Issues and Debates Flashcards
Define universality
An underlying characteristic that can be applied to all regardless of experience
Define gender bias
When a theory offers a view that doesn’t represent one gender
Define alpha bias
Differences between men and women are exaggerated
Differences seen as fixed/inevitable and undervalue either gender
Define beta bias
Differences between men and women are ignored
Define androcentrism
Behaviour that is drawn from one gender causes any behaviour that deviates from this to be seen as abnormal by comparison
Example of androcentrism
Freud - as girls do not experience castration anxiety, they do not identify with the same set parent and therefore develop a weaker superego and have an inferior sense of morality
Strengths of being aware of gender bias
Reflexivity
○ Recognise the effect of their values
○ Dambrin and Lambert (2008) - research into lack of female accountancy positions, included reflection on gender related experiences influencing understanding of events
○ May lead to greater awareness of the role of personal bias
Gender bias can be avoided
○ Worrell (1992) - women should be studied within meaningful real life contexts
○ Diversity in women should be studied
○ Collaborative research methods that collect qualitative data
Weakness of gender bias
Misleading assumptions about female behaviour
○ validates discriminatory practices
○ Justifies denial of opportunities in workplaces (e.g PMS)
○ May have damaging real life consequences
Sexism in research process
○ Lack of women in researchers - female issues not looked into
○ Male researchers have the power to label female ppts as irrational
Define culture bias
If normal behaviour is judged by one culture, then cultural differences in behaviour is seen as abnormal
Define culture bias
If normal behaviour is judged by one culture, then cultural differences in behaviour is seen as abnormal
Define ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures by experiences and standards of one’s own culture
Leads to prejudice and discrimination
Non-Western cultures are seen as underdeveloped and unsophisticated
Define cultural relativism
Norms, values, ethics and standards can only be meaningful and understood within specific cultural and social contexts
Define cultural relativism
Norms, values, ethics and standards can only be meaningful and understood within specific cultural and social contexts
Etic vs Emic
Etic - looks at behaviour from outside a culture and describes it as universal
Emic - looks at specific behaviour within a culture
What is free will?
Self determining and free to choose our thoughts and actions
Define hard determinism
All behaviour has a cause that is dictated by internal or external forces
Define soft determinism
Human action has a cause, but there is room for people to have conscious mental control over behaviour
Define biological determinism
○ Biological approach
○ Physiological and neurological processes
Define environmental determinism
○ Behaviourist approach
○ Experiences in our lives
Skinner described free will as an illusion, ‘choice’ is merely a sum total of reinforcement ideas
Define psychic determinism
○ Psychodynamic approach
○ The unconscious
Strength of determinism
○ Predict human behaviour -
Treatment to disorders can be developed
Classical conditioning can be used to treat phobias
Real-world applications
Weakness of determinism
○ Not consistent with legal system
Offenders should be held morally accountable
Determinism suggests past experiences play a role in actions so they may not be held morally accountable
Define heredity
Passing of genes from parents to their children
How can people who have been adopted be used to investigate nature vs. nurture?
Compare an adopted child with their biological and adopted parents
Anything in common with biological parents = nature
Anything in common with adopted parents = nurture
How can twins be used to investigate nature vs. nurture?
If MZ twins are more likely to share a characteristic than DZ twins = nature
If there is no difference or they are equally likely to share the chatacteristic = nurture
Interactionist approach
Nature and nurture work together to form a person’s character
E.g diathesis stress model
Epigentics
○ Dias and Ressler (2014)
○ male lab mice given electric shocks whenever exposed to acetophenone
○ Mice’s children also feared the smell
○ refers to our change in activity without changing genetic code
○ life events leave marks on our DNA
○ thse marks tell our body which genes tonignore and which genes to use
Strengths of nature vs. nurture
Gene-environment interactions explained by constructivism
○ constructivism - people choose environments suitable for them
○ shy child chooses friends similar
○ impossible to separate nature and nurture
Real worl implications
○ extreme beliefs in the influence of nature and nurture can be negative
○ nativists suggest genes determine behaviour and characteristics
○ nature and nurture together is a more ethical way to study behaviour
Weakness of nature vs. nurture
Separating nature and nurture can be impossible
○ DZ only share 50% genes so any environmental change can lead to different treatment by parents
○ can’t distinguish nature and nurture
○ using twins may not be valid
Confounding factor - unshared environments
○ research is not completely accurate as twins have individuality
○ Dunn and Plomin (1990) - twins experience life differently
through different effects of life events
○ MZ twins do not show perfect concordance results
Define holism
Study the behaviour as a whole
Define reductionism
Human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into its constituent parts
