Issues and Debates Flashcards
(Pg)Gender and Culture in Psychology: Gender Bias
Universality
Alpha Bias
Beta Bias
Androcentrism
Define Universality
A characteristic that can be applied to all
Define Gender Bias
Research or theory that may not be representative of men or women
Define Alpha Bias
When a theory exaggerates differences between genders
An example of alpha bias favouring men
Freud’s theory of psychosexual development
- Boys at an age will identify with his father
- But a girls eventual identification with the same sex parent is weaker.
- He suggests women have a weaker Superego
An example of alpha bias favouring women
Chodorow - daughter and mum have better connections than son because of biological similarity. Reason why women have better bonds with others.
Define Beta Bias
When a theory ignores differences between genders
An example of Beta Bias
-Fight or flight response was assumed both genders react the same in threatening situations
- Shelley ‘friend and befriend’ caused by oxytocin in women
Define Androcentrism
Male behaviour is considered to be the norm and everything is judged to their standards.
Androcentrism examples
- 6/100 most influential psy are women so men lead
- Women’s behaviour misunderstood
-Blame women anger on hormones but mens anger is rational
(N) Biological versus social explanations
- Gender difference is often fixed (alpha bias)
- Maccoby and Jacklin girls have superior verbal ability whereas boys have better spatial ability this has become fact.
- Daphne found no sex difference in brain structure
- we accept as facts but is is social stereotypes.
(N) Gender- biased Research
-Research challenging gender bias may not be published.
-Magdalena- gender bias less mentioned by prestigious journals. Scholars became unaware of it.
- Gender bias may not be taken as seriously as other forms of bias
(N) Sexism in research
-Gender bias - sexism
-(Murphy) Undergraduate students women but lectures are more likely to be women.
- So more studies on men bad for females
- Nicolson male researcher expect women to be irrational and unable to complete task.
-Institutional structure may be gender bias.
(Pg)Gender and culture in Psychology: Cultural Bias
Universality and bias
Ethnocentrism
Cultural relativism
L- Classic Studies
S- Cultural Psychology
L- Ethnic Stereotyping
Universality and Bias
Henrich- 68% participants from American
-98% industrialised nations
80% psychology undergraduates
-WEIRD - Westernised, Educated from Industrialised, Rich Democracies.
-They set the norm everyone else abnormal
Define Ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures by the standards and values of their own culture.
Define Cultural Bias
Tendency to interpret everything through of ones own culture
Ethnocentrism example
- (Ainsworth) norms of Western Culture
- Japanese culture children are more likely to be insecure attachment, babies are rarely separated from their parents.
Define Cultural Relativism
Norm and Values can only be understood with specific social and cultural contexts
Cultural relativism example
(Berry) Etic- outside of of culture Emic- within the culture.
Ainsworth an example of imposed etic and also definitions of Abnormality
(N) Classic studies
-Most influential study is culturally biased.
-Asch and Milgram if study was replicated outside US may have different results.
-Can only be applied to individualist cultures
(S) Cultural Psychology
-(Cohen) how people are shaped by their culture.
- Cultural psy focus on emic only focusing on two cultures rather than a lot
- Suggests they are mindful of cultural bias
(L) Ethnic Stereotyping
- Has led to prejudice against group of people.
- (Jay) explained WW1 took IQ test for army recruits.
- the questions were ethnocentric with questions about the US presidents.
- The African Americans and southern eastern scored lowest making them ‘mentally unfit’
- Culture bias can be used to justify discrimination.
(Pg) Free will and Determinism
Free Will
Determinism
Types of Determinism
The scientific emphasis on casual explanations
(S) Practical Value
(L) Research Evidence
(L) The Law
Define Free will
Humans can make choices that are not determined
Define Determinism
The view that an individual behaviour is controlled by internal and external forces
Hard Determinism
-All human behaviour is caused by something
- Free will is an illusion
Soft Determinism
-The view that the behaviour may be predictable but there is also room for personal choice.
- James was the first to put this forward and
-Is an important feature of cognitive approach
Types of Determinism
-Biological Determinism
- Environment Determinism
- Psychic Determinism
Biological Determinism
Behaviours is caused by biological factors we cant control
Environmental Determinism
Behaviours are caused by environmental factors (reward systems)
-Skinner argues that behaviour free will is an illusion and all behaviour is due to conditioning
Psychic Determinism
Behaviour is caused by unconscious psychodynamic conflicts from childhood
- Freud free will= illusion
Scientific emphasis on casual explanations
Basic principle of science- universe has a cause
(S) Free will Practical Value
-We exercise free will everyday it also improved mental health
- (Robert) adolescents that believed in fatalism are more likely to get depression.
- If we believe we have free will we will be happier
Research Evidence (Brain scan)
(L) free will
(S) determination
-(Libert) flicked participants wrist and measured brain activity.
- asked when they felt conscious will to move.
- Found the unconscious brain activity came half a second before they were flicked.
- So acts of free will is actually determined by our brain before we realise.
(L) The Law
- if individual choice is not the cause of behaviour the court operates wrong.
Offenders are held responsible for their actions.
(Pg) The nature- nurture debate
The Interactionist Approach
-Diathesis- stress model
- Epigenetics
Key concepts of the Debate
- Nature
- Nurture
-Measuring Nature and Nurture
Interactionist Approach
How nature and nurture interact with each other
Attachment - nature(child’s temperament) causes nurture(parents response)
Diathesis Stress Model
Suggests biological and environmental vulnerability
E.g. person who may have inherited the genes for OCD may not have it but trigger from environment may cause it.
Epigenetics
Change in gene activity without changing the genes.
- Aspects of our life makes a change on our DNA (Smoking life long)
- These changes may influence genetic code of our children.
Nature
- Inherited influence
(Decartes) all psychological factors (intelligence) is determined by biological factors like physical factors.
Nurture
Influence of environment
(Locke) born with a blank state mind which then influenced by environment.
(Lerner) different levels of environment
-Prenatal factors
- Social influence
-Physical influence
Measure nature and nurture
Concordance estimates how much trait is inherited.
Heritability- difference between individuals and the population a certain trait. Eg IQ
(S) Adoption Studies
-if children are similar to adoptive parents = environment. If not= biological
(S) Epigenetics
-Nazi blocked food distribution to Dutch
-Pregnant women gave birth to low weight babies but also more likely to have schizophrenia.
(S) Real world App (nature nurture)
-Genetic Counselling can be used to understand the likelihood of OCD
(Pg) Holism and Reductionism
Holism
Reductionism
Biological Reductionism
Environmental Reductionism
Holism
Looks at a system as whole
Humanistic psychology focuses on the individuals experience which is something that can not be reduced.
use qualitative to investigate the self
Reductionism
Human behaviour is best understood in fragments.
Levels of Explanation in Psychology
- Socio- Culture
- Psychological level
- Physical Level
- Environmental Level
- Physiological Level
- Neurochemical Level
Biological Reductionism
A form of reductionism which explains behaviour in the lowest term (genes)
Environmental Reductionism
All behaviour is learnt from the environment
(L) Practical Value (Holism)
The wf
