Issues and Debates - Paper 3 Flashcards
Gender bias
Gender bias
- when one gender is treated less favourable than the others; which includes a range of consequences
- scientifcally misleading
- upholoding sterotypical assumptions
- validating sexism
alpha bias
Gender bias
- when the difference between men and women are exagerrated
beta bias
Gender bias
- when the diferences bewteen men and women are minimised
androcentrism
Gender bias
- taking male bhaviour as te norm
- women behaviour is abnormal
gynocentrism
Gender bias
- is a dominant or exclusive focus on women in a theory
examples of alpha bias
Gender bias - examples of gender bias (A02)
- freud
- fight or flight
freud
Gender bias - examples of gender bias (A02)
- all male sample - androcentric
- oedipus + electra complex - alpha bias
- electra complex - less rearched and development
fight or flight
Gender bias - examples of gender bias (A02)
- orginally meant for everybody
- later found that women do tend + befriend - beta bias
- research done on male rats - androcentric
examples of beta bias
Gender bias - examples of gender bias (A02)
- asch
- milgram
asch
Gender bias - examples of gender bias (A02)
- only using an all male sample - androcentric
- generalised findings to both male and female - beta bias
milgram
Gender bias - examples of gender bias (A02)
- all male volunteers - androcentrism
- generalised to both - beta bias
- milgram did many variations & did one group of women
- still not enough to canell out beta bias
bowlby
gender bias - examples of gender bias (A02)
- claims that mothers need to stay at home and care for their children
- or it could damage their childs social, cognitive and emotional development
- implies only the mother can do this role
- reiforcing gender sterotypes
scientfically misleading
Gender bias - A03 consequences
- we draw conclusions anf make assumptions that arent actually true
- beta bias
can uphold sex discrimination
Gender bias - A03 consequences
- alpha bias
- saying big differences
perpetutes gender sterotypes
Gender bias - A03 consequences
- keeps it going
Maccoby and Jacklin
Gender bias - A03 is is that bad?
- reviewed reasearch and concluded that in a majority of areas there was no significant difference between men and women
- suggests that the differences found are actually due to the methodolgical issues
instituational sexism
Gender bias - A03 why does it happen
- males predominate at a senior level of research
- follwing male concerns
publishing bias
Gender bias - A03 why does it happen
- want postive data so could exagerate
- wont publish null results
methodogical decisions
Gender bias - A03 why does it happen
- lab experiments
- women in inequitable relationship with researcher who could label them as unreasonable to complete complex task
imposed etic
cultural bias
- a construct from one culture is applied inappropratly to another
- all etic contructs are considered universal to all people
imposed emic
cultural bias
- a contruct that is applied to one cultural group
- cultural bias occurs when a researcher assumes an emic construct is actually etic construct
cultural relativism
cultural bias
- the idea that there is no universal standard behaviour
universality
cultural bias
- when a theory can apply to all people, irrespetice of gender and culture
ethnocentricity
cultural bias
- a belief that your culture or ethnic group is superior to another
culture
cultural bias
- can be defined as the values, beliefs and patterns of behaviour shared by a group of people
alpha bias
cultural bias
- when a theory assums that cultural groups are extremely difficult
beta bias
cultural bias
- when cultural differences are minimised
mead
cultural bias - examples of cultural bias A02
- shows ethnocentricity
- basing her research on her beliefs/culture and then comparing it to samoan women
- didnt spend enough time with them (lack of validity)
- imposed etic - aiming for emic by being with them
- researcher bias
milgram
cultural bias - examples of cultural bias A02
- only looks at white american men
- imposing etic onto other culutres
- amercians may respect authority more - school shootings, police
ainsworth strange situtation
cultural bias - examples of cultural bias A02
- characteristics used for secure attachment were from western culture - imposed etic
nation of morons
cultural bias - examples of cultural bias A02
- army alpha test - linked speifically to american culture
- beta test - those who failed alpha or were illiterate , picture tasks linked to america and instructutions were in english
- results - american male - mental age of 13 (was blamed on interbreeding with cultures)
- european immigrants - least intelligent and black men had mental age of 10
- led to the immigration restriction act 1924
- this meant poor scores werent allowed in the country and jews feeling couldnt join
imposed emic benifits (insider)
cultural bias - eval A03
- .+ understand the pov from other cultures
- .+ find out what is important and meaningful about other cultrues
- .+ produces rich in depth and holistic knowledge (qualitative)
- .- difficult to generalse and conclude - becomes clutural bound
- .- can take more resources (time & money)
imposed etic (outsider)
cultural bias - eval A03
- .+ allows cross cultrual comparisons
- .+ kry concepts that meet specific research objections
- .+ multiple cultrues can be studied in one project
- .- unless equivalnce is established, cross cultural comparisons are assumed and can be invalid
- .- concepts important to the reserch might not be to the particapant and culture
nature
Nature v Nurture
- biological factors than influence your psychological makeup
nurture
Nature v Nurture
- influence of external factors after conception
nativism
Nature v Nurture
- a psychological theory that cintents that are sime knowledge, concepts, abilities or skills are inherent or native to the human mind
empiricsm
Nature v Nurture
- the study of psychological phenomena using empirical techniques
Nature v Nurture - history of nature v nurture
- goes back to ancient philosphy
- nativism vs empiricism
nativism
Nature v Nurture - history of nature v nurture
- suggests inheritance plays the greatest role in determining characteristics
- both physical and mental are innate
- passed from our ancestors
empiricsm
Nature v Nurture - history of nature v nurture
- suggests that all learning is the result of experience and environmental factors
- tabla rasa (blank slate)
- behaviourism is an example - pavlov and skinner
approaches to psychology
Nature v Nurture
- biological
- nature
- brain m neurotransmitters , neurons are in the greater interest than external factors
- behavioural
- nurture
- focuses on the environment and people
IQ
Nature v Nurture - examples A02
- nature - suggests inherited
- nurture - suggests learnt
- these views have been used to justify discriminatory social ploices and attitudes
- could justify racism, classist and systemic discrimination
education
Nature v Nurture - examples A02
- girls do better at verbal tests but not as well on maths - less likly to advance in stem
heritability coefficent
Nature v Nurture
- used to asses hereditory
- indicates the extet to which characteristics have a genetic basis and will be passed on
- No 1 = 100% genetically determined
- No 0 = 100% environment
interactionism
Nature v Nurture
- when we explain behaviour with both nature and nurture
nature
Nature v Nurture - interactionisim
- biological approach - genes
- bowlbys monotropic theory - innate
- psychodynamic - ID , libido
- cogntive approach - schemas but change
nurture
Nature v Nurture - interactionisim
- cogntive approach - schemas but change
- milgrams legitamcy of authority - unifrom , location , proximity
- ainsworth attachment - attachment to mother bc of food , cupboard love theory
- humanistic - based in society influences
- behaviour approach - tabla rasa
nature
Nature v Nurture - evaluation
- .+ suggests that causes of behaviour can be treated (depression)
- .- biological deterministic - allows for edgenic policies and enhancing racisim and sexism
- .- relies on studies from twin studies which are flawed - twins live differently , coo-orindance rate is never 100%
nurture
Nature v Nurture - evaluation
- .+ suggests that we can change and alter our behaviour - token econmy in prisons , flooding for phobias
- .- to environmentally determinsic - suggests society can be manipulated (dicatorship)
Epogenetics
Nature v Nurture - evaluation
- a change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code (turn some genes on and off)
- happens through our life (from enivronment)
- this leaves epigenetic marks on our dna
- can be passed down to children
- ressler (2014) - created a fear of perfume in rats , rats had babies and it went on to them , some rats even had the fear even tho they had never been expossed to it
- shows interactivilsm
biological determinism
free will and determinism - type of determinism
- is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individuals genes
- genes hormonse and neurtotransmitters cause behaviour
- E.G agression is the result of excess testostrone
environmental determinism
free will and determinism - type of determinism
- the view that our behaviour is determined or caused by forces outside the individual
- shaped by learning (rewaeds, punishments, associattion)
- phobias are learnt from negative encounter and avoidance
psychic determinism
free will and determinism - type of determinism
- claims that humans behaviour is the result of childhood experiences & innate drives (ID EGO SUPEREGO)
- behaviour is shaped from unconcious conflicts and forces we are not aware of
- decsisons may feel like they are free will but its just an illusion
free will
free will and determinism
the idea that we can play an active role and have choicce in how we behave
determinsim
free will and determinism
- the belief that cause and effect rule the day, our behaviouris out of our control and dicated by internal/external factors
hard determinism
free will and determinism
- behaviour are determined wholly by interal and external factors
- humans dont have genuine free will
- supported by behvaiourist and biological psychologists
soft determinsim
free will and determinism
- there are constraints on our behaviour but within this we are free to make some choices
- supported by cognitivists
soft + environmental
free will and determinism - examples
- bandura SLT
- all behaviour is a result of observartional learning
- our environment and other poeple shape our behaviour
hard + environmental
free will and determinism - examples
- operant conditioning
- associate particular bheaviours with certain consequences through direct experience
soft + biological
free will and determinism - examples
- lancet indicated that 5 of the most common psychiatric disorders have gentic factors; autism, sz , depression
hard + psychic
free will and determinism - examples
- freud
- no such thing as an accident
- fresult from unconsioius conflicts repressed during childhood
- materal deprivation
hard + environmental
free will and determinism - examples
- classical conditioning
- association between two different stimuli
- linked through direct experience until eventually the neutral stimulus becomes conditioned
hard + biological
free will and determinism - examples
- McGuffin et al
- studied 177 twins suffering major depression
- concordonace rate mz - 46% , 20% dz
- hereditory factors for major depression
for free will
free will and determinism - A03
- beleiveing in free will will link to higher levels of mental health
- robert et al
- proved people who had a sense of ‘fatalism’ were more likly to deal with depression
- even if we don’t have free will it still has a postive impact
against free will
free will and determinism - A03
- soon et al
- brain activity indicated an action predated our concious knowledge of having made a choice
- the brain had told them what to do in 10 secs before they were conciously aware
for determinsim
free will and determinism - A03
- everything has a cause (theory called casaulity)
- lab experiments used to control extranous variables - show cause and effect
- behaviourists assume behaviour has a cause
- free will is hard to measure so psycholgoists love determinsim
against determinism
free will and determinism - A03
- if behaviour like violence has a biological cause, should individuals be punished for breaking the law ?
- if we predict deviant behaviour through gentic screening what should be done?
- should we arrest people before they have done the behaviour ?
holism
holism & reductionism
emphasies the interconnectedness and interdependance of different ascoetcs of human behaviour and the mind
biological reductionism
holism & reductionism
to the way that biological psychologists try to reduce behaviour to a physcial level and explain it in terms of neurons, neurotransmitters, hormonse and brain structure
environmental reductionism
holism & reductionism
behaviourists psychologists assume that all behaviour can be reduced to the simple building blocks of S-R (stimulus and response) associations and that complex behaviours are a series of S-R chains
machine reductionism
holism & reductionism
the idea of viewing organisms, including humans, as machine-like entities where complex systems and behaviours can be understood by breaking the components of a machine
experimental reductionism
holism & reductionism
where complex behaviour is reduced to a single (isolated) variable for the purpose of testing
level of explanation
holism & reductionism
- The reductionist approach suggests that there are different levels of explanation.
- The lowest level considers physiological (biological) explanations, where behaviour is explained in terms of neurochemicals, genes and brain structure
- the middle level considers psychological explanations (e.g. cognitive and behavioural)
- the highest level considers social and cultural explanations, where behaviour is explained in terms of the influence of social groups.
examples of reductionism
holism & reductionism - A02
- biologcal , cogntive , humanistic approach
- lab and twin studies
- explanations for OCD
- classical and operant conditioning
for holism
holism & reductionism - A03
- provides rich detailed infomation about individual cases by considering all possible influences so you can treat people for their condition in a personalised way
- more likly to be succesful
- improves validity
against holism
holism & reductionism - A03
- often vauge in terms of what you can apply more generally, unscientific as too many variables to design an experiment
- lacks genralisability
- poor population validity
for reductionism
holism & reductionism - A03
- allows for scientific testing that means we can predict behaviour and therefore control or repeat it
- reliable
- replicable
- increase internal valdiity
against reductionism
holism & reductionism - A03
- doesnt adress wider influences jsut one aspect of behaviour
- misses things that may be important resulting in an incomplete explanation of behaviour and treatments
- incomplete explanation
idiographic
idiographic & nomothetic
- focuses on the individual differences
- qualatative data and individual experiences
- the study of individuals rather than groups
nomothetic
idiographic & nomothetic
- focuses on general principles and laws that apply to a group (large groups)
- .1. classifing people into groups
- .2. establishing principles
- .3. establishing dimensions
the nomothetic approach
idiographic & nomothetic
- use statistical/quantative techniques
- biological , cognitve , behaviourist approach
- experimental , correlation , psychometric testing
- .+ regarded as a science
- .+ helps psychology as a whole be more scientific
- .- low general validity
- .- may not apply to everyone
- .- looses sight of the person as a whole
idiographic approach
idiographic & nomothetic
- qualative data
- does not seek to formulate laws
- individuals or small groups
- case studies , unstructered interviews & thematic anaylsis
- .+ focuses on the individual
- .+ findings can serve as a hypothesis for later study
- .- time consuiming and expensive
case study - KF
idiographic & nomothetic
- memory
- an existing nomothetic theory (multi store model)
- motor bike accident affecting STM
- idiographic research led to a new modwl (working memory model )
case studies
idiographic & nomothetic
- phinease gage
- H.M
- Tan
- little albert
- david reimer
for idiographic research
idiographic & nomothetic - A03
- rich detailed data - treat people for their condition in a personalised way (client centered therapy)
- allows studies of behaviours which cant be manipulated
against idiographic research
idiographic & nomothetic - A03
- small sample size - cant generalised
- less scientific
- time consuming
for nomothetic research
idiographic & nomothetic - A03
- highly scientific - reliable
against nomothetic research
idiographic & nomothetic - A03
- ignores subjective experiences
- scientific - cant neccesarily apply the findings to real life
ethical guidlines
ethical issues & social sensitivity
- proffesional recommendations and advice for psychologists to follow as they do research or provide treatments
- consent
- debrief
- confidentuality
- deception
- right to withdraw
- protection of particiapnt
ethical issue
ethical issues & social sensitivity
- when research being conducted may impose some form of phsyical or psychological harm on particpants
ethical implications
ethical issues & social sensitivity
- affects studies and theories
- the impact or consequence that psycholgocal research has on the rights of other people in a wider contect
social sensitivity
ethical issues & social sensitivity
- the proficiency at which an individual can identify , percieve, and understand cues and contexts in social interactions along with being socially respectful to others
milgram
ethical issues & social sensitivity - A02
- deception - no informed consent
- significant distress
- discouraged from withdrawing
bowlby
ethical issues & social sensitivity - A02
- form attachments with mother, critical period
- materal deprivation
- big implications forwomen (staying home)
socially sensitve research
ethical issues & social sensitivity - A02
- any study that has a potential social consequence for the participamts of the group of people reprosented by the research
-
sieber and stanley - proposed 4 ascpects of scientific research that raised potential for ethical implications in SSR
1. research question - “are there racial differences in IQ” - think will it affect the particpants
2. methodology
3. institutional context - why are they funding it and what do they want to find
4. interoretation and application of findings
lowney (1995)
ethical issues & social sensitivity - A02
- observations of a group of teens satanists in small town
- documented these views and their lifes
- she blamed it on american schools
- ruining the school system, not blaming the kids , let people do what they want
humphreys
ethical issues & social sensitivity - A02
- looked into practices and social interactions of gay men meeting up in public toliet for sex
- posed as a gay man and met with them
- he took their personal details and found where they live
- found that gay men public behaviour was not harmful to anyone
- posing as gay man, lying , deception
raine
ethical issues & social sensitivity - A02
- carried out brain scans of violent criminals
- was damage in the areas that are associated with impulse control
- criminality brain type
- start to screen children for the brain type
- negative of ethical issues & social sensitivity
- discrimate against people
benefits for groups
ethical issues & social sensitivity - A03
- homosexuality
- in 1952 DSM-1 listed as a ‘sociopathic personality disorder’ but finally removed in 1973
- kinsey report - interviwed with over 5000 men about their sexual behaviour
- concluded that homosexuality is a normal variant of human life
real world application
ethical issues & social sensitivity - A03
- certain groups rely on research related to socially sentive issues
- for example childcare, education , mental health provisions
- psyhcology provides high quality research on socially sentive topics
