issues and debates

Question 1

what is gender bias in psychology

Answer 1

failure to consider adequately the differences between men and women

Question 2

what is universality in psychology

Answer 2

the belief that behaviour is the same across all people regardless of gender

Question 3

why has gender bias occurred in psychology

Answer 3

-historically research has been based on samples of men
-researchers may have different expectations of men and women
-overemphasis on biology as the driver of behaviour

Question 4

what is alpha bias

Answer 4

exaggeration of differences between men and women

Question 5

what do theories that are alpha bias assume

Answer 5

theories that are alpha biased assume that there are real and enduring differences between men and women and that these are fixed and inevitable

Question 6

what are some theories that are alpha biased

Answer 6

-bowlbys monotropic theory-emphasis on women as the primary caregiver
-evolutionary theory-male and female ways of aiding survival

Question 7

what is beta bias

Answer 7

ignores/minimises the sex differences between male and females
theories that are beta biased assumes all people are the same

Question 8

what are some theories that are beta bias

Answer 8

-fight or flight
-social research

Question 9

what can beta bias lead to

Answer 9

androcentrism

Question 10

what is androcentrism

Answer 10

male biased view of the world
males behaviour is judged to the the norm
any behaviour which deviates from that eg-female behaviour is judged as abnormal

Question 11

what are the implications of gender bias

Answer 11

Prejudice, discrimination and sexism are viewed as normal and acceptable
Female researchers may receive less funding as their role as serious psychologists may be questioned
The male viewpoint/behaviour becomes the ‘norm’ or the model for behaviour generally which could lead to female behaviour being viewed as ‘abnormal’

Question 12

how to overcome gender bias

Answer 12

-use an equal number of male and female particpants
-dont extrapolate findings from research from male participants to female participants or vice versa.
-don not exaggerate differences between men and women where there are no real differences
-do not minimise differences between men and women where there are no real differences.

Question 13

what is culture bias

Answer 13

the tendancy to ignore or acknowledge cultural differences and the impact culture may have on behaviour.

Question 14

what is ethnocentrism

Answer 14

the assumption that one own culture is superior so viewing ones own culture from that perspective

Question 15

what is cultural relativism

Answer 15

argues that behaviour can only be properly understood if culture is taken into account
behaviour can only be properly understood in the culture in which it occurs
so it could be a way of overcoming culture bias

Question 16

what is imposed etic

Answer 16

taking your own cultural beliefs and applying them to other cultures

Question 17

what is evidence of culture bias in psychology

Answer 17

-rack
-strange situation-also has imposed etic

Question 18

in 1992 how many of the worlds psychology researchers were american

Answer 18

62%

Question 19

how can we overcome cultural bias

Answer 19

-although culture bias is less of an issue that it once was
-carry out cross-cultural research
-do not attempt to extrapolate finidngs to cultures that are not reperesented in the research
-use researchers who are native to the culture being investigated
-do not assume universal norms across cultures
-develop new areas of psychology through globalisation

Question 20

what is globalisation

Answer 20

-holding international conferences so ideas and research are discussed by people from different backgrounds this should help reduce ethnocentrism and enable greater understanding of cultural relativism

Question 21

what is indiginous psychology

Answer 21

aims to explicitly draw on the experiences of individuals different cultural contexts
eg-afrocentrism

Question 22

what do nature argue

Answer 22

-argue that out inherited genetic makeup determines our behaviour
-family twin and adoption studies show thar the closer 2 individuals are genetically the more likely they are to develop the same behaviour
-evolutionary explanations also support nature-any characteristic that aids survival will be passed onto future generations

Question 22

what is the nature-nurture debate

Answer 22

nature-refers to the influence of our genes on behaviour and believe these abilities are innate and are the result of heredity-known as nativists
nurture-refers to the influence of the environment and experiences of behaviour-known as empiricists

Question 23

what is free will

Answer 23

that we as human beings are able to make choices about our own thoughts and actions
-we are self-determining
eg-humanistic approach

Question 24

what is determinism

Answer 24

the idea that traits or behaviour are outside of out control, due to internal or external factors which we have not control over

Question 25

what is hard determinism

Answer 25

suggest that human traits and behaviour are entirely outside of our control
all human behaviour has a cause and it should br plausible to identify these causes
compatible with the scientific explanation as we are able to establish general laws of human behaviour so predict and control it

Question 26

what is soft determinism

Answer 26

suggests traits and behaviours are determined by external or internal factors but despirt this an individual can still exersise some control over their behaviour eg-via thought processes

Question 27

what are the 3 types of determinism

Answer 27

-biological determinism
-environmental determinism
-psychic determinism

Question 28

what is biological determinism

Answer 28

idea that behaviour and traits are governed by internal biological factors like genes, neurochemistry and brain structure
eg-agression is caused by testosterone
mental illnesses are genetic

Question 29

what is environmental determinism

Answer 29

traits and behaviour are governed by external forces such as learning, experiences and parents
eg-behaviourists believed in conditioning from your environment

Question 30

what is psychic determinism

Answer 30

behaviour is determined by early childhood experiences and innate conscious drives and motives
eg-freud and his psychosexual stages

Question 31

what is a causal relationships

Answer 31

based on the scientific notion that behaviour is cause by internal factors-there is a cause and effect relationship
based on the assumption all events have a cause and these can be disovered through experiements
manipulation of the IV reveals its causal effect on the DV

Question 32

argument for determinism

Answer 32

underpins the scientific approach-aims to uncover cause and effect relationships

Question 33

arguments against determinism

Answer 33

-could be misused in court
-unfalsifiable

Question 34

arguments for free will

Answer 34

-people have a subjective sense of free will so it has face validity

Question 35

arguments against free will

Question 36

what is hollism

Answer 36

the argument that it only make sense to study a person or behaviour as a whole
-the focus is on the whole person considering all aspects of experiences including culture

Question 37

what is reductionism

Answer 37

breaking down complex behaviour and examining its constitutient parts
this conforms to the law of parsimony

Question 38

what are the 2 types of reductionism

Answer 38

-biological reductionism-behaviour can be explained through genetic, evolutionary and neurochemical influences
eg-using heart rate as a measure of excitement. Other factors may have influenced excitement
-environmental reducitonism-aims to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus and response and the idea that associations have been learnt through experience

Question 39

what is the idiographic approach

Answer 39

people are studied as unique individuals with their own subjective experiences of the world with no attempt to compare then to the standard
-argues that results from psychological research should not be used to propose general laws about behaviour.

Question 40

what does the nomothetic approach argue

Answer 40

-study a sample in order to establish general laws of behaviour
-the findings will be used to make inferences about the general population
-people can be compared againsst these benchmarks and future inferences can be made
-large samples can be analysed using statistical test and conclusions can be drawn.

Question 41

example of a research study that has been applied to a wider population

Answer 41

ainsworth-100 children
milgram-40 partcipants

Question 42

arguments for the idiographic approach

Answer 42

-in depth qualitative measure of investigation
-may complement the nomothetic approach-eg-case studies like HM reveal insight about normal functioning.

Question 43

arguments against idographic

Answer 43

-narrow view
-freuds work-developed from case studes-need larger sample to make meaningful generalisations

Question 44

arguments for nomothetic

Answer 44

-adopts quantitative experimental methods which supports psychology as a sciences. Findings are used to help predict behaviour
-identifying patterns of behaviour has useful applications-lead to drug therapies
-some people may argue taking a person centred approach eg-CBT may be more useful

Question 45

argument against nomothetic

Answer 45

-psychologists can not find out in-depth information from single cases
-data is less meanigful as you tend to use quantitative measures-richness of human experiences is overlooked.