Issues and Debates Flashcards
Gender Bias
One gender is treated less favourably than the other. Can result in scientifically misleading research or theories, the upholding of stereotypical assumptions or the validation of sex discrimination.
Types of Gender Bias- Rachel Hare-Mustin and Jeanne Marecek 1988
Alpha Bias- exaggerating the differences between men and women. Theories assume their are real and enduring differences between men and women.
Beta Bias- exaggerating the similarity between men and women. Minimise gender differences and assume all people are the same so it’s reasonable to apply all theories/ research to both men and women. Usually occurs when male focused research is applied to women.
Androcentrism
Psycholoy male-dominated so theories tend to represent a male world-view. Taking male behaviour as normal and regarding female behaviour as deviant instead of different is androcentric.
Beta Bias- Shelley Taylor et al 2000- gender stress response
Males and females respond differently to stressors- women more likely to ‘tend and befriend’. Women show behavioural and neurological signs of becoming more empathetic in response to stress, men usually socially withdraw and become aggressive. This is an example as beta bias as initial stress research was conducted on male animals, assuming females to react the same.
Alpha Bias- Freud and Psychosexual Development
Freud believed that ‘biology is destiny’ and the women’s roles were predetermined. His theory of ‘penis envy’ defines women as psychologically different as they are not men. His theories had consequences in how they reinforced stereotypes, like women’s moral inferiority and treating stereotype defiance as pathological. ANDROCENTRIC!
Alpha Bias- biomedical theories of abnormality
In women, mental illness is more likely to be explained by neurochemical/ hormonal processes instead of social or environmental explanations.
Beta Bias- Kohlberg and Moral Development
Based his stages of moral development on male moral reasoning with an all male sample. Inappropriate generalised his findings to women and claimed women reached lower levels of moral development.
Institutional Sexism
- Men predominate at senior researcher level.
- Research agenda follows male concerns, female concerns may be marginalised or ignored.
Feminist Psychology Improve Inequality
Take a feminist perspective- there are real biologically based sex differences but socially determined stereotypes make a far greater contribution to differences. Must revise our ‘facts’ about gender- redress the imbalances in theory and research by using evidence that women ARE inferior to provide support by developing strategies. (Eagley)
Eagley 1978- feminist psycholog
Women may be less effective leaders than men but this knowledge should be used to develop training programs for women.
Bias in Research Methods Gender Differences
Genders may be tested differently. Gender of the researcher can also impact the results of a study. Lab experiments disadvantage women as tell very little about experience of women in real life situation.
Rosenthal 1966- gender bias research methods
Male experimenters more pleasant and friendly to female ppts than male ones resulting in less performance from men on tasks.
Eagley and Johnson 1990- real settings gender
Studies in real settings for men and women more equal.
Reverse Alpha bias to show value of women
Develop theories which show the difference between men and women but emphasise the value of women. Challenges the stereotypes that the male must be better.
Cornwell et al 2013- reverse alpha bias
Women better at learning because they are more attentive, flexible and organised.
Negative consequences of beta bias
Equal treatment under the law has allowed women greater access to educational and occupational outcomes but has drawn attention from women’s needs.
Hare-Mustin and Maracek- beta bias negative
Equality draws attention from women’s needs- neutral actions benefit the group with the most power e.g. equal parental leave ignores biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, ignoring the special needs of women.
Gender assumptions need to be examined in research
Unchallenged in many theories e.g. Darwin portrayed women as picky, while men compete.
Vernimmen 2015- female competition
DNA evidence supports idea that it is a good adaptive strategy for females to mate with more than one man. This puts females in competition with other females.
Psychology Culture Stats
- 64% of psychological researchers from US
- 90% of studies have US participants
- Samples predominantly white middle class
Hare-Mustin and Marecek- culture bias types
- Emics approach/ alpha- theories that assume there are real and enduring differences between cultural groups.
- Etics approach/ beta- ignore or minimise cultural differences.
Emic constructs
Emic constructs are specific to particular cultures so vary from place to place. Liable to be ignored of misinterpreted as researchers from one culture may not be sensitive to local emics. Own cultural filters may prevent them from detectiting or appreciating their significance.
Takano and Osaka 1999- emics
Reviewed 15 studies that compared the US with Japan- 14/15 didn’t support differences in conformity of individualist/ collectivist cultures.
Etic constructs
Etic constructs assumed to be universal- can lead to imposed etics where a construct from one culture is applied to another inappropriately.
Wober 1974- IQ test etic
Psychologists use IQ tests developed by Western psychologists to study intelligence in other cultures. Assume it applies to different cultures equally but may not.
Ethnocentrism
Seeing things from the point of view of ourselves and our social group, believing that we are ‘normal’ or superior in some way. Example of alpha bias. Can also lead to beta bias is psychologists believe their world view is the only view.
Solution to Culture Bias
- Cross cultural approach- study many different cultures to identify variation
- Transcultural approach- study many different cultures to identify similarities
Indigenous Psychologies
Encourage indigenous psychologies- development of groups of theories in different cultures. Afrocentrism- movement whos central proposition is that all black people have roots in Africa so psychological theories need to be African-centred and express African values. European values devalue non-European people and are irrelevant to their life.
The Emic-Etic Approach
Use indigenous researchers in each cultural setting.
Buss- mate preferences- emic-etic approach
Data collected from people in 37 different cultures- 3 local researchers in each. 1 translated questionnaire, 1 translated answers, 1 resolved discrepancies.
Smith and Bond 1998- culturally bias sampling methods
Surveyed research in European textbook found 66% of studies were American, 32% European and 2% rest of world.
Sears 1986- culturally bias sampling methods
82% of studies used undergraduates, 51% psychology students.
Henrich et al 2010- culturally bias sampling methods
67% American students- calculated that a randomly selected American student was 4000 times more likely to be a ppt in a psych study than a non-Westerner.
Current situation gives hope to reducing ethnocentrism
Researchers travel much more so have increased understanding of how other cultures differ. International conferences held where researchers regularly meet from different cultures. Greater exchange of ideas should reduce ethnocentrism.
Gould 1981- US army IQ test impact
One of the most infamous examples of damage done was US army IQ tests in WW1. SHowed that EUropean immigrants fell below white Americans and African-Americans were at the bottom of the scale with the lowest IQ. Had profound impact on the attitudes held by Americans.
Determinism
View that an individual’s behaviour is controlled by internal or external forces.
Free Will
Individuals are free to control their behaviour entirely.
Environmental Determinism
Behaviour is caused by some sort of outside influence.
Biological Determinism
Our biological systems govern out behaviour, e.g. nerves, genes, neurotransmitters.
Psychic Determinism
Behaviour influenced by unconscious motivations and childhood experiences.
Soft Determinism
Middle ground- people have a choice which is constrained by external forces.
Hard Determinism
Free will is an illusion and every event and action has a cause.
Genetic Determinism Weakness
Unlikely that 100% genetic determinism will ever be found as studies comparing identical twins find about 80% concordance for intelligence or about 40% for depression.
Environmental Determinism Weakness
Concordance rates do not show an entirely environmentally determined behaviour.
Dennett 2003- scientific determinism
Argues that in the physical sciences there is no such thing as total determinism. Chaos theory suggests that small changes in initial conditions can result in major changes. Causal relationships are probabilistic rather than deterministic.
Determinism Oversimplification
Oversimplify human behaviour. May be appropriate for non-human animals e.g. peacocks biological mating patterns, but human behaviour is less rigid and influenced by many factors e.g. cognitive factors.
Determinism in Justice
Many attempts for US murderers to claim behaviour was determined by inherited factors. Stephen Mobley killed a pizza shop manager in 1981 and claimed he was born to kill as he had family history of violence. Argument rejected and sentenced to death.
Determinism in treatment
Taking a biologically deterministic viewpoint may block the use of other treatments.
Illusion of free will
Choice between courses of action may look like free will but isn’t. Choices determined by previous reinforcement experiences.
Determinism Culturally Relative
Free will may be a culturally relative concept appropriate for individualist societies only. Collectivist cultures place greater value on the group needs.
Chun Siong Soon et al 2008- free will research blow
Found activity in prefrontal cortex up to 10 seconds before a person was aware of their decision to act- opposes free will.
Trevena and Miller 2009- readiness to act
Brain activity was a readiness to act instead of an intention to move- neuroscience partially still supports free will.
Nature
View that all our behaviour is predetermined by our biology, our genes. Supporters called ‘nativists’.
Evolutionary Explanations
Main assumption is that any particular behaviour has evolved because of its survival value. Evolutionary psychologists believe that behaviour is a product of natural seletion.
Genetic Explanations
Family, twin and adoption studies show that the closer 2 individuals are genetically, the more likely that both of them will develop the same behaviours.
Transgenerational Effect
Some behaviours that may seem as though they are the result of nature may actually be the result of nurture.
Nurture
All behaviour is learnt and influenced by external factors such as the environment. Supports called ‘empiricists’.
John Locke 17th century
Described the newborn infant as a tabula rasa, a blank slate in which experience is written.
Epigenetics
The material in each cell of your body that acts like a set of ‘switches’ to turn genes on or off. Life experience, such as nutrition or stress, control these switches and they are passed onto subsequent generations. Nurture affects.
Evaluation of the nature-nurture debate
- Nature and nurture cannot be separated
- Diathesis-stress model
- Nature affects nurture
- Epigenetics
- Nurture affects nature
Robert Plomin et al (1977)- genetic factors create a child’s microenvironemtn.
- More aggressive child may provoke aggressive responses in others- becomes part of child’s environment. This is called reactive-environment gene interaction.
- Passive influence- parents’ genes determine aspects of their behaviour- a child’s mental disorder may be due to indirect passive effects.
Scarr and McCartney (1983)- active influence (NN debate)
- Called niche picking- children seek out experiences that suit their genes. As they grow the influences of their genes increases due to niche picking.
Blakemore and Cooper (1970)- NN kittens
Used kittens to show how experiences affect innate systems. Given large collars from birth so that it restricted view. Raised in a vertical drum with either horizontal or vertical lines, but when introduced to the real world at 5 months, they no longer had the ability to see lines of the opposite direction.
Holism
Behaviour cannot be understood in terms of the components that make them up. Uses several levels of explanation including biological, environmental and social factors.
Reductionism
Reduces a complex phenomenon to its simplest explanation possible e.g. dopamine hypothesis for schizophrenia NOT just biological explanations.
Physiological reductionism
Behaviour reduced to simple biological factors.
Environmental reductionism
Reduced to simply environmental factors.
Experimental reductionism
Reducing behaviour to a form that can be studied.
Levels of reductionism
- High level explanations- social and cultural
- Mid level explanations- cognitive and behaviourist
- Low level explanations- biological
Evaluation of Reductionism
- Low level explanations dangerous- meaning of behaviour may be overlooked.
+ Drug therapies - Environmental studies based on animals
+ Experimental reductionism productive and necessary
Nomothetic Approach
How we are similar to each other to create laws or generalisations about behaviour. Tend to use quantitative methods and larger samples e.g. Eysenck
Idiographic Approach
Looks at how we are different to each other. Tend to use qualitative methods and smaller samples e.g. Freud.
Allport- idiographic
Opposed personality tests. Analysed 301 letters from a middled aged woman written over 12 years. Used a qualitative approach.
Eysenck (1947)- psychometric tests
Measured large groups of people with a personality test to inform us what is normal and abnormal.
Evaluation of Idiographic and Nomothetic Approaches
- Idiographic focuses more on the individual- Allport believed that psychology didn’t focus enough on the person.
- Idiographic isn’t always scientific but can be. Nomothetic more scientific.
- Idiographic cannot produce general laws.
- Idiographic more time consuming.
Holt (1967)- idiographic/ nomothetic solution
Idiographic/ nomothetic distinction is a false separation because generalisations are always made. Idiographic ends up being nomothetic.
Millon and Davis (1996)- idiographic/ nomothetic solution
Should start nomothetic to create laws then focus more on an idiographic understanding.
Socially Sensitive Research
Any research which might have direct social consequences for the participants in the research or the group that they represent.
Ethical Implications
Consequences for groups of people affected by the research.
Sieber & Stanley (1988)- SSR effects
Groups affected:
1. Members of the social group being studied
2. Friends and relatives
3. The research team
4. The institution
Ethical concerns:
1. Research question or hypothesis
2. The treatment of individual participants
3. The institutional context
4. The way in which the findings of research are interpreted and applied
Cost/benefit Analysis
Weigh up whether that research should have been conducted or not (usually yes)
Sieber and Stanley Advice
- Not avoid researching socially sensitive issues.
- Need to take more care over consent/ debriefing.
- Should be aware of how findings may be interpreted.
- Make explicit the assumptions
- Make explicit the limitations of the research
- Be careful of how they communicate with the media and policymakers.
- Should be aware of the balance between their obligations to participants and society
- Should be aware of their own values/ biases and those of the participants
Socially Sensitive Research Evaluation
- Wider impact of research- always some consequences but SSR increases potential for indirect impact.
- Raises inadequacy of current ethical guidelines- don’t take into account all possible ways research may harm participants/ society.
- May disadvantage marginalised groups.
- Should never be avoided- psychologists have a duty.
