Issues And Debates Flashcards
(62 cards)
What is meant by universality
Any underlying characteristics of human beings that is capable of being applied to all despite differences of experience and upbringing
What is meant by alpha bias ( think gender bias )
Alpha bias is the exaggeration of the differences between males and females, theories that are alpha biased assume there are real and enduring differences between men and women. This is an essentialist view which assumes that gender differences reflect different natures rather than being a product of social, ideological, are intellectual constructions. This often creates a double standard in the way that the same behaviour is viewed from a male and a female perspective
Consequently there is a misrepresentation of behaviour as gender differences are exaggerated and similarities ignored
What is beta bias ( Think gender bias)
Ignores, minimises or underestimate the difference between male and females. Assuming that all people are the same and therefore it’s reasonable to apply the same theories and methods to both males and females. This leads to a misrepresentation of behaviour as gender differences I ignored. These theories maybe The product of not including females in recent samples and assuming that the findings apply equally to both sexes.
Beta bias may appear good for women, it has led to more educational and occupational opportunities for women. However series can result in women’s special needs and that imbalance of power between men and women being ignored.
Be Tobias can lead androcentrism
What is androcentrism
This is a male centred theory. Behaviour of mail is believed to be normal human behaviour, any behaviour that deviates from this standard is then judged as abnormal, deviant or deficient in some way
Why is gender bias present in research
- many studies have been made by men. This may have created self-serving bias in favour of their gender. Males make choose topics that they think are relevant and represent humanity. Potentially ignoring topics that are relevant for women.
- there may also be a sense of bias in the publication process as males are more likely to have their work published
- a lot of feminist research often uses qualitative methods. These are less likely to be published.
- Studies that found significant gender differences are more likely to be published and credited.
- most research may have bias samples as in the past more males went to university and therefore male participants were used-this is androcentrism.
What might be the implications of research that is gender bias
Research that is gender bias may reinforce stereotypes, undermines the feminist movement, creates the idea that women who don’t want to have children are selfish and less of a woman.
And for consequences of a male it may impact on their mental health for instance men are more likely to commit suicide because they can’t express emotions. As gender stereotypes frown upon this.
How can we overcome gender bias in psychology
- Always have an equal number of male and female participants. However this will only go some way to address the issue as it doesn’t tackle issues of bias in the publication process or bias in terms of which research questions are asked. Judith Worrell 1992 suggests there should be a greater use of collaborative methods that generated qualitative data and that research should examine differences within different groups of women rather than just examining differences between men and women.
- feminist psychologists agree that there are real biological determing differences between male and female but that’s socially constructed stereotypes play a greater role in determining behaviour. They are therefore seek to understand behaviour in terms of social processes and Aim to challenge our preconceptions about gender.
Give examples of research that is gender bias
Many research findings can be considered as androcentrism for example acsh and Milgram only use men can their findings really be applied to a woman? This leads to male behaviour been seen as normal.
What is meant by culture bias
Refers to a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interprets all phenomena through the lens of one’s own culture. If the norm or standard for any particular behaviour is judged from the standpoint of one culture then any cultural differences in that behaviour will be seen as inferior or abnormal.
What is ethnocentrism
When one judges other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own culture. There is often the assumption that one’s own culture is superior or the right way of being which results in the behaviour of other cultures appearing wrong in some way
What is cultural relativism
The idea that norms and values can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.
What is an etic and an emic approach in psychology according to John Berry?
What does he criticise psychologists for?
What does he propose
Etic- approach looks at behaviour from outside a culture and attempts to describe behaviours that are universal.
Emic- approach functions from within a culture and identifies behaviour that are specific to that culture.
He criticises psychology for imposing an attic (assuming everyone does what do you do). He argues that psychologist should be more mindful of the cultural relativism of their research. There are some aspects of human behaviour that appear to be universal, for instance facial expression is for being happy.
John Berry proposes that for a full understanding of human behaviour we must consider emics and etics
Why is culture bias present in research?
- In 1992, 64% of the worlds psychology research is where American.
- in baron and Byrnes 1991 textbook on social psychology 94% of the studies were conducted in north America.
- Henrich et Al found that 67% of participants in research where are American psychology students. This means that much of the findings of psychological research cannot be applied to the whole of the American population, never mind different cultural groups in all the countries.
Describe what is meant and the difference between individualist and collectivist culture is.
What is the problem with this distinction ?
Individualist cultures value freedom and independence for instance Europe and the USA. They emphasise the need of the individual.
Collectivist culture is value interdependence for instance Japan and India. They emphasise the need of the group.
The problem is that not everyone in collectivist culture is for instance Japan will be dependent on someone else. They may live alone making them independent and therefore individualists. It would be stereotypical and we may ignore so cultural differences. Another issue is we could ignore possible similarities and we are assuming that culture effects behaviour.
Why may some people argue that the distinction between individualist cultures and collectivist culture is no longer relevant?
As globalisation has led to increased interconnection and therefore cultures are becoming increasingly similar. Takano and Osaka 1999 found that 14/15 studies that compared American and Japan found no evidence of the traditional distinction between individualism and collectivism. Things such as the media and global food chains for instance McDonald has made the world in a way smaller as cultures are sharing norms.
What might be the implications of culture bias in research.
That story is don’t represent all cultures therefore we can’t generalise and results and valid to generalise to all cultures would be imposed etics.
We would also become more ethnocentric and judge other cultures unfairly as we would view them as inferior this would lead to racism and discrimination.
How can we overcome culture bias
- Cross cultural research- this enables psychologist to appreciate the effect of situational factors on the behaviour and this should minimise the chance of them creating imposed etics. It also allows for the separation of the effect of variables that may be confounded in their own culture for example the effect in TV on school performance
- indigenous psychologies in which researchers from different cultures create theories and conduct research in their own culture. One example of this is Afrocentrism, this is a movement that argues that all black people have their roots in Africa therefore theories about such people should be African centred and express African values. They argue that the The values and culture of Europeans is irrelevant to the life and culture of people of African descent.
What are the problems with cross cultural research
Time-consuming
Sample may not be representative
Maybe too expensive making it impractical
Language barriers for instance we may have to imply translators this is one costly and instructionsmaybe mistranslated as they may not be an equivalent term in that language causing issues with validity
Difficult to acquire comparable samples
Some cultures may want o present their culture in a positive light and therefore not be honest
What may be dangerous about the indigenous psychologies
This may reinforce differences between those with different coloured skin
Furthermore not all black people will have roots in Africa, this explanation is suggesting because your great great great grandad is African you still have African values?
However it encourages research to be carried out from all different points of view
How does globalisation help to challenge cultural bias
As people travel more they are more aware of differences and similarities between cultures. Academics often work in different countries and they hold international conferences so ideas and research is discussed by people from different cultural backgrounds. This exchange of ideas should help to reduce ethnocentrism and in able and greater understanding of cultural relativism.
Free will vs?
Determinism
Define free will
Free will is the idea that as human beings we are able to make choices over our thoughts and actions we can therefore be described as self determining. According to this view individuals have an active role in controlling their behaviour they decide whether or not to behave in a particular way. This position is a feature of the humanistic approach.
Define determinism
Determinism is the idea that individuals are shipped or controlled by forces outside of their control
Define hard and soft determinism
Hard determinism suggest that all human behaviour has a cause and that it should be possible to identify these causes. This view is compatible with the scientific emphasis on casual explanations as it means that we are able to establish general laws of human behaviour enabling us to predict and control it.
Soft determinism was proposed by William James. He argued that the behaviour should be separated into physical and mental realms. This definition acknowledges that human actions have a cause but that individual do you have conscious control over how they behave. For example Nick Heather proposed that individuals are free to choose their behaviour but from within a limited range. This position is a feature of the cognitive approach.
