NCEA Psychology

universality

when researchers wrongly assume findings about one group can be applied to everyone

ethnocentrism

when psychological researchers assume that their cultural practice is the correct one and others are therefore wrong

cultural relativism

The ability to correct one’s ethnocentrism

etic approach

Looking across cultures to identify universal behaviours

emic approach

Identifying culturally specific behaviours

Alpha bias

when researchers put too much emphasis on the the differences between men and women

Beta bias

when researchers minimise the differences between men and women. Leads to Androcentrism

androcentrism

where the male perspective is seen as right/normal, which in turn makes the female perspective abnormal

alpha bias study

Freud’s theory of Penis Envy

beta bias study

The Stanford prison experiment. 24 participants, all male, generalised to all prisoners including female.

gender bias studies

- Stanford Prison Experiment (Beta Bias)
- Freud's theory of Penis Envy (Alpha bias)

cultural bias study

stanford prison experiment (all european except one hispanic)

Freud's Theory of Penis Envy

In this theory, girls must resolve a sexual conflict that they must resolve during their stages of development and learning. This causes them to be envious of boys as they wish they had a penis. This is a clear example of alpha bias because Freud placed heavy emphasis on the stark difference between a girl’s anatomy compared to a boy’s anatomy.

gender bias improvements study

Stanford Marshmallow Experiment by Mischel