issues and debates

• Gender bias?


  research that offers a view that does not justifiably represent the experience of male/female behaviour
• androcentrism?


  male-centred view of the world, male behaviour judged as the norm
• alpha bias?


  emphasise gender differences
• beta bias?


  minimise gender differences
• universality?


  capable of being applied to all
• example of alpha bias in gender?

  freud labels anxiety as female symptom, hysteria
• example of beta bias in gender?

  fight or flight, females may tend and befriend
• 2 issues of gender bias?

  males/females may just respond differently to research methods, examples of gender bias remain unchallenged e.g. Darwin said males compete for mates reverse may be true
• 2 ways of reducing gender bias?

  feminist perspective recognises womens special needs, reverse alpha bias emphasises value of women
• cultural bias?


  ignoring cultural differences and judging all peoplee in terms of your own cultural assumptions
• ethnocentrism?


  assumption one ethnic group is superior, emphasising importance of own culture, considered the norm
• cultural relativism?


  behaviour only makes sense in the context of the norms and values of the culture in which it occurs
• example of ethnocentrism?


  DSM-5 to diagnose mental disorder
• examples of alpha bias in culture?

  Mead
• example of beta bias in culture?

  IQ tests
• weakness of cultural bias?

  perpetuate harmful stereotypes, US army IQ test suggested african americans were less intelligent
• 3 ways of reducing cultural bias?

  indigenous psychology e.g. afrocentrism, international conferences, cross-cultural research
• smith and bond 1988 findings?

  66% american, 32% european, 2% rest of world
• free will?


  we make conscious choices about behaviour, no internal or external constraints
• determinism?


  behaviour is out of our control, due to internal or external factors
• hard determinism?


  behaviour entirely out of our control, incompatible with free will
• soft determinism?


  behaviour determined by internal or external factors but we can exercise some control
• strength of determinism?


  behaviour is predictable, hypothesis can be tested, laws can be established
• 3 weaknesses of determinsim?

  allow criminals to excuse behaviour, prevent consideration of treatments like CBT involving free will, no 100% concordance rate
• weakness of free will?

  impossible to quantify and measure so is an illusion
• nature?


  behaviour is the product of innate factors, we are born with pre-dispositions
• nurture?


  behaviour is the product of environmental influences and experience
• nature example?


  A1 variant of DRD2 gene
• nurture example?


  learning theory of attachment
• 4 issues of nature-nurture debate?

  overly reliant on twin studies, increasingly complex e.g. niche picking and epigenetics, extreme deterministic viewpoints could be used for eugenics or hothousing, nature and nurture difficult to completely disentangle
• reductionism?


  behaviour best explained by breaking it down into smaller constituent parts
• holism?


  behaviour best explained by analysing person as a whole
• levels of explanation?


  extreme reductionism (low) to complex holism (high)
• 2 strengths of reductionism?

  highly testable, can isolate cause to develop effective treatments
• 2 weaknesses of reductionism?

  overly simplistic, humanist approach
• strength of holism?


  understand aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context
• weakness of holism?


  don't lend themselves to rigorous scientific testing, vague
• idiographic?


  study of individuals and the unique insights each gives about human behaviour, irrelevant to develop universal laws
• nomothetic?


  studying a sample to formulate general laws of behaviour
• nomothetic example?


  ainsworth strange situation