Issues and Debates In Psychology (AQA) Flashcards

1
Q

What are two types of gender bias?

A

Alpha bias
Beta bias.

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2
Q

What is meant by universality?

A

The notion that a particular trait can be applied to all.

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3
Q

What is meant by alpha bias (gender bias)?

A

When the differences between men and women are over-exaggerated.
This can often devalue women in relation to men.

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4
Q

What is meant by beta bias (gender bias)?

A

When the differences between men and women are ignored or minimised.

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5
Q

What did Taylor et al. (2010) suggest about the fight or flight response (beta bias)?

A

She suggested that women are more likely to use a “tend and befriend” as opposed to men as they have a surplus of oxytocin.

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6
Q

What is meant by androcentrism?

A

Male-centred perspective, often leads to male-biased research.

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7
Q

What is meant by ethnocentrism?

A

A bias/feeling of superiority towards one’s own culture, and judging other cultures by that standard.

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8
Q

How is Ainsworth & Bell’s Strange Situation an example of ethnocentrism?

A

The results were only applicable to American babies (attachment type) but were applied universally. Cultures that used this American standard were wrongly classified due to cultural differences.

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9
Q

What is cultural relativism?

A

The idea that behaviour is only meaningful within the social context (norms and values) of the society it occurs in.

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10
Q

What is meant by an etic approach according to John Berry?

A

Research into behaviour that functions outside of a given culture and attempts to describe them as universal.

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11
Q

What is meant by an emic approach according to John Berry?

A

Research into behaviour that functions from inside a given culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to it.

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12
Q

What is an example from Brislin (1976) of ethnocentrism in standardised exams?

A

He cites intelligence testing “against the clock” as ethnocentric as not all cultures believe that mental quickness correlates to actual intelligence and some cultures prefer to think carefully about how they answer.

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13
Q

What are the two main types of determinism? Define them.

A

Hard determinism - All human behaviour is dictated by external and internal forces that are out of our control.
Soft determinism - Humans are still able to choose their outcome, but are still limited in those decisions by said forces.

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14
Q

What is biological determinism?

A

The belief that all behaviour is caused by our biology, such as the influence of genes and neurotransmitters on mental health.

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15
Q

What is environmental determinism? What did Skinner say?

A

The belief that all behaviour is a product of conditioning and that we don’t really have a choice. Skinner said that free will is an “illusion”.

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16
Q

What is psychic determinism? What did Freud say?

A

Freud believed that free will is an “illusion” and said (and psychic determinism says) that behaviour is a result of repressed unconscious conflicts.

17
Q

What is the scientific emphasis on causal explanations?

A

Psychology wants to make general laws, to predict and control events in the future, like science. Psychology uses a lab experiment to mimic science’s test tube, no extraneous variables.

18
Q

What would Freud say in relation to alpha bias in gender? What does this mean for alpha bias in relation to women?

A

During the phallic stage, the child desire their same-sex parent (Oedipus/Electra)
Freud says that this is resolved when boys identify with their father, but says that girls identify weaker, meaning a weaker superego - girls are morally inferior.
Alpha bias usually does NOT favour women.

19
Q

What is meant by women’s behaviour being pathologised?

A

Taken as a sign of illness, such as women’s anger being attributed to hormones rather than actually just being angry, unlike how a man would be treated.

20
Q

What is the female equivalent of androcentrism called?

A

Gynocentrism.

21
Q

Outline the Maccoby & Jacklin (1974) gender study, and why it was subsequently debunked (alpha bias).

A

They presented findings of gender studies, proving that girls are superior verbally and boys spatially.
This was later disproved by brain scans and was likely only popularised due to pre-existing stereotypes.

22
Q

What does the acronym WEIRD stand for in relation to cultural bias, who came up with it?

A

Henrich et al.
Westernised,
Educated people from
Industrialised
Rich
Democracies

23
Q

What did Takahashi (1986) find in relation to ethnocentrism and the Strange Situation?

A

Compared to the American norm of a secure attachment, many Japanese babies were classified as insecurely attached because they showed more distress when separated from their mothers.