Issues and Debates Flashcards
Gender bias
A preference towards one gender, can either exaggerate or minimise differences.
Alpha Bias- where differences are exaggerated, can be used to undervalue one of the sexes, often attributed to differences in biology
Beta Bias- differences are ignored/minimised, when studies are on one gender but conclusions apply to the whole population
Androcentric research
When males are viewed as being at the centre of culture, male behaviour is seen as the norm so theories made in relation with males are also applied to women
Esterocentric research
This is when female behaviour is seen as the norm, much rarer than androcentrism
Research Designs in relation to gender bias
When a research question is first proposed and an aim is formed psychologists need to be careful that they aren’t unconsciously including any gender stereotypes. Participants for research should be selected in a non-biased way, many early studies involved male university students causing beta bias. Researchers can unconsciously treat male and female participants differently during a study
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 differences
Culture refers to the set of customs, social roles, behavioural norms and moral values that are shared by a group of people. Historically there hasn’t been much to compare people of different cultures. Researchers assumed that people from western cultures are essentially the same as people in other cultures.
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
Research based on a specific culture that’s used to understand that culture from within. 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
Where our own culture is taken as the norm that we judge other cultures against. Research is centred around the one culture it’s based in so because most psychological studies have studies people from western cultures, a lot of them are ethnocentric such as 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 able to choose how to behave. People can explain behaviours in terms of decisions and intentions however free will is subjective as someone may think they’re choosing how to behave, but are actually influenced by other forces. Some people with psychological disorders don’t appear to have free will
Determinism
All of the physical events in the universe occur in cause and effect relationships. So our thoughts, beliefs and behaviours are determined by past events and causes. Very scientific approach however it is unfalsifiable as it assumes that events can be the result of forces that haven’t been discovered yet
