Issues and Debates Flashcards
Define Alpha Bias
Where differences between the sexes are emphasised. (types of gender bias)
Define Beta Bias
Where differences between the sexes are minimised. (type of gender bias)
Define gender bias
where psychological theory and research may not accurately represent the experience and behaviour of men and women.
Provide an example of beta bias.
fight or flight research. Early research was based solely on male animals. Taylor et al - females exhibit tend and befriend response instead due to oxytocin.
Limitation of gender bias
Promotes sexism in the research process.
Example of alpha bias
Freud claimed children in the phallic stage, desire their opposite-sex parent. This is resolved by identification with same-sex parent. But girls identification is weaker creating weaker superego and weaker moral development.
Define ethnocentrism
a type of cultural bias that holds own culture as superior to all others. In psych reseach this is demonstrated where behaviour which does not conform to a european/american standard is considered deficient.
example of ethnocentrism
strange situation. Ainsworth and Bell imposed US tests and child-rearing practices on other cultures, leading to harmful misinterpretation. e.g., Japanese babies seen as insecurely attached.
Limitation of culture bias
ethnic stereotyping. Gould (1981) explained how the first intelligence tests led to eugenic social policies in America. In WW1 psychologists gave IQ tests to 1.75 million army recruits. Many test items were ethnocentric (e.g., US Presidents) so recruits from south eastern europe and african americans scored lowest and were deemed ‘genetically inferior’’. This demonstrates how cultural bias can be used to justify prejudice and discrimination ethnic/cultural groups.
Outline the free will / determinism debate.
Is our behaviour a matter of free will or is it the product of internal/external influences?
outline hard and soft determinism
hard - fatalism. all human action has a cause and it should be possible to identify these causes;
soft - all human action has a cause but people have freedom to make choices within a restricted range of options.
the three types of determinism
Psychic - Freud emphasised the influence of biological drives and unconscious conflicts repressed in CHILDHOOD. Even a slip of the tongue (Freudian slip) can be explained by the unconscious.
environmental - Skinner describes free will as an illusion - all behaviour is a result of conditioning.
biological - all behaviour is determined by biological causes. E.g., the influence of the ANS on stress, or genes on mental health.
Define Epigenetics
a change in genetic activity without changing the genetic code. e.g., smoking leaves marks on out DNA which has lifelong influence and can be passed down for generations.
Key concepts of the nature v nurture debate
nature - inherited influences e.g., genes.
nurture - environmental influences.
Lerner (1986) different levels of environment
Lerner (1986) identified different levels of the environment
prenatal terms: e.g., mother smoking
postnatal experiences: e.g., the social conditions a child grows up in.
