Issues And Debates Flashcards
What is gender bias?
Gender bias is the differential treatment between two genders based on stereotypes
What is alpha bias?
Alpha bias is the exaggerated difference between men and women and therefore one gender is devalued (often women)
What is beta bias?
Beta bias is ignoring the differences between men and women, leading to researchers believing they can generalise results from male studies to the whole population
What is androcentrism?
Androcentrism is the consequences of beta bias, and occurs where everything is compared to ‘male standards’
What is universality?
Universality is developing theories that are applicable to everyone, including any differences
Gender bias in psychology evaluation
Gender bias in psychology evaluation:
- = gender bias reamains unchallenged in many theories
- = lab experiments + institutionalised sexism -> due to male authority creating male perspective of women
- = bias in research methods affects final results
+ = feminist psychology -> differences can arise due to biological differences
What is determinism?
Determinism is the view that free will is an illusion and our behaviour is controlled by uncontrollable internal or external forces
What is free will?
Free will is the idea that we play active role and have choice over our behaviour
What is hard determinism?
Hard determinism the idea that forces outside our control shape behaviour
-No free will
-Science has hard determinism - looks for causal relationships
What is soft determinism?
Soft determinism is the view that behaviour is constrained by the environment or biological makeup to an extent - an element of free will remains
What is biological determinism?
Biological determinism is innate and determined by genes
-Pre determined behaviour
-Hard determinism
What is environmental determinism?
Environmental determinism is the view that behaviour is controlled by external forces, caused by experiences through conditioning
Free will and determinism evaluation
Free will and determinism evaluation:
- = humanistic view opposes - people have free will - eg twin case studies - not exactly the same
- = potential negative effect when generalised ie criminal acts
+ = skinner arugues free will is an illusion - motor regions of brain activated before conscious mind registers it - biological determinism
What is psychic determinism?
Psychic determinism is when behaviour is. Result of childhood experiences and innate drives (freudian thinking)
What is culture?
Culture is the morals, values, beliefs and patterns of behaviour shared by a community of people
What is cultural relativity?
Cultural relativity is the idea that moral standard beliefs and values can only be understood when viewed through the culture in which they originate
What is ethnocentrism?
Ethnocentrism is seeing the world through only one cultural perspective and thinking this is the normal and correct one
Outline the nature debate.
Nature debate:
-Biological approach
-Genes, biochem, hormones
-Hard/Biological determinism
-Twin studies (Gottesman)
-OCD
-Mate selection theory
-Bowlby attachment theory
-Diatheses stress model
-Genotype
-Hereditary
-Natavist approach
Outline the nurture debate.
Nurture debate:
-Influenced by the environment
-Conditioning
-SLT - vicarious reinforcement + mediational processes
-Psychodynamic approach
-Born a blank state (tabula rasa)
-Authoritarian personality in childhood
-Mowrer two process model
Outline the interactionist approach
Interactionist approach:
-Both nature and nurture work together to shape human behaviour
-Diatheses-stress model (genetic predisposition and environmental trigger causes disorder iephobias)
-Maguire study (taxi drivers - larger hippocampus)
-PKU - inhertiance mental disorder caused by amino acids but controlled by low protein diet
Outline reductionism
Reductionism:
-Breaking behaviour down into smaller components
-Based on parisomy (idea that complex things should be explained in simplest ideas)
-Different levels of explained (biological, physiological, social and cultural)
-Biological/Environmental/Experimental
What is biological reductionism?
Biological reductionism - behaviour broken down into biological components - eg neurones, hormones
What is environmental reductionism?
Environmental reductionism = also known as stimulus-response reductionism (conditioning) - that complex behaviour is a series of S-R chains
What is experimental reductionism?
Experimental reductionism - applies to cognitive approach - complex behaviour reduced to single variable for purpose of scientific testing
What is holism?
Holism = idea that behaviour should viewed as a whole integral experience than seperate parts - qualitative methods - humanistic and cognitive approach
Evaluation of reductionism and holism
+ = scientistics use reductionism in their research - experimental reductionism - less complex findings and easier to infer causality
-> counterargument = highly controlled so questionable results (reliability?)
+ = scientific - replicable
+ = Biological reductionism has lead to biological theories ie SSRI’s and OCD
- = biological reductionism - ignores complexity - ie ADHD treatment
- = use of animals in experiments - ecological validity and ethics questioned
What are the ethical implications of psychological research?
Ethical implications of psychological research - deceptions, informed consent, protection from heart, social sensetivity
Examples - milgrams distress on parts, bowlbys findings affecting mothers (guilt for returning to work?
What is meant by social sensitivity in reference to studies?
Social sensitivity - wher e there are potential social consequences for the participants of the group of people represented by the research
What are the aspects of scientific research from Sierber and Stanley that raises ethical implications in social sensitive research?
aspects in rsearch that raises ethical implications in socially senseitive resarch:
-The research question (ie race + IQ)
-Methodology used (confidentiality)
-Instiutional context (public/private) - subjectivity
-Interpretatino and application of findings
-Harder to asses risk/benefit ratio
Exampl of socially sensitive reserarch?
An example of socially sensitive research is linking intelligence to genetic factors - ie via identical twins - influenced some school systems - controversial to wether Burt falsified research data
Evaluation of socially sensitive research
Evaluation of socially sensitive research:
- = current ethical guidelines focuses on direct affect on parts rather than its harm to society as a whole - eg how findings are used by others
- = exclusion of marginalised groups ie disabilities - harm when findings generalised
- = discrimination -> researchers argue against this research - eg racial differences and IQ
-> but ignoring these reserach areas means we lack info - ie how to help those underrepresented in society
Two approaches in research? (Emic/Etic)
Etic research is when research is based on one culture and is generalised and applied to all cultures
Emic research is based on studying a specific culture
