Issues and Debates Flashcards
Gender bias
A preference towards one gender, can either exaggerate or minimise differences.
Androcentric research
A consequence of beta bias. When males are viewed as being at the centre of culture, male behaviour is seen as the norm, female behaviour is seen as abnormal and misunderstood
Gynocentrism
A study conducted only on females but generalised also to males, opposite of androcentrism
Research Designs in relation to gender bias
Biomedical theories of abnormalities- abnormal behaviour explained in terms of neurochemical/hormonal processes.
Use of standardised procedures in research studies.
Publication bias
Gender bias can be created as a result of publication bias, it is reported that positive findings are more likely to be published than studies that don’t find any differences which can exaggerate differences causing alpha bias.
Theories with gender bias
Freud’s theories described male behaviour as the norm, explained female behaviour as anything which differed from the norm. Asch’s research into conformity was androcentric.
Cultural relativism
The idea that norms, values, ethics and standards differ from culture to culture and so can only be understood within specific social and cultural contexts
Etic research
Research from a specific culture which is then applied to other cultures to find universal laws, giving the study universality, while some are true as humans share the same physiology, because studies have to take samples of the population, it is difficult to generalise the findings to all cultures
Emic research
It isn’t generalised to other cultures, instead it studies variations in behaviour between groups of people, this avoids the problems of cultural bias through an imposed etic. Bias may still occur by exaggerating differences between different cultural groups and neglecting to look at the differences within the cultural groups
Ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures by the values and standards of one’s own culture. This can result in a feeling of superiority for one’s own cultural causing prejudice and bias. Examples include; Asch’s study or Milgram’s study
Social Implications of cultural bias
Culturally biased studies will produce culturally biased theories. This has important implications for society because psychologists might be making claims that aren’t actually true. It’s especially problematic when biased views influence psychological practice e.g. understanding and treating abnormality. Therefore cultural biased assumptions influence how people’s behaviours are interpreted
Problems with cross cultural research
Can reduce cultural bias but isn’t always valid. Some beliefs and customs may be difficult for people from other cultures to understand. This means findings can be misinterpreted and research can be ethnocentric because the researchers judge behaviour against their own cultural norms.
Ways to reduce cultural bias in research
Research should recognise cultural relativism. This is accepting that there are no universal standards for behaviour, and that any research done must take into account the culture it takes place in. Samples should be representative of the groups you want to generalise the results to—include all relevant sub-groups.
Free will
People are free and able to choose how to behave. Views humans as self-determining; play an active role in controlling behaviour and not acting in response to any external/internal pressures. Links to the humanistic approach
Determinism
An individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal (biological) or external forces. Means our behaviour should be predictable. Links to behaviourist, psychodynamic, biological approaches. Unfalsifiable as it assumes that events can be the result of forces that haven’t been discovered yet
Reductionism
The scientific view that it should be possible to explain complex things by reducing them to their most simple structures or processes. This means explaining behaviour by boiling things down to some basic principles. Can give greater understanding of something by revealing evidence for a cause of behaviour. Experiments are often unrealistically simplified and ignore other influences, so they may not be testing real behaviour.
Holism
The argument that human behaviour is more complex than the processes that other sciences study, therefore it should be viewed as the product of different influences which all interact. Trying to separate these influences by studying one means complex behaviour can be misunderstood, so holistic avoids this problem. Difficult to establish how much each factor contributes, no empirical evidence so more hypothetical
Levels of explanation (most to least scientific/reductionist to holisitic)
The molecular level (physics), the cellular level (biochemistry), parts of individuals (biology), behaviour of individuals (psychology), behaviour of groups (sociology)
Nature and Nurture debate
Nature- innate characteristics determined by physiological and genetic factors. (determinist and biological)
Nurture- influence of environment and learning experiences. (determinist and SLT)
Almost all psychologists accept that nature and nurture must interact, because personality and behaviour seem to be influenced by both (interactionist approach). The debate now focuses on the relative contribution of inherited traits and the role of the environment. (Interactionist approach)
Gottesman (1963)
Suggested that people have a reaction range. This means everyone has a certain genetic potential for things like intelligence and height- the genotype. The environment then determines how much this potential is fulfilled- the phenotype.
Heredity (nature/nurture)
A heritability coefficient to assess heredity, numerical figure ranging from 0-1 which indicates the extent to which a characteristic has a genetic basis, 1 is entirely genetic and 0 entirely environmental
Idiographic Approach
Focuses on the individual in detail, looks at what makes each person different and avoids making general laws and theories. Uses research methods such as case studies, interviews, observations that focus on the individual. Uses qualitative methods to analyse findings.
Nomothetic Approach
Looks at similarities in behaviour in human beings as a whole. Applies general laws and theories to explain behaviour across a whole population. Nomothetic research uses research methods such as laboratory experiments and correlational research, which involves groups of participants to draw general conclusions, usually uses quantitative methods.
Evaluation of Idiographic Approach
Focuses on the individual, so it can give a more complete explanation of behaviour than the nomothetic explanation. However this often means that fewer people are studied so it’s tricky to generalise findings to larger populations. It can also be seen as a less scientific approach than the nomothetic approach. Detailed studies of individual cases can help develop nomothetic laws by providing extra info.
Evaluation of Nomothetic Approach
The research methods used makes it controlled, objective and scientific. However these methods lack ecological validity and can’t reliably be generalised to real life. In creating general laws, individual differences are ignored, so it’s less useful for explaining behaviour outside the norms of general law
Sensitive Social Issues
Findings from psychological research may highlight social issues that create negative effects or reactions in society. They might lead to certain groups of people being stigmatised or gene to laws being passes that put some people at a disadvantage. There’s an argument that socially sensitive research shouldn’t be carried out for ethical reasons
Examples of research which may raise sensitive social issues
Genetic influences- research into genetic influences on criminal behaviour could have important consequences. For example, genetics could be used as a defence against being convicted for a crime or to stigmatise people who have the relevant genes, also the possibility of compulsory genetic testing to identify people with particular genes.
Genetic factors for Independent variables- some studies for IQ have shown possible racial differences in intelligence, the issue is whether this in an appropriate topic for research because of social tensions
Alpha and Beta bias
Alpha- assumes that there are real and enduring differences between cultural/gender groups. For example exaggerating gender differences due to biology
Beta- theories which ignore or minimise any differences in culture or gender
What is culture and cultural bias
Culture refers to the set of customs, social roles, behavioural norms and moral values that are shared by a group of people.
A tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all behaviour through the ‘lens’ of one’s own cultural
Gender Bias Evaluation
Gender-biased research may create misleading assumptions and validate discriminatory practices such as denying women opportunities in the workplace and society. Reflexivity is an important development in psychology and has led to greater awareness of the role of personal bias in research
Soft and Hard determinism
Hard- free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by internal and external events beyond our control
Soft- Idea that behaviour is to an extent dictated by internal/external forces, we still have some element of free will to control behaviour
Types of determinism (excluding soft and hard)
Biological- the belief that behaviour is caused by biological (genetic, hormonal) influences that we cannot control
Environmental- the belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment that we cannot control (like systems of rewards and punishments)
Psychic-the belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts we cannot control (Freud)
Evaluation for free will, determinism debate
Everyday experiences ‘give the impression’ of free will on a daily basis which validates the concept. Free will has been scientifically shown to not exist by Libet (1985) who demonstrated that the brain activity that determines the outcome of simple choices predated our own knowledge of having made such a choice. Determinism is consistent with the aims of science but hard determinism is inconsistent with the way our legal system operates with moral accountability, a solution could be the Social Learning Theory
Two main types of reductionism
Biological- Behaviour can be explained through neurochemicals, neuropsychology, genetic influences as we are biological organisms with structures and processes
Environmental- we study and observe behaviours, learning is broken down into stimulus-response
Personality tests
Nomothetic approach. Basic premise of a personality test is to see if behaviour will be predictable and/or consistent. Some tests like IQ tests can be used to predict some behaviours like mental agility. Personality is difficult to operationalise, cannot be sure any measurement is valid, tests are often not generalisable to all people in all situations
What are ethical implications
The ethical implications of psychological research is concerned with the way research impacts those who participate and the impact on wider society, for example does it lead to scientific racism or are there political gains.
