Issues & Debates Flashcards
Gender bias
Psychologists, like everyone else, hold beliefs and values that have been influenced by the social and historical context in which they live
These beliefs may be biased, i.e. leaning towards a subjective view that doesn’t necessarily reflect objective reality
Bias undermines and threatens psychology’s claim to universality, the idea that conclusions drawn from research can be applied to all, regardless of differences of experiences and upbringing
In the connect of gender bias, psychological research may offer a view that doesn’t justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of men or women (usually women)
Gender bias - alpha bias
With regards to sexism, alpha bias refers to the assumption that there are real and enduring differences between men and women but then having the tendency to over-exaggerate these differences
Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages is an example of alpha-based theory because he viewed feminists as failed masculinity, an inescapable difference
In his discussion of female development, Freud claimed that ‘we must not allow ourselves to…. Regard the two sexes as completely equal in position and worth’ (Freud 1925)
As Ruthellen Josselson (1988) points out ‘classical psychoanalyst theory is grounded in the genital infertility of women and deduces their moral inferiority as well’
The ‘deficiency’ of women was, according to Freud, caused by the absence of a penis
- women are jealous of men’s penises (penis envy) and they are morally inferior because of the superego, which governs moral behaviour, develops from the Oedipus complex and women don’t experience this
There are significant differences in the rates of diagnosis for men and women for certain disorders
- women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and specific phobias whereas men are more likely to be diagnosed with alcohol abuse or anti-social conducts (Robins et al. 1984)
There are no significant differences with disorders such as sz and bipolar disorder
One explanation for why differences exist with some disorders but not others is based on gender stereotypes
Ford and Widiger (1988) gave psychiatrists written case studies
Personality disorders were correctly diagnosed 80% of the time when the patients was said to be female but only 30% of the time with males
Worrell and Remer (1992) suggested that bias might be due to traditional sex stereotypes which mean that clinicians are more likely to interpret women’s behaviours as hysterical or submissive
With this personality disorder, it means that men are less likely to be able to access treatment for it and therefore won’t be able to live more stably, or of they are misdiagnosed with it, it would mean they are receiving the wrong treatment
However, this bias could also affect females too
If psychiatrists have a bias in thinking that women have this disorder, they may may also be more likely to be misdiagnosed with it, again meaning they don’t access the right treatment
Gender bias - beta bias
Gender bias - androcentrism and the ‘invisibility’ of women in psychology
Gender bias - bias in the research process
Dealing with gender bias
Gender bias - concluding points
Culture bias - introduction
Most psychological knowledge is based on a WEIRD population
- Westernised, Educated people from Industrialised, Rich Democracies
There are a range of findings that can illustrate this
1. Of the studies in a British psychological textbook,, 66% were American, 32% were European and 2% came from the rest of the world (Smith & Bond, 1998)
2. 82% of research studies use undergraduates as ppts and 51% were psychology students (Sears, 1986)
3. 96% of research ppts in a sample of hundreds of studies in leading psychological journals came from Western countries and of those studies using US ppts, 67% were undergraduates studying psychology (Heinrich, 2010)
This could cause of potential issue as culture bias is a threat to psychology’s claim of universality
When does culture bias occur?
When people of one culture make assumptions about the behaviour of people from another culture based on their own cultural norms and practise
Culture is a learned shared set of behaviours, values, norms and attitudes
However, the geography (location) of the research isn’t itself the issue we are considering here
- don’t assume that there is a cultural bias is simply because the research was carried out in one particular country
- for example, the Loftus and Palmer study, which was conducted by US researchers and involved US ppts wouldn’t be considered culturally biased
- this is because the behaviour being studied (memory processes) isn’t something that varied across cultures
Furthermore, the concept of culture doesn’t just apply to people living in different geographical locations
Sub-cultures don’t have a particular geographical identity but do have a common set of cultures, beliefs etc
- e.g. anti-school, hippies/anti-establishment, goths, religious groups
We can also regard different historical periods as different cultures
The findings of earlier research may not generalise to modern times
For example:
- Freudian theory
- Asch conformity - 1950s America, culturally biased to 1950s America due to Red Scare and McCarthyism, people reporting each other, people would conform so they didn’t stand out
