Issues and Debates Flashcards
Describe alpha bias in relation to gender bias
Overestimating the difference between the sexes - often devaluing women.
E.g. the sociobiological theory of relationship formation - relations with multiple people is abnormal in women
Describe beta bias in relation to gender bias
Underestimating the difference between the sexes - not including women.
E.g. fight/flight response - ignores tend and befriend
What is androcentrism in relation to gender bias?
When the male view is emphasised above all other views. Androcentric bias refers to when the male view is seen as the norm - deviation seen as inferior/abnormal. Is a result of beta bias
State three advantages of research supporting the presence of gender bias
- Male researchers more likely to have their work published, and research showing a gender difference is more likely published than that not showing a difference - institutional sexism
- Many reported gender differences are based on the essentialist principle (difference is fixed and determined by nature) - in societies with more equality between men and women there’s much less of a psychological difference
- Gender-biased research creates negative stereotypes for women - can be used to justify discrimination. E.g. 1930s research found intellectual activity would shrivel the ovaries and reduce conceiving capability
State two disadvantages of research into gender bias (aims to reduce gender bias)
- Many researchers are recognising the influence of personal views on research. Dambrin and Lambert - personal views affected perception when investigating lack of women in accountancy firms
- Worell proposed criteria to avoid bias: 1) study women in meaningful life contexts 2) women genuinely participate 3) diversity in women instead of comparison to men 4) qualitative data
Define cultural bias. How is this illustrated in psychology?
The judgement of a certain behaviour as standard from the standpoint of a certain culture, so all contrary behaviour is abnormal.
As of 1992, 64% of psychologists were American. Generally ignore culture as an important influencer
Define ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures by the standards/values of one’s own culture e.g. Strange Situation
Define cultural relativism
Findings only make sense from the perspective of the culture within the research was conducted - avoids cultural bias
What is the etic approach? What is an imposed etic?
Looks at behaviour from OUTSIDE of a culture while attempting to identify universal behaviour to make conclusions about universal human behaviour
Imposed etic = research imposes ideology on another culture
What is the emic approach?
Looks at behaviour from WITHIN a culture to understand culture-specific behaviour
State three advantages supporting culture as a major influencer
- Some mental illnesses only exist in some cultures e.g. Brain Fag in West Africa describes someone who has difficulty concentrating/thinking, Koro in China is when a man believes his penis is retracting into his body
- African-Caribbean immigrants 7x more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness
- The general distinctions of individualistic and collectivist countries isn’t helpful or accurate - Takano and Osaka found 14/15 studies comparing US and Japan showed no evidence of the typical distinction
State two disadvantages not supporting culture as a major influencer
- Some behaviours are universal - e.g. basic human emotions for happiness and disgust, and interactional synchrony across different cultures
- Cross-cultural research can help prevent cultural bias - acknowledges differences in cultures. Counters criticisms of scientific racism, and produces more valid data
Define free will
The idea that humans are self-determining in thoughts and actions. Acknowledges the constraints of biological and societal forces but argues these can be overcome - HUMANIST APPROACH
Define hard determinism
The belief that all behaviour has a cause, and everything is dictated by external factors that we can’t control
Define biological determinism
Emphasises the influence of genetics and innate behaviour, while recognising the influence of the environment e.g. fight/flight, mental disorders - BIOLOGICAL APPROACH
Define environmental determinism
Emphasises the influence of reinforcement and environmental events on behaviour, including the agents of socialisation (parents, teachers, institutions) - BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH
Define psychic determinism
Emphasises the influence of biological drives and instincts - views behaviour as determined by unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood. Everything has a cause - PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH
Define soft determinism
The belief that all behaviour has a cause, but people have conscious control over behaviour and can make rational choices - COGNITIVE APPROACH
Evaluate the concept of free will
Advantages:
- Face validity - everyday experiences give the impression of self-determinism, so it seems to be a correct explanation
- Those with a high internal locus of control (believe they’re in control) are more mentally healthy - Roberts et al (2000) found teenagers with strong beliefs in determinism were at a higher risk of depression
Disadvantages:
- Chun Siong Soon et al (2008) found brain imaging showed participants made a decision on pushing a button with their left or right hand 10 seconds before consciously reporting this decision
- Mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, cast doubt on concept of free will - no one would choose to have it
Evaluate the concept of determinism
Advantages:
- Idea of determinism places psychology as consistent with the aims of a science - describes behaviour as orderly, rather than random
- Predicting behaviour helps develop treatments and behavioural therapies
Disadvantages:
1. Unfalsifiable - not all causes of behaviour have the potential to be proved wrong
Describe the nature side of the nature vs nurture debate
Behaviour is determined by innate influences, including any characteristic that is determined for by genes. Based on the principle that any characteristic that aids survival and reproduction is selected for (outcompete others) so is likely to be passed on. e.g. attachment is adaptive.
The higher the concordance rates, the more influential nature is
Describe the nurture side of the nature vs nurture debate
Behaviour is determined by external influenes - social and physical influencers, as well as pre-natal influences.
Behaviourists would view behaviour as solely due to experiences e.g. cupboard love theory, double bind theory
Evaluate the nature vs nurture debate
Disadvantages:
- Interactionist Approach suggests both genetics and the environment are important - shouldn’t be separated. General heritability figure in IQ tests is 0.5, so both genetics and environment important
- Diathesis Stress Model - nature triggered by nurture. Those with relatives with schizophrenia most likely to be concordant if they also had a dysfunctional adopted family (Finnish adoptees)
- Nurture affects nature - Maguire et al (2000) london taxi drivers had a larger hippocampus
- Epigenetics (third element to debate) - changes to genetic activity without changing genome due to lifestyle choices. Male mice given electric shocks to perfume, showed in offspring
Define reductionism
Belief that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller parts. The simplest explanation is the best one
Define parsimony
Scientific assumption that complex phenomena should be explained by the simplest underlying principles
What are the levels to explanation in reductionism?
Start at the highest level and progress downwards
- Cultural and social - influence of social groups
- Psychological - cognitive, behavioural influences
- Biological - neurochemical, genetics and brain structure influences
Define biological reductionism
Reduces all behaviour as due to the actions of neurones, hormones, neurotransmitters etc
Example: OCD and schizophrenia due to neurotransmitter imbalance
Define environmental reductionism
Reduces all behaviour to a series of stimulus-response associations.
Example: attachment learnt due to association with food
Define experimental reductionism
Reduces behaviour to operationalised variables that can be manipulated and measured to determine causal relationships - useful for research studies
Define holism
Belief that human behaviour can be explained by looking at the whole system rather than individual parts
State three examples of a holistic approach being utilised
- Gestalt psychology - psychology movement that focuses on perception. States that when we perceive something we do so as a whole
- Humanistic psychology - approach to study individuals as a whole and the interactions between people, uses qualitative methods
- Cognitive psychology - recognises the links between brain networks as they work as a whole
Evaluate the idea of reductionism
Advantage:
- Led to development of drug therapies - recognising effect of biology
- Scientific - argued that breaking down complex behaviour into smaller components allows for scientific testing
Disadvantages:
- Only looking at biological explanations can ignore other factors - admin for Ritalin (medication for HD) ignores research showing family and emotional problems contribute to HD - lacks validity
- True meaning may be overlooked - Wolpe treated woman with insect phobia with systematic desensitisation but it was found her phobia was due to marital difficulties
- Experimental reductionism doesn’t reflect everyday life well - Loftus and Palmer’s results compared to Yuville and Cutshall’s
Evaluate the idea of holism
Advantages:
- Attempts to provide a complete and realistic understanding of human behaviour
- Takes into consideration all factors that could influence behaviour, allows for better understanding -more valid than reductionism
Disadvantages:
1. Explanations don’t establish causation - don’t examine behaviour using operationalised variables, unscientific
Describe the idiographic approach
Psychologists aim to study the individual, and gain an insight into behaviour from unique insights - emphasise unique personal experience of human nature. Findings are collected qualitatively through unstructured interviews, case studies and thematic analysis.
Describe the nomothetic approach
Psychologists aim to study a large group in order to make generalisations and develop theories and general laws. Findings are collected quantitatively through measures of dispersion and central tendency, graphs and statistical analysis.
State the approaches that follow a nomothetic approach
- Biological
- Behavioural
- Social Learning Theory
- Cognitive
- Psychodynamic
State the approaches that follow an idiographic approach
- Humanist
- Cognitive
- Psychodynamic
State three advantages of the idiographic approach
- Focuses psychology back on the individual - humanist and qualitative psychologists criticise there as being too much emphasis on measurements. Allport stated that only by knowing a person as a person can behaviour be predicted
- Case studies and thematic analysis are scientific and seek objectivity. Qualitative research uses reflexivity to identify the influences of behaviour - researcher reflects about the factors that affect the behaviour of both the participants and the researcher.
- Allport argues it allows for general predictions to be made once enough data is gathered
State three disadvantages of the idiographic approach
- Not scientific - doesn’t supply enough evidence. Led to development of Positive Psychology as more evidence based - humanistic not sufficiently evidence based
- Unable to produce general predictions - time-consuming to cater to each person
- More time-consuming and expensive than nomothetic approach - collects large amount of data from one person, but a questionnaire would be generated quicker
What is socially sensitive research?
Research that has potential social consequences for the participants or group that they represent
What are the four aspects that should be considered before conducting research? (Sieber and Stanley 1988)
- The Research Question - damaging to a certain group of people if results add credibility to prejudice
- Conduct of Research/Treatment of participants - concerned with the maintenance of confidentiality
- Institutional Context - should be mindful of how data may be used - private funding organisations may report research in a way that favours them, or media misreport
- Interpretation and Application of Findings - findings may be used to different purpose to original intentions
What are the 10 ethical issues that Sieber and Stanley suggested should be considered for socially sensitive research?
- Privacy - may extract more information than pps intended to give, lead to social policies that invade personal lives
- Confidentiality - need to maintain willingness of pps to give information
- Valid Method - research may be invalid, but the media don’t represent this, so public aren’t aware
- Deception - researcher may influence pps to believe untrue stereotypes that affect their performance
- Informed Consent - pps may not fully understand the requirements of the research
- Equitable Treatment - all pps treated in the same manner
- Scientific Freedom - scientist free to conduct research but need to weigh this against their responsibilities
- Ownership of Data - problems may arise over who owns the data - one may want to release data, other may want to re-analyse the data
- Values - psychologists differ in approaches, could cause clash in research and recipient of research - don;t agree
- Risk/Benefit Ratio - if risks outweigh benefits then it’s unethical, difficult to determine risks
State two advantages of socially sensitive research
- Has some benefit to society - allows important issues to be examined. Avoiding socially sensitive research would be avoiding responsibility to conduct research
- Highlights importance of psychologists taking responsibility for their research and being aware of the possible misuses - awareness reduces likelihood of mishandled data
State three disadvantages of socially sensitive research
- Greater potential of an indirect impact on the group the pps represent - not sufficient to only protect immediate needs of pps
- Many groups have been excluded from research or been misrepresented - leads to implication of a poorer understanding of human behaviour for all people e.g. disabled, elderly
- Use of ethical guidelines to deal with ethical issues doesn’t sufficiently deal with all the ways research can harm a group of people - don’t consider how findings could be manipulated, should use 10 ethical issues described by Sieber and Stanley
What are ethical implications?
Considers impact the research has on the rights of others in a wider context, not just the participants taking part. Implications may be good if the research provides to value to understanding e.g. Milgram, Zimbardo
