Issues and debates Flashcards
What is universitality?
The conclusions from research can be applied to everyone, anywhere regardless of time, culture or gender.
What is gender bias?
Gender bias is when psychological research may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience of men and women, usually women.
What is alpha bias + example?
Alpha bias is when there is a misrepresentation of behaviour because researchers overestimate the differences between genders.
An example is the evolutionary explanation of relationships where it argues that a male’s best interest is to impregnate as many women as possible but for women, it argues they should focus on the healthy survival of their few children, so women who engage in the same behaviour as men will be seen as abnormal.
What is beta bias + example?
Beta bias is when there is a misrepresentation of behaviour because researchers underestimate gender differences. This often happens when female participants are not included in the study, but assume that findings apply to both genders. This leads to androcentrism.
An example is the fight or flight response. First it was assumed that it would be a universal response, but Taylor et Al found women actually have the tendency to tend and befriend instead.
What is androcentrism?
This is a male based view of the world. Male behaviour are judged to be the norm. Female behaviour are judged to be abnormal.
Strengths of gender bias?
1) male researcher within psychology are still more likely to have their reasearch published than female researchers, and research with gender differences is more likely to be published than research that has no differences. Psychology may be guilty of supporting institutional sexism.
2) gender biased research may provide scientific justification for denying women opportunities within society. In the 1930s “scientific” research revealed that intellectual activity eg attending university would shrivel a women’s ovaries and reduce their chances of conceiving.
Weaknesses of gender bias?
1) many modern researchers have begun to recognise the effect that their own values and assumptions have on their work. Dambrin and lambert included a reflection of how their own gender related experiences affecting their reading of events when investigating the lack of women in accountancy firms.
2) gender bias can be avoided. Researchers should not extrapolate findings form research with males to females and vice versa. Studies should include both male and female participants and this applies to researchers too. Researchers should also be sensitive to male ans female standards when designing research.
What is cultural bias?
Cultural bias is the tendency to judge people in terms of one’s own cultural assumptions. If the norm for a particular behaviour is judged only from the standpoint of one culture, then any cultural differences in behaviour will be seen as abnormal or inferior.
What are some examples of cultural bias?
1) Milgram’s obedience study- in America, 65% of participants shocked all the way, in Germany, 85% of participants shocked all the way and in Australia it was 28% rate of obedience.
2) Asch’s Study for conformity. Dependant on collectivist and individualistic cultures.
How can you reduce cultural bias?
1) researchers should not attempt to extrapolate findings or theories to other cultures not represented in research
2) they should use researchers native to the culture being investigated
3) they should carry out cross-cultural research and be sensitive to cultural norms when designing research.
What is ethnocentrism + example?
Ethnocentrism is emphasising the importance of the behaviour of one’s own culture. In psychological research this is communicated through a view that any behaviours that do not conform to the (usually western) model are somehow deficient or underdeveloped.
Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation assumed that a securely attached child would show moderate distress when their caregiver left them and that this didn’t happen if the child was insecurely attached. This means that German mothers were seen as cold and rejecting because their babies did not show mild distress, when it could be interpreted as German mothers encouraging independence.
What is cultural relativism?
This is the idea that a behaviour can only be properly understood in the context of the norms and values of the culture in which it occurs.
Strengths of cultural bias?
1) Cochrane and Sashidharan found that African- Caribbean immigrants are 7x more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness. This has many to question the validity of the DSM and ICD for diagnosing individuals who are born outside the culture that they were developed in.
2) There are mental illnesses in some cultures that do not exist in others. For example, the term brain fag is used in west Africa to describe a person who is experiencing difficulty concentrating and thinking. In China a man who believes his penis is retracting into his body is diagnosed with koro.
Weaknesses of cultural bias?
1) there is evidence that some human behaviours are universal. For example, the basic facial expressions for emotions such as happiness or disgust are the same in all cultures, and even in the animal kingdom. Also interactional synchrony between an infant and their caregiver has been observed in many cultures.
2) Cross cultural research is a way to prevent cultural bias in psychology. This shows that knowledge and concepts that we take for granted are not shared by other people around the world. This not only counters the charge of scientific racism that has been made against some psychological theories in the past, it means that conclusions the psychologists draw are likely to have more validity.
What is free will?
The notion of free will suggests that as human beings we are essentially self -determining and able to choose our thoughts and actions. This links to the humanistic approach.
