Issues and debates

Cards (23)

  • Gender bias

    A lack of consideration of differences between men and women
    • = improper representation in psychological theories
    • = worse treatment of one gender (women)
    • Undermines universality as all conclusions are applied to everyone
  • Gender bias - alpha bias
    • Research on differences between men + women
    • Differences = fixed + inevitable (due to biology)
    • e.g. Oedipus/Electra complexes
  • Gender bias - beta bias
    • Theories ignoring/minimising sex differences
    • Assuming that same studies on males/females = same outcome
    • Differences between genders not considered
    • e.g. Cannon's Fight or Flight theory
  • Gender bias - androcentrism
    • Centring society around men's needs/priorities/values (masculine POV)
    • Culturally marginalises femininity + women's behaviour dismissed (not 'up to standard' -> abnormal)
  • Cultural bias
    Interpreting all cultures through the lens of our own culture + ignoring effects that other cultures have on behaviour
  • Cultural bias - cultural relativism
    • Not judging other cultures to our own standards (what's right/wrong/strange/normal)
  • Cultural bias - ethnocentrism
    • Judging other cultures by standards/values of our own culture
    • Belief in superiority of our own culture = prejudice + discrimination
  • Cultural bias - attachment types

    • Mary Ainsworth + Sylvia Bell, 1970
    • Research on attachment type -> ideal attachment between babies + mothers = secure attachment
    • Only reflects Western cultures, e.g. Japanese babies + mothers = insecure attachment (rarely separated)
    • Shows issues of culture bias affecting results' reliability
  • Cultural bias - overcoming cultural bias
    • John Berry, 1969
    • Emic approach - outlines unique nature of culture (opposite to etic approach)
    • Research takes place within culture by indigenous researchers = better understanding
    • Biased research avoided + better cultural representation
  • Cultural bias - universality + bias
    • Research participants: 68% = USA, 96% = industrialised nations, 80% = psychology undergrads
    • Understanding of human behaviour may have strong cultural bias
    • WEIRD societies = most likely to be studied (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic)
  • Ethical implications of research
    • How research affects (groups within) society
    • Sieber + Stanley, 1988
    • All research with ethical implications = socially sensitive
    • SSR could lead to negative consequence on type of people investigated, e.g. legislations against them/vindicating current prejudice (Freud's psychodynamic theories slowed down equal rights movement)
  • Ethical issues - ways to prevent negative consequences (S+S)
    • Careful consideration of implications of publishing research, especially for marginalised groups
    • Consideration of how the research will be used in creating public policy
    • Focus on research's validity
  • Nature vs nurture debate

    The debate over whether personality, culture and development are caused by nature (biology) or nurture (environment)
  • Nature vs nurture debate - nature
    • Nativism -> hereditary (biological factors passed down by parents) -> biological factors believed to be stronger than environmental factors
    • Biological factors (genes, DNA) make up our insides = some think this determines thoughts/actions -> genes make up parts of our brains = influence on behaviour + intellectual capacity
    • Francis Galton (1900s) studied families of doctors/teachers -> showed talent may be hereditary (introduced ideas of Eugenics)
  • Nature vs nurture debate - nurture
    • Environmental factors mould personalities -> people around us determine our own thoughts/actions
    • John Locke -> humans = tabula rasa
    • Human mind = blank slate at birth
    • Info added + rules for processing info generated by sensory experience
    • Personalities formed through experience
    • Conditioning to change/instil a child's behaviour
    • e.g. Bandura -> SLT; humans learn through observing others' behaviour (Bobo Doll experiment)
  • Nature vs nurture debate - conclusion
    • Nature + nurture overlap/contradict each other depending on individual
    • Genetics do play a role but environmental factors also contribute a large part of who we are
    • Relative importance = the extent to which each factor contributes (considering its effect + the effects of other variables)
  • Holism and reductionism
    Levels of explanation
  • Holism + reductionism - holism
    • Highest possible level of explanation -> not reduced at all (only understandable in its entirety)
    • Stems from 'Gestalt Psychology' -> sees 'the whole as greater than the sum of its parts'
    • People's behaviour cannot be understood through reduction
    • Humanistic Psychology -> argues that person reacts as unified whole
    • No 'unified identity' = mental illness/disorders
  • Parsimony
    Competing explanations are all equally good so researchers use the simplest ones
  • Holism + reductionism note:

    Mid-level explanations are not holistic or reductionist
  • Idiographic + nomothetic research - idiographic
    • Small group of people/one single case
    • Pros: qualitative -> focuses on first-hand accounts from few people
    • Cons: Small group = restricted work/single case can't be compared to others within study + least scientific (highly subjective = open to bias)
  • Idiographic + nomothetic research - nomothetic
    • Large group of people
    • Quantitative
    • Vigorously tested, statistically analysed, general laws + principles proposed then developed
    • Most nomothetic studies consider similarities between people
    • Pros: establishes laws/generalisations that apply to everyone
    • Cons: less focus on individuals = generalised results + subjective experiences ignored/human experience overlooked
  • Holism + reductionism - reductionism
    • Lowest level of explanation
    • Simple = broken down into smallest/most basic pieces
    • Environmental reductionism -> all physical human reactions = stimulus-response links, e.g. Behaviourism
    • Biological reductionism = behavioural analysis = neurophysiological/neurochemical or neurophysical
    • Lowest level of explanation
    • All behaviour explained through biology