Issues and debates in

What is bias?

Bias is any factor (e.g., attitudes, behaviors, beliefs) that interferes with the validity (i.e., the 'truth') of the research process.

What is universality?

The aim to develop theories that apply to all people, which may include real differences.

What is Gender Bias?

The unfair treatment or representation of genders, often stemming from androcentric research that uses a male-centered perspective to generalize behavior

What is Alpha Bias?

- psychological research that exaggerates differences -> as the differences are fixed + inevitable
- sometimes they heighten the value of women, but more often the devalue women in relation to women

What is an example of alpha bias in psychological research?

Freud's theory of psychosexual development -> during the phallic, girls + boys develop a desire for their opposite gender parent

- in boys = castration anxiety

- in girls = identification with her same gender parent

-> girls/women are morally inferior to boys/men

What is beta bias? How is it applied to gender?

- psychological research that ignores or undermines differences
- assumes that findings apply equally to both men and women -> even when women are excluded from the research process

What is an example of beta bias in psychological research?

Research into the fight or flight response -> biological research usually favours using male animals as female behaviour is affected by hormonal changes (ovulation) -> ignores any possible differences

What is the problem with beta bias in research?

may result in a misinterpretation of women's behaviour -> women tend to release oxytocin during FoF, which reduces stress

What is androcentrism?

Male centred; when normal behaviour is judged according to a male standard -> misunderstanding women's behavour + taken to be a sign of illness

Evaluation of gender bias?

S - Raised awareness: Highlighting gender bias (e.g., feminist psychology) has encouraged more balanced research and equal representation of men and women in

S - Bias in reporting psychological findings can be reduced by clearly stating that the theories, findings, and conclusions are limited to gender in the sample.

L1 - In psychology gender bias reasearch is not generalisable - lack of validity

L2 - Research challenging gender biases may not be published -> research on gender bias is funded less often + is published by less prestigious -> fewer schools may be aware of it

What does WEIRD stand for in cultural bias research? Who created it?

- Westernised Educated (people from) Industrialised Rich Democracies

- Henrich developed this abbreviation

What is ethnocentrism?

- a particular form of cultural bias

- a belief in the superiority of one's own cultural group -> usually US + Europeans

What is an example of ethnocentric research? Why?

- Ainsworth's Strange Situation = only reflects the norms/values of the 'Western' culture -> ideal attachment is baby showing moderate stress when left alone by their mother figure

- misinterprets other child-rearing practices that deviate from the American norms

What is cultural relativism?

The idea that culture can only be understood from within that culture.

What are the 2 approaches in cultural relativism?

- an etic approach

- an emic approach

What is an etic approach?

- looks at behaviour from outside a given culture + describes the behaviours as universal

What is an emic approach?

- functions from inside a culture + identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture

Evaluation of cultural bias?

S - the emergence of cultural psychology -> this is the study of how people shape/are shaped by their cultural experience -> avoids ethnocentric

assumptions

S - Development of cultural relativism: Encourages understanding behaviour within its cultural context rather than judging by Western standards.

L – should not be generalised to other cultures, as only one culture has been studied – lack of validity

L - Practical consequences: Misunderstanding cultural behaviour can lead to stereotyping, discrimination, and poor validity in psychological diagnosis or treatment.

Free will

- human beings are self-determining + free to choose their own thoughts/actions

- we are able to reject the biological forces that may have influence

- advocated by the humanistic approach

What are the 2 definitions of determinism?

- hard determinism

- soft determinism

What is hard determinism

- referred to fatalism

- all human behaviour has a cause -> those causes can be identified

- ae are dictated by internal or external forces that we cannot control

What is soft determinism?

- an important feature of the cognitive approach

- something does determine our behaviour but we still have the freedom to make rational choices

What is biological determinism?

The belief that behaviour is caused by biological influences. e.g nervous systems, genetics

What is environmental determinism?

all behaviour is the result of conditioning -> reinforcement acts on us all the time

What is psychic determinism?

- the influence of biological drives + drives

- behaviour is determined by our unconscious conflicts

Why can determinism be said to be scientific?

- knowledge of causes + the formulation of laws are important -> allows scientists to predict/control events of the future

- why lab experiments are the ideal of science -> all variables can be controlled

Evaluation of free will?

S - Supported by everyday experience: Subjectively, humans feel they have free choice, making the concept psychologically meaningful.

S - The humanistic approach is the only approach that is holistic and idiographic in that it considers the whole person as an individual within real contexts.

L - Lacks scientific support: Free will is difficult to test or falsify, as it cannot be measured objectively.

L - Neuroscientific evidence against it: Studies show brain activity occurs before conscious decision-making, suggesting behaviour may be biologically determined.

Evaluation of determinism?

S - A strength of determinism is that it supports the use of scientific methods in psychology. For example, biological determinism studies factors such as genes, hormones, and brain structures using objective methods like brain scans and experiments.

S - Practical applications: Understanding causes of behaviour helps in therapy and treatment (e.g., drug therapy for mental disorders).

L - Correlation, not causation - explanations may rely on inferred causes rather than clear, testable predictions, meaning determinism may offer only a partial account of human behaviour

L - Oversimplifies human behaviour by ignoring cognition, emotion, and social context.

What do the interactionists suggest about nature-nurture?

it's less about which one is more important but how the two interact

What is the diathesis-stress model?

genetic predisposition + environmental stressors = many types of behaviour (e.g. OCD, depression)

What are epigenics?

- a change in our genetic activity without changing the genes themselves -> happens throughout life + caused by an interaction with the environment (smoking, diet, etc.)

- aspects of our lifestyle leave 'marks' on our DNA, which switch genes on or off -> may even influence the genetic codes of our children

What does the nature side suggest?

- refers to inherited influences

- Descartes suggests all human characteristics/ knowledge are innate + determined by biological influences

What does the nurture side suggest?

- refers to the influence of experience + the environment

- Locke suggests the mind is a blank slate at birth + then shaped by the environment -> supports the behaviourist approach

- development is influenced by the social conditions the child grows up in

What is concordance?

the degree in which 2 people are similar in a particular trait -> shown by correlation coefficients

What is heritability?

the proportion of difference between individuals, regarding a particular traits, that is due to a genetic variation

What does the heritability coefficient show in the nature vs nurture?

The heritability coefficient measures how much a trait or behaviour is influenced by genetics (genotype) versus the environment. It ranges from 0 to 1 — where 1 means the trait is entirely genetic, 0.5 means it's half genetic and half environmental, and 0.1 means it's mostly determined by environmental factors.

Evaluation nature-nurture debate?

S1 - adoption studies separate the competing influences of nature + nurture -> if adopted children are similar to adoptive parents, environment is the bigger influence but if adopted children are more similar to biological parents, genes are the bigger influence

S2 - Real world application application -> OCD is a highly heritable mental disorder (0.76) - its not inevitable but those with a high genetic risk can receive advice on its likelihood + how to manage stress

L- Each side of approach is determinist, not taking into account free will or biology

L - Twin studies 100% concordance if it was completely genetic.

Strength of the interactinolist approach

An interactionist approach is more holistic than an extreme nature or nurture approach as it acknowledges the complex relationship between biology, psychology and environment

What is holism

The view that behvaiour should be understood as a whole. Taking account of all factors.

What is reductionism?

- seeks to analyse behaviour by breaking it down into parts

What are the levels of explanation in psychology?

1) Socio-cultural level (influence of social groups on behaviour) Highest Level

2) psychological level (cognitive/ behavioural/ environmental)

3) biological levels (neurochemical/ genetic/brain structure) Lowest level

What is biological reductionism?

- is based on the idea that biological functions and structures can explain behaviour.

- often work backwards

What is environmental (stimulus-response) reductionism?

- behaviourism

- all behaviour is learned through interactions with the environment, sociological

- focuses on simple stimulus-response links -> basic elements

What is one strength and one weakness of reductionism?

S - Scientiffic approach as it enables objective testing of variables in controlled experiments, helping to establish causation.

S - Reductionist explanations have led to effective treatments and interventions. For example, biological reductionism has helped develop drug treatments for mental disorders.

L - Oversimplifies behaviour: Ignores the interaction between different levels of explanation (biological, cognitive, social)

L - Reductionist theories/methods are good at showing what but they are far less successful at explaining why.

Evaluation of holism?

S - considers all factors that can contribute to a behaviour -> high ecological validity. Realistic understanding

S - Realf life application CBT + Drug therapy having some of the best effects on OCD

L - Lacks scientific precision: Holistic explanations are often vague and untestable, making it difficult to establish cause-and-effect relationships.

L - It is difficult to consider cause and effect

What is the idiographic approach?

- suggests psychology should be the study of individuals -> obtains lots of detailed info about that individual/group

What is the nomothetic approach?

- psychology should be the study of large + varied groups -> to make generalisations about what's typical in different aspects of human behaviour

What are some idiographic methods?

- most research is qualitative/subjective

- interviewed in depth + focusing on a particular aspect (unstructured)

- used in humanistic + psychodynamic approaches

What are some nomothetic methods?

- most research is quantitative

- hypotheses are formulated, samples of people are assessed -> numerical details analysed

- seeks to quantify human behaviour objectively

- used in behaviourist + biological approaches

What is one strength and one weakness of the idiographic-nomothetic approach?

Idiographic

S - In-depth, rich data:Gives a complete and detailed picture of human experience (e.g., Freud's case of Little Hans, or Clive Wearing). (Holistic)

L - Low generalisability:Findings from one or few individuals can't be applied to everyone — lacks population validity.

Nomothetic

S - Can make predictions:General laws allow psychologists to predict and control behaviour

L - Reductionist:Focus on general laws can oversimplify complex human behaviour. Loss of indivual details ignores indivdual experience.

Who oversees ethical guidelines for psychology in the UK

The British Psychological Society

What is an ethical implication?

the consequences that psychological research may have

-> some areas of research may have greater social sensitivity that others

What does it mean for reasearch to be socially sensitive

deals with topics that, if handled badly by the researcher, could have negative consequences for the groups involved due to how the findings could be interpreted or even manipulated by external sources such as the media

What is an example of a study that would have high social sensitivity?

- a study on depression = high social sensitivity

- may have consequences in terms of individual participants, the wider social groups they represent + for social policy

What is the implications for the research process?

1) research question - way in which it's phrased may influence the way in which the findings are interpreted

2) dealing with participants - informed consent, confidentiality + psychological harm are especially important

3) the institutional context - research funded by private organisations may misuse date in a way that looks more favourable for their products

4) the way the findings are used - may impact on what data they actually collect

- may be seen as giving scientific credence to existing prejudices

5) Many socially sensitive reasearch topics ay bring with them hugely beneficial consequences, challenging stereotypes/predjudice

What are the 4 main ethical issues?

- Informed consent

- Deception

- Protection from harm

- Privacy and confidentiality

- right to withdraw

What is one strength and one weakness for the ethical implications of research studies?

S - socially sensitive research can have benefits for the group who have been studied -> when homosexuality was removed from the DSM + is now a typical expression of human sexual behaviour

S - Leads to ethical awareness and improved guidelines

Controversial studies (e.g., Milgram, Zimbardo) led to stricter ethical standards — informed consent, right to withdraw, debriefing.

L - Potential for misuse or social harm: Findings can be interpreted out of context or used to justify discrimination.

L - Difficult to predict real-world impact

Researchers cannot always foresee how results will be used.

What causes research bias?

Psychologists hold beliefs + values that have been influenced by the social/historical contexts in which they live -> may lead to biased + lean towards a subjective view that doesn't reflect objective reality

Bias is...

any factor (e.g. attitudes, behaviours, beliefs) that interferes with the validity (i.e. the 'truth') of the research process

What is universality?

the aim to develop theories that apply to all people, which may include real differences

What is alpha bias? How is applied to gender?

- psychological research that exaggerates differences -> as the differences are fixed + inevitable

- sometimes they heighten the value of women, but more often the devalue women in relation to women

What is beta bias? How is it applied to gender?

- psychological research that ignores or undermines differences

- assumes that findings apply equally to both men and women -> even when women are excluded from the research process

What is an example of beta bias in psychological research?

Research into the fight or flight response -> biological research usually favours using male animals as female behaviour is affected by hormonal changes (ovulation) -> ignores any possible differences