Issues And Debates Flashcards
Gender bias
- researcher behave different depending on participant confound his results
- Mistakes about differences in men women misrepresent differences
Alpha- exaggerate
Beta - Ignore
Beta in observations need to operationalise behaviour using behavioural categories indicative behaviour decided what behaviour to measure
Bias in conclusion - men wm both good at reasoning - beta men better alpha
Bias in design - milgram zimbardo asch men ills trial, fight flight male animals wm different hormones
Androcentic - men ignore wm
Androcentrism - wm inferior frued psychosexual alpha
Evaluation
S-developing a greater understanding of gender bias psychologists have put forward a number of solutions e.g some psychologists may develop theories that show importance or value of women.Cornwell et al. (2013) noted that females are better at learning, as they are more attentive and organisedAs a result, this type of research helps to reduce or challenge gender stereotypes which is important in reducing gender bias.
W- avoiding beta bias, or minimising differences has consequences for women.
On the positive side, equal treatment under law has allowed women greater access to education
However, Hare-Mustin+Marecek Point out that arguing for equality between men women draws attention away from women’s special-needs+from differences in power between men and women. In a society where one group holds most of the power, seemingly neutral actions end benefiting the group with power.
For example, equal parental leave ignores the biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, and the special needs of women, therefore disadvantaging women.
W- Sexism in Research psychology historically been male-dominated means that a lot of early research was designed by men, often using male participants+applying the results to everyone. lead to biased findings that don’t accurately genralise to women For example, women might be judged against male standards, making them appear different or “lacking” rather than just having different ways of thinking behaving. This is why modern psychology tries to be more inclusive in its research methods and participant selection.
W-Gender-Biased Research
• gender bias can shape the results of studies. Research by Formanowicz et al. (2018) found studies on gender bias often taken less seriously than other psychological research.concerning because it means important issues—like how gender stereotypes affect people—might not get the attention they deserve.
• If psychology is going to be a truly fair and useful field, it needs to actively challenge biases and ensure that research represents both men and women fairly.
Gynocentism
- Women centered
- Oscovici women only minority influence
- Lacks validity relatability
- Beta bias
- Way more women at uni for psychology then men
- Should sue staterfied sampling
- But less common then androcentric
Consequences of gynocentrism - Invalid conclusions
- Beta
- Could also be alpha bowlby Ainsworth female more important court cases support mum
- But can address bias
Universality and cultural differences
- Nemoethic – all goes universal
- Theory claims to be for everyone
- But different cultures
- Iran thumbs up swearing
- Egypt hold hands
- Uk romantic
- Kiss Middle East
Cultural bias
Ethnocentrism
- Own culture focus see others as abnormal
Ethnocentric bias
- [aricpants from uk lack population validity
- Own version of stress
Consequences of ethnocentrism
- Lack population validity not generalise
- External validity reliability
- Psychopathology deviation of social norms different cultures miss diagnosed
- Other cultures as worse devalued
Ethnocentrism in context
- Ainsworth said most common attachment secure but all white mother so not other cultures
- USA individuals other collectivist insecure resistant
- Ethnocentric bias
- Categories based on western even have other participants
- Would be put insecure when for the normal
Cultural relvatism
- A persons behaviour must be understood from their own cultures perspective
- Relative to their culture
Consequences of cultural relvatism
- Prevetns ethonicetirc bias
- Increase validity external relatability
- Other cultures devalued stopis this discrimination
- Limitation according to this shouldn’t claim findings are universal but Brian function similar may exaggerate differences cultural alpha bias
- Still differences within cultures so can’t assume same within culture beta
Cross cultural research
- Asch – ethnocentric American
- See in different culture so it their all cultures make sure same
Evaluation
Classic Studies-many influential studies culturally biased.For example, Asch Milgram’s research on social influence white, middle-class American students. When these studies were replicated in collectivist cultures results significantly different. Asch-type experiments found that collectivist cultures much higher conformity rates compared to individualist cultures like the US (Smith & Bond, 1993).suggests findings from these classic studies may not apply universally, as different cultures have different social norms and values that influence behavior.Therefore, our understanding of social influence may be limited to individualist cultures, making it essential for modern psychology to consider cultural context when conducting research.
Counterpoint
However, some argue cultural bias in research is becoming less relevant due to globalizatio Takano and Osaka (1999) reviewed 15 studies comparing US and Japan found no clear evidence of individualism or collectivism, suggesting that this distinction is too simplistic.With increased media exposure and global interaction, cultures are becoming more interconnected, meaning traditional ideas of cultural differences may no longer be as strong as they once were. As a result, cultural bias may be less of an issue in modern psychological research, but researchers should still remain mindful of cultural influences.
Cultural Psychology
strength of modern psychology is rise of cultural psychology, which aims to reduce cultural bias.
Dov Cohen (2017) describes cultural psychology as study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experiences. This field integrates research from disciplines like anthropology and sociology and promotes cross-cultural studies to understand behavior more broadly.By working with local researchers and using culturally relevant methods, cultural psychology helps avoid ethnocentric assumptions and ensures findings are more representative showes that psychologists are becoming increasingly aware of cultural bias and are actively working to minimize it.
Ethnic Stereotyping
consequence contributed to harmful ethnic stereotypes and discrimination Stephen Jay Gould (1981) highlighted how intelligence tests in US were used to justify eugenic policies. During World War I, psychologists tested 1.75 million army recruits using IQ tests that contained ethnocentric questions (e.g., assuming knowledge of US presidents). As a result, African-Americans and immigrants from southeastern Europe scored lower were wrongly labeled as “mentally unfit” or “feeble-minded.”These biased test results were not recognized as a flaw in the tests themselves but were instead used to reinforce racist ideologies, denying ethnic minorities access to education and professional opportunities.This shows how cultural bias in psychology can have real-world consequences, reinforcing discrimination and justifying prejudice against certain ethnic and cultural groups.
Free will determinism
- Is have full control over behaviour
- Dtermisnm – never have it
- Humanistic assumes it
- 3 types of determinism = psycho dynamic psychic determinism behaviour caused by unconscious mind repressed childhood trauma
- Behaviouist = environmental detremism all caused by our environment conditioning
- Biological approach biological dtermism biological factors
Soft determinism - Social learning theory says we have some free will
- Don’t have control environment but on how we act within the environment
- According to behaviourist approach the environment determines our behaviour
- hard determinism - don’t
- Biological approach – don’t have free will
- Cognitive – mental process CBt some free will
Evaluation
Scientific approach and determine
- Science cause effect relationships
- Determinism says that all behaviour has causes
- Based on research
- Relatable perdictions
- Free will has cause ? But then we don’t have cause felt so need determinism
Fallibility of determinism and free will
- Fallibility – may be wrong
- If assume free will can’t make predictions
- Can’t test it isn’t failsafiable
- Dtermisnsm does do rearsch but if results not right may be something else so can false cause but not it has a cause both are not falsification
Subjective experience
- Free will matches what everyday life feel like
- Humanistic cpparch assumes we have it of what it likes to be human
- Deuterium says this doesn’t matter must have scientific base
- Say free will is a illusion may have been taste buds eat sweet
- May seem like we have it but don’t
Implications for therapy
- Free will means full control over behaviour
- If someone believes that they have free will they will have an internal locus control
- If someone believes in determinism they will have an external locus of conrtol
- Link locus contrl mental health
- Bennassi et al meta analysis external – high depression
- If treat people as have free will will be more resposbaile improve
- Internal locus control have better mental health
Legal implications of determinism
- If all determined then no control of being criminal
- So bad for justice system
Practical value
- One strength of free will (rather than determinism) is its practical value. common-sense view we exercise free choice in our everyday lives on a daily basis. However, even if this is not the case, thinking we do exercise free choice can improve our mental health. Rebecca Roberts et al. (2000) looked at adolescents who had a strong belief that their lives were ‘decided’ by events outside of their control found that these adolescents were at significantly greater risk of developing depression. seems that people who exhibit an external, rather than internal, locus of control are less likely to be optimistic.suggests that, even if we do not have free will, the fact that we believe we do may have a positive impact on mind and behaviour.
Research evidence
- limitation of free will is that brain scan evidence does not support it but does support determinism.
Benjamin Libet et al. (1983) instructed participants to choose a random moment to flick their wrist while he measured activity in their brain.Participants had to say when they felt the conscious will to move. Libet found that unconscious brain activity leading up to the conscious decision to move came around half a second before the participant consciously felt they had decided to move.may be interpreted as meaning that even our most basic experiences of free will are actually determined by our brain before we are aware of them (a thought that could keep you awake at night if you dwell on it!).Counterpoint However, Libet’s findings showing that the brain is involved in decision-making is not surprising and is, in fact, just as we would expect. Just because the action comes before the conscious awareness of the decision to act, doesn’t mean that there was no decision to act - just that the decision to act took time to reach consciousness.
Our conscious awareness of the decision is simply a ‘read-out’ of our unconscious decision-making.
This suggests this evidence is not appropriate as a challenge to free will.
Nature nurture
- If nature caused behaviour then she will have had gene caused her toahve talent
- If nature had caused her behaviour this would mean that she inherited her talent form parent s
- Heredity
- If nature – determined by environment
- Played music lessons
- Both contributions
Approaches on nature nurture - Behaviourist apparch – msotely determined by nature unconditioned response conditioning
- Social learning theory – some environment
- Cognitive – we develop schemata by interacting with our environment
- Biological – both genotype and environmental factors affect phenotype
- More impoartnce to her deity
- Psychodynamic says id instant gratification nature side nurture respressed childhood trauma
- Humanistic maslows hierarchy of need assumes everyone born with certain needs so more on nature side
- Wellbeing depends if we get them on nurture side
Multiple genes - Biological approach some genetic traits determined by just one gene
- One alle on one chromosome determines type of ear wax
- Alleles for 2 different gens determine eye colour
- Ripke et al relationship heredity and shchrisophina more than 100 genetic alleles linked to shritophiana so one allel not enough
- Inacsres risk alleles
- Different combinations of these
- Many alleles linked to
Genes influences environment - Robert polmin may not be 2 separate causes
- Have different phenotype and genotype building muscle jogging
- Heredity environment could be one their heredity effect environment then effect choices gene environment correlation difficult to study how much genes effect environment in first place
Interactionist approach to nuture nurture - Second reason why its difcccult to test relative contributions of nature and nuture on behaviour is gene environment correlation
- Effect environment relies of geno type sprinting
- Confusing how nature nuture interact
Interactionist approach gottesman and genetic potential
- The idea that we should study how heredity and environment interact to determine behaviour, rather than worrying about the relative contributions of each, is called the interactionist approach to the nature-nurture debate.
- Paula’s parents adopted Evelyn when the girls were very young. They then grew up in the same supportive family, went to the same school, and had the same teacher. So Paula and Evelyn share same environment
- Allen has more alleles smarts
- Benefit form environment depend on genetic potential
- The extent to which the girls benefit from their environment depends on their genetic potential. This means that their intelligence is determined by a gene environment interaction
- Gottesman’s research on intelligence is an example of an Interactionist apprehension to the nature-nurture debate.
Interactionist approach diathesis stress model
- Diathesis= when someone is predisposed to developing illness e.g more addictive alleles
- Environment effects it leaves to alcohol
- Gene environment interior gene environment stress disorder
Evaluation
Diathesis-Stress Model - A diathesis is a biological vulnerability. However not everyone with these ‘candidate’ genes will develop a disorder. The expression of the gene depends on experience in the form of a stressor which triggers the condition (a diathesis). This has been illustrated by Tienari et al (20040 who studied 145 Finnish adoptees whose mothers had schizophrenia and were then matched with a sample of 158 adoptees without this genetic risk. The two groups were independently assessed after 12 years and of the total 303, 14 developed schizophrenia and 11 of these were from the high risk group. Children without a genetic risk but raised in a family climate characterised by tension and a lack of empathy did not develop SZ. However, children with a genetic risk and who experienced the same family climate did go on to develop SZ. This illustrates how being raised in a
“healthy adoptive family” has a protective effect.
+ Nurture affects nature - Maguire et al study of london taxi drivers showed that the region of their brains with spatial memory was bigger than in controls, this is because the hippocampi had responded this way. Maguire et al. studied the brains of London taxi drivers and found a larger grey matter volume in the mid-posterior hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with spatial awareness (skills needed for taxi drivers when they are learning and completing ‘The Knowledge’ exam). There was a positive correlation between increasingly pronounced changes and an increasing length of time that individuals had been taxi drivers. This demonstrates the interactionist nature of empiricism and nativism, and gives further reason as to why the influences of the two cannot be separated.
Epigenetics - Refers to the material in each cell that acts like a switch to turn genes on or off e.g. DNA methylation and histone tail modification. Life experiences control these switches and these switches are passed on when the DNA is replicated semi-conservatively. This is why MZ twins may differ in weight even though they were given the same diets, due to differences in upbringing/experiences causing differences in the individual expression of genes. For example, Caspi et al (2002) assessed antisocial behaviour in 1000 participants between birth and the age of 26. The researchers found that 12% of men with less MAOA gene expression had experienced maltreatment when they were babies but were responsible for 44% of crimes. This brings a third element into the nature-nurture debate: the experiences of previous generations!
Constructivism - Plomin suggested that an individual’s ‘nature’ would determine their
‘nurture’ through niche-picking or niche-building. For example, a naturally aggressive child would be more likely to play with and befriend other aggressive children. This in turn would increase the aggressiveness of the child. Therefore, the idea of constructivism further emphasises the multi-layered relationship between nature and
nurture.
Holistic
Levels of explanation
- Reductionism = the view that we can understand things by breaking them down into simpler parts.
- Holism - view that, to understand something, we must look at it as a whole.
- How would the cognitive approach explain Chloe’s depression? She has irrational negative thoughts
- How would the biological approach explain Chloe’s depression? She has ow level serotonin
- Social cultural level
- Psychological
- Biological
- As we go down the levels of explanation, we’re explaining Chloe’s behaviour in terms of simpler parts. This means reductions
- Up way is holistic
Types of reductionism
- The most reductionist level of explanation is a biological explanation, because… involves explaining behaviour in terms of the simplest parts: tiny genes in the body.
- Biological reductionism features in the biological approach to psychology.
- In the approaches section, which other approach did we say was reductionist behaviorst The behaviourist approach explains all behaviour in terms of stimulus and response environmental reductionism
- lowest, most reductionist level of explanation in psychology is biological reductionism
- Evrioemtail is in psychological examination stimulus response
Approaches and reductionism
- Humanistic psychology is a very holistic apparch
- Cognitive - using theoretical models to break down behaviour into sequences of mental processes.
- cognitive approach is reductionist to an extent, because… breaks behaviour down into simpler parts.
- cognitive psychologist Aaron Beck explained depression using a model of a negative triad, which is a psychological level of explanation.
- Since reductionism involves explaining complex things in terms of simpler parts, we can say that cognitive approach is less reductionist than the behaviourist approach.
- When we compare social learning theory to the behaviourist approach, we can say that social learning theory is less reductionist than the behaviourist approach.
- Al psychodynamic approach does use reductionism to an extent, because… breaks down personality into three simpler parts: the id, ego and super-eg is relatively holistic
Evaluation
Evaluation
Implications for the scientific apparch
- All stimulus-response relations and biological processes are… cause and effect relationships. Test the, in experiments
- Effective positive enforcement skinner
- Reductionist explanations involve cause and effect relationships that can be empirically tested. This means that they are falifable they can be studied using the scientific method
- Is a strength
- Humanists argue that we must focus on all aspects of behaviour we shouldn’t break down behaviour into simpler parts.
- Means can’t have cause felt relationship can’t manipulate a independent variable measure a dependent one so is not scientific
- Cognitive parch involves measuring observable behaviour Cognitive psychologists use these inferences to test theoretical models of mental processes, which are falsifiable
- Very holistic explanations can’t be studied scientifically as they insist that we shouldn’t breach down behaviour into cause effect relationships
Principle of parsimony
- Simplistic explanation choose
- Reductionism supports this principle but holistic violates this principle so holistic weakness
Applications to treatment
- Strength application to treatment soomro et al SSI reductionist support as teats symptoms
- can be used to treat symptoms of mental disorders.
Interaction between levels
- depression different causes environment genes both caused interact
- Depression gene schema environment
- Causes interact pre disposed
- Interaction different levels
- Don’t ignore any causes – strength
- Here different then a nature nurture interaction here is between causes
- So can be used nature nurture interaction as this one is more holistic
Problems with inetrcationism
- Strength – don’t ignore any of the casues
- More holistic levels of explanation harder to test scientifically as they don’t break things down into cause effect relationships
- So is less scientific than reductionist explanations
- Principle of parsimony If we have different explanations which completely explain the same thing, we should always choose the simplest one.
- Breaks the principle as It requires us to use more than one level of explanation
Ideographic nomwtehtic
- Nomo - try to establish general laws for everyone
- Idogrpahic focus individual differences
- Classify research methods
Nomoethic research methods - Lab – nomotehtic
- All types are
- Correlation to as general conclusions
- Quantaitive = nomoethic good
Ideographic reasecrh methods - Case studies
- Qualitative
Ideographic and nomotetic approaches - Behaviourist SLT Biological cognitie use nomothetic methods lab some case studies
- Humanistic – ideographic only use
- Psychodynamic = nomo ethic frued but used case studies tooo
Implications for scientific approach - Use noethetic methods to give general laws to make predictions use spellings law to say that sensory register 1-2 sec but if anyone can for longer he is wrong so are ore scientific
- But ideographic less scientific as don’t aim to put genral laws so can’t test no falsification
Allport and prediction - It’s psycologist to argue should favour idiographic methods
- Says do allow to make prediction says allow better predictions says nomoethic is how people tend to behave on avaerge milgarm found 62.5 obeyed e.g person key be in army more likely than average
- But ideographic gives more detail info to make predictions about individuals
Feasibility - Don’t need as many artcipanst less time less money
- May nor have opportunity to study many people so nomoethic not feasible
- But ideographic only good for small number people and other for large
Combining idio and nomo - Ideographic good for less resources
- Nomoethic – large people
- So both needed nomoethic help to find new areas ideographic more detail so need both
- Should combine
Q methodology - William Stephenson detail loads participant
- How u feel about yourself give options and rank
- Detail and participants so have both
- But details still not same as case studies
- Participants not as many of nomoethic co can use both
Evaluation
Ideographic :
Qualitative data produces an in-depth and more complete account of an individual = This
may support existing theories or challenge general laws and lead to development of improved psychological theories, through the process of deduction. For example, the case studies conducted on HM and Clive Wearing demonstrated that different types of long-term memory are located in different areas of the brain. This led to the further research of localisation and memory.
- However it offers a narrow and restrictived perspective = Theories developed from case
studies and (unstructured) interviews may struggle to be generalised beyond the individual, thus reducing the ecological validity of these findings. For example, the humanism widely uses the idiographic approach but is still viewed by many as a set of rather loose, abstract concepts, due to a lack of empirical evidence as well as being specific to the individual. Generalisations cannot be made without further examples to act as a baseline comparison. This means that the idiographic approach does not improve the scientific credibility of psychology.
- The research methods used, such as case studies and unstructured interviews, lack
scientific rigour = These methods rely heavily on individual and subjective interpretation.
Therefore, conclusions are open to researcher bias, which reduces the reliability of the findings and the extent to which they can be generalised to other individuals. This translates to a lack of validity when developing theories and assumptions based upon the idiographic approach.
Nomothetic :
Highly scientific methods = The nomothetic approach makes use of research methods
which objectively produce reliable data through adopting standardised conditions and a high level of control of extraneous and confounding variables. Constituent parts of the target behaviour can be reliably measured through the use of operationalised behavioural categories, thus increasing the internal validity of the findings. Since the findings will not be influenced by researcher bias, the findings have greater scientific creditability due to their method of collection.
+ Enables unifying laws and general principles to be reliably established = The focus on
objectively collecting reliable data has led to certain ‘norms’ or standards of behaviour to be established, such as the average IQ score being 100. Such norms act as a good baseline comparison for intellectual abilities and mental disorders.
- May undervalue the impact of individual experiences = Some have criticised the
nomothetic approach as ‘losing the whole person’ in psychology due to such an emphasis on establishing universal norms and unifying laws of behaviour. For example, research into the frequency of depression or bipolar disorder tells us little about the experiences of sufferers and so little about what treatments may be most beneficial. Therefore, the nomothetic approach, from this standpoint, has done little to improve people’s lives in comparison to the idiographic approach.
+ Nomothetic and idiographic approaches may be complementary to each other, rather
than contradictory. = For example, Milton and Davis (1996) suggest that research should
start with a nomothetic approach and once general laws have been produced the focus should switch to an idiographic approach to develop our understanding and theories. Therefore, either approach can be used depending on the aims and nature of the research.
Ethical Implications and Social Sensitivity
Ethical Implications and Social Sensitivity
• Ethical implications:
• Psychological research can have consequences beyond the individual participants.
• Some research is socially sensitive, meaning findings may have wider implications for groups in society.
• Example: Research on minority intelligence may reinforce stereotypes and discrimination.
• Implications for the research process:
• Sieber & Stanley (1988) identified four aspects of socially sensitive research:
1. Research question: Framing of research can reinforce biases.
2. Methodology: Treatment of participants and their rights.
3. Institutional context: How research is used and funded.
4. Interpretation and application of findings: Misuse of findings by policymakers or media.
Evaluation
Benefits of Social Sensitivity
• Socially sensitive research can benefit groups:
• Homosexuality and DSM-1 (1952): Initially classified as a mental disorder, later removed (1973) due to research and activism.
• Gender dysphoria: Psychological research has helped reduce stigma and improve support for transgender individuals.
• Counterpoint:
• Some findings can reinforce discrimination and stereotypes.
• Example: Race and intelligence studies have been misused to justify racist policies.
Real-World Applications
• Research influences policymaking:
• Mental health policies, education, and discrimination laws shaped by psychological studies.
• Example: Research on EWT (Eyewitness Testimony) has improved legal procedures.
• Ethical concern:
• Research can be misused by governments or media, e.g., intelligence studies used to justify eugenics.
Poor Research Design
• Historically flawed studies have caused harm:
• Cyril Burt’s twin studies on intelligence were found to be falsified but influenced UK education policy for years.
Evaluation Extra – To Do or Not to Do?
• Avoiding socially sensitive research can limit progress.
• Stanley (1988) argues researchers should engage in sensitive topics but minimize harm and consider consequences.
