Issues and Debates (A2) PAPER 3 Flashcards
Define gender bias
When differences between genders are misrepresented
Define alpha bias
When a researcher exaggerates the differences between men and women
Define beta bias
When a researcher minimises or ignores the differences between men and women
Define andro and gyno centrism
andro - male centred
gyno - female centred
Describe one example of psychological research that demonstrates alpha bias
Freud argued that there was a genuine psychological difference between men and women because of ther physiological differences, he claimed young girls suffer from penis envy, and viewed femininity as a failed form of masculinity.
Describe one example of psychological research that demonstrates beta bias
Asch’s conformity studies involved all male participants, but it was assumed that females would respond in the same way.
Outline what is meant by cultural bias in psychology
when researchers misrepresent the differences between cultures, similar to the forms of gender bias.
Describe one example of ethnocentrism in psychological research
Ainsworths The Strange Situation used ethnocentrism as the sample used all american infants to assess the attachment types of infants, however the results from other cultures were very different. The ideal standard of attachemnt in america was secure attachment whilst in Japan it was insecure resistant attachement, and in Germany it was insecure avoidant attachment. The different results from other cultures were seen as abnormal.
Define universality
Universality is when a theory of behaviour applies to everyone
Outline ethnocentrism
when someone focuses on there own cultural perspective. Sometimes this is known as seeing there own culture as correct or more important and seeing other cultures as abnormal.
define ethnocentric bias
When a researcher ignores other cultures completely or they studied cultures without understanding there cultural perspective.
Limitations of ethnocentrism
- decreases the validity and reliability of research
- can lead to misdiagnosis
- can lead to harmful stereotypes
Define cultural relativism
A persons behaviour must be understood from their own cultures perspective.
Strength and limitations of cultural relativism
+ Removes ethnocentric bias which prevents prejudice and discrimination because it values all cultures.
- May exaggerate the differences between cultures
- May ignore differences within a culture
Define cross cultural research
Research being carried out in different cultures to see if theories generalise or if there are cultural variations.
Explain the difference between free will and determinism
Free will is when we have full control over our behaviour whilst Determinism is the veiw that we never have control over our behaviour.
Explain what is meant by soft determinism
our choices are constrained by biological or environmental factors, but we have free will to choose within these options.
- social learning theory and cognitive approach assumes soft determinism.
Briefly explain the concept of biological determinism
Human behaviour is assumed by biological factors such as genes, meaning we have no free will.
Why are free will and determinism unfalsifiable
- free will doesnt allow for predictions about behaviour.
- determinism can falsify specific causes for behaviour but not the general idea that behaviour has a cause.
State an argument in favour of assuming free will (treatments and therapy)
- if we treat people as if they have free will, then they will be likely to believe that they have free will and develop an internal locus of control.
-BENASSI et al showed that people with an internal locus of control were less likely to develop symptoms of depression. - thus favouring free will
State an argument against assuming free will
Assuming free will can unfairly blame people for behaviour that wasnt there fault, it might be that there behaviour was caused by biological or environmental factors.
State the legal implications of determinism
- determinism states how no one is responsible for there actions but our legal system states how people are responsible for there actions and should get punished if they break the law.
COUNTER if our legal system provides a deterrent (punishment to put off people from commiting crimes) we can assume determinism and still have a legal system.
Explain what is meant by heredity
when genetic traits are passed on through reproduction
Briefly outline the nature-nurture debate in psychology
It is about the relative contributions of heredity and environment in determining behaviour
Explain what is meant by an interactionist approach in the nature-nurture debate
Its how heredity and environment interact to determine behaviour
evaluate 2 limitation of the nature-nurture debate in studying relative contributions
- may be many alleles associated with behaviour
- Ripke at al did a study where he found over 100 risk alleles which were associated with schizophrenia
- because different people carry different combinations of these risk alleles, it is hard to determine cause and effect relationship between certain alleles and Sz
- therefore hard to show the contribution of herdity to Sz
-we dont know the extent to which someones environment was influenced by their genes in the first place
-this is called a gene - environment correlation, and was first theorised by Robert Plomin
give two examples of the interactionist approach to nature nurture
GENETIC POTENTIAL
-gottesmans research on intelligence
- our genes determine our potential intelligence and our environment determines where we end up in that range
DIATHESIS STRESS MODEL
-used to understand mental health problems
- need both diathesis and stress to show symptoms
Define gene - environment interaction
when the effect of an environment on phenotype depends on the genotype
What is reductionism and holism
reductionism - the veiw that we can understand things by breaking them down into simpler parts
holism - to understand something we must look at it as a whole
Explain what is meant by biological reductionism
It is the lowest most reductionist level of explanation is biological reuctionism.
It is when we explain behaviour in terms of biological factors, such as neurotransmitters, hormones and genes.
Explain what is meant by ‘levels of explanation’ in psychology
It is used to explain behaviour, the lowest level considers biological explanations where behaviour can be explained in regards to genetics and brain structure, the middle layer is psychological explanations (cognitive and behavioural) and the highest level considers social and cultural explanations where behaviour is explained in terms of the influence of social groups.
Explain the difference between biological reductionism and environmental reductionism
one difference is that biological reductionism is more reductionist than environmental as it involves a lower level of explanation
why is reductionist explanations scientific but holism explanations are not
reductionist explanations reduce behaviour to cause and effect relationships that are emperically testable and therefore falsifiable.
However very holistic explanations are not scientific because they insist we shouldnt break down behaviour into cause and effect relationships
Define principe of parsimony
states that you should choose the simplest explanation - support for reductionism
Explain what is meant by nomothetic approach to psychological investigation
nomothetic approach try to establish general laws for everyone, psychologists use large groups of people and the use of statistical (quantitative) techniques to analyse data. experiments and correlational studies are nomothetic
What is an idiographic approach
focuses on individual differences. Uses qualitative data such as unstructured interveiws and open questions
Explain one strength of the nomothetic approach to psychological investigation
It is more scientific because it aims to establish general laws, which allows us to make predictions. For this reason, experemental psychologists tend to prefer nomothetic methods
Explain what is meant by social sensitivity in research studies and theories
Sieber and Stanley used the term social sensitivity to describe studies where there are potential social consequences for the participants or the group of people represented by the research.
Explain how one example of research could be considered to be socially sensitive
Loftus and Palmers research into the accuracy of eye wittness testimony is socially sensitive because it questions whether victims of crimes can be believed. Therefore, discouraging victims from reporting crimes because they fear they wont be believed
