Issues & Debate Flashcards
What is cultural bias
A tendency to ignore cultural differences & interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of one’s culture
Universality
Psychology claims to have universality (when a theory/ concept/ research can be applied to everyone/ all irrespective of gender or culture
- in 1992, 64% of the worlds 56 000 psychology researchers were American
- a social psychology textbook had 94% of its studies conducted in North America
- these stats suggest that psychology is dominated by white American males
-yet we claim to know universal “facts” about human behaviour
Cultural bias in social influence studies
E.g. social influence research; Asch, milgram, zimbardo all used American male samples, yet generalised thief findings to every culture
- people conform due to NSI and ISI
- the power of the situation causes people to conform to their social roles
- people will harm others if ordered by an authority figure
- but when Milgrams study was replicated in Germany and Australia findings were difference , 87% 16%
Ethnocentrism
Judging other cultures by the standing values of one’s own culture (believing your own culture to be the norm and therefore superior compared to others)
e.g. defining abnormality - deviation from social norms (even failure to function adequately)
even diagnosis - Cochrane found that African Caribbean immigrants were 7 times more likely to be diagnosed with a mental disorder in the UK
Aithsworth’s strange situation
when she found out that 70% of children were securely attached in her study, she concluded this was the ‘healthy, desirable’ attachment style
but Van Ijendoorn conducted a meta analysis on 8 countries, 32 studies, that showed very different proportions of each attachment type
ainsworth was judging other cultures through her findings- believing the norms for every culture was the same as in Britain (Universal)
Culturalism relativism
the idea that norms, vales, ethics and moral standards can only be meaningful and understood within the social and cultural context that it originated
“it doesn’t need to make sense to the, only to us”
e.g. spirituality - often understood to differ across cultures, religious practices, Christmas
- lack of cultural relativism in psychology
- Evaluating cultural bias
Theoretical value
Many (classic studies) in psychology sffer from culture bias because they use ppts from one culture (usually american/western) and apply conclusions to all cultures
e.g. social influence , research by Asch and milgram was only conducted by Us white males, middle class
We must now question whether our understanding of social influence behaviour applies to anyone beyond that demographic (e.g. collectivist cultures)
lack of universality threatens the explanatory power and validity of most psychological research
e.g. smith and born found that conformity rayes in Asch-type studies were most higher in collectivist cultures (japan, hong kong, fiji) than individualistic ones (US)
however some large that the individualist - collectivist distinction doesn’t apply to cultures today)
- its traditionally believed that those from individualistic cultures value independence whilst those from collectivist cultures value the needs to the groups/ community more)
- this is due to increase in media globalisation- we can learn a lot more about differences across cultures through social media, youtube, so differences in behaviour may not be as significant
e.g. takaro & osaka looked at 15 studies that compared US and Japan for evidence of individualism/ collectivism - 14/15 studies found no evidence
Ethnic stereotyping
Cultural bias encyclical research has led to prejudice against particular groups of people
the first IQ test made were Piloted on US Army recruits where many items on the test were ethnocentric
E.g. Knowing the names of all the US presidents
- recruits with the lowest scores came from southeast and European and african-american backgrounds
- conclusions didn’t acknowledge that poor performance was due to issues with the test, instead it was concluded that people from those ethnic groups were generally inferior
- it was concluded to believe that the ethnic minorities were particularly mentally unfit and feeble-minded and comparison to the white majority
A solution? Cultural psychology
Engagement of cultural bias in research has led to the emergence of cultural psychology
- this study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experiences
this discipline involves working with sociologists anthropologists and political scientists as well as local psychologists ( from the same culture as participants studied)
this study specific cultural groups using culturally specific tools to investigate behavior
- results and conclusions are only applied to people from the culture that has been investigated ( cultural relevatism)
this is to avoid making ethnocentric assumptions about people’s behavior
gender bias
when psychological research or theory offers a view that doesn’t justifiably represents the experience as behaviours of all genders
universality in psychology research is threatened by gender ( and cultural) bias
bias against men
Isabella’s interactional synchrony study only looked as women as primary caregivers
bias against women
asch only looked at men
types of bias
alpha bias
beta bias
alpha bias
theories that exaggerate and overestimate differences between gender groups that are assumed to be real and enduring
e.g. attachment roles
beta bias
theories that ignore minimise differences between gendered that are assumed to be insignificant
social influence e.g. milgram, asch
Alpha bias in freuds psychosexal stages
He generally viewed femininity as ‘ failed masculinity’
- in the third psychosexual stage Freud went into detail about boys experiences of the oedipus complex
- he had a low Lester say about girls electra complex but once as far as to say that girls have penis envy
- boys experience fear of castration of their most prized possession and girls experience envy of not having one and just settle for being a woman as they grow up?
alpha bias in attatchment
Grossman found that Father’s attachment did not impact quality of attachment in their teen children but quality of play did( but mothers attachment did)
- maternal deprivation? why is there a theory on paternal deprivation
beta bias example
more apparent in psychology but harder to justify
- the fight or flight response : a supposedly universal Theory that was best purely on male animals
Why? it was suggested that because females had more hormones that flocked and consistently it was more reliable to study on male samples. nonetheless it was concluded that the fight or flight response was a universal response to threat
however Taylor (2000) found that female biology may have involved to inhibit the fight or flight response. with attention shifting towards caring for their offspring and have developed defensive strategies with other females
Androcentrism
Consequence of beta bias is androcentrism
male centered: when ‘ normal’ behavior is judged according to the male standard ( meaning that that’s the female behavior is abnormal or deficient in comparison
How did psychology become androcentric
-Women outnumber men in psychology, but not in the fields top positions
- there has been a lack of female’s appointed to senior research positions within the discipline
- according to Clay (2017) women made up 58% of the APAs members but were underrepresented in the top honours and editorial roles. Just 18% of editors of APA journals are women
-so men have the top roles, are the lead researchers, choose all-male samples and which studies to publish
Example of androcentrism
if all studies are on men, conducted by men and interpreted by men, then the standard of ‘normal’ bahaviour is completely male focused
PMs
pre menstural syndrome - criticised for being a steryotypical social construction that attempts to medicalise female emotions rather than truly understand them
Angry outburst from women = “hysterical, time of the month”
Angry outburst from men = a normal rational responce
androcentrism isnt just misunderstanding, its encouraging stereotypes and mistreatment/ misdiagnosis
Gender bias Evaluation
Negative Ethical Implications
- misleading assumptions about female behaviour
e.g. PMs, relationship formation - no challenge to negative stereotypes
women are labelled as weaker, inferior, irrational, hysterical - socially sensitive - these things offer scientific ‘justificataion’ to deny women opportunities in the workplace (sec discrimination)
- diagnosis for disorders (e.g. depression) - mental health women more likely to be diagnosed with depression with the same symptoms
ADHD/ skitzophrania - more common in men (or better understood?) or women mask?
- misdiagnosis, incorrect/unessecessry treatment, economic implications
gender bias doesn’t just cause methodological issues in research but also damaging consequences in the real world
Gender bias Evaluation
Sexism within the research process
theres a lack of women appointed for senior research positions within the discipline
- its mainly men that approve the studies, write the research aims, pick the samples and publish the research
-in lab studies the lead (often male) research has the power to label female ppts as too emotional irrational or unable to complete tasks, dismissing their data from analysis
- this creates/ widens a gender data gap - less is known and understood about women’s behaviour decreasing the validity and credibility of the discipline as a whole
- it closes the gender bias cycle - women’s behaviour will never be understood if they are not included anywhere in research process (ppts, researcher, journal editor)
Gender bias Evaluation
What is the solution?
-Should we avoid alpha bias? can highlighting gender differences be a good thing?
- can minimizing gender differences have negative consequences?
some have argued that a quality between the sexes and psychological research is not always a benefit e.g. maternity/ paternity leave. if biological demands of pregnancy( breastfeeding, lab) war minimise/ ignored, women would not be entitled to more time of work
- Cornwall 2013 found that women are better at learning because they are more attentive. it could be useful in the workplace to know men and women have different strengths
To conclude gender bias
gender bias is a constant cyclical issue in psychology mainly because women are unrepresented across the discipline
solutions: not to pretend women and men are the same, not to assume one gender can represent all, but to include all genders in psychological research
Ethical implications
Ethical implications refer to how research may be used in real life( for policies, in media) as well as how it can make people feel.
Social sensitivity
social sensitivity only refers to how research makes people feel( how it impacts their beliefs, perceptions and potentially behavior
- socially sensitive is the Ethical implication we have focused on most so far in psychology
Socially sensitive research
Research that has potential consequences or implications if the directly for participants in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research
E.g. investigating cognitive processes involved in long-term memory, investigating the genetic basis of criminality. the second is more socially sensitive, blaming genetics, phrsing
Example of SS theory
agentic state, becks cognitive theory for depression, attachment types
Example of SS study
ainsworth’s attatchment types, 44 thives affectionless psychopathy
short answer questions A03 Solutions
The research process
Sieber and stanley 1988
Wrote a paper on how ethical implications on social sensitive research could be avoided
three main aspects:
- the research question
- dealing with participants( meeting ethical guidelines)
- use use of findings
The research question
- Phrasing may influence how findings are interpreted( by public and media)
E.g. “genetic risk factor in alternative relationship”- word “alternative” has negative implications, “genetic risk factors” is undesirable
Dealing with ppts (meeting ethical guidelines)
-Some topics maybe sensitive which will require informed consent/ confidentiality e.g. research on domestic abuse victims
Use of findings
Important to consider which companies have funded the research and why- could they benefit from misinterpreting findings? media attention
it should be considered how findings could be misinterpreted in general
ethical issues
protection of ppts involved in psychological research
ethical implications
the impact or consequences that psychological research has on other people in society, not just the ppts in the research (this can include specific vulnerable groups or have wider societal impacts)
ethical guidelines were crated for another reason
to consider the impact the research may have on those outside the study (wider population)
Why are ethical implications an issue?
When it comes to consideration of ethics researchers can control the methods used, treatment of participants etc
nomothetic approach
an approach to research that focuses on a large sample to develop general laws and principles
research methods associated with idiographic approach
case study, open questionnaires, unstructured interviews, produce qualitative data
clive wearing, KF,HM NOT LITTLE ALBERT (aim of investigation was to generalise)
research methods associated with nomothetic approach
experiments, observations, closed questions, structured interviews, produces quantitative data
ainsworth’s strange situation, observation
Approaches - idiographic
always idiographic because it focuses on subjective unique experience of individual with no aim to generalise or compare ##Rodgers and Maslow took pride in rejecting science by ignoring experimental methods and quantitative data
although freud used radiographic methods, he didn’t have idiographic aims
Approaches - nomothetic
the biological approach takes a nomothetic approach to investigation
e.g. looks at a large sample and generalises findings such as family and twin studies
genetic basis of behaviour e.g. OCD
- SLT bandura’s bobo doll study, large sample 36 girls 36 boys, generalised to understand observational learning
ethical implications cant control
- interpretation/ misunderstanding findings in the media
- impact on public publicity
- influence on the perceptions of particular groups (beliefs )
misleading interpretation/ misrepresentation of the findings examples
- Grossman role of the father
Field contradicts grossman’s findings
Impact on public society examples
-benifit of cognitive interview
influence on how particular group are perceived
-44 thives affectionless psycopathology- bowlby
Cyril Burt
- worked for london county concil at the time
- aimed to investigate whether intelligence is genetic
- studied identical twins and found when reared apart their IQ’s were similar
- his research greateky influence thee Hadow report 1926 which led to the creation of the 11+ exam
was later found that he made all all the data up!
the research question- investigating whether intelligent is genetic can have serious implications in the real world discovery of ‘intelligent genes’
conduct of research and treatment of ppts - he conducted no real research and made up ppts
- use of findings- worked for the london county council - who would have neem likely to want to use his research
- his findings influenced public policy and public exams affected generations of education
