issues and debates

Gender bias

treating a person in a more favourable or less favourable way based on their gender

Gender bias: Alpha bias

when there is a misrepresentation of behaviour because the researchers overestimate or exaggerate differences between men and women e.g. Freuds psychodynamic theory states girls develop a weaker super ego

Gender bias: Beta bias

when there is a misrepresentation of behaviour because researchers underestimate or minimise differences between men and women e.g. fight or flight responses were primarily studied using male animals as female hormone fluctuations were viewed as problematic

Gender bias: Androcentrism

Refers to having a male-centred view of the world and male behaviour is judged to be the norm and is more acceptable and desirable e.g. autism diagnosis criteria is based off male symptoms

Gender bias: how to reduce alpha bias

• A change in the publication of results because there is a bias towards publishing positive results that find gender differences are more likely to get published than those which don't. this exaggerates differences

Gender bias: how to reduce beta bias

• improve sampling by not having all male samples in studies like Milgram, Asch and Zimbardo

• not generalising findings from research with male participants to female participants

Cultural bias

The tendency to interpret and judge behaviour in terms of the values and beliefs of your own society and culture. this sometimes leads people to form views about the behaviour of others without any actual experience with them

Cultural bias: Universality

Refers to the belief that some behaviours are the same for all cultures

Cultural bias: Ethnocentrism

Refers to viewing your own culture as the standard by which other cultures are judged. it involves the tendency to judge your own culture as superior to others

Cultural bias: cultural relativism

Refers to the idea that a behaviour can only be properly understood in the context of the norms and values of the society or culture in which it occurs. it is the rejection of behaviours being universal

cultural bias: Henrich criticism

• most psychological research is based on participants from WEIRD societies

• Western Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic

• this gives a potentially biased view of other cultures and make them seen abnormal

Cultural bias: Ekman strength

• Basic facial expressions such as happiness anger and fear for emotions are universal and are recognised across cultures

• this was still the case in isolated communities

• certain biological responses may be biologically hardwired and are not subject to cultural variations

Ethical implications

refers to the broader impact that research findings may have on individuals, groups or society

ethical implications: socially sensitive research

includes studies with potential social consequences, either directly for participants or for the group they represent

ethical implications: how to deal with issues related to social sensitivity

• care needs to be taken with how psychologists formulate their research question so that it doesn’t misrepresent certain groups

• be alert to the possibility of the misuse of findings and take steps to present findings in a value free way

• weigh up possible costs and benefits before conducting any research and only proceed where the benefits outweigh the costs

nature and nurture

nature: innate abilities, inborn, hereditary genetic transmission

nurture: environment and experiences are influential

nature and nurture: brain plasticity

the brain can change and reorganise its structure (nature) as a result of experiences in life (nurture)