Issues and Debates Notes

What are types of gender bias?

• Alpha bias

• Androcentrism

• Beta bias

What is gender bias?

The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences.

What is alpha bias?

This exaggerates differences between men and women, suggesting real and enduring distinctions, but often devalues one gender (typically women).

What are examples of alpha bias?

• Psychodynamic explanations of offending

• Wilson’s sociobiological theory of relationships

• Schizophrenia diagnosis

What is the psychodynamic explanation of offending?

Freud suggested that females are less moral due to not experiencing castration anxiety, which Hoffman et al. refuted

What is Wilson’s sociobiological theory of relationships?

Claims that male promiscuity is genetic, while female promiscuity is against their nature due to limited eggs and high reproductive costs. This can lead to prejudice.

What is schizophrenia diagnosis?

Historically more frequent in men since the 1980s, possibly due to women masking symptoms by maintaining relationships and work, as Cotton et al. suggest.

What is androcentrism?

This is a consequence of beta bias, where behaviour is compared to a 'male' standard, neglecting or excluding women.

What is an example of androcentrism?

• PMS is sometimes seen as a social construct that trivialises female emotion, while male anger is viewed as a logical response to external pressures (Brescoll & Uhlman).

• Androcentrism minimises differences, assuming what's true for men is true for women.

What is flight or fight research about androcentrism?

Initially conducted on male animals due to hormonal variations in females, generalising results until Shelley Taylor (2000) found that females use a 'tend and befriend' response to ensure offspring survival, indicating that beta bias ignored a real difference.

What is beta bias?

This ignores or minimises differences between men and women, assuming insights from male studies apply to women equally.

What are examples of beta bias?

• Fight or flight response research

• Kohlberg’s moral reasoning theory

What is fight or flight response research about beta bias?

Early studies used only male lab mice due to fewer hormonal fluctuations, but results were generalised to females, ignoring sex differences.

What is Kohlberg’s moral reasoning theory?

Developed by studying American males and generalising results to both genders.

What is universality?

This aims to develop theories applicable to all people, including real differences. Bias reduces the universality of psychological findings.

What is an evaluation of gender bias?

• Feminist psychology

• Bias in research methods

• Laboratory experiments

• Reverse alpha bias

• Avoiding beta bias

• Assumptions need to be challenged

What is feminist psychology?

It argues that difference psychology stems from biological explanations and that social stereotypes greatly contribute to perceived differences. Feminist views can counter androcentrism. Eagly (1978) suggested using knowledge of gender differences to develop training programs for women leaders.

What is bias in research methods?

Rosenthal (1966) found male experimenters more encouraging to female participants, affecting performance. Fewer women in senior research roles also means female concerns are less reflected in research.

What are laboratory experiments?

They might institutionalise sexism, as male researchers could view women as unable to complete complex tasks (Nicolson, 1995). Eagly and Johnson found more similar leadership styles in real settings than in labs, suggesting higher ecological validity in field studies.

What is reverse alpha bias?

Research that emphasises women's strengths, challenging preconceptions. Cornwell et al. (2013) found that women learn better due to attentiveness and organisation, challenging stereotypes.

What is avoiding beta bias?

While beta bias has increased opportunities for women, Hare, Mustin, and Marecek noted that arguing for equality can overlook women’s special needs, like the biological demands of pregnancy.

What are assumptions which need to be challenged?

Darwin's sexual selection theory portrays women as choosy and men as competitive, but this has been challenged by findings that women are equally competitive and that mating with multiple partners can be an adaptive strategy (Vernimmen, 2015). DNA evidence supports female competition.

What is culture?

This includes rules, customs, morals, and ways of interacting that bind a society together.

What is culture bias?

This is the tendency to judge cultures based on your own cultural assumptions, distorting judgments

What is cultural relativism?

The view that behaviours should be understood within the context of their culture of origin.

What is an example of cultural relativism?

Milgram’s obedience study replicated in Spain (Miranda et al. found over 90% obedience) and Australia (Kilham & Mann found only 16% of females obeyed to the highest voltage), suggesting the original findings were specific to American culture.

What is alpha bias of culture?

Cultural relativism can lead to an alpha bias, where the assumption of real differences leads psychologists to overlook universals.

What is beta bias of culture?

Cultural relativism is often discussed in defining mental disorder. Behaviours infrequent in one culture may be common in another (e.g., hearing voices being a sign of spirituality in African cultures). Assuming universal rules might misdiagnose individuals.

What is alpha bias in cross-cultural research?

The assumption that there are real differences between cultural groups. The distinction between individualistic and collectivist cultures is one example. Takano and Osaka reviewed 15 studies comparing the US and Japan and found that most did not support the view that there are differences in conformity.

What is beta bias in cross-cultural research?

Theories that minimise or ignore cultural differences. An example of this is using IQ tests. Psychologists use IQ tests to study intelligence in many different cultures, as they assume that their view of intelligence applies equally to all cultures.

What is ethnocentrism?

This is an example of alpha bias that leads to beta bias. It involves seeing things from the viewpoint of your own social group and evaluating others using the standards of your own culture. In its extreme form, ethnocentrism can lead to prejudice against other cultures.

What are indigenous psychologies?

These involve the development of different groups of theories in different countries as a method of countering ethnocentrism.

What is an example of ethnocentrism?

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation suggested that secure attachment was characterised by moderate separation and stranger anxiety. Therefore, German mothers, whose children showed little separation and stranger anxiety (thus being insecure-avoidant), were deemed as cold and rejecting.

What is the emic-etic distinction?

The emic approach emphasises the uniqueness of every culture, but its findings are only significant for that culture. The etic approach seeks universal aspects of behaviour. Using indigenous researchers in each cultural setting is one way to avoid cultural bias.

What are evaluations of cultural bias?

• Bias in research methods

• Consequences of cultural bias

• Not all behaviours are affected by cultural bias

• Worldwide psychology

What is bias in research methods?

Smith and Bond surveyed research in a European textbook on social psychology and found that 66% of the studies were American, 32% European, and 2% from the rest of the world. This suggests an institutionalised cultural bias in psychology.

What is the consequence of cultural bias?

US Army IQ tests showed European immigrants scoring slightly below white Americans, leading to stereotyping and discrimination.

Why are not all behaviours are affected by cultural bias?

Ekman et al. demonstrated that facial expressions for anger, guilt, and disgust were universally recognised across cultures. Interactional synchrony and reciprocity are universal features of infant-caregiver interactions. Understanding behaviour requires looking at both universal and culture-bound examples.

What is worldwide psychology?

Increased researcher travel and international conferences reduce ethnocentrism by appreciating cultural differences. Bond and Smith noted that some cultures may be unfamiliar with research traditions, leading to a ‘Please-U’ demand characteristic effect.

What is determinism?

The belief that behaviour is controlled by internal or external factors beyond individual control.

What are the types of determinism?

• Biological

• Environmental

• Psychic

What is biological determinism?

Behaviour is caused by internal biological forces like genes. For example, the IGF2R gene is linked to high intelligence (Hill et al., 1999), and CDH-13 and MAOA genes are candidate genes for criminality

What is environmental determinism?

Behaviour is caused by previous experience through classical and operant conditioning (e.g., phobias from conditioning, Skinner's Box). These are external forces beyond our control.

What is psychic determinism?

Freud’s theory suggests adult behaviour is determined by innate drives and early experiences, leading to unconscious conflicts (e.g., fixation at psychosexual stages).

What is free will?

Each individual can make choices about their behaviour, without being determined by internal or external forces. This is a common feature of the humanistic approach.

What is hard determinism?

All behaviour can be predicted by internal and external forces, so there is no free will.

What is soft determinism?

A version of determinism that allows for some free will and suggests that all events, including human behaviour, have a cause. For example, the cognitive approach suggests that individuals can reason and make decisions within the limits of their cognitive system.

What is the importance of scientific research?

Scientific research assumes all events have a cause. Independent variables are manipulated to affect dependent variables, establishing cause-and-effect relationships. This increases the scientific credibility of psychology.

What is the evaluation of determinism?

• 100% genetic determinism is unlikely

• Determinism simplifies human behaviour

• Determinism may be used to justify crimes

What is 100% genetic determinism is unlikely?

Twin studies show 80% similarity in intelligence and 40% in depression for monozygotic twins, suggesting an interactionist standpoint. Higher concordance rates in MZ twins may be due to shared environments.

Why does determinism simplify human behaviour?

Human behaviour is less rigid and influenced by cognitive factors. Aggression cannot be simplified to the actions of the endocrine system and adrenaline.

Why might determinism be used to justify crimes?

This is not in line with the judicial system, which holds individuals morally responsible. Determinism has led to treatments like SSRIs for depression, but may neglect non-biological treatments such as CBT.

What are features of free will?

• Humanistic approach

• Moral responsibility

What is the humanistic approach?

Humanistic psychologists argue that self-determination is necessary for human behaviour. Rogers (1959) claimed that being controlled by others prevents an individual from taking responsibility and changing. Self-responsibility enables personal growth or ‘self-actualisation’.

What is moral responsibility?

Individuals are in charge of their own actions. The law states that children and those who are mentally ill do not have this responsibility, but other than this, there is an assumption that normal adult behaviour is self-determined.

What is the evaluation of free will?

• Illusion of free will

• Challenge to the idea of free will

• Free will has good face validity

• Free will has high internal validity

What is the illusion of free will?

Choices may be determined by previous reinforcement, as suggested by behaviourism.

What is the challenge of the idea of free will?

Libet et al (1983) recorded brain activity before conscious awareness of movement. Soon et al (2008) found prefrontal cortex activity up to 10 seconds before awareness. This suggests behaviour is pre-determined.

Why has free will has good face validity?

We appear to make our own decisions in everyday scenarios.

Why has free will high internal validity?

Robert et al. found that adolescents with an internal locus of control are less likely to develop depression and are more likely to have better mental health.

What is environment?

Everything outside our body, including people, events, and the physical world. Any non-genetic influence on behaviour.

What did Lerner say about the environment?

He identified different levels of the environment, ranging from pre-natal experiences (e.g., the mother’s physiological and psychological state during pregnancy) to post-natal experiences (e.g., the socio-historical context within which the child grew up).

What is John Locke’s view of the brain?

The view that the mind is a ‘blank slate upon which experience writes’ is typical of an empiricist/behaviourist approach, e.g. John Locke.

What is nature?

Any genetic influence on behaviour (e.g., genes, neurochemistry, neurotransmitters).

What is heredity?

The process by which traits are passed from parents to offspring, usually referring to genetic inheritance. The heritability coefficient quantifies the genetic basis of a characteristic. Intelligence has a heritability coefficient of 0.5 (Plomin et al., 1994), indicating equal influences of nature and nurture.

What is the interactionist approach?

Nature and nurture work together rather than in opposition.

What is the nature-nurture debate?

The argument as to whether a person’s development is mainly due to their genes or to environmental influences. Most researchers accept that behaviour is a product of the interaction between nature and nurture.

What are examples of the influence of nature?

• Genetic explanation

• Evolutionary explanation

What is the genetic explanation for the influence of nature?

More closely related individuals are more likely to develop the same behaviours. The concordance rate for schizophrenia is 40% for MZ twins and 7% for DZ twins.

What is the evolutionary explanation for the influence of nature?

Behaviours that promote survival are naturally selected. Bowlby proposed that attachment was adaptive because infants were more likely to be protected and survive.

What are examples of the influence of nature?

• Behaviourism

• Social learning theory

• Other exaplanations

Why is behaviourism an influence of nurture?

All behaviour can be explained by experience alone. Skinner explained learning through classical and operant conditioning.

Why is social learning theory an influence of nurture?

Bandura proposed that behaviour is acquired indirectly through operant and classical conditioning, but also by directly through vicarious reinforcement. Biology has a role to play, e.g. the urge to act aggressively could be biological, but the way a person learns to express anger is through environmental influences

Why are other explanations an influence of nurture?

The double-bind theory of schizophrenia suggests that schizophrenia develops in children who frequently receive contradictory messages from parents.

What is the evaluation of the nature/nurture debate?

• Diathesis-Stress Model

• Nurture affects nature

• Epigenetics

• Constructionivism

What is the diathesis stress model in relation to the nature-nurture debate?

A diathesis is a biological vulnerability. The expression of the gene depends on experience in the form of a stressor, which triggers the condition. Tienari et al (2004) found that children with a genetic risk for schizophrenia were more likely to develop it if raised in a family environment with tension and a lack of empathy.

How does nurture affect nature?

Maguire et al.'s study of London taxi drivers showed that the region of their brains with spatial memory was bigger than in controls. Maguire et al. studied the brains of London taxi drivers and found a larger grey matter volume in the mid-posterior hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with spatial awareness. This demonstrates the interactionist nature of empiricism and nativism and gives further reason as to why the influences of the two cannot be separated.

What are epigenetics in relation to the nature-nurture debate?

Refers to the material in each cell that acts like a switch to turn genes on or off. Life experiences control these switches, and these switches are passed on when the DNA is replicated semi-conservatively. Caspi et al (2002) found that men with less MAOA gene expression who experienced maltreatment were responsible for 44% of crimes. This brings a third element into the nature-nurture debate: the experiences of previous generations!

What is constructivism in relation to the nature-nurture debate?

Plomin suggested that an individual’s ‘nature’ would determine their ‘nurture’ through niche-picking or niche-building. Constructivism further emphasises the multi-layered relationship between nature and nurture.

What is holism?

Perceiving the whole experience rather than individual features or relations between them.

What is reductionism?

Breaking complex phenomena into simpler components, implying that this is desirable.

What are levels of explanations?

Different ways of viewing the same phenomena in Psychology (socio-cultural, psychological, physical, physiological, neurochemical).

What is the highest level of explanation?

Cultural and social explanations of behaviour.

What is the middle level of explanation?

Psychological explanations of behaviour.

What is the lower level of explanation?

Biological explanations of behaviour.

What are types of biological reductionism?

• Biological

• Environmental

What is biological reductionism?

Reducing behaviour to biology, as it is based on the premise that we are biological organisms. A characteristic feature of the biological approach.

What is environmental reductionism?

Behaviourist explanations suggest that all behaviour can be explained in terms of simple stimulus-response links

What is the evaluation of holism?

• Provides a more complete picture

• However, it is difficult to investigate the many differing types and levels of explanation

• More hypothetical and not based on empirical evidence

How does holism provide a more complete picture?

Some examples of behaviour can only be understood at the holistic level

How does holistic make it difficult to investigate the many differing types and levels of explanations?

This poses a practical problem for researchers who attempt to combine many higher-level explanations.

How is holism more hypothetical and not based on empirical evidence?

Holistic explanations are frequently used by the humanistic approach.

What is the evaluation of reductionism?

• Consistent with scientific approach

• Practical application in the development of drug therapy

• Ignores the complexity of behaviour

How is reductionism consistent with the scientific approach?

Scientific psychology aims to be able to predict and control behaviour.

How is reductionism a practical application in the development of drug therapy?

A reductionist approach towards researching and explaining mental disorders has led to the development of powerful and effective drug therapies

Why does reductionism ignore the complexity of behaviour?

Reductionist explanations may lead to a loss of validity because they ignore the social context where behaviour occurs, which often gives behaviour its meaning.

What is the idiographic approach?

• A method of investigating behaviour focusing on individuals and their uniqueness. Subjective and rich human experience is used to explain behaviour, without developing general principles.

• Associated with methods that produce qualitative data

What is an example of the idiographic approach?

An example is the study of HM and KF, where the idiographic approach was used in the form of case studies, and informed further research into the different types of long-term memory.

What are examples of the idiographic approach?

• The psychodynamic approach

• The humanistic approach

How is the psychodynamic approach an example of the idiographic approach?

Freud used case studies and in-depth interviews to collect qualitative data from Little Hans.