Issues and Debates

• 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
• Examples of Alpha Bias


  • Psychodynamic explanations for offending behaviour
  • Wilson's sociobiological theory of relationship formation
  • Historically, since the 1980s, schizophrenia has been diagnosed more frequently in men compared to women
• 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
• Example of Androcentrism


  • PMS has been criticised by some as being a social construction, which trivialises female emotion, particularly anger. On the other hand, male anger is seen as a logical response to external pressures
• Beta bias


  A tendency to ignore or minimise differences between men and women. Such theories tend to ignore questions about the lives of women, or insights derived from studies of men will apply equally well to women
• Examples of Beta Bias


  • Early research conducted into the fight or flight response exclusively used male lab mice
  • Kohlberg's levels of moral reasoning theory was developed on the basis of studying groups of American males
• Universality


  The aim to develop theories that apply to all people, which may include real differences. This describes any underlying characteristic of human behaviour which can be applied to all individuals, regardless of their differences
• Bias, lack of validity and issues with reliability reduce the universality of psychological findings
• 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
• 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
• Male researchers have the authority to deem women as "unreasonable, irrational and unable to complete complex tasks"
• 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
• Research by Cornwell et al (2013) showed that women are better at learning because they are more attentive, flexible and organised
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Example of Cultural Relativism


  • Milgram's study into obedience was originally conducted using 40 male American participants, but then also replicated using Spanish students and Australian students
• Cultural relativism can lead to an alpha bias, where the assumption of real differences lead psychologists to overlook universals
• 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)


  The assumption that there are real and enduring differences between cultural groups
• Example of Alpha Bias (in cross-cultural research)


  • The distinction that is often made between individualistic and collectivist cultures
• Beta bias (in cross-cultural research)


  Theories that minimise or ignore cultural differences by assuming that all people are the same and therefore it is reasonable to use the same theories for different cultural groups
• Example of Beta Bias (in cross-cultural research)


  • Using IQ tests to study intelligence in many different cultures as they assume that their view of intelligence applies equally to all cultures
• Ethnocentrism


  Seeing things from the point of view of ourselves and our social group. Evaluating other groups of people using the standards and customs of one's own culture
• Example of Ethnocentrism


  • Ainsworth's Strange Situation is an example of cultural relativism due to suggesting that a secure attachment was only characterised by moderate separation and stranger anxiety
• Emic approach


  Emphasises the distinction of uniqueness in every culture
• Etic approach


  Seeks universal aspects of behaviour
• 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, leading to stereotyping and discrimination
• Ekman et al. demonstrated that facial expressions for anger, guilt and disgust were universally recognised across all cultures
• Interactional synchrony and reciprocity are universal features of infant-caregiver interactions
• Bond and Smith noted that not all cultures will be familiar with research traditions and the aims of science, leading to a greater 'Please-U' demand characteristic effect, which may bias the findings
• Determinism


  The belief that behaviour is controlled by external or internal factors acting upon the individual and beyond their control
• Biological determinism


  The view that behaviour is always caused by internal biological forces beyond our control, such as the influence of genes
• Environmental determinism


  The belief that behaviour is caused by previous experience through classical and operant conditioning
• Psychic determination


  Freud's theory of personality suggests that adult behaviour is determined by a mix of innate drives and early experience