Issues and debates

• Gender bias = psychological studies that do not represent the behaviours of one gender
• Alpha bias is the exaggeration of gender differences, like Freud's theories
• Beta bias is the minimization of gender differences to apply universally, as seen in the Maguire Taxi Study
• Androcentrism equates normal behavior with men's behavior, leading to the judgment of women's behavior as abnormal or deviant
• Cultural bias occurs when research conducted in one culture is generalized to apply to various cultures
• Ethnocentrism is the belief in the superiority of one's culture, leading to prejudice and discrimination against other cultures
• Cultural relativism states that behavior cannot be judged properly unless understood in the context of the culture it originates from, like hearing voices
• Imposed etic uses theories developed in one culture to explain behavior in another culture, for example, the Strange Situation
• Hard determinism assumes that all behavior has causes beyond our control, while soft determinism suggests behavior is predictable due to internal causes but can be influenced by personal choice
• Biological determinism states behavior is governed by internal characteristics beyond our control, whereas environmental determinism suggests behavior is caused by environmental influences beyond our control
• Psychic behaviors are caused by unconscious factors beyond our control
• Free will assumes humans have choice over their behavior and can reject influences at will
• Nature theory asserts all behavior is determined by biological factors, while nurture theory emphasizes the influence of experience and environment
• The interactionist approach explains behavior considering factors from both nature and nurture, like the diathesis-stress model
• Epigenetics refers to changes in genetic activity without altering the genetic code
• Holism involves studying all factors affecting behavior as a whole, while reductionism breaks down behavior into constituent elements for better understanding
• Idiographic focuses on individual uniqueness using qualitative methods, while nomothetic aims to establish general laws of behavior also using quantitative methods
• Socially sensitive research involves potential negative consequences or implications for participants or represented individuals
• reductionism advs and dis:

  studying basic units of behaviour underpins the scientific approach

  more objective to consider basic components of behaviour

  leads to greater clarity of understanding,

  less able to understand the behaviour because we do not understand its meaning - loss of validity

  simplistic and ignores the complex interaction of many factors
• ethical implications of research psychology:

  effects of research on participants and publication

  potential use of the findings, eg allocation of resources and changes in legislation

  potential bias against people of certain cultures/socioeconomic backgrounds

  economic implications, eg for further psychological research, eg funding