issues and debates ao1 content

Universality

any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing. Gender bias and culture bias threaten the universality of findings in psychology.

Gender bias

when considering human behaviour, bias is a tendency to treat one individual or group in a different way from others. In the context of gender bias, psychological research or theory may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of men or women (usually women).

Androcentrism

male-centred, when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard (meaning that female behaviour is judged to be ‘abnormal’ or ‘deficient’ by comparison).

Alpha bias

research that focuses on differences between men and women, and therefore tends to present a view that exaggerates these differences

Beta bias

research that focuses on similarities between men and women, and therefore tends to present a view that ignores or minimises differences

Cultural bias

a tendency to interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture, ignoring the effects that cultural differences might have on behaviour

Ethnocentrism

judging other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own culture. In its extreme form it is the belief in the superiority of one's own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures

Cultural relativism

the idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts

Free will

the notion that humans can make choices and their behaviour/thoughts are not determined by biological or external forces

Determinism

the view that an individual's behaviour is shaped or controlled by internal or external forces rather than an individual's will to do something

Hard determinism

the view that all behaviour is caused by something (internal or external factors), so free will is an illusion

Soft determinism

the view that behaviour may be predictable (caused by internal/external factors) but there is also room for personal choice from a limited range of possibilities (restricted free will).

Biological determinism

the belief that behaviour is caused by biological (genetic, hormonal, evolutionary) influences that we cannot control

Environmental determinism

the belief that behaviour is caused by features of the environment (such as systems of reward and punishment) that we cannot control

Psychic determinism

the belief that behaviour is caused by unconscious psychodynamic conflicts that we cannot control

The nature-nurture debate

concerned with the extent to which aspects of behaviour are a product of inherited or acquired characteristics

Heredity

the genetic transmission of both mental and physical characteristics from one generation to another

Environment

any influence on human behaviour that is non-genetic. This may range from prenatal influences in the womb through to cultural and historical influences at a societal level. It includes biological influences, e.g. the food you eat may affect your mental development and physical growth.

Interactionist approach

a way to explain the development of behaviour in terms of a range of factors, including both biological and psychological ones. Most importantly such factors don't simply add together but combine in a way that can't be predicted by each one separately i.e. they interact.

Holism

an argument or theory which proposes that it only makes sense to study an invisible system rather than its constituent parts (which is the reductionist approach).

Reductionism

the belief that human behaviour is best understood by studying the smaller constituent parts

Levels of explanation

the idea that there are several ways (levels) that can be used to explain behaviour. The lowest level considers psychological/biological explanations, the middle level considers psychological explanations and the highest level considers social and cultural explanations

Biological reductionism

a form of reductionism which attempts to explain behaviour at the lowest biological level (in terms of the actions of genes, hormones, etc)

Environmental reductionism

the attempt to explain all behaviour in terms of stimulus-response links that have been learned through experience.

Idiographic approach

derived from the Greek ‘idios’ meaning ‘private’ or ‘personal’. An approach to research that focuses more on the individual case as a means of understanding behaviour, rather than aiming to formulate general laws of behaviour (the nomothetic approach).

Nomothetic approach

derived from the Greek ‘nomos’ meaning ‘law’. The nomothetic approach aims to study human behaviour through the development of general principles and universal laws.

Ethical implications

the consequences of any research (studies and/or theory) in terms of the effects on individual ppts or on the way in which certain groups of people are subsequently regarded. There may also be consequences on a wider societal level.

Social sensitivity

Sieber and Stanley (1988) define socially sensitive research as, ‘studies in which there are potentially consequences or implications, either directly for the ppts in the research or for the class of individuals represented by the research’.

What are psychologist’s beliefs and values influenced by

The social and historical context within which they live

What does it mean if a belief is biased

Its leaning towards a subjective view that does not necessarily reflect objective reality

What may be biassed in the research process

Bias, despite psychologists’ claims about discovering ‘facts’ that are ‘objective’ and ‘value free’

What does bias undermine

Psychology’s claims to universality

What is universality

that conclusions drawn can be applied to everyone, anywhere, regardless of time or culture

What two forms does gender bias come in

Alpha and beta bias

What is alpha bias

Psychological research that exaggerates differences between men and women

How are exaggerated differences typically presented

As fixed and inevitable

What does alpha bias often do

Devalues women in relation to men, however sometimes they heighten the value of women

What is the classic example of alpha bias

Freud’s (1905) theory of psychosexual development. During the phallic stage of development both boys and girls develop a desire for their opposite-gender parents. In a boy this creates a very strong castration anxiety. The anxiety is resolved when the boy identifies with his father. But a girl’s eventual identification with her same-gender parent is weaker, which means her superego is weaker (because it develops as a result of taking on the same-gender parent’s moral perspective). Therefore girls/women are morally inferior to boys/men.

What is castration anxiety

Fear that his father will cut his penis off

What's an example of alpha bias favouring women in the psychodynamic approach

Nancy Chodorow (1968) suggested that daughters and mothers have a greater connectedness than sons and mothers because of biological similarities. As a result of the child’s closeness, women develop better abilities to bond with others and empathise.

What is beta bias

Psychological research that ignores or underestimated differences (between men and women)

When does beta bias happen

When we assume that research findings apply equally to both men and women have been excluded from the research process.

What's an example of beta bias in research

The fight or flight response

How is beta bias in the fight or flight response

Biological research has generally favoured using male animals because female behaviour is affected by regular hormonal changes due to ovulation. This simply ignores any possible differences. Early research into fight or flight did just that - it assumes that both males and females respond to threatening situations with fight or flight.

How is beta bias in Shelley Taylor et al.’s study

She claimed that males and females don't both respond to threatening situations with fight or flight. She described the ‘tend and befriend’ response. The ‘love’ hormone oxytocin is more plentiful in women (but present in smaller quantities in men) and it seems that women respond to stress by increasing oxytocin production. This reduces the fight or flight response and enhances a preference for ‘tend and befriend’ (an evolved response for looking after others).

What can research with beta bias result in

A misrepresentation of women’s behaviour. Other research has misrepresented men.

What are alpha and beta bias the consequence of

Androcentrism

What is androcentrism

Male-centred, when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard (meaning that female behaviour is often judged to be ‘abnormal’ or ‘deficient’ by comparison)

What's an example of male-dominated psychology

The american psychological association published a list of the 100 most influential psychologists of the 20th century which included only 6 women

What does the androcentrism in the american psychological association suggest

That psychology has traditionally been a subject produced by men, for men and about men - an androcentric perspective

What has happened with women’s behaviour

If it is considered, it has been misunderstood and at worst pathologised - taken as a sign of illness

What have feminists objected to

The diagnostic category premenstrual syndrome, for example, on the grounds that it medicalises women’s emotions , such as anger, by explaining these in hormonal terms. Men's anger, in contrast, is often seen as a rational response to external pressures (Brescoll and Uhlmann 2008).

What is the strength of gender bias

counterpoint of biological versus social explanations

What are the limitations of gender bias

-biological versus social explanations -sexism in research -gender biased research

What is the extra evaluation of gender bias

Understanding bias

What did Joseph Heinrich et al. (2010) do

Reviewed hundreds of studies in leading psychology journals and found that 68% of research ppts came from the United States, and 96% from industrialised nations.

What did Arnett 2008 do

His review found that 80% of research ppts were undergraduates studying psychology

What do Heinrich and Arnett’s findings suggest

That what we know about human behaviour has a strong cultural bias

What do psychologists routinely claim to have discovered

‘Facts’ and universal human behaviour.

What term did Heinrich et al. coin

‘WEIRD’ to describe the group of people most likely to be studied by psychologists - Westernised, Educated people from Industrialised, Rich Democracies

What happens if the norm of standard for a particular behaviour is set by WEIRD people

The behaviour of people from non-Westernised, less educated, agricultural and poorer cultures is inevitably seen as ‘abnormal’, ‘inferior’ or ‘unusual’.

What is ethnocentrism

A particular form of cultural bias - the belief in the superiority of one’s own cultural group

What does ethnocentrism suggest about Heinrich and Arnett’s findings

They have presented an ethnocentric view of human behaviour

How does Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation (1970) show ethnocentrism

It is criticised as reflecting only the norms and values of what is sometimes called ‘Western’ culture. They conducted research on attachment types, suggesting that ‘ideal’ attachment was characterised by the babies showing moderate amounts of distress when left alone by their mother-figure (typical of secure attachment). However, this led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practices in other countries which were seen to deviate from the American ‘norm’. For example Japanese infants were much more likely to be classed as insecurely attached because they showed considerable distress on separation (Takahashi 1986)/ it is likely that this finding was due to the fact that japanese babies are rarely separated from their mother.

What has John Berry (1969) drawn a distinction between

Etic and emic approaches in the study of human behaviour

What does an etic approach do

Looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal.

What does an emic approach do

Functions from inside a culture and identified behaviours that are specific to that culture.

What is an example of imposed etic

Mary Ainsworth’s strange situation

How is the strange situation an example of imposed etic

They studied behaviour inside one culture (America) and then assumed their ideal attachment type (and the method for assessing it) could be applied universally.

What's another example of imposed etic (Not Ainsworth)

In relation to how we define abnormality. Leftly and Pedersen (1986) argued that European/American ideas about what it means to be mentally healthy are not necessarily shared by the rest of the world. Clinicians in the US and Europe have generally regarded characteristics such as self-sufficiency, independence, goal-oriented behaviour and an internal locus of control as indicators of mental health. In contrast, individuals who demonstrate dependence on others and an extreme locus of control are often seen as less healthy, even though these characteristics might be perceived more positively in other parts of the world.

What does Berry argue about imposed etic

That psychology has often been guilty of an imposed etic approach - arguing that theories, models, concepts, etc, are universal, when they actually came about through emic research inside a single culture.

What is cultural relativism

The ‘things’ they discover may only make sense from the perspective of the culture within which they were discovered

What is the suggestion about culture bias

That psychologists should be much more mindful of the cultural relativism of their research - and being able to recognise this is one way of avoiding cultural bias in research.

What are the strengths of cultural bias

-counterpoint of classic studies -cultural psychology

What are the limitations of cultural bias

-classic studies -ethnic stereotyping

What is the extra evaluation of cultural bias

Relativism versus universality

What question does the free will-determinism debate ask

Is our behaviour a matter of free will (i.e. selected without constraint) or are we the product of a set of internal and/or external influences that determines who we are and what we do

Where do most approaches in psychology fall on free will vs determinism debate

Determinism to some extent, however the different approaches disagree on what the precise causes of human behaviour are.

Which approach believes in free will over determinism

The humanistic approach

What does the notion of free will suggest

That human beings are essentially self-determining and free to choose their own thoughts and actions

What does a belief in free will not deny

That there may be biological and environmental forces that exert some influence on behaviour, but it implies that we are able to reject these forces if we wish because we are in control of our thoughts/behaviour.

What does determinism propose

That free will has no place in explaining behaviour, though there are hard and soft versions

What is hard determinism often referred to as

Fatalism

What does hard determinism suggest

That all human behaviour has a cause, and, in principle, it should be possible to identify and describe these causes.

What does hard determinism always assume

That everything we think and do is dictated by internal or external forces that we cannot control

How can hard determinism be seen by some

As too extreme a position

Who proposed the notion of soft determinism

William James (1890)

What did soft determinism later become an important part of

The cognitive approach

What did William James believe

Whilst it may be the job of scientists to explain what determines our behaviour, this does not detract from the freedom we have to make rational conscious choices in everyday situations.

Which approach emphasises the role of biological determinism in behaviour

The biological approach

What's an example of the role of biological determinism in behaviour

The autonomic nervous system on the stress response or the influence of genes on mental health

What would modern biological psychologists recognise

the mediating influence of the environment on our biological structures (another determinist influence)

How did B.F. Skinner describe free will

As an ‘illusion’

What did B.F Skinner argue

That all behaviour is the result of conditioning. Although we might think we are acting independently, our experience of ‘choice’ is merely the sum total of reinforcement contingencies that have acted upon us throughout our lives.

Which approach emphasises the role of psychic determinism

Sigmund Freud’s psychodynamic approach

What did Freud emphasise

The influence of biological drives and instincts

What did Freud see behaviour as determined by

Unconscious conflicts, repressed in childhood

How can accidents be explained according to Freud

He claims there is no such thing as an accident. Even something as random as a ‘slip of the tongue’ can be explained by the influence of the unconscious.

What is one of the basic principles of science

That every event in the universe has a cause and causes can be explained using general laws (hard determinism).

Why is knowledge of causes and the formulation of laws important

As they allow scientists to predict and control events in the future