AO3

• There is evidence of androcentrism within the research process
• Females remain underrepresented in university departments

  • Although psychology's undergraduate intake is mainly female, researchers in psychology departments are mainly male
• The fact that psychological research is more likely to be conducted by males can be problematic for females
• Male researcher may expect female participants to be irrational and unable to comprehend a complex task


  Such expectations may mean that female participants are likely to underperform
• Psychology may be guilty of supporting a form of institutional sexism that creates gender biased research
• There is evidence that research that challenges gender bias is less likely to be published. For example, Formanowicz et al. (2018) found that research in this area is poorly funded. It also tends to be published in less prestigious journals. They also found that research that challenges other forms of bias, such as culture bias, is more likely to be published than research that challenges gender bias. This suggests that gender bias in psychological research may not be taken as seriously as other forms of bias. 
• There is evidence that research often presents differences between the genders as fixed and inevitable
• Maccoby & Jacklin (1974)

  • Concluded that females have superior verbal ability whereas males have superior spatial ability
  • Suggested that these differences are hardwired into the brain before birth
• Joel et al. (2015) found no evidence of gender differences in brain structure or function in relation to verbal and spatial processing
• Conclusions from Maccoby & Jacklin's research were popularised

  Because they fitted the social stereotype of females as speakers and males as doers
• This demonstrates how alpha biased research findings that are presented as biological facts may sometimes be better explained by social stereotypes
• Psychologists should not avoid studying possible gender differences in brain structure and function
• Gender differences in brain structure and function

  • Females may be better at multitasking than males due to better connections between the right and left hemisphere in the female brain
• There may be biological differences between males and females
• We should still be wary of exaggerating the effect that these differences may have on behaviour
• Many of the most influential studies in psychology are culturally biased
• Smith & Bond (1998) analysed 133 conformity studies carried out in 17 different countries that had all used the same or a similar procedure to Asch
• Individualistic cultures

  Emphasise the importance of the individual and value independence
• Collectivistic cultures

  Emphasise the importance of the group and value interdependence
• Collectivistic cultures included in the sample tended to show higher levels of conformity than the individualistic cultures
• Our understanding of topics such as conformity should only be applied to individualistic cultures
• However, in an age of increased media globalization it has been argued that the individualist-collectivist distinction no longer applies. For example, Takano & Osaka (1999) found that 14 out of 15 studies that compared America (an individualistic culture) with Japan (a collectivistic culture) found no evidence of the traditional distinction between individualism and collectivism. They described the distinction as lazy and simplistic. This could perhaps suggest that cultural bias in psychological research is less of an issue than it once was. 
• Cultural bias in psychological research has led to prejudice and discrimination against certain cultural groups
• Psychologists used the opportunity of World War 1 to pilot the first IQ tests on army recruits


  1. Many of the items on the test were ethnocentric, for example they required knowledge of the names of US presidents

  2. Certain groups, such as African-Americans, often received lower scores
• The poor performance of such groups

  Was not taken as a sign of the test's inadequacy but was instead used to inform racist discourse about the genetic inferiority of such groups
• They were deemed as 'mentally unfit' and 'feeble minded' in comparison to the white majority and were denied educational and professional opportunities as a result
• This illustrates how cultural bias in psychological research can be used to justify prejudice and discrimination towards certain cultural groups
• Cultural psychology

  The study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience
• Cultural psychologists

  • Strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions
  • Take an emic approach and conduct research from inside a culture, often alongside local researchers using culturally based techniques
• Modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias and are taking steps to avoid it
• Cohen (2017): 'Cultural psychology is the study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience'
• One strength of the idiographic approach, with its in-depth qualitative methods of investigation, is that it provides a complete and detailed account of the individual. This may complement the nomothetic approach by shedding further light on general laws, or may challenge these general laws. Also, an individual case may generate hypotheses for further study. This the case for the idiographic approach.    

   
• One strength of the nomothetic approach is that the research methods that it uses tend to be more scientific, mirroring those used in the natural sciences. Hypotheses are formulated, tested under controlled conditions and findings generated are analysed for their statistical significance. Such processes have enabled psychologists to establish norms of behaviour, which arguably gives the discipline of psychology more scientific credibility.
• A criticism made of the idiographic approach is that it is not scientific. For example, conclusions made from case studies often rely on the subjective interpretation of the researcher. Also, one of the criticisms levelled at Freud is that many of his concepts, such as the Oedipus complex, were largely developed from the study of a single case. Meaningful generalisations therefore cannot be made. This is the case against the idiographic approach. 
• One weakness of the nomothetic approach is that it has been accused of ‘losing the whole person’ within psychology. For example, knowing that there is a 1% risk of developing schizophrenia tells us very little about what life is like with the disorder. Similarly, in laboratory experiments, participants are treated as a series of scores rather than individuals. Their subjective experience of the situation is ignored. This means that, in its search for generalities, the nomothetic approach may sometimes overlook the richness of human experience.
• It has been pointed out that the government relying on socially sensitive research to shape public policy is in fact a good thing. It is preferable for the government to look to scientific research when developing policies on important issues such as childcare and crime. The alternative would be the government relying solely on political opinion. This suggests that psychologists have an important role to play in providing high quality scientific research on socially sensitive topics.   
• Socially sensitive research

  Research that deals with topics that are socially sensitive or controversial
• Socially sensitive research

  Can have benefits for the group being studied
• Socially sensitive research

  • Research on homosexuality in the DSM-1 in 1952
• Homosexuality listed as a sociopathic personality disorder in the DSM-1

  1952