Issues & Debates Flashcards
What is gender bias ?
(Gender Bias)
Research which does not accurately represent the experience/behaviour of men and women
What is alpha bias ?
(Gender Bias)
Bias which exagerates the difference between the sexes
What is beta bias ?
(Gender Bias)
Bias which ignores or underestimates the difference between men and women
What is androcentrism ?
(Gender Bias)
Possible consequence of beta bias
When all male samples are used - normal behaviour is judged as the male standard
This means female behaviour is often seen as abnormal
Consequence - Female behaviour is misunderstood as they are examined in comparison with a man
Evaluation - Sexism within the research process
(Gender Bias)
Point - Lack of women appointed at senior research level, means female concerns not reflected in questions. Male researchers are more likely to have work published. Studies which find gender differneces are more likely to appear in journal articles
Further - Male researchers are more pleasent, friendly and encouraging to female participants leading to an exagerated difference in results
Evaluation - Implications of alpha bias
(Gender Bias)
Point - Gender bias research can create misleading assumptions about female behaviour, failing to challenge negative stereotypes and validate discriminatory pratices would lead to unequal opportunites in the workplace for women
Real life application - Walkerdine reported that in the 1930s research revealed that ‘intellectual activity’ shrinks womens ovaries
Evaluation - Reducing gender bias
(Gender Bias)
Point - Psychologists have tried to reduce bias by developing theories that emphasis the importance or value of women. Cornwall et al - claims females are better at learning as they are more attentive and organised.
Further - Judith Worrell put foward a criteria that should be followed to avoid gender bias
What is culture bias ?
(Culture Bias)
Ignoring cultural differences and examining behaviour through the ‘‘lens’’ of ones own culture
What is ethnocentrism ?
(Culture Bias)
Belief that ones own cultural group is superior to others
What are the etic and emic approaches ?
(Culture Bias)
Etic - attempts to study behaviour across multiple cultures to find universal human behaviour
Emic - identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture
What is cultural relativism ?
(Culture Bias)
norms and values can only be meaningful and understood when we look at them in their specific social and cultural contexts
Evaluation - Consequences - amplifies and validates stereotypes ?
(Culture Bias)
Point - US army used IQ tests before WW1that were culturally biased towards white majority therefore African Americans were bottom of the scale.
Further - Use of Ainsworth’s to judge attachment in other cultures has led to a misinterpretation of child rearing in other countries, such as stereotyping German parents as cold and neglecting
Evaluation - There is some behaviour which is universal
(Culture Bias)
Point - Some behaviours are universal. Ekman suggested that basic expressions for happiness and sadness are the same everywhere
Further - One of the criteria of Ainsworth’s strange situation study is interactional synchrony which is a universal attachment behaviour
Evaluation - Individualism and collectivism distinction no longer exists ?
(Culture Bias)
Point - Psychologists always use individualist and collectivist cultures. However, as the world is globally interconnected these distinctions are lazy and no longer apply
Further - Takano and Osaka found 14/15 studies that compared USA to Japan found no evidence of a traditional distinction
Define free will ?
(Free Will and Determinism)
the idea that humans can make choices that are not determined by biological or external forces
Define determinism ?
(Free Will and Determinism)
the view that an individual’s behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than free will
Define hard and soft determinsim ?
(Free Will and Determinism)
Hard determinism - Behaviour is always caused by internal or external events beyond our control, implying free will is not possible
Soft determinism - behaviour is determined by internal or external or forces but an individual can still exercise some control through their conscious choices
What is biological determinism ?
(Free Will and Determinism)
belief that behaviour is determined by biological influences we cannot control
What is environmental determinism ?
(Free Will and Determinism)
the belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment
What is psychic determinism ?
(Free Will and Determinism)
the belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts that we cannot control
Evaluation - Determinism meets aims of science
(Free Will and Determinism)
Point - Dterminism meets the aims of science, because we can test theories for behaviour, which has led to the development of treatments
Counter - Hard determinism goes against our legal system which is based on free will and taking responsibility, people would be unable to take responsibility if we could blame their behaviour on their biology
Evaluation - Free will can lead to good mental health ?
(Free Will and Determinism)
Point - People with an internal locus of control believe they have control over events and behaviours this is more mentally healthy. Robert et al found those with fantalistic thinking were at greater risk of developing depression.
Counter - Chung Siong Soon et al found brain activity determines outcome of simple choices happens before we are aware of made a choice
Evaluation - Interactionist might be the best
(Free Will and Determinism)
Point - Interactionist approach considers both free will and determinism. Approaches that have a coginitive element such as SLT may be most appropriate
Further - SLT is interactionist as it claims we learn from our environment and we make the choice as to if we imitate the behaviour
Define nature approach ?
(Nature vs Nurture)
The view that behaviour is the product of innate biological or genetic factors
Define nurture approach ?
(Nature vs Nurture)
The view that behaviour is the product of environmental influences
Can you seperate nature and nurture ?
(Nature vs Nurture)
Nature and nurture are so closely intertwined that it makes no sense to try and seperate the two
What is the interactionist approach ?
(Nature vs Nurture)
We should study how nature and nurture interact with eachother
Evaluation - Nature - Real life application - Explanation for offending behaviour ?
(Nature vs Nurture)
Point - Christiansen found concordance rate of 33% for MZs and 12% for DZs for offending behaviour suggesting offending has a genetic component
Counter - Social learning theory can explain offending behaviour. Sutherland suggests criminal behaviour is learned through interactions with significant others, suggests environment plays an important role
Evaluation - Nature can shape nurture ?
(Nature vs Nurture)
Point - Plamin et al stated there are genetic influences on parental behaviour which creates a particular environment in which children are raised.
Further - constructivism – people can create their own “nurture” by actively selecting environments appropriate to their “nature”
Evaluation - Nurture may affect nature ?
(Nature vs Nurture)
Point - Neural plasticity claims life experiences can shape biology. Maguire et al investigated the hippocampi volume of london taxi drivers brains and found the region was larger than non-taxi drivers (nurture)
Further - When the brain experiences trauma and damage, it undergoes functional recovery whereby it rewires itself to fix the problem. The environment has fixed the nature.
What is holism ?
(Holism and Reductionism)
A theory which suggests it only makes sense to study an undivided system rather than its constituent parts
What is reductionism ?
(Holism and Reductionism)
theory that human behaviour is best explained by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts
What is biological reductionism ?
(Holism and Reductionism)
The attempt to explain social and psychological phenomena at a lower biological level
What is environmental reductionism ?
(Holism and Reductionism)
The attempt to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience
Evaluation - Biological reductionism - drug therapies ?
(Holism and Reductionism)
Point - Biological reductionism has led to the development of drug therapies which have led to a reduction of institutionalistionand is a more humane treatment of mental illness
Counter - drug therapy only treats the symptoms not the causes which may not have a lasting effect
Evaluation - Weakness - Reductionism - Ignores complexity of human behaviour ?
(Holism and Reductionism)
Point - Biological reductionism can lead to errors of understanding as it ignores the complexity of human behaviour
Further - an interactionist approach may be necessary which considers how an individuals biology can interact to the environment
Evaluation - Strength - Holistic - Helps to explain social behaviour ?
(Holism and Reductionism)
Point - Some social behaviour can only be understood by analysing interactions with others and the whole experience
Counter - Holistic explanations cannot usually be scientifically tested because they are too vague. This means some theories will be unscientific
What is the idiographic approach ?
(Idiographic and Nomothetic)
an approach to research which focuses more on the individual case to understand behaviour, not to formulate general laws of behaviour
gain insight into the person’s unique way of viewing the world
What is the nomothetic approach ?
(Idiographic and Nomothetic)
Attempts to study human behaviour by developing general principles and universal laws
Evaluation - Strength - Nomothetic approach uses scientific methods ?
(Idiographic and Nomothetic)
Point - Nomothetic approach is involved with more scientific testing under standardised conditions This allowspsychologists to establish norms for ‘typical’ behaviour
Counter - By focusing on making general laws the nomothetic approach “loses the whole person”. Ex schizophrenia only affects 1% of people but this doesnt tell us what itslike to have schizophrenia
Evaluation - Strength - Idiographic approach useful for evaluating theories ?
(Idiographic and Nomothetic)
Point - It provides a complete account of the individual and may shed light or challenge general theories. Ex case study of HM and developed amnesia was unable to remeber facts but could perform procedures. Showed LTM has different stores and MSM didnt account for this.
Counter - This is unscientific and you cant make meaningful generalisations.
Evaluation - Should view these as complementary ?
(Idiographic and Nomothetic)
Point - Psychologists can be tempted to use either or. But many approaches use both.
Further - the goal of modern psychology is to describe the richness of the human experience as well as provide explanations for human behaviour within a framework of general laws
What are ethical implications ?
(Ethical Implications)
Ehtical issues occur when there is a need to gain valid data but also protect the rights of the participant. These are dealt with through ethical guidelines
However it is hard to protect the social impact once research has been conducted
Define socially sensitive research ?
(Ethical Implications)
Studies in which there are potential consequences or implications, either directly for participants or for the class of individuals represented by the research
What do you need to consider with socially sensitive research ?
(Ethical Implications)
Implications - the wider effects of research, considering whether study may give scientific credence to prejudice or discrimination
Uses/Public policy - What the research is likely to be used for
Impact - Researchers should ensure that interpretation of the data or findings has no impact on the Ps involved or the group of people that those Ps represent
Evaluation - Socially sensitive research can be good for society
(Ethical Implications)
Point - Can provide an insight into controversial topics and promote greater understanding and awareness. Scarr claimed more studies on gender and race variables are needed to help underrepresented people to suceed in society
Further - Research into eyewitness testimony have been useful for society. Loftus and Palmer showed that eyewitness testimony can not always be trusted which has helped prevent miscarriages of justice
Evaluation - Limitation - Socially sensitive research may be damaging for society ?
(Ethical Implications)
Point - Sieber and Stanley stated socially sensitive research can give scientific credence for prejudice or discrimination
Counter - Sieber and Stanley argue this does not mean psychologists should not carry out socially sensitive research, but should ensure findings are reported in a socially sensitive way
Evaluation - Psychologists should assess research on its own merits ?
(Ethical Implications)
Point - Cost benefit analysis should be used for all research that is potentially socially sensitive. Weigh up potential costs in terms of ethical implications the possible benefits of research to psychology to determine if it should be allowed
Counter - some wider ethical implications of research involving vunerable groups may be difficult to anticipate. So the real impact can be known once made public
