issues and debates

Question 1

what is free will

Answer 1

self determining
free to choose thoughts and actions
free will doesn’t deny biological and environmental factors

Question 2

what is hard determinism

Answer 2

all human behaviour has a cause, science
forces beyond our control
brain is responsible and we have no control

Question 3

what is soft determinism

Answer 3

compromise of opposing views
biological influences
biology and choice
free will to act on urge

Question 4

what are the three types of determinism

Answer 4

1. biological
2. environmental
3. psychic determinsim

Question 5

what is biological determinism

Answer 5

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

Question 6

what is environmental determinism

Answer 6

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

Question 7

what is psychic determinism

Answer 7

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

Question 8

what are the two types of gender bias

Answer 8

alpha bias
beta bias

Question 9

what is alpha bias

Answer 9

highlighting gender differences
can enhance or undervalue genders
usually undervalue females

Question 10

what is beta bias

Answer 10

ignores/ minimises gender differences
(ie) all male sample ‘explain human behaviour’

Question 11

what are the two types of beta bias and what are they

Answer 11

androcentrism- male behaviour is norm, female judged by their standards, common

gynocentrism- female behaviour is the norm, judging men against female standard

Question 12

what is universality

Answer 12

human characteristics being applied to all despite gender differences
universal behaviour
interpretation of facial expressions behaviour is not always universal

Question 13

what are the three things gender bias leads to in psychology

Answer 13

1. female concerns not reflected in research
2. male research more likely to be published
3. gender differences more likely to appear in journals

Question 14

discussion of alpha bias

Answer 14

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

Question 15

consequences of freud

Answer 15

1. socially sensitive, women must get married and have children
2. women weaker superego, job opportunities
3. Freuds view of women led o idea men must guide women behaviour for correct path
4. women are heterosexual, single mothers, not want children, gays, transgender, wrong and out dated views

Question 16

discussion of beta bias

Answer 16

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

Question 17

consequences in DSM

Answer 17

1. women unlikely to demonstrate same behaviour as men, najes them look less mentally stable, women are ‘weaker; sex, reinforces Freud
2. 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
3. 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

Question 18

3 ways to tackle gender bias criteria (worrell)

Answer 18

1. 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
2. qualitative methods, fixed questions could lead to gender stereotypes not reasoning
3. 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