural and historical content they’re apart of

Question 44

Which approach brings together both nature and nurture together and suggest that they’re not separate

Answer 44

The interactionist approach

Question 45

What are epigenetics and how does it relate to nature vs nurture

Answer 45

Changes in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code
- Occurs throughout life and events we encounter - from smoking, diet, pollution and war - leave epigenetic ‘marks’ on our DNA
- These marks tell our bodies which genes to ignore and which to use

Question 46

What are 2 (+) weaknesses of the nature vs nurture debate

Answer 46

• Nature & Nurture cannot be separated - high concordance rates - result of shared genetics or shared upbringing? - difficult to establish cause and effect
• Nativism - ‘Anatomy is destiny’: extreme determinist stance has led to controversy such as that which attempts to link race, genetics and intelligence + the implications of eugenic policies (e.g Nazi germany and Aerians)
• Empiricism - behaviour can be changed by altering environmental conditions - ‘behaviour shaping’ has led to practical applications in therapy - in extreme terms this may lead to one to advocate a model of society that controls and manipulates its citizens
• Research attempting to ‘tease out’ the influence of the environment is complicated by the fact that even siblings raised within the same family may not have experienced the exact same upbringing - explains findings that even MZ twins reared together do not have perfect concordance rates - supports view that heredity and environment cannot be separated
• Constructivism - people create their own ‘nurture’ by actively selecting environments that appropriate for their ‘nurture’
  Plomin - Niche-picking and niche-building - further evidence that it is impossible and illogical to try and separate nurture and nature influence

Question 47

What is holism and reductionism

Answer 47

Holism : The idea that we observe and take into account the entire experience or behaviour

Reductionism : Breaking complex ideas into simple components

Question 48

What two approaches are holistic (and why/how)

Answer 48

Gestalt approach - creator of the idea of holism : “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”

Humanistic approach - to analyse personality in terms of simple component parts is “disrespect for the unique quality of the human spirit” - Matson
Maslows hierarchy of needs - study of the drive for self-actualisation gives purpose for the whole of the person
CCT - Rogers looks at the persons view of themselves as a whole and the idea of making the gap of incongruence smaller

Question 49

What are the levels of reductionism (in order)

Answer 49

Most to least reductionist:

Biological
Psychological
Cultural and social

Question 50

How can the levels of reductionism be applied to OCD

Answer 50

Socio - cultural : Producing behaviour such as repetitive hand washing that most would regard as odd or irrational
Psychological : Having obsessive thoughts
Biological/ neurochemical: underproduction of serotonin

Question 51

Biological reductionism - meaning

Answer 51

Humans are biological organisms made up of phsyiological structures and processes
All behaviour is at some level biological and can be explained through neurochemical,neurophysiological, evolutionary and genetic influences
Psychoactive drugs have contributed to our understanding of neural processes - e,g OCD & Depression - SSRIs , Schizophrenia - Chlorpromazine,clozapine,risperidone

Question 52

Environmental reductionism - meaning

Answer 52

• Behaviourist approach (Skinner and Pavlov)
  Behaviourists study observable behaviour only - this breaks up learning into simple stimulus-response links which are measurable in the lab
  Key unit of analysis occurs at phsyical level (does not concern itself with cognitive or biology processes)

Question 53

What are 2 strengths of holism

Answer 53

• Addresses an entire group at once as there are aspects of behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot be understood at the level of the individual -
  E.g Stanford prison experiment and the effects of conformity to social roles and the de-individuation of the prisoners and guards / Conformity in Aschs baseline study and the factors affecting conformity (group size)
• If you include everyone that would be in the particular situation that you are studying you get more valid data - fewer demand characteristics (high economic validity, high in mundane realism)
  If you include everyone - more representative of wider target population - can generalise findings = more universal theory

Question 54

What are 2 weaknesses of holism

Answer 54

• Tends to be vague and speculative as behaviours and people are complex - lack of empirical scientific evidence (hence the speculation) - does not get quantitative data and is hard to be objective/scientific
• Holism explanations present researchers with practical dilemmas - if they accept that there are many factors that contribute to depression it becomes more difficult to establish which is most influential and which one to use as a basis for therapy - can’t work out cause and effect
  Reductionism might be more appropriate when finding solutions for real world problems

Question 55

What is one strength of reductionism

Answer 55

Often forms the basis of scientific research - in order to create operationalised variables it is necessary to break target behaviours down into constituent parts - makes it possible to conduct experiments or record observations (behavioural categories) in a way that is meaningful and reliable
Generates empirical and objective data
Therefore can apply these specific ideas to the real world

Question 56

What are 2 (+) weaknesses of reductionism

Answer 56

Oversimplifies complex behaviours - loses validity

Biological explanations - e.g neurotransmitters such as dopamine and the impact on schizophrenia do not include social context in which behaviours occur

Tells us very little in reality about why we act in a certain way - can only ever form part of an explanation (e.g the physiological processes involved in pointing a finger - to draw attention to something, an act of aggression, a part of a raised in class etc)

Question 57

What is the idiographic approach (+ some key elements of the approach)

Answer 57

Focuses on individuals and emphasis uniqueness
- No attempt to compare these to a larger group
- Favours qualitative data - wants to gain human insight
- Use case studies, unstructured interviews and other self-report measures

Question 58

What are 2 examples of the idiographic approach

Answer 58

Humanistic psychology - Rogers and Maslow :
- Took a phenomenological approach to the study of human beings and were interested in studying the concious experience of the individual or ‘self’
- Describe themselved as ‘anti-scientific’

Psychodynamic approach - Freud :
- Use of case studies when studying patients (Little Hans)
- However, Freud also assumed he had identified universal laws of behaviour and personality development

Question 59

What is the nomothetic approach (+ some key elements of the approach)

Answer 59

Seeks to formulate general laws of behaviour based on the study of groups - looking for universal truths
- Favours quantitative data
- Provide a ‘benchmark’ against which people can be compared, classified and measured and on the basis of which, likely future behaviour can be predicted and/or controlled
- Closely aligned with ‘scientific’ methods such as experiments
- Tends to be determinist and reductionist
- Hypotheses are rigorously tested, statistically analysed and general laws proposed and developed

Question 60

What are 3 examples of the nomothetic approach

Answer 60

Cognitive psychology - Miller & Baddeley :
Aims to develop general laws of behaviour which apply to all people
- E.g Millers Law 7 +- 2
However case studies such as HM help us to understand

Biological psychology:
Seeks to understand the basic principles of how the body and brain work
- E.g brain scans - used to make assumptions about localisation of function

Behaviourist psychology - Skinner :
Studied the responses of hundreds of cats,rats and pigeons in order to develop the laws of learning

Question 61

What are 3 types of general laws (Radford & Kirby)

Answer 61

• Classifying people into groups (e.g the DSM-5)
• Establishing principles of behaviour (that can be applied to people in general - e.g findings from conformity studies)
• Establishing dimensions (people can be placed and compared - e.g IQ scores)

Question 62

What is one strength of the idiographic approach

Answer 62

Provides a complete and global account of the individual (due to qualitative in depth methods of investigation) - this may compliment or challenge the nomothetic approach , in the case of brain damaged individuals (e.g HM findings may reveal import insights about normal functioning which may contribute to our overall understanding)

Question 63

What are 2 (+) weaknesses of the nomothetic approach

Answer 63

• Narrow and restricted nature of approach- Freud’s key studies such as the Oedipus Complex were largely developed from the detailed study of a single case (Little Hans) , meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples and there is no adequate baseline with which to compare behaviour
• Methods used often less scientific - often rely on subjective interpretation of researcher and as such open to bias
• Time - consuming and costly to study individuals in depth (e.g longitudinal studies)

Question 64

What is one strength of the nomothetic approach

Answer 64

Methods are more scientific - testing under standardised conditions, using data sets that provide group averages, statistical analysis, prediction and control
Establish norms of ‘typical behaviour’ - gives psychology greater scientific credibility

Question 65

What is one weakness of the nomothetic approach

Answer 65

Approach accused of losing sight of the ‘whole person’ - tell us that there is a 1% risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what life is like of someone suffering with the disorder
Similarly in lab studies (such as memory) participants are treated as a series of scores rather than individual people and their subjective experience of the situation is ignored
Overlooks the richness of human experience

Question 66

Why might ethical issues arise

Answer 66

When there is conflict between psychology’s need to gain valid and valuable research findings whilst at the same time preserving the rights and dignity of participants

Question 67

When may it be difficult to protect participants

Answer 67

Difficult to protect participants of the social impact of psychological research once the experiment has already been conducted

Question 68

What are two examples of ethical implications within studies (one is social influence the other is gender)

Answer 68

Social influence:
Milgram : participants were deceived within the study to believe that they were giving harmful shocks to another ‘participant’. This deception may have been highly destressing and even after the debriefed people may have viewed themselves differently (may have even resulted in depression)

Gender:
Smith and Lloyd : 60 adults asked to interact with children. Some children dressed in opposing coloured snowsuits to their sex (male wore pink). Most adults played with the children based off their perceived sex of the baby. This could infleunce a childs own perception of gender depending on how they’re treated. This may have ethical implications if the adult participants realised they harbour unconscious gender biases (childrens are victims of this)

Question 69

What is socially sensitive research (and who might this gain attraction from)

Answer 69

Research that tackles more controversial topics

Studies that tackle ‘taboo’ topics such as aspect of race or sexuality also attract a good deal of attention:; not merely from other psychologists but also from the media and public at large

Question 70

What did Aronson say about psychologists studying socially sensitive issues

Answer 70

Psychologists should not shy away from research - because the impact of such research psychologists may actually have a social responsibility to carry it out

Question 71

What is an example of socially sensitive research (Schizophrenia)

Answer 71

Fromm-Reichmann : Schizophrenogenic mother
- Study casts blame on the mother and doubts child-rearing style
This is also unethical as future mothers may now fear how they parent if they’re aware of possible implications. Fromm-Reichmann also didn’t suggest better ways to parent not giving any constructive feedback and only the consequences of bad parenting

Question 72

What are the 3 concerns that researchers should be mindful of when conducting socially sensitive research (explained with example) (Sieber and Stanley)

Answer 72

Implications -
The wider effects of such research should be carefully considered as some studies may be seen as giving scientific credence to prejudice and discrimination
E.g the study of eugenics (Galton) and the racial basis of intelligence (Goddard)
However, the implications of research may be difficult to predict at the outset

Uses / public policy -
What is the research likely to be used for? What would happen if it was used for the wrong purpose?
This is related to the idea that findings may be adopted by the government for political ends to shape policy
E.g Bowlby’s study of attachment and maternal deprivation saw him become and advisor for WHO and influenced the UKs decision to not offer free child care places to children over 5 (critical period)

The validity of the research -
Some findings that were presented as objective and value free in the past have actually turned out to be highly suspect and in some cases fraudulent.
However, many more constructionist researchers; who tackle socially sensitive areas of research, are much more up front about their own biases and preconceptions , and include comments on the reflexive nature of their work in their publications