issues + debates Flashcards
(68 cards)
gender + culture in psychology: universality + bias (A01)
In their quest to understand human behaviour, psychologists aim to produce theories which are universal
problem w/this is that psychologists are first and foremost people and therefore like all of us, possess beliefs and values that are influenced by social and historical context in which they live-Therefore, bias may be an inevitable part of research process
Bias occurs when researchers view things in way that is unbalanced or unfair-Two forms of bias are gender bias and cultural bias
gender + culture in psychology: gender bias (A01)
differential treatment and/or representation of males and females based on stereotypes and not real differences
gender bias: androcentrism (A01)
male dominated field for many years-Many psychologists that you will come across in course of your A-level are male. For this reason, there is tendency for psychological research to suffer from androcentrism-This means that theories or research are focussed on a male view of world, often to neglect or exclusion of women
Many feminists object to diagnostic category of premenstrual syndrome as it trivialises and stereotypes female experience-Critics suggest that PMS is social construct which medicalises female’s emotions in terms of their hormones Male anger on other hand is often seen as rational response to external pressures
gender bias: alpha bias (A01)
occurs when differences between men and women are exaggerated- Thus behaviour between males and females is seen as being ‘different’-This serves to undervalue members of either sex but typically undervalues females
eg. Freud argued that there are genuine psychological differences between men and women-His theory suggests that females are inferior to males because they are jealous of men’s penises-penis envy and as they cannot experience castration anxiety they develop weaker superego, and are therefore morally inferior to men-In fact, Freud viewed femininity as failed form of masculinity
gender bias: beta bias (A01)
occurs when differences between men and women are minimised-Such theories tend to either ignore questions about lives of women or assume that what is true for men must also be true women thus mistakenly minimising gender differences
eg. Biological research into the fight or flight response has often been carried out w/male animals- was assumed that this would not be problem as fight or flight response would be same for both sexes
However Taylor et al found that females adopt ‘tend and befriend’ response in stressful or dangerous situations-Women are more likely to protect their offspring and form alliances with other women rather than fight an adversary or flee
gender bias: misleading assumptions about female behaviour (A03) 1
P: misleading assumptions about female behaviour
E: assumptions can provide ‘scientific justification’ to deny women opportunities w/in workplace or in wider society eg. critics claim that diagnostic category premenstrual syndrome medicalises female emotions, especially anger by explaining these in hormonal terms general
E: Thus being diagnosed w/PMS may affect how women is viewed by herself and by society in
L: problem as gender biased research may have damaging effects on lives and prospect of women in society-Additionally Tavris argues that when men set standard of normality, ‘it becomes normal for women to feel abnormal’
gender bias: sexism in research process (A03) 2
P: lack of women appointed at senior research level means that female concerns may not be reflected in research questions asked
E: Male researchers are more likely to have their work published, and studies which find evidence of gender differences are more likely to appear in journal articles than those that do not
E: Also, the laboratory experiment may further disadvantage women-Female Ps are placed in unequal relationships w/researcher who has power to label them unreasonable and irrational and unable to complete complex tasks
L: important bc it suggests that psychology is guilty of being both beta biased, in its ignoring of female concerns and also of alpha bias in way that it conducts research
gender bias: feminist psychologists have proposed ways of reducing gender bias (A03) 3
P: feminist psychologists have proposed ways of reducing gender bias
E+E: Worrell suggested number of criteria that should be adhered to in order to prevent gender bias:
.Women should be studied in meaningful real-life contexts and genuinely participate in research rather than being ‘objects of study’
.Diversity in groups of women should be examined rather than differences between men and women
.Finally there should be greater emphasis on qualitative as opposed to numerical data
L: important bc if this criterion is implemented androcentrism in science and society should reduce thus increasing validity of psychological research
gender bias: reverse alpha bias (A01)
Another way of tackling androcentrism in research is to emphasise value of women by showing instances where women outperform men eg. Cornwell et al found that women are better at learning because they are more attentive flexible and organised
This technique helps to challenge stereotype that in any gender difference male position must be better, helping to change people’s preconceptions and false beliefs
gender bias: social constructs (A01)
feminist psychology has also tried to tackle androcentrism by considering whether gender differences are simply social constructs
Although feminist psychology agrees that there are real biologically-based sex differences, it is argued some gender differences are result of social stereotypes
eg. if children grow up seeing far more males in positions of power and authority, they associate power and leadership with males These learnt expectations may encourage more boys than girls to pursue careers that requires these skills
suggests that some deeply held societal gender differences, may simply be social construction contributing to social inequalities and discrimination
cultural bias (A01)
tendency to judge people in terms of one’s own cultural assumptions
As vast majority of psychological research is conducted in America, critics argue that mainstream psychology has generally ignored role of culture in human behaviour
Many psychologists still routinely claim to have discovered findings about human behaviour that are ‘universal’ when in reality, they may only apply to the particular group of people that were studied
cultural bias: ethnocentrism (A01)
Refers to use of our own cultural group as basis for judgements about other groups-includes tendency to view beliefs, customs and behaviours of our own group as ‘normal’ and even superior, whereas those of other groups are deviant, abnormal or underdeveloped eg. Rack claimed that African-Caribbean people living in Britain are sometimes diagnosed as ‘mentally ill’ based on behaviour that is perfectly normal in their own subculture
Rack suggested that this misdiagnosis is mainly due to the ignorance of African-Caribbean subculture on part of white psychiatrists
cultural bias-ethnocentrism: AINSWORTH STRANGE SITUATION (A01)
Ainsworth suggested that ‘ideal’ attachment type-secure attachment was defined by infant showing moderate distress when left by mother-figure-led to high numbers of German children being wrongly classed as insecure-avoidant w/their mothers viewed as distant and lacking sensitivity, rather than deliberately encouraging independence in their children
also an example of an ‘imposed etic’, w/Ainsworth assuming that the US-based model of classifying attachment is the norm-As result, she imposed her own cultural understanding upon rest of the world
cultural bias: cultural realism (A01)
Suggests that behaviour can be properly understood only if cultural context is taken into consideration-it argues there are no universal norms or standards of behaviour common to all cultures and instead these norms or standards are determined by and within each particular culture-Therefore, any study which draws its sample from only one cultural context and then generalises its findings to all people everywhere, is suspect
cultural bias-cultural realism: STERNBERG (A01)
meaning of intelligence is different in every culture eg. Sternberg pointed out that coordination skills that may be essential to life in preliterate society may be mostly irrelevant to intelligent behaviour for most people in literate and more ‘developed’ society-Therefore only way to understand intelligence is to take cultural context into account
cultural bias: misleading assumptions about people from less dominant cultures (A03) 1
P: misleading assumptions about people from less dominant cultures
E: These assumptions can provide ‘scientific justification’ to deny people from certain cultural groups opportunities in society-One of most infamous examples of damage done by psychologists through culture bias was US Army IQ test used just before First World War
E: tests showed European immigrants fell slightly below white Americans and African-Americans were at bottom of scale w/lowest mental age-data from these tests had profound effect on attitudes held by Americans towards certain cultural groups
L: illustrates the damaging effects of culture bias on lives and prospects of wide range of people in real-world
cultural bias: cultural bias in research process (A03) 2
P: cultural bias in research process
E+E: When conducting research in Western cultures it is presumed that Ps are familiar w/ aims and objectives of scientific testing-However same knowledge of scientific testing may not extend to cultures that do not have same historical experience of research
L: For this reason demand characteristics may occur more often when working with members of local population -This reduces validity of research findings
cultural bias: indigenous psychologist (A03) 3
P: Awareness of ethnocentrism that exists in psychology has led to development of ‘indigenous psychologies’
E+E: These are theories drawing explicitly on particular experiences of people in different cultural contexts eg. Afrocentrism is movement which disputes the view that European values are universal, suggesting that psychological theories concerning people of African descent must be African-centred and must express African values
L: positive as it suggests there is growing awareness about cultural norms and values that have historically been ignored
cultural bias: cultural differences are often overstated (A03) 4
P: it assumes there is no such thing as universal human behaviour however this is contradicted by research
E+E: eg. Ekman found that basic facial expressions for emotions are same all over human and animal world- Equally, some features of human interaction in attachment such as interactional synchrony appear to be universal
L: suggests a full understanding of human behaviour requires study of both universals and variation among individuals and groups
free will (A01)
notion of free will suggests that as humans we are able to choose our own thoughts and behaviour-does not completely ignore role of biology or environment but instead suggests we are able to override these forces-view is advocated by Humanistic Psychologists like Rogers and Maslow
determinism (A01)
determinism proposes that we do not have conscious control over our thoughts and behaviour and that, instead, our behaviour is controlled by internal or external factors acting upon us
determinism: hard determinism (A01)
suggests that all human behaviour has an identifiable cause and that everything that we think or do is dictated by internal or external forces that we cannot consciously control- an extreme position, hard determinism is compatible w/aims of science – to uncover causal explanations that govern thoughts and behaviour
determinism: soft determinism (A01)
allows for some element of free will- acknowledging that all human action has cause, also suggest people have some conscious mental control over their behaviour and are capable of making rational choices in everyday life
determinism: biological determinism (A01)
Behaviour is caused by brain structure, biochemistry and genetics
Genes influence brain structure and neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, that are implicated in range of behaviours
eg. SERT and the COMPT genes are responsible for in-balance of neurotransmitters found in OCD
