issues and debates

Question 1

what is alpha bias

Answer 1

alpha bias occurs when research exaggerates or overestimates gender differences.
any difference is presented as real, fixed, enduring and inevitable.
they most frequently devalue women

Question 2

examples of alpha bias

Answer 2

• freuds psychodynamic approach
  
  • said womens lack of penis means they dont feel pressure to become like same sex parent so therefore there superego is inferior to males
• sexual selection
  
  • men should sleep around so they a higher of procreating more children whereas women should be extremely selective of who they sleep with and if they multiple sexual partners they are going against their nature

Question 3

what is beta bias

Answer 3

when research ignores, minimises or underestimates the difference between sexes. often occurs when there are no female participants in a study. it is then assumed that the research findings (from all male pps) apply to everyone

Question 4

examples of beta bias

Answer 4

• zimbardos prison study
  
  • suggests that both genders have the same conformity habits although study was solely performed on men and it has since been proven that men and women have different conformity habits
• milgrams learner + teacher obedience

Question 5

androcentrism

Answer 5

• consequence of beta bias
• anything different than the ‘male norm’ is viewed as abnormal which often means womens behaviour is seen as inferior, deficient or wrong. it can also mean that women behaviour is pathologised and misunderstood, people often assume that these behaviours are a sign of a mental disorder. e.g. pms

Question 6

analysis of gender bias

Answer 6

• creates misleading or incorrect assumptions about females, allowing misleading stereotypes to be accepted and allow discrimination to occur. - androcentrism - women 2x likely to be diagnosed with depression but under-diagnosed with schozophrenia
• gender bias also works against males, sometimes alpha bias can heighten the value of women. women more likely to be diagnosed with depression whereas men are more likely to be expected to “pull it together” as opposed to being diagnosed
• increased understanding of gender bias can help us avoid it. worrel (1992) suggested a number of research criteria to ensure non-gender biased research (consider women in natural settings, collaborating with research pps to explore personally relevent variables, diverse samples). suggests awareness can help dispel bias

Question 7

define universal

Answer 7

• should be able to be applied to everyone regardless of culture, gender etc.

Question 8

define ethnocentrism

Answer 8

a type of cultural bias which involves judging other cultures by the standards and values of ones own culture

Question 9

define cultural relativism

Answer 9

the idea that human behaviour can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts

Question 10

define cultural bias

Answer 10

overlooking cultural differences by looking at human behaviour from the perspective of your own culture

Question 11

define etic approach

Answer 11

studying behaviour across many cultures in order to find universal human behaviour’s

Question 12

culture bound syndromes

Answer 12

groups of syndromes classified as treatable illnesses in certain cultures that are not recognised as such in the west

Question 13

define emic approach

Answer 13

studying cultures in isolation by identifying behaviours that are specific to that culture

Question 14

define individualist culture

Answer 14

refers to western countries like the us that are thought to be more independent

Question 15

collectivist cultures

Answer 15

refers to cultures such as india or china which are said to be more conformist and group orientated

Question 16

define imposed etic

Answer 16

a test measure of theory devised in one culture that is used to explain behaviour in other cultures

Question 17

define research tradition

Answer 17

the familiarity a certain culture has with taking part in psychological investigations

Question 18

who established the emic and etic approaches

Answer 18

berry (1989)

Question 19

analysis of culture bias

Answer 19

• possible that some behaviours are universal so cultural relativism isnt always an issue. ekman (1989) suggested that basic expressions for emotion are the same across the world and can be studied without the problem of cultural relativism.
• there are methodological problems as western pps are typically more familiar with the research process
  it is difficult to operationalise variables in some cultures. certain behaviours are more accepted in other cultures i.e. invasion of personal space in china is not viewed as aggression.

Question 20

define public policy

Answer 20

can be used by the government for political means e.g. if it was discovered that intelligence is genetic the government may choose not to spend any money of children from disadvantaged backgrounds

Question 21

define socially sensitive research

Answer 21

• sieber and stanley (1988) used the term social sensitivity to describe studies where there are potential social consequences for the participants or the group of people represented by the research. can include research surrounding gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion amongst other things

Question 22

what were sieber and stanleys four aspects of socially sensitive research

Answer 22

• research question
• methodology used (treatment of pps)
• funding (who by and how will it be used)
• interpretation and application of findings ( could it be used to inform social policy?)

Question 23

examples of socially sensitive research

Answer 23

• bowlbys maternal deprivation study
• milgrams study of obedience
• loftus ewt research
• the bobo doll study
• schizophregenic mother explanation

Question 24

analysis of ethical issues

Answer 24

• there are arguments against conducting potentially socially sensitive research in psychology
• important that psychologists are free to carry out research
• plays valuable role in society and can help/ encourage acceptance