Issues And Debates Flashcards
Alpha bias
Gender differences are exaggerated or overestimated
Example of alpha bias
Grossman stating that the fathers role is just to be a playmate
Beta bias
Gender differences are ignored or underestimated due to lack of representation in studies
Example of beta bias
Aschs line study used only white American males
Androcentrism
When a theory or study is centered around men and can lead to a male standard
What is culture bias
The tendency to view all phenomena through the lens of one’s own cultural assumptions
What is ethnocentrism
An extreme belief in one’s own culture that causes the tendency to judges others cultures off of there own culture
What is an Etic approach
Generalising universal behaviours and ignoring cultural differences
What is an emic approach
Looks at behaviour within a cultural system
What is cultural relativism
The idea that attitudes values and concepts are best understood within the cultural context that it originates
What does WEIRD stand for within culture bias
Western Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic
What is the representation of WEIRD samples within psychological research compared to the population
80% in samples but only makes up 12% of the population
What is an imposed etic
Studying something emically then applying it universally
What are two ways that culture bias can occur
- an imposed etic
- use of only WEIRD samples
What is a consequence of culture bias?
Can lead to stereotypes and discrimination towards certain ethnic groups
Give an example of culture bias being displayed and explain the consequence
-Before the First World War, the US army IQ test used questions heavily in favour of white American culture
- European immigrants and African Americans performed considerably worse than white Americans which created a negative stereotype over lower IQ in minorities
What is an indigenous psychologist?
A psychologist who will only study behaviour within their own culture
Give an example of indigenous psychology
Afrocentrism- the idea that research into behaviour within African cultures should be studied by someone from within this culture
- It disputes that everyone should be held to a western standard
What is a positive and negative of an emic approach
+ focuses on behaviour within specific cultures so is unlikely to create stereotypes and discrimination
- doesn’t provide widespread understanding of behaviours
Give an example of an emic approach being used
- David Buss
- conducted a study into mate preferences
- took data from 37 different countries all using indigenous psychologists
What are the 4 types of reductionism?
- Biological
- Environmental
- Machine
- Experimental