Issues and Debates

Question 1

What is universality

Answer 1

Any underlying characteristic of human beings which is capable of being applied to all

Question 2

What do psychologists attempt to conduct research to be

Answer 2

Objective
Value-free

Question 3

What stops a wanted objective and value-free research

Answer 3

Psychologists possess beliefs and values that are influenced by the social and historical contexts they live in
May influence their research, findings and conclusions
Can undermine universality of the research (it being applied to all human beings)

Question 4

What are biomedical theories of abnormality

Answer 4

Abnormal behaviour explained in terms of neurochemical/hormonal processes

Question 5

What is an example of gender bias to do with depression in women

Answer 5

Higher prevalence of depression in women explained in hormonal terms, not social/environmental
Violence, unpaid labour, discrimination

Question 6

Name some uses of standardised procedures in research studies

Answer 6

W+M might respond differently to research situation
W+M might be treated differently by researchers
Could create artificial differences or mask real ones

Question 7

How do we disseminate our research results

Answer 7

Publishing bias towards positive results
Research that finds sex differences are more likely to get published than that which does not
Exaggerates extent of sex differences
More men are published than women

Question 8

What is alpha bias

Answer 8

When the differences between men and women are shown may be exaggerated
Either to heighten the value of women or devalue them
These differences are presented as real and enduring, fixed and inevitable
Freud = “femininity = failed masculinity”, penis envy, etc

Question 9

What is the sociobiological theory

Answer 9

Wilson 1975
Example of alpha bias
Focuses on social efficiency
Believes that it is in a male’s interests to try and impregnate as many women as possible as this will guarantee that his genes will be passed down through generations
For the female her best chance is to ensure a healthy survival of her offspring which wud guarantee that her genes are passed on
Sexual promiscuity in males is genetically determined, while women who engage in similar activity are seen as going against their nature
This theory has been accused of exaggerating the differences between M+W

Question 10

What is beta bias

Answer 10

When differences between the 2 sexes are ignored or minimised or underestimated
Often occurs when female participants are not included as part of the research process and it is then assumed that the research findings apply equally to both sexes
e.g. Zimbardo, Milgram, Asch, etc
Fight or flight (men) is example of beta bias vs tend and befriend (women)

Question 11

What did Kohlberg 1973 do in terms of beta bias

Answer 11

Said men have higher moral reasoning on men
But only conducted research on juvenile delinquents
Not women

Question 12

What is androcentrism

Answer 12

Institutional sexism
Beta bias
Centred or focused on men, often to the neglect or exclusion of women (study contducted on men but generalised to women as well)
Is a consequence of beta bias
If our understanding of ‘normal’ behaviour is being drawn from research that involves ‘all male’ samples, then behaviour that deviates from this is seen as ‘abnormal’ by comparison
Female behaviour is misunderstood and underrepresented
e.g. pianos designed for male fingers, seatbelts designed for male chest

Question 13

What is a -ve evaluation of androcentrism

Answer 13

PMS - feminists object to this as believe that is a social construct which stereotypes and trivialises the female experience
Suggests that female anger is due to hormones whereas male anger is a rational response to external pressure

Question 14

What is the opposite of androcentrism

Answer 14

Gynocentrism
A study conducted on females but generalised also to males

Question 15

What is an example of gender bias by Gilligan

Answer 15

Gilligan and moral development
Highlighted bias inherent in Kohlberg’s work
Suggested women make moral decisions in a different way to men (care ethic vs. justice ethic)
Arguable also (alpha) biased, as M&F moral reasoning is more similar than her work suggests

Question 16

What is an example of alpha bias by Karen Horney

Answer 16

Stated it was wrong to think females were envious of men’s attributes but they were jealous of men’s attributes but they were jealous of their social class
She coined the term ‘womb envy’ in which males were envious of females ability to have children and compensated for that by achieving in other domains

Question 17

How do some psychologists address gender bias

Answer 17

Getting feminist perspective
Re-examining the ‘facts’ about gender
View of women as normal humans. not deficient men
Skepticism towards biological determinism
Research agenda focusing on women’s concerns
Psychology for women, rather than a psychology of women

Question 18

Cultural relativism

Answer 18

The idea that norms, values, ethics and standards differ from culture to culture and so can only be understood within specific social and cultural contexts

Question 19

Cultural bias

Answer 19

A tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all behaviour through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture

Question 20

Ethnocentrism

Answer 20

Judging other cultures by the values and standards of one’s own culture
Can result in feeling of superiority for one’s own culture which can lead to problems of prejudice and bias

Question 21

What is alpha bias w culture

Answer 21

Assumes there are real and enduring differences cultural groups
e.g. differences between collective and individualistic societies

Question 22

What is beta bias w culture

Answer 22

Theories which ignore/minimise any differences in culture
e.g. use of IQ tests on non-western cultures

Question 23

How did Milgram ignore culture

Answer 23

Used men only

Question 24

How did Asch ignore culture

Answer 24

American males
Individualistic culture

Question 25

How did Mary Ainsworth (strange situation) ignore culture

Answer 25

Western
Said applies to all babies

Question 26

What did Berry do regarding imposed etics

Answer 26

Suggests psychologists have often been guilty of using imposed etics
Is when we impose western beliefs on people from other cultures or belief systems and judge them by it
Instead we should use emic approaches (functions from within a given culture and identifies behaviour that is specific to that culture)
Will result in psychologists being more mindful in their research and recognising cultural relativism which may otherwise be ignored or misinterpreted

Question 27

What did Brislin look at

Answer 27

Ethnocentrism and imposed etics in intelligence tests
Found that in western cultures we often need to do things against the clock
However the Baganda ppl of Uganda characterise intelligence as slow, careful and deliberate thought (Wober)

Question 28

What did Cochrane and Sashidharan 1995 discover about African-Caribbeans

Answer 28

That AC immigrants are 7x more likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues
To combat this problem, DSM4 included in its appendix a list of 25 culture-bound disorders

Question 29

What is the problem with the emic approach

Answer 29

It only helps our understanding of behaviour within that culture
An etic approach seeks universals of behaviour
One way to achieve this, while avoiding cultural bias, is to use indigenous researchers in each cultural setting
Buss did this in his classic study on mate preferences; the data was collected from people in 37 different cultures in order to look at universal behaviour
In each cultural setting there were 3 local researchers