Issues and Debates Flashcards
Gender and culture in psychology: Gender bias AO1
Psychologists seek universality - facts about human behaviour that are objective, value-free and consistent across time and culture
Alpha bias exaggerates differences between sexes to undervalue a sex.
Sociobiological theory of relationship formation shows this - wilson said its in a males interest to increase chances of his genes being passed onto next generation wheras females is to preserve her genes to ensure survival of her offspring
Beta bias ignores or minimises differences between sexes e.g. using one gender to apply its conclusions to whole population
Taylor suggested female biology has evolved to inhibit fight or flight, more attention towards caring for offspring and forming defensive networks with other females using oxytocin
Androcentrism - males viewed as centre of culture and seen as norm so male gender conclusions applied to whole population ( example of beta bias)
Gender and culture in psychology: Gender bias AO3
-problems of gender bias - misleading assumptions and validate discrimination - scientific justification to deny women workplace opportunities - not just methodological problem but can affect lives
-promotes sexism - lack of women in research means female concerns not addressed in research questions, male researchers work more likely to be published - also females in lab studies in relationship with a male researcher has the power to label them irrational and unable to complete complex tasks - supports institutional sexism - bias in researc
+understanding gender bias leads to reflexivity - researchers recognise effect of their values on their research and bias seen as an important aspect than a threat - lack of women in accountancy firms lambert et al included reflection on gender related experiences influencing their research - reflexivity leads to greater awareness of role of bias in resear
-essentialist arguments common - gender differences based on essentialist principle - gender difference is fixed in nature - walkerdine reports that intellectual activity harmed a womens chance of giving birth - essentialist accounts politcally motivated with biology in disguise creates double standard in same behaviour viewed from male and female perspective
Gender and culture in psychology: Cultural bias AO1
Universality assumed for results of western research such as asch’s conformity and milgram’s obedience - replicated produced diff results
Ethnocentrism - superiority of one’s own culture - other behaviours may be seen as deficient
Ainsworth strange situation led to misinterpretation of child rearing practices from american norm e.g. german mothers seen as cold and rejecting than encouraging independence - imposed etic
Culture relativism helps to avoid cultural bias
Etic - behaviour from outside culture and applied to find universality
Emic - within certain culture and identifies culture specific behaviour
Gender and culture in psychology: Cultural bias AO3
-distinction between individualism and collectivism - individualist cultures value individual independence, collectivist value group interdependence - critics argue this no longer applies - this form of cultural bias less of an issue now
-cross-cultural research prone to demand characteristics - pps familiarity with aims and objectives assumed - in cultures without experience of research local populations may be more affected by demand characteristics - cultural bias - unfamiliarity with research threatens validity of outcome
-difficulties of interpretation of variables - variables under review not experienced in same way - emotions may give way - affect interactions between researcher and pp in cross cultural studies - lower validity
+cross cultural research challenges western assumptions - challenges typical western ways of thinking - our views not shared by others promotes greater sensitivity to individual differences and cultural relativism - more valid conclusions if role of culture bias recognised
Freewill and determinism AO1
Freewill - ppl choose how to behave - isnt response to external env or biological factors
Hard determinism - all human action has a cause - our behaviour determined by internal or external forces we cant control
Soft determinism - all human action has cause but ppl have conscious mental control over behaviour
Biological determinism - control from physiological, genetic and hormonal processes
Environmental determinism - determined by conditioning and result of reinforcement and punishment - skinner “free will is illusion”
Psychic determinism - directed by unconscious conflicts - freud placed emphasis on biological drives in underpinning behaviour
Science seeks to find causal explanations to predict and control events where one thing determined by the other
Freewill and determinism AO3
+determinism is consistent with aims of science - human behaviour is orderly and obeys laws gives psychology credibility like natural sciences and prediction and control of behaviour has led to treatments - schizophrenia suggests some behaviours are determined
+freewill is that we make choices - everyday experience gives impression - always making choices - face validity to free will - even if we dont have freewill the fact we think we do can have positive impact on behaviour - e.g. roberts et al showed adolescents who believed in fatalism (hard determinism) events outside their control risk of depressi
-freewill not supported by neurology - brain studies of decision making reveals evidence against freewill - research found brain activity related to whether to press button with left or right hand occurs up to 10 seconds before pp acc consciously aware of that - even most basic experiences of freewill determined by brain before our awareness
-compromise in the middle ground position - cognitive approaches tend to adopt soft determinism - bandura argued we choose what behaviour to perform even tho environment plays a role - helps understand behaviour which arent straightforward choice between freewill and determinism
Nature nurture debate AO1
Nature - innate genetic influences - nativists argue characteristics are innate
Nurture - environmental influences - empiricists argue mind is blank state at birth
Practically and theoretically makes little sense to separate nature nurture e.g. hard to tell if concordance rates in twin studies due to genetics or upbringing
Interactionism - each influence contributes e.g. attachment
Diathesis - stress model - biological vulnerability and environmental trigger
Epigenetics - change in genetic activity without changing genetic code
Events we encounter tell our bodies which genes to ignore and use - third element to debate - life experience of our previous generations
Nature nurture debate AO3
+understanding interaction has real world applications - extreme beliefs of influence of nature or nurture has negative implications - nativists arguing genetics determines behaviour has led to controversy so recognising both plays a role is more reasonable to study and manage behaviour
+gene-environment interactions thru constructivism - ppl create own nurture by selecting enviroments appropriate for their nature - two way interaction called constructivism - naturally aggressive child more comfortable around similar children and chooses environment accordingly affecting development - impossible to separate debate
+nature nurture relates to other debates - commitment to nature or nurture - hard determinism - nativist anatomy is destiny, empiricist environment is all - biological and enviromental determinism showing links to other debates
-unshared enviroments in twin studies is confounding variable - siblings raised in same family may not have identical upbringings, research suggests individual differences play role such as temperament - even mz twins reared together dont show perfect concordance
Holism and Reductionism AO1
Holism - ppl and behaviour studied as whole system - trying to separate behaviour is inappropriate - need to study whole
Reductionism - breaking down behaviour into smaller parts to analyse it - based on parsimony - all phenomena should be explained by using most basic and simple principles
Levels of explanation from socio cultural to neurochemical, increases in reductionism
Psychology can be replaced by hierarchy of reductionism more precise science at top and general at bottom
Biological reductionism - physiological and neurochemical level - applied to explanation and treatment of disorders
Environmental reductionism - behaviourist study observable behaviours and break it up into simple stimulus - response links - mind is irrelevant - analysis at physical level!!!
Holism and Reductionism AO3
+holism can explain aspects of social behaviour - some social behaviour occur at group context not individual - e.g. deindividuation in zimbardos - interactions between ppl that are important - holistic approach needed for more complete understanding of behaviour
-holism is impractical - vague and speculative - if we accept many factors contributing to depression, diffcult to establish treatment using most influential - lower level explanations more applicable when finding real world solutions
+scientific credibility of reductionism - target behaviours reduced to constituent parts to create operationalised variables - can conduct experiments in reliable ways gives psychology credibility and equal to natural sciences lower on hierarchy of reductionism
+both strengths in interactionist approach - interactionism how diff levels of explanations combine e.g. diathesis stress model explains schizophrenia, biological disposition to stressor - multidisciplinary and holistic approach to treatment associated with low relapse rates e.g. drugs and family therapy
Idiographic and nomothetic approaches AO1
Idiographic approach - unique experience nature of individual
Qualitative data - richness of human experience and insight into persons unique way of viewing world
Includes humanistic and psychodynamic approach
Humanistic - maslow and rogers interested in conscious experience of individual than making general laws
Psychodynamic - freud only cos he used case studies (qualitative)
Nomothetic approach - produces general laws of behaviour and benchmark so future behaviour predicted and controlled
Reliable and scientific - assosciated with tests and questionnaires - more ppl
Behaviourist cognitive and biological research - findings from large ppl to analyse for statistical differences
Idiographic and nomothetic approaches AO3
+idiographic appoach provides rich data - complete and global account of individual - single case generates future hypotheses - important insights about normal functioning contributing to overall understanding of behaviour e.g. hm, some procedural memories more resistant to amnesia (loss)
-idiographic approach lacks scientific rigour - subjective and restrictive - many key concepts developed from study of single case e.g. little hans freud - reliable generalisation cant be made - subjective interpretation of researcher - bias
+nomothetic approach is scientific value - scientific mirror natural sciences - standardised procedures - valid reliable - statistical analysis to show significance - psychology given greater scientific credibility
+both approaches complementary not contradictory - rather than alternative approaches - same issue from both perspectives - e.g. research on gender development attemps to establish general pattern of behaviour alongside atypical development - rich detailed descriptions of human behaviour and its explanations within framework of general laws
Ethical implications of research studies and theory AO1
Ethical issues due to conflict between need for valid results and rights of pps, but wider ethical implications hard to predict e.g. how their findings affect perception of ppl in society
Socially sensitive research - social implications e.g. genetic basis of criminality/ taboo topics such as race. Psychologists shouldnt shy away from them tho as they have a social responsiblity to carry it out
Stanley et al identified concerns:
implications - some studies may give scientific credibility to discrimination
Public policy - findings can be adopted to shape public policies or politics
Validity - some findings which seen as objective have turned out to be fraudulent
Burt’s research on IQ - intelligence is genetic - significant consequences on life opportunities but he made much of data up and was publically discredited but 11+ remained for years and its public policies
Ethical implications of research studies and theory AO3
+socially sensitive research - scarr argues studies of under represented groups promotes awareness of prejudice and encourages acceptance - benefit on society e.g. research into unreliability of ewt has reduced risk of miscarriages of justice in legal system - valuable role in society
+understanding how to frame questions - stanley et al found how research questions are phrased can influence findings ie research into alternative relationships guilty of homosexual bias using norms of heterosexual - researchers to have open mind and have preconceptions challenged to avoid underrepresenting
-socially sensitive research can be used for social control - in 1920s many us states enacted to legislation leading to sterilisation of many us citizens - judged to be feeble minded and drain on society - unfit to breed - used to prop up discrimination is argument against its widespread adoption
-costs and benefits hard to predict - ethical implications to be scrutinised by ethics commitee - some social consequences involving vulnerable groups hard to anticipate- worth of research subjectively assessed - real impact can only be known once it is public!!!!
