issues and debates Flashcards
done gender bias and free will and determinism
what is free will
self determining
free to choose thoughts and actions
free will doesn’t deny biological and environmental factors
what is hard determinism
all human behaviour has a cause, science
forces beyond our control
brain is responsible and we have no control
what is soft determinism
compromise of opposing views
biological influences
biology and choice
free will to act on urge
what are the three types of determinism
- biological
- environmental
- psychic determinsim
what is biological determinism
behaviours have biological cause
brain structures
brain chemicals
genes that affect the brain chemicals
fight or flight response
autonomic nervous system
links
schiz dopamine hypothesis
cause of ocd genetic and neural
what is environmental determinism
skinner- believed everything learnt through conditioning
choice is number of different environment influences
acting out on choices behaviour has been shaped by those around us
environment shapes our actions
phobias - conditioning
what is psychic determinism
all behaviour has a cause
freud- all behaviour is a result of unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood
unconscious, unaware of them, beyond our control - offending forensics
what are the two types of gender bias
alpha bias
beta bias
what is alpha bias
highlighting gender differences
can enhance or undervalue genders
usually undervalue females
what is beta bias
ignores/ minimises gender differences
(ie) all male sample ‘explain human behaviour’
what are the two types of beta bias and what are they
androcentrism- male behaviour is norm, female judged by their standards, common
gynocentrism- female behaviour is the norm, judging men against female standard
what is universality
human characteristics being applied to all despite gender differences
universal behaviour
interpretation of facial expressions behaviour is not always universal
what are the three things gender bias leads to in psychology
- female concerns not reflected in research
- male research more likely to be published
- gender differences more likely to appear in journals
discussion of alpha bias
freud (approaches) women ‘failed masculinity’ as they were penis envy and couldn’t undergo the same
stronger superego develops in oepedius complex and women are morally inferior
freud believes penic envy is major driving force in girls life and needs to happen for wanting of kids and husband
if not pathological- they have psychological disorder, if they don’t want husband or kids, gay, lesbian, single
exaggerates alpha bias
consequences of freud
- socially sensitive, women must get married and have children
- women weaker superego, job opportunities
- Freuds view of women led o idea men must guide women behaviour for correct path
- women are heterosexual, single mothers, not want children, gays, transgender, wrong and out dated views
discussion of beta bias
DSM criteria (schizophrenia) soem categories biased to pathologising one gender
clinicians in US equate ‘mentally healthy’ behaviour with males, androcentrism
women perceived to be less mentally healthy when they’d on’t show male behaviour
consequences in DSM
- women unlikely to demonstrate same behaviour as men, najes them look less mentally stable, women are ‘weaker; sex, reinforces Freud
- women opportunities in society, less likely to get positions of responsibility, glass ceiling, less stable, irrational and bad decisions to barred from higher status job
- women more likely to be seen with mental health issues, could lead to ignoring mens mental health, they don’t suffer, men could feel they don’t speak out, increase mens suicidal rates
3 ways to tackle gender bias criteria (worrell)
- study women in real life contexts not lab, rosenthal has lab based which increases investigator gender bias, nicholson was lab studies placed in relationship with male researcher, power to label them irrational and behaviour of women could be affected by investigator expectation
- qualitative methods, fixed questions could lead to gender stereotypes not reasoning
- stop comparing men to women and recognise diversity in genders, greater the diverse sample the greater the opportunity to show gender role stereotypes don’t apply to all women
