Issues and debates

Question 1

Gender bias in psychology - AO1

Answer 1

• Alpha bias - occurs when a theory assumes there is a real and enduring difference between males and females - tendency to exaggerate diffs between 2 genders n devalue one gender (freud preferred males)
• Beta bias - occurs when a theory ignores or minimises the diffs between males and females - example - research into fight and flight used males animals not females and until recently people havent known about the female response
• Andocentrism - psychology is a male dominated subject therefore many theories represent a male point of view

Question 2

Gender bias - AO3

Answer 2

• Research meths can be biased - may not be the fact that the 2 genders are different but meths used to test them are biased - example - researcher found male experimenters are more pleasant to females than males and therefore males performed worse - this means that the meths used are biased and creates a false picture of the actual diffs between them
• Feminist psychology agrees that there are biological diffs but socially determined stereotypes make greater contributions to perceived diffs - one way to redress the balance is to use evidence that women may be inferior to provide women with greater support - researcher claimed that women may be less effective leaders than men but knowledge should be used to develop suitable training programmes and create a future with women as leaders - demonstrates how feminist psychology seeks to understand behaviour in terms of social processes and thus find a way to greater equality
• One strategy to counter gender bias is to develop theories which show diffs between men and women but emphasise the value of women - can be seen in feminist research which shows instances where women are better - example - research shows that women are better at learning because they are more attentive flexible and organised - important because it challenges the stereotype that in any gender differences that the male position must be better

Question 3

Cultural bias - AO1

Answer 3

• This bias is tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions
• Alpha bias - when a theory assumes there are real and enduring diffs between cultural groups
• Beta bias - when a theory minimises or ignores cultural diffs assuming people are the same
• Ethnocentrism - judging behaviour from your own culture pov and seeing your own beliefs as normal
• Cultural relativism - idea we should study behaviour in context of culture in which it originates - however - can lead to alpha bias - eg - a research once concluded there were significant gender diffs due to culture when it really wasnt

Question 4

Culture bias - AO3

Answer 4

• Indigenous psychologies (development of diff groups of theories in countries) can counter ethnocentricity - example - afrocentrism is a movement whose central proposition is that all black people have their roots in Africa and that psychological theories concerning such people must be African centred and express African values - it disputes view that European values are universally appropriate descriptions of human behaviour - suggests that values and culture of Europeans at worst devalue non-European people, and at best are irrelevant to life and culture of people of African descent - led to the development of theories relevant to the life and culture of people of African descent
• Bias in research methods - 2 researchers surveyed a EU textbook on social pyschology and found 66% of studies were American, 32% was European and 2% ROW - another researcher also calculated that a randomly selected american student was 4000 times more likely to be a ppt than a non westerner - suggests psychological research is severely unrepresentative and can be improved by using samples from ROW too
• Culturally biased research helps to create or reinforce stereotypes - US army used an IQ test before WW1 which was culturally biased - test shows african americans were at the bottom of the IQ scale - data of this had effect on attitudes held by americans towards other groups of people

Question 5

Free will and determinism - Determinism - AO1

Answer 5

• The view that our behaviour is governed by internal/external forces
• Biological determinism - suggests behaviour is governed by our genes - example - research found particular gene in people with high intelligence suggesting intelligence may be biologically determined
• Environmental determinism - suggests behaviour is due to previous experience through CC and OC - where humans develop phobias through CC
• Psychic determinism - suggest behaviour is caused by innate drives and early experiences
• These explain hard determinism
• Soft determinism recognises behaviour may be predictable but not inevitable

Question 6

Free will and determinism - AO1 - Free will

Answer 6

• View that humans have complete control over their behaviour and have ability to make a choice
• Humanistic psychologists like Maslow and Rogers claim that humans have free will and self determination is necessary part of human nature and without it its not possible

Question 7

Free will and determinism - AO3

Answer 7

• No behaviour is completely biologically determined - example - studies that compare Identical twins for depression find a 40% concordance rate in MZ twins for the disorder - however - if MZ share 100% of their genes, we would expect 100% concordance rate - though there is an 40% similarity in terms of the disorder - results suggest that 60% is caused by other factors
• Determinism can provide an excuse for immoral behaviour - Mobley who killed a pizza manager in 1980s claimed he was born to kill due to history of family - argument was rejected and was sentenced to death - a truly determinist view may be undesirable as it would allow individuals to excuse their behaviour leading to issues of criminal responsibility
• Research challenge to free will from cognitive neuroscience - researcher recorded activity in motor regions before the person had a conscious awareness of the decision to move their fingers - the decision was already predetermined - however brain activity may simply represent a readiness to act so evidence has been challenged

Question 8

Nature - nurture debate - AO1 - Nature

Answer 8

• Refers to innate (genetic) influences
• Does not just refer to characteristics present at birth but any characteristics determined by genes and passed on
• Secondary sexual characteristics which appear at puberty are also genetically determined - example - schizophrenia has a 40% concordance rate for MZ twins and 7% for DZ suggesting nature is contribtuting factor

Question 9

Nature - nurture debate - AO1 - Nurture

Answer 9

• Refers to environmental influences which are aquired through interactions with the environment - can affect infant before or after birth
• Behaviours suggest that certain behaviours can be explained in terms of being alone - example - attachment - could be explained in terms of CC and OC
• Nature nurture debate examines the relative contribution of nature and nurture to a certain behaviour - to what extent are they responsible

Question 10

Nature - nurture - AO3

Answer 10

• An interactionist approach gives best explanation - not possible to seperate nature-nurture as both contribute - example - phenylketonuria - if identified at birth can be restricted - suggests that both nature and nurture contribute therefore interactionist is best approach
• Diathesis stress model - person can be born with biological vulnerability - example - schizo gene - but disorder will only develop if triggered by environmental stressor - research found not everyone with schizo gene develops symptoms - therefore persons nature only expressed under certain conditions of nurture - highlights importance of interactionist approach
• Neural plasticity demonstrates how nature/nurture interact - researcher showed how