ISSUES & DEBATES

• Bias - AO1


  suggests a viewpoint may be distorted in some way (may not be deliberate)
• Universality and e.g - AO1


  when conclusions are drawn from research that can be applied to everyone regardless of gender, time or culture

  
  

  E.G Milgram -> only male ps however applied his findings on obedience to be applicable to everyone
• GENDER BIAS - A01

  Maccoby + Jacob -> suggest there is only a small number of gender differences

  
  

  - G- greater verbal ability

  - G - less aggresive

  - B - greater visual and spatial ability
• GENDER BIAS - Alpha bias - AO1

  - when researchers exaggerate and overestimate the differences between the sexes

  -> research has more likely been to devalue female over males

  
  

  Promiscuity -> human sexual attraction is linked to evolutionary survival behaviours

  Males - many sperm

  Females - one ova - need a suitable male to ensure protection

  
  

  Male promiscuity -> tolerated/celebrated - seen as part o their biology

  
  

  Female promiscuity -> negative - against their biology
• GENDER BIAS - Beta bias and e.g - AO1


  -> research ignores or minimises differences between sexes

  
  

  E.G Asch - conformity - all male ps however universality assumed as we assume the behaviours are the same for everyone

  
  

  Fight or flight - initially only male animals used to investigate due to female hormone fluctuations due to ovulation however findings were deemed universal

  
  

  Shelly -> female body evolved to inhibit fight or flight and shift towards caring for offspring (tend and befriend)

  - women respond to stress by increasing oxytocin levels (love hormone) to enhance the tend and befriend response

  
  

  Modern research: conducted on both sexes but no real research looking into the significance of the differences
• GENDER BIAS - Androcentricism - AO1


  A CONSEQUENCE OF BETA BIAS

  
  

  - if 'normal' behaviour is based on male evidence than any other behaviour is likely seen as 'abnormal'.

  - leads to female behaviour being judged

  
  

  Psychology is a subject produced by men, for men, about men

  
  

  
  

  Gynocentric - women research
• GENDER BIAS EVALUATION - Implications - AO3

  Research bias towards males leads to misleading assumptions about females - may be a reason to scientifically justify the denial of female opportunities e.g in the workplace
• GENDER BIAS EVALUATION - Sexism within research process - AO3

  Lack of females appointed in senior roles within the research process could disadvantage women as males are less likely to understand female behaviours
• GENDER BIAS EVALUATION - Essentialism - AO3


  - It is inevitable that there are going to be gender differences

  
  

  - Differences are often presented as alpha bias.

  
  

  Maccoby + Jacob -> found differences however later brain scans showed none

  
  

  - early research was most likely accepted as it fit existing stereotypes

  
  

  HOWEVER this doesn't mean research should stop as some have truth to them

  e.g women are better at multi-tasking, brain scan shows their corpus collosum is bigger
• GENDER BIAS EVALUATION - Feminist psychology - AO3


  Worrel -> came up with a criteria that enables research to avoid gender bias

  1) women should be studied within real life context

  2) diversity between women should be examined

  3) greater emphasis on qualitative data

  
  

  - this allows studies to become suited for women
• CULTURE BIAS - Culture - AO1


  CULTURE -> the distinctive customs, values, beliefs, knowledge, art + language of a society of community
• CULTURE BIAS - Universality and bias - AO1


  THE TENDANCY TO JUDGE SOMEONE IN TERMS OF THEIR OWN CULTURAL ASSUMPTIONS

  
  

  Henrich et al -> reviewed hundreds of studies in leading psychological journals and found that 68% came from the USA, 82% from economically developed countries

  
  

  he developed the term WEIRD to describe people most commonly studied

  
  

  W - western

  E - educated

  I - industrialised

  R - rich

  D - democracies

  
  

  If this is the normal standard, how are others viewed
• CULTURE BIAS - Ethnocentrism and e.g - AO1


  -> a particular form of culture bias where you judge other cultural groups against your own and see yours as superior

  
  

  E.G Ainsworth criticised for being ethnocentric as it reflected the norms and values of western culture

  - led to misinterpretation of child rearing practices that deviated from the USA e.g Germany had 35% type A infants because they value independance, not because the mothers are neglecting
• CULTURE BIAS - Cultural relativism - AO1


  -> opposite of ethnocentrism

  -> behaviour can only be properly understood if cultural context is taken into consideration
• CULTURE BIAS - Etic approach - AO1


  -> looks at behaviour from outside a given culture and attempts to describe them as universal

  
  

  e.g Strange situation shows imposed etic as they study attachment inside one culture and assumed the findings are universal

  
  

  e.g definitions of abnormality

  1) deviation from IMH - not all cultures value the same thing

  2) deviation from social norms - may not take culture into account, norms are different everywhere
• CULTURE BIAS - Emic approach - AO1

  -> functions from inside a culture and identifies to that specific culture

  - helps researchers take an ethnographic approach rather than ethnocentric

  - VALID - research is tailored to the culture
• CULTURE BIAS EVALUATION - Classic studies - AO3

  Milgram and Asch - claim universality, other findings seen as inferior or abnormal

  
  

  Increase in media globalisation sows the individualist - collectivist distinction no longer applies

  
  

  Traditional view:

  individualist - value independence

  collectivist - value society

  
  

  14/15 studies comparing US and Japan found no evidence of any differences -> suggests culture bias is less of an issue as research is developing
• CULTURE BIAS EVALUATION - Ethnic stereotypes - AO3

  - research has led to prejudice against groups

  e.g iQ test made using american style questions
• CULTURE BIAS EVALUATION - Relativism vs universality - AO3

  -> benefits of cross cultural research is that it may challenge individualist ways of the world.

  - it is important to see that some things we think are biological may be more social

  e.g there are 7 universally understood facial expressions for emotions including surprise, sadness
• CULTURE BIAS EVALUATION - APA apology - AO3

  to tackle culture bias problem

  
  

  APA failed to challenge racism due to white ps and white leader

  
  

  -> ignores psychology and psychiatry e.g black people are more likely to be diagnosed with Sz
• FREE WILL + DETERMINISM - Free will - AO1


  FREE WILL -> humans are free to choose their own thoughts and actions. This doesn't deny that there are environmental and biological factors but suggests they can be rejected
• FREE WILL + DETERMINISM - Determinism - AO1

  TYPES OF DETERMINISM

  
  

  1) Hard determinism - all human behaviour has a cause

  2) Soft determinism - some views are more constraint but there is an element of free will in everything

  3) Biological determinism (bio approach) - role of biology in determining our behaviour

  4) Environmental determinism (behavioural approach) - our choice is an effect of reinforcement

  5) Psychic determinism (psychodynamic approach) - human behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts from childhood repressed in the unconscious
• FREE WILL + DETERMINISM - Humanistic approach - AO1


  -> adopts the idea of free will.

  - people are free to effect change in their lives by choosing to their situation appropriately.

  - having removed psychological barriers that may have prevented human growth, people are free to work towards self actualisation
• FREE WILL + DETERMINISM EVALUATION - Practical value - AO3

  People THINK they have free will, even if we don't it improves our mental health

  
  

  Roberts et al -> looked at adolescents who had strong hard deterministic views and found that they are at a greater risk of developing depression

  - people with an internal locus of control are more likely to be optimistic - this information can be used in treatments as it changes peoples perspectives + thought processes as people feel like they have more control
• FREE WILL + DETERMINISM EVALUATION - The law - AO3


  The law supports the idea of free will

  
  

  legal system in UK - crime is a choice

  - there is an age of criminal responsibility

  
  

  HARD DETERMINISTS would argue that wasn't their choice and that it had been determined
• FREE WILL + DETERMINISM EVALUATION - Raine study - AO3


  Raine -> questioned the extent of free will by looking at brain differences in murderers.

  - brain deficit - low activity/damage to PFC may be a biological reason
• FREE WILL + DETERMINISM EVALUATION - Do we want determinism - AO3

  YES - it establishes psychology as a science e/g research with scientific evidence is more credible

  
  

  - allows for cause and effect meaning specific applications are made e.g drug treatments

  
  

  - HOWEVER those whose parents were criminals/ had a mental illness, determinism suggests you're doomed to follow in their path
• HOLISM + REUCTIONISM - Holism - AO1

  -> German researchers in the 20's and 30's stated 'the whole is greater than the sum of parts'. - the idea that any attempt to break up behaviours into smaller parts is inappropriate and we can only have a full understanding by analysing as a whole - seen in the humanistic approach
• HOLISM + REDUCTIONISM - Reductionism - AO1


  -> breaking down behaviour into its constituent parts. It is a scientific approach that all phenomena should be explained using basic principles e.g lab exp - shows c/e
• HOLISM + REDUCTIONISM - Types of reductionism - AO1

  BIOLOGICAL

  -> all behaviour is biological at some levels and can be explained through genetic, neurochemical, neuropsychological and evolutionary influences

  E.g OCD - low serotonin, allows treatments to be applied

  
  

  ENVIRONMENTAL

  -> behaviourist approach -> breaks down complex behaviours and focuses on one stimulus response

  E.g Phobias - aquired through CC, maintained by OC

  
  

  MACHINE

  -> cognitive approach -> brain described to act similar to a computer

  E.g MSM -computer anology, input - process, output
• HOLISM + REDUCTIONISM - Levels of explanation - AO1


  -> suggests there are different ways of viewing things, some more reductionist than others

  
  

  HIGH LEVEL (takes into account personality)

  - SOCIAL + CULTURAL EXPLANATIONS - influence of social groups

  
  

  MIDDLE LEVEL ( more detailed than genes, NT's, takes environment into account

  - PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION - cognitive behaviour, environment

  
  

  LOW LEVEL ( most basic e.g OCD - look at genes)

  - BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION - genes + brain structure
• HOLISM + REDUCTIONISM - Levels of explanation example - AO1

  OCD can be explained using these levels

  1. Socio-cultural level - irrational beliefs, against social norms, impacts daily life

  2. Psychological level - obsessions, feelings of anxiety

  3. Physical level - compulsions e.g washing hands

  4. Physiological level - frontal lobe

  5. Neurochemical level - low seretonin

  
  

  EACH LEVEL IS MORE REDUCTIONIST THAN THE LAST
• HOLISM + REDUCTIONISM EVALUATION - For Reductionism - AO3

  - all behaviour has some sort of biological bias e.g aggresions is due to increased testosterone - VALID

  
  

  - it is possible to breakdown behaviours and test them e.g lab exp - establish a c/e
• HOLISM + REDUCTIONISM EVALUATION - Against Reductionism - AO3


  may oversimplify meaning treatments are less accurate - NOT VALID
• HOLISM + REDUCTIONISM EVALUATION - For Holism - AO3

  - 'whole is not just the sum of parts' allows analysis of greater depth and detail

  
  

  - allows different treatments for different behaviours
• HOLISM + REDUCTIONISM EVALUATION - Against Holism - AO3

  - difficult to establish how much different factors contributes individually to a behaviour - hard to find root cause

  
  

  - can't be rigorously tested + research can't be replicated - NOT RELIABLE
• NATURE VS NURTURE - Definitions - AO1

  NATURE -> innate influences. All human characteristics are inherited. Personality and physical characteristics are determined by genes

  
  

  NURTURE -> the influence of experiences + environment. Mind is a blank slate. Can include parental factors e.g smoking whilst pregnant - more generally it refers to the social conditions a child grows up in
• NATURE VS NURTURE - Ways to measure - AO1

  TWIN STUDIES

  - MZ concordance rate higher than DZ. MZ 100% shared genes however not 100% the same people showing environment has an impact

  
  

  ADOPTION STUDIES

  - looking at biological parents to determine nature

  - looking at adopted parents to determine nurture
• NATURE VS NURTURE - Diathesis stress model - AO1

  Suggests there is a predisposition/ vulnerability to a mental illness that needs a trigger e.g traumatic event

  
  

  - it is important to determine whether a behaviour is nature or nurture so treatment and interventions can take place
• NATURE VS NURTURE - Attachment - AO1

  Bowlby -> babies have innate tendencies - social releasers e.g crying, smiling

  
  

  - caregiver is needed for their survival - bring them closer for protection