Gender and Culture in Psychology

Question 1

What is Feminism?

Answer 1

Feminism is a political movement which addresses discrimination prejudice and violence towards women, and how to bring about gender equality.

Question 2

Feminist psychology is concerned with exposing how psychological theory and research is?

There is 5 points, recall at least 3.

Answer 2

Largely based on the experiences of and the reference point of men.

Largely based on the behaviour of men.

Gender biased because it either ignores the differences which exist between men and women or exaggerates the differences between the genders and judges women’s behaviour as a deviation from a male ‘norm’.

Has favoured biological rather than social explanations of gender differences, and thus reinforced the idea that gender differences are inevitable, natural and unchangeable. This reinforces traditional stereotypes: e.g. women being naturally more emotionally unstable than men.

Has in a variety of ways labelled women as inferior/abnormal and produced theories which justify and legitimise prejudice, discrimination, lack of quality and violence towards women.

Question 3

How did early psychological theory often seem to mirror the prejudices of late 19th Century Europe?

Answer 3

Early and biased intelligence tests revealed women as less intelligent than men.

Frued regarded women as less moral than men.

Question 4

What are the results of early psychological theory mirroring the prejudices of late 19th century Europe?

Answer 4

These psychological theories have practical consequences, for example early IQ tests were taken as evidence to a rogue that women should be excluded from certain careers/voting.

Question 5

What is androcentrism?

Answer 5

Refers to a male-centred, male dominated viewpoint of human nature.

Question 6

What are the two forms of Androcentrism?

Answer 6

Alpha Bias

Beta Bias

Question 7

What is Alpha Bias?

Answer 7

Refers to theories which assume there are real differences between males and females and these differences are exaggerated and women portrayed as inferior to men.

Question 8

What is Beta bias?

Answer 8

Refers to theories which minimise or ignore gender differences. These theories may either ignore aspects of women’s lives of be based on studies which only use male only samples yet are applied to ‘people’ as a whole.

Question 9

What do Beta bias theories produce?

Answer 9

An androcentric view of human behaviour and ignore the experience of half of the world’s population.

For example, Asch’s research was conducted on men but his findings on conformity are presented as if they are about people in general (men and women).

Question 10

What gender Bias is there in modern day theories and research, that is questioned by Feminists?

Answer 10

Evolutionary Psychology

Erikson’s 8 stage theory of lifespan and development

Question 11

According to Feminists how is evolutionary psychology gender bias?

Answer 11

Evolutionary psychology is criticised for its focus on innate, evolved differences between the genders and its view of women as naturally maternal, domestic empathic and emotional.

Wilson (94) argued that the reason why 95% of bank managers, company directors, judges and university professors in the uK are male is because ‘dominance is a personality characteristic determined by male hormones’. Women who do achieve promotion to top management positions ‘ay have brains which are masculinised’.

Question 12

According to Feminists how is Erikson’s 8 stage theory of lifespan development gender bias?

Answer 12

The theory proposed that women and men pass through different stages when it comes to establishing a firm sense of personal identity.

Whereas men establish identity independently in their early twenties, Eriksen argued that women delay establishing their sense of personal identity until after they are married. Thus their own identity is only established in relation to the man they have married.

Question 13

What strategies have feminist psychologists proposed to overcome/resolve bias?

Answer 13

Reverse-alpha bias

Flexible theories

Question 14

What is Reverse-alpha bias as a way of overcoming bias?

Answer 14

This refers to acknowledging the differences between the genders but emphasising the positive value of female traits. For example, showing that women are better at multi-tasking.

Question 15

What is Flexible theories as a way of overcoming bias?

Answer 15

Flexible theories emphasise that although there may be differences between the genders there are also great differences within the genders. There is a focus on expanding what is considered ‘normal’ and ‘appropriate’ behaviours for men and women. Thus there is an attempt to challenge traditional gender stereotypes and redefine what is acceptable for the genders.

Question 16

What have critics of psychology argued that psychology may be culturally biased?

Answer 16

As an academic discipline, Psychology was developed in western Europe and North America, predominately by white, middle-class males. the subjects of psychological research studies, upon which psychological theories are based, have tended to be of a similar background.

However, psychology presents itself as a subject capable of understanding universal human behaviour.

Question 17

What is Ethnocentrism?

Answer 17

There is a natural human tendency to use our ethic or cultural group’s norms and values to define what is natural, normal and correct. Psychologists may, therefore, view other cultural groups differing norms, values and behaviours as abnormal or inferior to their own.

This may cause misunderstanding of other cultural behaviours leading psychologists to draw male conclusions. At a deeper level it may contribute to prejudice and discrimination.

Question 18

Why is Alpha bias ethnocentric?

Answer 18

As it focuses on the differences between cultures with 1 assumed to be superior to the other. Early psychologists such as Frued regarded certain cultures as irrational, zoological and ‘primitive’ compared to Europeans.

Question 19

Why is Beta Bias ethnocentric?

Answer 19

Because it ignores the diversity and difference between cultures.

For example, evolutionary psychology generally argued that cultural differences are of little importance compared to universal evolutionarily determined behaviours.

Question 20

What is Cultural relativism?

Answer 20

To combat ethnocentrism social scientists often favour a culturally-relative viewpoint arguing that all cultures and cultural practises are of equal value and that we should try to understanding other cultures practices from their own internal logic.

Thus, we may understand that although different practices may appear superficially different and alien to us, they serve approximately the same purpose.

Question 21

What are Etics?

Answer 21

Etics refers to universal aspects of human behaviour: for example, the mother-child attachment bond.

Question 22

What are Emics?

Answer 22

Emics refers to how etics are expressed by particularly cultures.

For example, the metic of gender may be epically expressed differently within different cultures.

Question 23

Why may psychologists misunderstand or misjudge other behaviours when they ‘import’ emics for their own cultural perspective?

Answer 23

When psychologists conduct research in other cultures they may ‘import’ emics from their own social perspective and thus misunderstand or misjudge others behaviours.

Clearly, this will have implications for the validity of theories and research conducted in other cultures.

Question 24

How has there been cultural bias in research?

Answer 24

With the development of IQ tests in 1904, the US mass-tested the Army. Although White soldiers showed a low average IQ, Black soldiers scored significantly lower. This wast lane by some as scientific proof of innate racial differences in IQ. As later critics pointed out, these tests were education dependent and culturally biased, it was based on white cultural knowledge, and thus provided an invalid measurement of intelligence.