Issues and debates psychology

• Gender bias


  The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real difference
• Alpha Bias


  A tendency to exaggerate differences between men and women, suggesting that there are real and enduring differences between the two sexes
• Alpha Bias


  • Psychodynamic explanations for offending behaviour, Wilson’s sociobiological theory of relationship formation, Diagnosis of schizophrenia
• Androcentrism


  The consequence of beta bias and occurs when all behaviour is compared according to a ‘male’ standard, often to the neglect or exclusion of women
• Beta Bias


  A tendency to ignore or minimise differences between men and women
• Beta Bias


  • Research on fight or flight response, Kohlberg’s levels of moral reasoning theory
• Universality


  The aim to develop theories that apply to all people, which may include real differences
• Bias, lack of validity and issues with reliability reduce the universality of psychological findings
• Feminist psychology


  Argues that difference psychology arises from biological explanations of behaviour and aims to understand behaviour in terms of social processes
• Feminist psychology argues that there are real differences but socially determined stereotypes make a far greater contribution to perceived differences
• Androcentrism can be countered by a feminist view and the balance can be readdressed
• Author: 'Bias in research methods = If theories and studies are gender biased, the research may find differences between genders but it may not be the genders that differ but simply the methods used to test or observe them'
• Author: 'The laboratory experiment may also be an example of institutionalised sexism within psychology = Male researchers have the authority to deem women as “unreasonable, irrational and unable to complete complex tasks” (Nicolson, 1995)'
• Authors: 'Eagly and Johnson noted that studies in real settings found women and men were judged as more similar in styles of leadership than in lab settings, hence having higher ecological validity'
• Author: 'Reverse alpha bias describes the development of theories that show a greater emphasis on women = Research by Cornwell et al (2013) showed that women are better at learning because they are more attentive, flexible and organised. Such research challenges the stereotype that in any gender differences the male position must be better and challenges people’s preconceptions'
• Authors: 'Avoiding a beta bias = Beta bias has allowed women greater access to educational and occupational opportunities. However Hare, Mustin and Marecek pointed out that arguing for equality draws attention away from women’s special needs, for example equal parenting ignores the biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth and the special needs of women. Therefore, this suggests that some elements of beta bias may actually disadvantage women'
• Author: 'Assumptions need to be challenged = Gender bias remains unchallenged in many theories. Darwin’s theory of sexual selection portrays women as choosy and males as the ones who compete to be chosen, arguing that women are coy and males as aggressive as they are in competition with other males. However, this view has been challenged as it has been found that women are equally competitive when needed. DNA evidence supports the idea that it is a good adaptive strategy for females to mate with more than one man and this puts females in competition with other females (Vernimmen, 2015)'
• Culture – The rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people
• Cultural bias


  The tendency to judge all cultures and individuals in terms of your own cultural assumptions. This distorts or biases your judgements
• Cultural relativism


  The view that behaviour, morals, standards and values cannot be judged properly unless they are viewed in the context of the culture in which they originate
• Alpha bias


  Cultural relativism can lead to an alpha bias, where the assumption of real differences lead psychologists to overlook universals
• Beta bias


  Cultural relativism is often discussed in the context of defining mental disorder. Behaviours that are statistically infrequent in one culture may be more frequent in another
• Alpha bias in Cross-Cultural Research

  With regards to culture refers to the assumption that there are real and enduring differences between cultural groups
• Beta bias in Cross-Cultural Research


  With regards to culture, it refers to the assumption that there are no real and enduring differences between cultural groups
• Cultural groups


  • Individualistic cultures
  • Collectivist cultures
• Individualistic cultures


  Less conformist, less orientated towards group norms, value the needs of the group over the individual
• 14 out of 15 studies did not support the common view about differences in conformity between the US and Japan
• Global world


  Less of a collectivist/individualist divide
• Beta bias refers to theories that minimise or ignore cultural differences
• IQ tests are an example of an imposed etic approach
• Ethnocentrism involves seeing things from the point of view of ourselves and our social group
• Indigenous psychologies are a method of countering ethnocentrism
• Emic approach


  Emphasises the uniqueness in every culture
• Etic approach


  Seeks universal aspects of behaviour
• Smith and Bond found a considerable amount of psychology is based on middle-class academic young adults who are males
• The US army IQ test showed that European immigrants fell slightly below white Americans in terms of IQ
• Not all behaviours are affected by cultural bias
• Facial expressions for anger, guilt, and disgust are universally recognized across all cultures
• Interactional synchrony and reciprocity are universal features of infant-caregiver interactions
• Researchers are now able to travel more and have a greater understanding of other cultures