Issues and debates

Gender bias - universality and bias

• predisposed beliefs and values influenced by social and historical context within which they live

• may undermine psychologists’ claims to discover facts about human behaviour that are objective, value free and consistent across time and culture (universality)

• bias = leaning towards a personal view that doesn’t reflect reality

What is gender bias

The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than the real difference

Two types of gender bias

1. alpha bias

2. beta bias

Alpha bias

• research that exaggerates the differences between the sexes

• can be seen as being fixed and inevitable (universal)

• often devalue female in relation to males

Example of alpha bias

• freud says women are morally inferior due to an underdeveloped superego

• but this would suggest that more crime would be committed by them which isnt true

Beta bias

• research that ignores the differences

• happens when we assume research applies equally to both sexes

Example of beta bias

• Kohlbergs theory of moral development

• male sample and dilemmas all confrontational - women are different (less confrontational)

Androcentrism

• male centred

• when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard (females usually viewed as abnormal)

• cause alpha and beta bias

Neutral evaluation of gender bias - a way of moving forward

• feminist psych states women should be studied in a meaningful, real life context (not the strange situation) and participate rather than being objects

• researchers should concentrate on differences between women, not just between women and men

• needs to be more collaborative research and qualitative data

Weakness of gender bias - flawed research and negative implications

• research is not only flawed methodologically, but it also contributes to stereotypes and discrimination

• if research on men, by men (eg Asch), is seen as the standard then it becomes normal for women to feel abnormal

Weakness of gender bias - sexism in research

• women are underrepresented at research level, for instance in uni departments and even on the alevel (only ainsworth, loftus)

• means female issues/ questions are under addressed

• sexism has been entrenched for over 100 years

• in 1930s research came out discouraging intellectual curiosity/ research due to it shrivelling ovaries

Cultural bias - universality and bias

• Henrich came up with the term ‘WEIRD’ to describe the group of people most likely to be studied

• Westernised, Educated people from Industrialised, Rich Democracies

• eg zimbardo, asch, milgram

• the idea that any behaviours or cultures that devviate/ differ from the (usually western) norm, are seen as inferior or abnormal

• this is a universal assumption (white american sample applies to whole world)

Ethnocentrism

• judging other cultures by the standards and values of ones own culture

• eg Ainsworths strange situation assumes secure attachment is the best, but in countries like germany kids are raised to be more independent

Extreme form of ethnocentrism

• belief in the superiority of ones own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards others

• eg America accused of trying to impose its beliefs on the world and its scientific methods (imposed etic)

Cultural relativism

• concepts and moral values must be understood in their own cultural context and not judged according to the standards of a different culture

• helps to avoid bias

Etic approach

• Barry

• this approach looks at behaviour from outside a given culture and identifies behaviours that are universal

Emic approach

• functions from inside a culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture

Imposed etic

• when behaviours are studied inside a single culture and then assumed their ideal attachment type could be applied universally

• eg Ainsworths research

Strength of cultural bias - emergence of cultural psychology

• this is the study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience

• it is an emerging field that takes an emic approach

• conducted from inside a culture often alongside local researchers using cultural based techniques

• therefore steps being taken to avoid it

Weakness of cultural bias - many classic studies culturally biased

• both Asch and Milgrams original studies conducted with white middle class US participants

• replications of these in other cultures produced different results

• higher rates of conformity in collectivist cultures

• however, individualism / collectivism may no longer exist due to increasing global media

• 14 out of 15 studies comparing US and Japan found no difference

• therefore less of an issue now

Weakness of cultural bias - ethnic stereotyping

• led to prejudice against groups of people

• the first IQ tests led to eugenic social policies in the US - these were given during WW1 on 1.75m army recruits

• many test questions were ethnocentric eg name US presidents so those from other cultural backgrounds scored lower and were deemed genetically inferior

• therefore can be used to justify prejudice

Free will and determinism debate

• is our behaviour a matter of free will or are we the product of internal and/ or external influences

• most approaches in psych are deterministic but disagree on the causes of human behaviour

Free will

• suggests humans are free to make choices

• there are biological and and environmental influences on our behaviour, but free will implies we can reject them

• this is the view of the humanistic approach

Determinism

• hard determinism = all human action has a cause

• should be possible to identify these causes

• soft determinism = all human action has a cause but people have freedom to make choices within a restricted range of options

What are the three types of determinism

1. biological

2. environmental

3. psychic

Biological determinism

• the biological approach describes many causes of behaviour

• eg influence of the autonomic NS on stress or the influence of genes on mental health

• also the environment has a mediating influence on our biological structures

Environmental determinism

• Skinner described free will as an illusion and all behaviour as the result of conditioning

• our choices are merely the sum of reinforcement contingencies that have acted upon us throughout our lives

Psychic determinism

• Freud emphasised the influence of biological drives and unconscious conflicts repressed on childhood

• eg slip of the tongue can be explained by the unconscious

Strength of the free will and determinism debate - free will has practical value

• Roberts looked at adolescents who believed in hard determinism and found they were at a greater risk of developing depression

• also found people with an internal locus of control were more likely to be optimistic

• therefore, even if we don’t have free will, those who believe we do may have a positive impact on their mind and behaviour

Weakness of the free will and determinism debate - evidence only supports determinism

• Libet asked ptps to randomly flick their wrist and say when they felt the will to move

• brain activity showed the unconscious activity leading to the conscious decision to move came half a second before their conscious decision to move

• therefore may be interpreted as even our most basic experiences are actually determined before we are aware

Weakness of the free will and determinism debate - role of responsibility in law

• the hard determinism stance is not consistent with how our legal system operates

• in court offenders are held responsible for their actions as they exercised their free will to commit a crime

• therefore in the real world determinist theories dont work

The nature nurture debate

• the interactionist approach

• not really a debate as all characteristics / behaviours arises from a combination of both

• eg even eye colour only .80 heritable

Attachment example

• can be described in terms of quality of parental love (Bowlby)

• or childs temperament (Kagan)

• both environment and heredity interact

Diathesis stress model

• behaviour caused by a biological/ environmental vulnerability (diathesis) which is only expressed when coupled with a biological / environmental trigger (stressor)

• eg a person may inherit a genetic vulnerability for OCD but may only develop it if combined with a psychological trigger

Epigenetics

• a change in genetic activity without changing the genetic code

How does this take place

• lifestyle and events we encounter leave marks on our DNA/ genes

• these switch genes on and off

• eg smoking, diet, trauma, war

Their influence

• lifelong influence and can be passed on to future generations as they have changed the way your genes are expressed

Nature

• inherited influences/ genes

• early nativists argued that human characteristics are innate - the result of our genes

• psychological characteristics (eg intellegence, personality) are determined by biological factors, just like eye colour and height

Nurture

• empiricists argued that the mind is a blank slate at birth, and is shaped by interaction with the environment

• eg behaviourist approach

• there are two different levels of the environment

What are the two different levels identified by Lerner and what are they

1. Prenatal terms - eg mother smoking

2. postnatal experiences - eg social conditions a child grows up in

How is nature - nurture measured (2 ways)

1. concordance rates - the degree to which two people are similar on a particular trait

2. heritability - proportion of differences between individuals in a population, with regards to a specific trait, due to genes (0.01 very little contribution, 1.0 genes are only reason, IQ is around 0.5)

Strength of the nature nurture debate - research support of adoption studies

• if adoptive kids more similar to adoptive parents suggests environmental influence, if biological then more genetic influence

• Rhee found in a meta analysis that genetic influences accounted for 41% of variance in aggression

• therefore research can separate nature/ nurture

• however, kids create theit own nurture by selecting environments appropriate to them (aggressive → aggressive friends = become even more aggressive)

Strength of the nature nurture debate - real world applications

• heritability rate .76 for OCD (high) so people who have a genetic risk can receive education, management and prevention of the disorder

Weakness of the nature nurture debate - too closely linked

• too difficult to investigate the effects of nature and nurture due to the fact they are so closely linked

• eg twins

Holism vs reductionism debate

• debate over which position is preferable for psych

• study the whole person (holism)

• or study component parts (reductionism)

• as soon as you break down the whole it isn’t holistic and reductionism broken down into levels of explanation

Holism

• the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

• focuses on experience which cant be reduced to biological units, qualitative methods investigate themes

Reductionism

• based on the scientific principle of parsimony

• that all phenomena should be explained using the simplest (lowest level) principles

The six levels of explanation

1. socio-cultural

2. Psychological

3. Physical

4. Environmental/ behavioural

5. Physiological level

6. Neurochemical

Example of OCD - socio-cultural (1)

• behaviour most people would regard as atypical eg repetitive handwashing

Psychological (2)

• the individuals experience of having obsessive thoughts

Physical (3)

• the sequence of movements involved in washing ones hands

Environmental/ behavioural (4)

• learning experiences (conditioning)

Physiological level (5)

• abnormal functioning in the frontal lobes

Neurochemical (6)

• underproduction of serotonin

Biological reductionism

• suggests all behaviour can be explained through neurochemical, physiological, evolutionary and / or genetic influences

Example of OCD

• drugs that increase serotonin are used to treat OCD

• therefore low levels of serotonin may be a cause = reduced to the level of neurotransmitter activity

Environmental reductionism

• proposes all behaviour is acquired through interactions with the environment

• eg behaviourist approach - stimulus + response

Example of attachment

• learning theory reduces the idea of love between baby and mum to a learned association between mum and food, resulting in pleasure

Strength of holism and reductionism - reductionism has a scientific status

• Breaks behaviour into measurable parts.

• Allows controlled, objective, and replicable experiments.

• Uses standardised methods and operationalised variables

• Aligns with natural sciences (e.g., biology), giving psychology greater scientific status.

• however, doesnt include context, lacking meaning

Weakness of holism and reductionism - reductionism ignores higher levels

• there are aspects of social behaviour that only emerge within a group context and cannot be explained by individuals

• eg stanford prison study the behaviour of the group was important

• for some behaviours, higher or even holistic level explanations provide a more valid account

Weakness of holism and reductionism - holism lacks practical value

• holistic accounts of human behaviour become hard to use as they become more complex which presents researchers with a practical dilemma

• eg if many factors contribute to depression it is difficult to know the most important to prioritise for treatment

Debate of idiographic and nomothetic approaches

• over which position is preferable for psych

• may both have a place in the scientific study of the person

What is the idiographic approach

• detailed study of one individual or group to provide in depth understanding

Characteristics of the approach

• qualitative research eg interviews, themes identified, conclusions formed

• small number of ptps, often single individuals or small groups

• research might include others eg family, friends

• initial focus on understanding the individual but generalisations made

Examples in psych

• Freuds explanation of phobias based on little hans

• Rogers concept of counselling based on his work as a therapist

• his theory on the role of unconditional positive regard in self development based on in depth study of his clients

What is the nomothetic approach

• study of larger groups with the aim of discovering norms, universal principles, or ‘laws’ of behaviour

Characteristics of this approach

• quantitative data; hypotheses are formulated, samples of people are gathered and data analysed for its statistical significance

• seek to quantify/ count human behaviour

• general principles of behaviours/ laws are developed which are then applied in individual situations ie therapy

Examples

• Skinner studied animals to develop the general laws of learning

• Sperry’s split brain research involved repeated testing and was, in part, the basis for understanding hemispheric lateralisation

Which approach is objective

• nomothetic

• seeks standardised procedures of assessing people

• this ensures true replication occurs across samples of behaviour and removes the influence of bias

Which is subjective

• Idiographic

• tends not to believe objectivity is possible

• its peoples unique experience/ context thats important

Strength of the idiographic vs nomothetic debate - both approaches work together

• Idio uses in depth qualitative methods, complementing nomo by providing detail

• in depth case studies may reveal insights about normal functioning which contribute to our overall understanding

• ie HM (damaged memory)

• therefore even though focus on fewer individuals, may help form ‘scientific’ laws of behaviour

• however idio on own is restricted, no baseline for comparison and unscientific and subjective

Strength of the idiographic vs nomothetic debate - both fit the aims of science

• nomo (like natural sciences) seeks objectivity through standardisation, control and statistical testing

• idio also seeks objectivity by triangulation (comparing a range of studies) and reflexivity (researchers examine own biases)

• raise psychs status as a science

Weakness of the idiographic vs nomothetic debate - nomo loses the individual experience

• focuses on general laws and may ‘lose the whole person’

• eg understanding the subjective experience for someone with schiz could prove useful when looking at treatments

• therefore not complete, fails to relate to experience

Ethical implications - why do ethical issues arise

• arise from conflict between the need for valid research findings and preserving the rights of participants

Ethical guidelines

• protect ptps and guide researchers

• guidelines are also related to the ethical implications (consequences) of research

Socially sensitive research

• psychologists must be aware of the consequences of research for the research ptps or the group of people represented by the research

• some research is more sensitive (eg depression) but even seemingly harmless research (eg long term memory in students) may have consequences (eg for exam policy)

Implications for the research process

• consequences should be considered at all stages

Research question

• the phrasing of the research question influences how the findings are interpreted

• eg research into ‘alternative relationships’ guilty of comparing homosexual relationships to heterosexual norms

Dealing with participants

• ie informed consent, confidentiality and psychological harm

• eg interviewing victims of sexual abuse - may worry about an ex partner finding out what they said + talking about it may be stressful

The way findings are used

• findings may give scientific credence to prejudices

• eg use of early (flawed) IQ tests in US during WW1 led to prejudices against those not from the US

Strength of ethical implications - benefits for the group studied

• the DSM-1 listed homosexuality as a ‘sociopathic personality disorder’

• finally got removed after anonymous interviews with 5000 men about their sexual behaviour concluded that homosexuality is a normal variant of sexual behaviour

• shows importance of studying sensitive topics

• however, may be negative consequences ie criminal genes implying people cant be held responsible for wrongdoing

Strength of ethical implications - policy makers rely on SSR

• gov needs research related to childcare, mental health etc to base policies on scientific research

• plays an important role in providing this info

Weakness of ethical implications - may have long term negative impact

• poor research design may have a long term negative impact

• eg Burts research on IQ showed it is genetic and apparent by age of 11

• led to the 11+ exam which meant not all kids had same educational opportunities

• other research contradicts this but the system didnt change and continues in parts of the UK today

• any SSR needs to be planned with the greatest care due to enduring effects