Paper 3

Question 1

Culture bias

Answer 1

When researchers misrepresent the differences between cultures.

Question 2

Universality

Answer 2

When a theory of behaviour applies to everyone.

Question 3

Ethnocentrism

Answer 3

When someone focusses on their own cultural perspective. (One may see their own culture as correct or more important and others as abnormal).

Question 4

Ethnocentric bias

Answer 4

When research lacks validity or reliability due to ethnocentrism (may be because researchers ignored other cultures completely, or because researchers studied other cultures but without understanding their cultural perspective.

Question 5

Cultural relativism

Answer 5

The idea that behaviours must be understood from the perspective of a specific culture.

Question 6

Cross cultural research

Answer 6

When research is carried out in different cultures to see if theories generalise or if there are cultural variations

Question 7

Limitations of ethnocentrism

Answer 7

• May lack external validity and reliability because the results may not generalise to other cultures.
  
  • Ethnocentric standards for normal behaviour mean that people from other cultures may be misdiagnosed with psychological conditions (deviation from social norms definition of abnormality)
    Other cultures may be devalued, leading to harmful stereotypes

Question 8

Strength of cultural relativism

Answer 8

Prevents ethnocentric bias

Question 9

Gender bias

Answer 9

Differences between men and women are misrepresented

Question 10

Alpha Bias

Answer 10

Researcher exaggerates differences between men and women or between different cultures

Question 11

Beta bias

Answer 11

researcher minimises or ignores differences between men and women or between cultures

Question 12

Androcentrism

Answer 12

When research focusses on male attitudes and behaviours. When this leads to a lack of validity or reliability, the study can be said to suffer androcentric bias. (e.g., Freud or fight/flight). This means inaccurate and misleading conclusions about female behaviour have gone unchallenged.

Question 13

Gynocentrism

Answer 13

Research focused on female behaviours and attitudes. When this leads to a lack of validity or reliability, the study can be said to suffer gynocentric bias. (Bowlby’s monotropic theory reinforced the stereotype that babies’ attachments to female caregivers are the most important, as a result, court cases have prioritised mothers over fathers when deciding who should be more involved in bringing up children). However, gynocentric research is not always biased, and can help balance out gender in the field of psychology.

Question 14

How can gender bias impact studies?

Answer 14

Can lead to biased observations: If researchers expect women and men to act differently, they may observe behaviour in one gender that they ignore in the other. They may have defined their behavioural categories in an incomplete way.
Can impact how results are interpreted, leading to biased conclusions.
Biased design: researchers may not be thinking about gender at all. This lack of thinking can impact their experimental design. E.g., Milgram, Zimbardo and Asch only included male participants, while Mosciovici only included female participants. (Research may suffer from beta bias)

Question 15

Socially sensitive research

Answer 15

When research is linked to a controversial social topic e.g., poverty, sexuality, race or gender. This research risks harming groups within society, or society as a whole.

Question 16

Ethical implications

Answer 16

The consequences of any research, study or theory. Consequences may impact individual participants, or whole societies.

Question 17

BPS Ethical guidelines

Answer 17

1. Informed consent
   
   2. Deception
   3. Protection from harm
   4. Right to withdraw
2. Confidentiality

Question 18

1988 Stanley and Sieber: All the ways that research can be socially sensitive:

Answer 18

• The research question: Some questions e.g., ‘Is there a genetic link between race and IQ?’ lend credibility to damaging prejudice. Asking these questions is harmful as it can spark conflict within society.
  
  • The conduct of research and treatment of participants: confidentiality and deception
  • The institutional context
• The interpretation and application of research findings.

Question 19

Stanley and Sieber: 2 reasons not to avoid socially sensitive research:

Answer 19

1. Moral duty to continue to research socially sensitive topics as scientists should always seek out the truth. Also researching sensitive topics can have positive outcomes. For example, continuing to research the link between race and IQ has shown the gap between black and white intelligence is diminishing. This suggests that the gap was due to environmental and educational disadvantages not genetics.
2. Risk vs Benefit
   • Research often has positive outcomes so risk/ benefit ratio should be considered.
   • It is hard to weigh risk against benefit of socially sensitive research
   • For example if by studying violent criminals it was found that they tend to have one specific gene, then this may be a benefit as crime could be prevented
   • HOWEVER, people with that gene may be discriminated against which is a risk
     By using Stanley and Sieber’s list, researchers can try to avoid harm when conducting research.

Question 20

Deception in socially sensitive research

Answer 20

• Consider the conduct of research and the treatment of participants
  
  • Milgram deceived people into believing that they had administered electric shocks. This deception was condemned, especially because his research had socially sensitive results. Milgram concluded that most people would participate, without being forced to, in the kind of acts that we condemn as evil. The results shocked people as they challenged people’s beliefs that the horrific acts of the Nazis could never occur in America. HOWEVER, only 1% of participants regretted their participation in the study as many believed the results of Milgram’s study were important for the world to know. It was not the participants, but rather broader society who was harmed by the deception.
    Researchers can use debriefs to explain to participants why deception is necessary.

Question 21

Institutional context

Answer 21

• Is the institution conducting the research a private company, university or government and how do they want to use the research?
  
  • Some private companies only publish research that makes them a profit, which could be damaging in the case of socially sensitive research. For example, a dieting company may publish research that suggests obesity is entirely within an individuals control, but hide research that suggests biological factors have an influence. This can increase stigma and judgement around obesity.
    A campaign called ‘AllTrials’ has been started which aims to ensure that all medical trials are published/ reported, even if they are conducted by private companies. This could be extended to socially sensitive research, ensuring that research is published regardless of institutional contexts. This prevents private companies only publishing research that will increase their profits

Question 22

Interpretation and application of research findings:

Answer 22

• 1903 - Alfred Binet created the first intelligence test
  
  • Some people in US believed intelligence was entirely hereditary. They feared that if less intelligent people continued to reproduce then the overall intelligence of the country would reduce and society would collapse
  • The US government used IQ tests to determine the less intelligent members of the population who were subsequently sterilised.
  • HOWEVER, the extent to which genetics influence inheritence is disputed
  • The US government used Binet’s research in a harmful way towards innocent people
  • Researchers should therefore consider how their findings will be interpreted and applied
    HOWEVER, it is often difficult to predict all the different ways that research could be applied… How could Binet know that his intelligence research would result in forced sterilisation?

Question 23

Undermining Objectivity? Limitation of Stanley and Sieber

Answer 23

• Stanley and Sieber argue that experimenters should weigh up the risks and benefits of their socially sensitive research
  
  • If the risks outweigh the benefits, then something needs to be changed to reduce the risk but this change can reduce objectivity
  • If researchers have to adjust their study to avoid social sensitivity, then the validity of their results may be compromised.
    EXAMPLE: Studies into homelessness in 1980s didn’t want to increase stigma around homeless people. They therefore ignored internal factors such as alcohol and drug addiction, instead focussing on external factors such as government spending. Unfortunately, this exaggerated the effects of external factors and underestimated the effects of internal factors. This could reduce help towards the homeless and undermine trust in research.

Question 24

Engaging with policymakers and the media

Answer 24

• Socially sensitive findings may be published in the media and may lead to unhelpful policy development
  
  • For example, if a study found that stay at home mothers were the best at raising children, then this could lead to policies being removed that allow mothers to share maternity/ paternity leave with fathers.
  • Researchers should ensure conclusions are written in a way that is easy to interpret
  • Engage with policymakers and the media. Explain the meaning of the research, its limitations, and its underlying assumptions.
    HOWEVER, this only prevents harm caused from misinterpretation and cannot prevent harm caused by people who want to use research for unethical purposes.

Question 25

Mate retention strategies

Answer 25

Mechanisms to prevent infidelity

Direct guarding: Male vigilance over a partner’s behaviour e.g., checking who they have been seeing, keeping tabs on their whereabouts, trackers on phone
Negative inducements: issuing threats of dire consequence for infidelity “I’ll kill myself if you leave me

Question 26

Social constructionism (Gender dysphoria)

Answer 26

• Argues gender identity disorder does not reflect underlying biological differences between people but rather these concepts are invented by societies.
• For dysphoric individuals, confusion arises because society forces people to pick between male and female
• Gender is therefore a social condition, not a pathological one
• Supported by other cultures having more than 2 genders e.g., fafofini and sambia boys born looking female