Issues And Debates Flashcards
What is gender bias
Gender bias is the preference towards one gender
It can either exaggerate or minimise differences between males and females
What is alpha bias (gender bias)
Alpha bias is when differences between males and females are exaggerated
What can alpha bias be used to do
Can be used to undervalue one of the sexes
Differences are sometimes attributed to difference in biology (genetics or hormones)
What is beta bias
Where differences between males and females are ignored or minimised
When can beta bias happen
This can happen when studies just include participants of one gender but then the conclusions are applied to the while population
What is Androcentrism
Where males are viewed as being at the centre of culture
In psychological terms, male behaviour is seen as the norm applied to women, or it can mean that any differences woe,m display are seen as exceptions to the rule
What is estrocentrism
Where female behaviour is seen as the norm
This is much rarer phenomenon than androcentrism
What can make gender bias more likely
Research designs
Why are research designs important in gender bias
Because the research methods that psychologists use can cause the results and conclusions to be gender biases and different research designs can unintentionally cause alpha/beta bias
What is publication bias?
Gender bias can be created as a result of publication bias, as not all studies are published
it has been reported that any studies that produces positive findings are more likely to be published than studies that don’t
This can exaggerate differences between males and females and so produce an alpha bias
Name 3 theories that show gender bias
Freud, Asch’s and Bem’s
How does Freud’s theory show gender bias
Freud’s theories usually described male behaviour as the norm, explaining female behaviour as anything which differed from the norm
For examples, Freud proposed that when girls find out that they don’t have a penis, they suffer from what he termed ‘penis envy’
How does Ash’s theory show gender bias
Study into conformity was androcentric he used a male-only sample meaning that his results couldn’t be generalised to women
What does culture refer to
Culture refers to the set of customs, social roles, behavioural norms and moral values that are shared by a group of people.
Historically there hasn’t been much research to compare people of different cultures what are 3 reasons for this?
1) research assumed that people from western cultures are essentially the same as the people in other cultures so whatever was found about one was applied to others
2) It may have been assumes that non-western cultures were more ‘primitive’ and less worthy
3)research’s who wanted to do cross-cultural research couldn’t because they lacked time and resources
What is culture bias and what can cause cultural bias?
refers to interpreting and judging human behaviour based on cultural norms and experiences
often stems from ethnocentric perspective
caused by Research methods
What can cultural bias be the result of
A researchers assumption and research time
What did Berry (1969) identify about cultural bias
2 main approaches that might lead to cultural bias
Etic and emic research
What is Etic research?
Research from a specific culture which is then applies to other cultures to find universal laws, giving the studies universality
It’s possible that there are lots of these, all humans have basically the same physiology and many behaviours are found in all cultures
How we, because studies have to take samples of the population it’s difficult to generalise the findings to all cultures of researchers do this they could be guilty of bias in the form of an imposed Etic
What is meant by emic research
Researched bases on specific culture that is used to understand that culture from within
It isn’t generalised to other cultures, instead it studies variations in behaviour between groups of people
This avoids the problem of cultural bias through an imposed Etic
However bias may still occur by exaggerating differences between different cultural groups,and neglecting to look at the differences within the cultural groups
What is the issue of sub-culture bias
Etic or emic bias for sub-groups within larger groups
What is ethnocentrism (cultural bias)
Where our own culture is taken as the norm that we judges other cultures against ethnocentric research is centered around the one culture it’s based in
So as most studies have people form western cultures a lot of them are endocentric
Give 2 examples of studies that are ethnocentric
Asch’s
Milgram
What social implications does cultural bias
Culturally biased studies will produce culturally based theories, this has important implications for society because psychologists might be making claims that aren’t true
It’s especially problematic when biased views influence psychological practice
What can cross cultural research help reduce
The effects of cultural bias
What’s are the 2 problems with cross cultural research
1) Even with translator it can be difficult to interpret what participants say and do, some beliefs and customs may be difficult for people from other cultures to understand
2) cross cultural replications of studies are difficult to do smith and bond said that prefect cross cultural relationships are impossible because procedures will have different meaning in different culture
There are ways to reduce cultural bias what are they?
Cultural bias usually isn’t intentional so it can be difficult to prevent
1) research should recognizes cultural relativism this is accepting that there are no universal standards for behaviour and that any research done must take into account the culture
2) samples should be representative if the groups you want to generalize the results to they should include all relevant sub-groups
3) Berry (1969) recommended conducting research in meaningful contexts and using local research who are part of the culture being studies avoiding problems of an imposed etic
What is free will
People are able to choose how to behave their behaviors isn’t a repair e to external or biological factors and isn’t influenced by past behavior
What are some comments about free will
People can explain behaviors in terms of decisions and interactions
However, free will is subjective so some might think they’re choosing how to behave but actually be influenced by other forces
Some people with psychological disorders don’t appear to have free will
What is determinism
All of the physical events in the universe occur in cause and effect relationships
So out thoughts and beliefs and behaviors are determined by past events and causes
This is a scientific view that implies that complete knowledge of a cause and effect relationship with mean you can predict future behaviors in the same situation
What are some of the comments on determinism
the determinist approach is very scientific, other scientific subjects have shown that events in the physical universe operate according to cause and effect relationships that follow certain laws
however, determinism is unfalsifiable, it cant be proved wrong because it assumes that events can be a result of forces that haven’t been discovered yet
opposed to hard determinism which completely rules out the idea of free will what is soft determinism
is the viewpoint that we choose our behaviour but the choices that we make are a result of our own personality traits and intentions most psychological approaches hold this view just to different degrees
how does the psychodynamic approach show determinism/free will
freud argued that behaviour is determined by unconscious forces, this is know as psychic determinism
freud claims that forgetting an appointment for an example is actually determined by unconscious influences (e.g didn’t actually want to go) acknowledging that these behaviours have many causes including conscious intentions
how does the biological approach show determinism/free will
Behaviours are determined by biological influences the idea that this is the sole cause of behaviour is known as biological determinism
how does the cognitive approach show determinism/ freewill
behaviour is the result of both free will and determinism
this approach looks for patterns in how the brain processes external information and what behaviours this leads to
but acknowledges that people use cognitive processes like language to reason and make decisions
