Issues and debates Flashcards
Gender bias
differential treatment of men and women
Alpha Bias
differences between men and women are exaggerated
Beta bias
differences between men and women are ignored, minimised or underestimated
Androcentrism
Normal behaviour judged against male standard - women often look abnormal
Evaluation of gender bias
- women remain under-represented in university settings
+ has lead to equal treatment of males and females = voting rights
- gender bias is often published less and is funded less
Cultural bias
all behaviours are interpreted through the ‘lens’ of ones own culture, ignores the effects that cultural differences may have on said behaviour
Ethnocentrism
form of cultural bias = belief in superiority of ones own cultural group
Cultural relativism
idea that norms and values can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts
Imposed etic
when we impose western beliefs on another culture
Etic approach
research conducted in one country and findings generalised to other countries - believes behaviour is universal
Emic approach
research conducted in one country and ONLY used to describe behaviours of that culture - believes human behaviours are specific and unique to a given culture
Evaluation of culture bias
- Many classic studies are culture bias such as Asch and Milgrams = only used white US males
Replications in other countries are seen as abnormal or inferior for getting different results - can lead to prejudice against groups of people
Free will
Can make own choices and behaviours and thoughts are not determines by internal or external forces
Determinism
Individuals behaviour is shaped by internal or external forces
Hard = fatalism, everything we do is caused by something
Soft = all behaviours and events have causes but can be influenced by our conscious choices
Three types of determinism
Biological = determined by biological makeup E.g genes
Environmental = determined by reinforcement and punishment we have received in our lives (experience)
Psychic = conflicts in the psychosexual stages and repressed traumas dictate our adult behaviour
Argument for determinism and against free will
scientific evidence to support determinism through brain scans
helps to determine psychology as a science
Argument against determinism and for free will
determinism is worse for your mental health
free will is compatible with the law, determinism is not (legal system wouldn’t work otherwise)
everyday experience gives the impression that we are constantly exercising free will through the choices we make - this gives the concept of face validity
consistent with the ideas of the humanistic approach
Nature vs Nurture
Epigenetics - leave mark without actually changing genes
Diathesis stress model - environmental stressor coupled with genetic vulnerability
The interactionist approach - nature and nurture work together
Holism
cannot break something down into its parts and expect to understand it as a whole
Reductionism
all complex systems can be understood in terms of their components, break something down to treat the whole
Biological reductionism
biological factors can be broken down into single physical points
Environmental reductionism
a psychological concept that assumes human behavior is a result of a stimulus-response relationship with the outside environment
Idiographic vs Nomothetic
nomothetic approaches focus on general laws, while idiographic approaches focus on understanding specific individuals.
Socially sensitive research
likely to be seen as controversial or socially sensitive compared to others
- The research question
- Dealing with participants
- The way the findings are used
