issues and debates Flashcards
what is the nature - nurture debate
the relative importance of heredity and environment in
determining behaviour
what does the nature side argue
that behaviour is caused by innate characteristics - biology
approaches that support the nature debate
- biological and evolutionary approach
research to support nature debate
language acquisition (chomsky 1968):
- chomsky maintained language as the result of innate cognitive structures in the mind
- biologically based inborn brain mechanism
- language acquisition follows same sequence in all children
MZ and DZ twins:
- genetic effects shown when correlations within each group is compared with correlations between each group
what does the nurture side argue
- behaviour is determined by the environment - things that are taught
approaches that support nurture side
- behaviourist and learning theory
research to support nurture debate
little albert (watson and raynor 1920)
- before study, little albert showed no sign of fear response in any situation
- after 5 sessions (1 month later), albert continued to show fear reactions to all stimuli
- provides evidence that the environment can be manipulated to create a phobic response + behavioural change
zimbardo:
- study showed how roles can affect behaviour
studies and theories that show interaction between nature and nurture
maguire et al:
- taxi driver study
- MRI scans of taxi drivers 10 years after they became a driver showed that their hippocampal area grew
- showed that the environment changed their brains
- appears that brain has the capacity for plasticity + structure of brain can alter in response to environmental behaviour/demands
diathesis stress model:
- suggested that behaviour is caused by biological or environmental vulnerability; only expressed when coupled with a biological/environmental trigger
- e,g biological explanations of OCD - person who inherits a genetic vulnerability for OCD may not develop the disorder, but when combined with a psychological trigger (e.g trauma), it may result in the disorder appearing
what does the interactionist approach argue
- behaviour is often a result of interaction between nature and nurture
applications of the nature debate
- drug therapies can be developed to treat behavioural/psychological problems that have a physiological origin
- e.g SSRIs can be used to treat depression
applications of the nurture debate
- if behaviour is susceptible to environmental influences, we need to consider how we adapt to our environment
- e.g to promote helping behaviour, decrease criminality etc
problems associated with the nature nurture debate
- difficult to tell how much of someone’s behaviour is determined by nature or nurture
- the experiments to find this out aren’t ethically possible either; to get MZ twins and put them in different environments to investigate the effect of genetics + nurture is not ethical
- there are too many extraneous variables to determine causality
what does it mean to be biased
- to be prejudiced for or against something
what is gender bias
prejudice for and against males or females
examples of research that has presented gender stereotypes
- maccoby and jacklin; men better at visual/spatial tasks, women = more verbal and less aggressive
- schaffer; men = lower sensitivity, more physically active. women = higher sensitivity, less likely to suffer language disorders
- williams and best; men = aggressive, dominant. women = nurturing, affiliated
who distinguished between alpha and beta bias
hare-mustin and maracek
alpha bias
- exaggerated differences between males and females
- normally done to emphasise superiority of males
examples of alpha bias
- Freud’s theory of psychosexual development ; androcentrism
- sociobiological theory of relationship formation
how is freud’s theory of psychosexual development an example of alpha bias
- male behaviour taken as standard for all human behaviour + female behaviour = deviation from that standard
- based his theories around boys’ fear of castration and girls ‘penis envy’
- freud claimed that these gender differences in psychosexual development result in female moral inferiority; cause girls do not identify as strongly with same sex parent as they’ve already been castrated (which is the boys main fear)
- these gender bias views have not been supported as there is no evidence women are morally inferior to men
consequences of freud’s ideas
- reinforcing stereotypes e.g of women’s moral inferiority
- treating deviations from traditional sex-role behaviour as pathological (career ambition = penis envy)
how is the sociobiological theory of relationship formation an example of alpha bias
- explains human sexual attraction and behaviour through principle of ‘survival efficiency’
- in male’s interest to try impregnate as many women as possible to increase chances of his genes being passed on; whereas for women, the best chance of preserving her genes is to ensure the healthy survival of the relatively few offspring she is able to produce
- central idea of this theory = sexual promiscuity in males is genetically determined whilst females who engage in same behaviour are regarded as going against their ‘nature’
evaluation of freuds theory of psychosexual development as an example of alpha bias
- horney; no face validity in assuming a woman is mentally affected by a wish for male attributes. coined term ‘womb envy’ where men envy women because of their ability to have children. men then compensate for that inability by achievement in other domains
- bruehl; characterisation of females simply reflected the reality of western patriarchal structure of the time
- williams; argues that freud’s theory is not alpha biased. he didn’t claim innate factors made men and women different, but rather the social context transforms biological factors into mental representations that create differences. freud explained differences in terms of mental/social representation. women envy penis as it represents male dominance
- walker; meta analysis of 108 studies found only 8 clear indications of gender differences.
universality
- any underlying characterstic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing.
- gender bias and culture bias threaten the universality of findings in psychology
explain bias and universality in research
- psychologists possess beliefs and values that have been influence by the social and historical context within which they live; therefore, bias is an inevitable aspect of the research process.
- undermines psychology’s claims to universality; that conclusions can be applied to everyone regardless of time and culture.
beta bias
tendency to minimise/ignore differences between males and females
- many studies don’t use female ptps because they feel there is ‘no need’
examples of beta bias
- milgram
- zimbardo
- kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning
- fight or flight response
how is zimbardo’s study an example of beta bias
- zimbardo used a biased sample of only male university students from america
- we cannot generalise the findings to other populations e.g female students.
- unable to conclude whether female students would have conformed in a similar way to the male students.
- so zimbardo’s study has beta bias because it minimises the differences between men and women.
- further research is required to determine whether men and women conform in the same way.
how is milgram’s study an example of beta bias
- only used male participants in his original shock experiment
- minimises potential differences between males and females; e.g assuming that there was no need to test females as the results would’ve been similar
- eventually tested women aswell
how is kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning an example of beta bias (and alpha bias)
- proposed a stage theory of moral development based entirely on the longitudinal study of a sample of american men
- his research was based on male-oriented principles; though he argued that such principles were universal and represented the moral reasoning of both males and females
- androcentric moral dilemmas used to assess people’s moral reasoning
- women classified using stage theory so women were found to be inferior
beta bias; minimises gender differences by claiming this as a universal theory even though its based on male participants
alpha bias; exaggerates difference between male and female moral reasoning
how is the fight of flight response an example of beta bias
- seen as universal reaction to stressors but this is based on generalisations of studies using males
- early research into fight or flight was also based exclusively on male animals (preferred as female hormones fluctuate)
- more recently, shelley taylor et al, suggested that female biology has evolved to inhibit the fight or flight response, shifting attention towards caring for offspring and forming defensive networks with other females
consequences of gender bias overall
- may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour
- may provide scientific ‘justification’ to deny women opportunities within the workplace or in wider society
- gender bias in research is not just a methodological problem but can also have damaging consequences which affect the lives and prospects of real women (e.g statistics that females are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression than men)
gender bias in research methods
- if theories and studies are gender biased, research may find differences between genders but only due to the methods used to test and observe them (not due to actual gender differences)
e.g rosenthal; found male experimenters are more pleasant and encouraging to female ptps and subsequently perform better on tasks. - also lack of women appointed at senior research level means that female concerns may not be reflected in the research questions asked; males more likely to have their work published.
reflexivity
- researchers able to recognise effect their own values and assumptions have on nature of the work
- instead of seeing bias as a problem, they embrace it
- e.g lack of women in executive positions in lambert’s study; included in reflection on how gender related experiences influence their reading of such events
- reflexivity is important development in psychology and may lead to greater awareness of the role of personal biases in shaping research in the future
validity of gender bias
maccoby and jacklin
- thorough review of the research into sex differences, concluded that in majority of areas, no significant differences were found and if they were, it would be very small
- gender bias views e.g freud’s and bowbly’s, have been disproved
reducing gender bias
- equal opportunity legislation and feminist psychology have performed the valuable functions of reducing institutionalised gender bias
- draw attention to sources of bias and under researched areas in psych e.g childcare and sexual abuse
positive consequences of alpha bias
- led to some theorists to assert the worth and valuation ‘feminine qualities’
- led to healthy criticism of cultural values that praise certain male qualities e.g aggression as desirable and universal
positive consequences of beta bias
- makes people see men and women as the same, led to equal treatment in legal terms and equal access to e.g education and employment
negative consequences of alpha bias
- focuses on differences between genders leads to implication of similarity within genders, thus this ignores the many ways women differ from each other
- cam sustain prejudices and stereotypes
negative consequences of beta bias
- draws attention away from the differences in power between men and women
- is considered as an egalitarian approach (all humans are equal) but it results in major misrepresentations of both genders
