Issues and Debates (P3)

Question 1

Gender bias def + types

Answer 1

= treating one individual or group diff based on their gender.

1) androcentrism -> Research which presents a male view of the world - where male behaviour is presented as the standard for ‘normal’ behaviour - any behaviour that is seen to deviate will be viewed as ‘abnormal’ or ‘incorrect’.
2) alpha bias-> Where research exaggerates or overestimates differences between genders.
Differences are presented as real, fixed and inevitable.
Can lead to prejudices/stereotypes.
3) beta bias -> Where research ignores, minimizes or underestimates diff between genders.
Often occurs where a sample is made up of one gender and then findings are presented as being equally applicable to all genders.

Question 2

Gender bias eval (pros)

Answer 2

1) Understanding gender bias can lead to reflexivity
P - Researchers embrace biases in their work> seeing it as a problem through the process of reflexivity.
E - Researchers reflect and think critically during research process about the factors that might affect both the behavior of the participants + give greater insight into the values and assumptions that might affect their work.
E - Dimbrin and Lambert studied the lack of female executives in accountancy firms. They reflected on how gender related experiences influence their reading of events.
L - Leads to greater awareness of personal biases and shaping research in the future.

2) P- Feminist Psychologists propose gender bias can be avoided
E - Feminist psychologists like Judith Worrell created criteria researchers should adhere to to prevent the discrimination and stereotypical research that commits gender bias.
E - To avoid this, researchers should study women in meaningful, real life contexts that allow the full involvement of female participants rather than merely displayed as objects in the study. Also, by researching diversity differences between women decreases the effect of gender bias rather than simply focusing on men versus.
L - By placing women in research into a more active and participatory role it avoids the negative effects that gender bias has on women in society.

Question 2

Gender bias eval (cons)

Answer 2

1) Real life implications
E - Women are less likely to get their research published and jobs (shown through the lack of women senior research roles).
E - This means that women are less likely to be offered higher paying jobs than men due to the support of psychological research which promotes sexism and occupational settings.
L - Therefore, suggesting psychological research is damaging (rather than promoting) female utility in the workplace, further adding to the negative stereotypes of women in society making it more likely to be a social norm.

2) Validates sexism
- Walkerdine showed in 1930 reports that Indicated women who attended University were less likely to give birth due to higher education shrinking their ovaries.
- politically o motivated view disguised as bio facts to create double standards that allow men opportunity and encouragement to be ambitious; discouraging women to pursue education.

3) Misleading assumptions about female behavior,
-Beta bias (eg all male sample then generalise women) sets the male benchmark for assessment on normal behaviour.
E - This creates misleading and often false information about women due to the social and biological differences between gender that makes generalization ineffective.
L - Therefore, gender bias is not only a methodological issue but has damaging consequences on the lives and prospects of women, suggesting that more research needs to be undergone with fully female participants to avoid such issues.

Question 2

Culture bias

Answer 2

= Tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all aspects of behaviour through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture.

John Berry…
a) etic: Researching within a given culture and suggesting the behaviour is universal. For example, eating with your hands is made universal after having done research in India.
b) emic: Researching within a given culture and suggesting this behavior is only exclusive to that culture. For example, eating with hands is only found in India

• imposed etic: When your own cultural understanding of what is ‘normal’ is applied to all cultures.
• ethnocentrism : Assumes one’s own culture is superior and is the correct way to behave. Behavior that doesn’t conform is deficient or undeveloped.

Question 3

Cultural relativism vs universality (culture bias)

Answer 3

Relativism: Behavioural norms differ between cultures so can only be understood in the context of the culture (Emic). Being able to recognise this avoids culture bias (No superior culture.),.

Universality: All research is assumed to apply equally to all cultures.

Question 4

Individualistic vs collectivist

Answer 4

Individualistic; focus on individual growth and achievement (UK/US).
Collectivist; focus on communal achievement (Japan/China).

Question 5

Application of gender bias in research

Answer 5

Alpha bias:
-> Freud ; His theory that girls do not experience castration anxiety during the phallic stage means they do not have as much pressure on them to identify with the same sex parents, leading to weak and moral development.
-> Bowlby; claimed that only a mother was sufficient for improving mental wellbeing of an infant, ignoring the important role a father could have.
Beta bias:
-> SZ; The classification systems assume that both genders with SZ demonstrate same symptoms and characteristics. Women with SZ tend to be higher functioning>men. Their Symptoms may be messed which leads to underdiagnosis which is reflected in higher prevalence rates in males.
-> Asch : conformity of men then tried to generalise it to women; leads to women being misunderstood.

Question 6

Application of culture bias in research

Answer 6

1) etic -> Asch; US 75% conformed at least once
-> Smith et al; collectivist cultures: 37% vs individualistic cultures: 25%
= Etic approach as attempts to universalise conformity levels to all cultures, but smith et al found that diff in diff cultures.

2) imposed etic/ethnocentric-> Ainsworth; US infants then used these findings to generate an ‘ideal’ attachment (secure).
-> BUT German children are more independent, although Ainsworth claimed the mothers were cold + rejecting.
= imposed etic as only reflects the norms and values of American culture.

3) Ethnocentric -> Mead ; compared the cultures negatively so hers seemed better (western>). SLT

Question 7

Evaluation of culture bias

Answer 7

CONS
1) Scientific racism
- IQ tests administered to White Americans and African American recruits during WW1.
- White Americans scored highly but African Americans lowest score.
- ethnocentric questions [names of past US presidents ].
-Therefore caused social implications such as denied them access to education and professional opportunities.

2) Global communication
- cultures are less distinct due to mass media
-> Fakano + Osako : 14 / 15 studies that compared the USA and found no distinction between individualist and collectivist.
= If a researcher is researching a culture without global connection (internet) then using an indigenous researcher, to gain an emic perspective, would reduce cultural bias.

3) Demand characteristics
= Research on nonwestern groups who lack global communication may be problematic in terms of their unfamiliarity with the general aims and objectives of scientific inquiry in the West.
-> DC may exaggerate when working with a local population, as participants do not behave naturally.
-> Consequences = researchers are no longer measuring what they claim to and the behavior cannot be generalized therefore lowers validity.
-> Variables being studied may not be experienced in same way as all participants dependent on whether or not they are indigenous. For example, China invade personal space and believe this is normal whereas Western countries may be threatened. Therefore issues like this lower internal validity / construct validity as it means the studies that claim to be measuring the same aspect of behavior are not.

PRO
1) Recognising what is culturally relative and what is universal is beneficial
= Ekman : as imitation and interactional synchrony are universal.
-But aspects of behaviour like conformity may not be (Asch vs Smith)
- If we can understand and gain knowledge of the distinction, we can avoid culture bias.

Question 8

Free Will Vs Determinism

Answer 8

FW: We play an active role and have choice in how we behave. Our behaviour is self determined. We are not controlled by biological or external forces (env).

Determinism: Free will is an Illusion and that our behavior is governed by internal or external forces over which we have no control. Consequently, our behavior is viewed as predictable.

Soft-> Behavior is constrained by the environment or biological makeup, but conscious choice moderates the extent of the influence.

Hard-> Implies that free will is not possible as our behavior is always caused by forces beyond our control.
1) Biological Determinism: beh is caused by internal biological forces such as genetics, hormones, brain structures that we cannot control.

2) Environmental determinism: the belief that all behavior is caused by features in the environment. For example conditioning that we cannot control and have been reinforced throughout our life by forces such as parents teachers and institutions.

3) Psychic determinism the emphasis on behavior being determined by factors within our unconscious mind such as the effects of unresolved conflicts during early childhood, unconscious psychological drives and instincts, and even something simple like a ‘slip of the tongue’ can be directly linked to repressed thoughts in the unconscious mind.

Question 9

Application of FW/DETERMINISM

Answer 9

FW:
1) Humanistic approach: believes all individuals have complete choice in all behavior.

SD:
1) The cognitive explanations of gender (Kohlberg/GST): The cognitive framework of schemas is innate but ultimately believes children have choice about whether to act on the information in their in group and outgroup schemas.
2) SLT; our behaviour is determined by others in our env but is our choice and motivation to observe them that influences the extent of our imitation

HD:
1) Biological determinism ; SZ caused by low or high levels of dopamine in different areas of the brain

2) Psychic determinism : Displacement of pent-up psychic energy is a defence mechanism to control the conflict between ID and super ego.

3) Environmental determinism: behaviourism shows how our phobias caused by classical and operant conditioning in out env (maintaining and initiating)

Question 10

Evaluation of FW + Determinism (pros)

Answer 10

PROS:
1) Determinism has real life application
-> scientific and provides therapies
-> Allows for us to reliably predict and control behavior which has enabled psychology to be on the same level as other sciences.
-> Development of treatments and interventions for example SZ and anti psychotics. Destigmatizes and improves well being of SZ. HIGH PRED VAL

2) FW gives Face Validity and is Positive
-> Our everyday experience gives the impression that we are constantly making our own choices = FV
-> Roberts et al teenagers with high external LOC (determinism) more likely to develop depression.
-> Therefore if we think we have through will it has a positive impact on our life.
-> Supports Humanistic based counseling as it puts clients in control as an active participant in their recovery journey.

3) Soft Determinism is the best view
-> SD Is an interactionalist view between free will and determinism.
-> For example, Bandura’s SLT uses a combination of the environment and mediation processes to explain behavior.
-> Therefore perhaps more holistic approach is needed to explain the complexity of human behavior.

Question 11

Evaluation of FW + Determinism (cons)

Answer 11

CONS:
1) Hard determinism is extreme and dangerous
-> Hard determinism is not compatible with legal systems; cannot hold criminals morally responsible.
-> Validates historical and future eugenics such as sterilization to breed our undesirable characteristics.
-> IRL Doesn’t work as it is a fatalistic view and may claim certain illnesses have no control over their recovery.
+-> Fw suggest beh is unpredictable and so psychology as a science would fail
2) Free will has no neurological evidence
-> Libet et al : unconscious brain activity came around half a second before conscious movement. (against fw)
-> Trevena + Miller: Preconscious brain activity is a readiness to act not an intention. (for FW) However no cause and effect and free will lack scientific credibility.

Question 12

Ethical implications

Answer 12

= Refers to the impact that psychological research may have on other people including society, public policy/funding and the way certain groups of people perceived.

-> Occurs AFTER research is published
-> Little control over the impact of every research once it has been published. It could be misinterpreted by the public / media. Therefore possible implications of research must be seriously considered before collecting any data.

(differs from ethical issues as affects more than just the ppts)

Question 13

Social Sensitivity

Answer 13

= Studies in which there are potential ethical consequences or implications, either directly for the participants involved in the research or the class of individuals represented by the research.

• CANNOT be avoided completely, but researchers should weigh up the possible costs and benefits before conducting any research. Only proceed where the benefits to many OUTWEIGH the costs to few.

Question 14

Sieber + Stanley’s 4 main reason for ethical implications in socially sensitive research

Answer 14

1) Research question: how it is phrased EG “Are there racial differences in IQ” versus “Is intelligence inherited?”

2) Methodology: treatment of participants and their right to confidentiality anonymity
EG if a participant discloses that they have committed a crime, should the research maintain confidentiality?

3) Institutional context: researchers should be mindful of how the data is going to be used and consider who is funding the research.
EG if the research Is funded by a private institution or an organization, why are they funding the research and how do they intend to use the findings?

4) Application of findings:
EG could the findings be used by the government for political means to develop public policy? If this happens, are there any risks I E will it lead to discrimination or prejudice (this is the main cause of ethical implications!!!!)

RedMonkeysInAustralia

Question 15

Application of social sensitivity / ethical implications

Answer 15

1) Social influence (Milgram): important in breaking the ‘Germans are different’ stereotype post WW2, BUT a number of attempts have been made to use his findings as a way of explaining / defending genocide.

2) Attachment (Bowlby’s Monotropy and maternal deprivation): may have caused discrimination and prejudice in society towards women + who choose to work instead of staying at home to look after their young children/ men cannot look after kids/ as well as bias in awarding custody during divorce agreements. Influenced the UK government’s decision to introduce maternity leave.

3) Gender (Atypical sex chromosome patterns): Consequences of funding of treatments / therapies to help with the deficits from the syndrome. Maybe issues with consequences of self fulfilling prophecy of having the diagnosis as a label, which affects how individuals with those syndromes are treated and how those individuals perceive their own abilities.

Question 16

Evaluations of ethical implications/social sensitivity (cons)

Answer 16

1) Costs and benefits might be difficult to predict
- milgram’s colleagues predicted only 3% would go to 450 volts but it was actually 65%.
- Too subjective to assess research implications, it can only be known once it hasn’t been made public.

2) If interpreted negatively decrease well-being of target population
- eg KF/TS atypical chromosome patterns
- Real life, individual suffering with this atypical chromosome patterns, so we must be careful in how we produce socially sensitive research otherwise it can decrease their well-being.

Question 17

Evaluations of ethical implications/social sensitivity (pros)

Answer 17

PROS:
1) Despite the issues, not doing socially sensitive research is irresponsible
- Psychology is a study of human behavior and so if we avoid doing socially sensitive research there will be no research to do as it may all have on foreseen consequences.
- if there is no research then there is no discussion of change
- Wouldn’t give a full account of human psychology. Researchers should have in place methods to decrease the negative impact of their target sample, only proceeding in instances when the benefits outweigh the costs.

2) There are benefits to conducting socially sensitive research
- Research into unreliability of EWT has reduced the risk of miscarriages of justice within the legal system
- Milgram reduced stereotypes of bad people, providing an explanation for abhorrent acts (not so black and white)
- Scarr: argues that studies of underrepresented groups and issues may promote greater understanding to reduce prejudice and encourage acceptance.

Question 18

Idiographic

Answer 18

= Research that focuses more on individuals as a means to studying behaviour.
- Behaviour is best understood in terms of subjective experience, what it means to the individual (phenomenology)

Methods: Case studies, thematic analysis, unstructured interviews/questionnaires (open questions) or unstructured observations.

Data: Qualitative non-numerical descriptive, e.g. thoughts and feelings. Only the individual can explain what a behaviour means, a detached observer’s explanation is meaningless.

= Behaviour is unique and cannot be generalised or compared to others norms.

Examples
- Little Hans case study; psychodynamic approach
- Clive wearing case study; cognitive approach
- Humanistic approach/Psychodynamic predominantly idiographic

Question 19

Nomothetic

Answer 19

= Research that studies as many people as possible to ensure findings can be generalised.
- Behaviour is best understood by looking at it objectively, through standardised replicable research.

Methods:
Experiments, structured questionnaires (closed questions) or controlled observations.

Data:
Quantitative - it is SCIENTIFIC

= Can be generalised which provides a ‘benchmark’ or norm against which people can be compared, classified or measured. This means behaviour should be able to be predicted and controlled.

Examples
- Pavlov’s dogs; behaviourist approach
- Dual task experiments; cognitive approach
- Testosterone and aggression; biological approach
- Behaviourist , SLT and biological approaches are predominantly nomothetic.

Question 20

Eval of idiographic approaches

Answer 20

PROS:
1) Provides a holistic account of an individual
-> Qualitative nature ; can work alongside nomothetic approaches to shed light on existing general laws or even challenged the status quo. EG KF study showed why short term memory is not as simple as the multi store model claimed, providing justification for further investigation of how STM works. Helps build on psychological knowledge and help us make scientific progress. The ability to study individuals and depth allows research to build a rapport with participants, that may mean they are more honest in what they are available. Can further our knowledge and understanding a phenomenon which nomothetic investigations cannot.

CONS:
1) May not represent the general pop
-> Meaningful generalisations cannot be made without further examples for comparisons, unlike the nomothetic methods for collecting large samples of data. EG Freud utilized many single case studies (Little Hans) to provide evidence for theories like the Oedipus Complex. It was based on a very subjective interpretation this means idiographic investigation tends to be unscientific unrepresentative and lack practical application.

Question 20

Eval of nomothetic approaches

Answer 20

PROS:
1) Largely scientific with its methods
-> Uses quantitative methods such as large-scale lab studies can be easily replicated and tested under standardized conditions to ensure reliability and generalizability. EG Pavlov study was carried out on a large group using a controlled lab experiment. Findings were used to make a general law about behaviorism and classical conditioning to general population. Give scientific credibility and means it can be held in the same regard as the natural sciences.

CONS:
1) Dehumanising/ ‘losing the whole person’
-> Overlooks intricacies of human experience.
- Milgram 65% full shock BUT tells us little abou WHY one individual may be in a real life situation. -There will be many factors contributing to obedience eG personality, parenting style etc.
-There is always variation that needs to be accounted for.
-Quantitative methods tell us nothing about the experience of each participant only the end result is as a number. Meaning they can sometimes overlook the richness of individual human experience.

Question 21

Pos of nomothetic/idiographic

Answer 21

Triangulation: the use of a number of different sources as evidence, e.g. diaries, and observations, etc.

= Both approaches have value and can be used together, with triangulation of their sources to increase validity.
-> eg Findings from an idiographic investigation will aid the nomothetic research by using its previous qualitative research. This produces a testable hypothesis to give a better prediction of human behaviour (to generalise) which makes it more scientific.

Question 22

Reductionism vs Holism debate

Answer 22

Holism
= Only by studying the whole system or person can we really understand human experience, by providing multivariable explanations.

Reductionism
= All behaviour should be explained by breaking it down into smaller parts.

1) Machine reductionism: behaviour explained in terms of mechanistic cognitive models, viewing the mind like a computer.

2) Biological reductionism: behaviour explained from simple biological factors (brain structures,genes,hormones etc) -> based on the premise that all we are are products of our biology.

3) Environmental reductionism: behaviour explained in terms of simple stimulus-learnt links learned through experience. Eg classical conditioning where behaviour is learnt through associations with the unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response.

Levels of explanation
= Refers to how complex a behaviour is considered to be (ie how holistic/reductionist) , and how appropriate it is to attempt to explain that behaviour using a certain level of explanation.

There are different levels to explain the same phenomena.
For example…
HIGH LEVEL EXPLANATION -> Being related to a combination of many different things, such as psychological problems like obsessive thoughts (asw as bio).
LOW LEVEL EXPLANATION-> OCD can be explained by being caused by purely bio factors (hypersensitive basal ganglia).

-> each additional explanation provides a gradually more holistic and higher-level multivariable explanation.

Question 23

Application of holism + reductionism

Answer 23

Holism: Humanistic approach - use of case studies, diaries, interviews to study and value individual human experiences, considering meaning, feeling, personal experience/context.

Machine Reductionism: Cognitive approach - models of memory (WMM + MSM), cog exp fore depression (Beck + Ellis).

Biological Reductionism: Biological approach - testosterone and aggression, genetics and mental disorders, brain structures and SZ, chromosomes and gender.

Environmental Reductionism: The behaviourist approach - explaining phobias, Skinner’s rats, Pavlov’s dogs, Little Albert (classical and operant conditioning).

Question 24

Evaluation of Holism

Answer 24

PROS:
1) Some behaviours are very complex and not appropriate to be explained by simple stimuli
- EG HM case study was valuable as it used a variety of methods to investigate memory (brain scans, memory, unstructured interviews, medical records, observations).
- Increases validity , more meaningful and applicable to everyday life.

CONS:
2) Not scientific
- Use in-depth qualitative methods which are not empirical and cannot be statistically compared.
- So, explanations can be vague and speculative limiting their application.
- EG if we accept there are many factors cause depression -> cannot establish most important so w cannot formulate therapies to improve symptoms.
-Therefore, when findings solutions to real-world problems, lower level explanations are more useful.

Question 25

Evaluation of Reductionism

Answer 25

PRO:
1) Scientific
- Reduced behaviours down to parts that can be isolated, operationalised and controlled for to test objectively and empirically
- allows cause and effect
- high predictive validity more likely to provide practical applications, as we can identify causation to make predictions about beh ( eg SZ reduced to neurotransmitters like dopamine improving the success of treatments to produce antipsychotics for SZ).

CON:
1) Lack validity
- Over simplistic, lose validity when attempting to explain complex phenomena.
-> eg using genes, neurons and hormones to explain beh overlooks social and psychological factors that influence beh.
- only providing a solution to half the problem (eg solely drug treatments to tackle bio symptoms and ignoring emotional symptoms).
- Patients may benefit from other forms of therapy instead (eg family therapy). It ignores he complex interactions of factors that are likely to contribute to behaviour.

Question 26

Nature

Answer 26

= Behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors. (Nativists)

-believe in Heredity: the genetic transmission of mental and physical characteristics from one generation to another.
- Genes provide the ‘blueprint’ for all behaviours; some present from birth, others pre programmed to emerge with age.

• Maturation: They do admit that maturation plays a role ( eg sexual behaviour after puberty) but they argue that the basis of behavior must be present internally for it to emerge after maturation.

=The general figure for heritability is a correlation coefficient of 0.5 (for characteristics like IQ tests); this is NOT 100% which suggests that environment is also important.

• In Twin Studies it is often difficult to tell whether concordance rates are more of a result of shared genetics or shared upbringing -> so, psychologists have recently been more likely to ask what contribution each influence has rather than simply one or the other (interactionist)

Question 27

Interactionist in nature vs nurture

Answer 27

Both nature and nurture work together to shape human behavior.

For example, the ‘diathesis-stress model’ suggests that mental disorders are caused by…
1) a biological vulnerability (diathesis) such as genetic variation making them more likely to develop a mental disorder.
2) Experiencing a trigger (stressor) in the environment such as a divorce that can bring about the onset of the disorder.

Question 28

Nurture

Answer 28

= Behaviour is the product of environmental influences. (Nurturists)

• External factors: Upbringing, education, social pressure, culture / conditioning.
• Born ‘tabula rasa’, all behaviour is due to external stimulations

Question 29

Application of nature/nurture

Answer 29

NATURE:
1) Biological explanations (eg aggression MAOA)

MOSTLY NATURE:
1) Psychodynamic - Gender (Gender Dysphoria = Resolution of complexes; memories of which are then later repressed into our unconscious mind but can still influence our behavior the drive to resolve this stage (nature) but successful resolution is moderated by our childhood experiences (nurture).

INTERACTIONIST:
1) Cognitive (GST; Cognitive framework of schemas (nature) but information about gender in group and out group depends on child’s experiences (nurture).
2) Humanistic (believes in holism and therefore accounts for all aspects of the person originating from both nature and nature).

MOSTLY NURTURE:
1) SLT (mediational processes are cognitive (nature) but behavior we observe and potentially imitate via mediational processes is dependent on models exposed in our life (nurture).

NURTURE:
1) Behaviourists/Attachment (we are born blank slates and form attachments through associations of the satisfaction of hunger and being fed by a caregiver)

Question 30

N vs N (neg)

Answer 30

1) Extremes are dangerous
- Primarily Nurture or Nature isn’t compatible with how the legal system operates as it would indicate criminal offenders had no choice / could not control the crimes they committed therefore difficult to prosecute/hold accountable.
- Validates historical or future eugenics. For example, using forced sterilization to breed out undesirable behaviors (nature) or social engineering regimes like China’s Social Credit System (nurture).

2) Difficult to detangle
- there is a confounding factor of shared environments.
-The shared environment doesn’t necessarily mean identical upbringing (siblings raised in same family have individual differences which mean that siblings may experience life events differently).
- Epigenetics: the material in each cell of the body that acts as a switch to turn genes on or off. Life experiences ( eg nutrition and stress) are said to control these switches.
=This explains the findings and research that even MZ twins brought up together do not have 100% concordance rates reinforcing the argument that nature and nurture are not separate (validates interactionism).

3) Evidence for genotype x environment interacting
- Tiernari et al : A child-rearing style characterised by high levels of criticism, conflict and low empathy was implicated in the development of SZ, but ONLY for the children with high genetic risk.
- Caspi: Low activity MAOA children were more likely to grow up to be anti social, BUT only if they have been maltreated.

4) Do people create their own environments?
- Does someone who is innately aggressive seek out violent media and experiences? This notion is known as CONSTRUCTIVISM - people create their own nurture by actively selecting environments that are appropriate for their nature. This suggests we should not separate the influence of nature and nurture on behavior and they should not be studied in isolation.