gender bias, cultural bias, free will and determinism, nature-nurture, holism and reductionism

what are the types of gender bias

alpha and beta

name 2 terms associated with gender bias

universality, androcentrism

what is universality

underlying trait or law of human behaviour, can apply to all people, regardless of differences in upbringing, culture, or gender

what is bias

leaning towards personal view that doesnt reflect reality

how is gender bias seen in psychological theory and research

doesnt accurately represent experience and behaviour of men and women

alpha bias

differences between men and women typically presented as fixed and inevitable

ALPHA BIAS: what do the differences between men and women heighten

value of women but are more likely to devalue women in relation to men

give an example of alpha bias favouring men

freud 1905, claimed children in phallic stage desire opposite gender parent, resolved by identification with gender parent, suggests girls identification is weaker, creates weak superego and moral development

give an example of alpha bias favouring women

chodorow 1968, said daughters and mothers are more connected than sons and mothers because of biological similarities, women develop closer bonds and empathy for others

beta bias

ignoring or underestimating differences between men and women

when does beta bias often occur

with ppts in research study are only male but research finding may apply equally to females

give an example of beta bias

early research into fight or flight was based on male animals because female hormones fluctuate, taylor et al

what is flight or fight assumed to be

universal response to threat

what did taylor et al 2000 suggest study for example for beta bias

females have a tend and befriend response governed by hormone oxytocin which is more painful for females, reduces fight or flight response, its evolved response for caring for young

androcentrism

male centred bias where male behaviour, values and experiences treated as norm standard for humanity

true or false alpha and beta bias are consequences of androcentrism

true

which gender has psychology traditionally dominate by and what has this led to

men, list of 100 psychologists only contained 6 women, led to womens behaviour being misunderstood and pathologised

name an example of androcentrism

feminists object to category of pms because it medicalises womens emotions by explaining these in hormonal terms but mens anger is seen as response to external pressures

name one limitation of gender bias

gender differences fixed and enduring, maccoby and jacklin 2008 concluded girls have better verbal ablity and boys better spatial ability, biological difference, joel et al 2015 scanned 1400 human brains and found no sex differences in brain, should be wary of accepting research as biological fact, better explained as stereotype

what is a counter point for the limitation that gender differences are fixed and enduring

ingalhalikar et al 2014 suggest popular social stereotypes that women are better art multitasking may have some biological truth, hemispheres are better connected, suggests there may be biological differences but we still should be wary of exaggerated effect that have on behaviour

why is research is challenging bias may not be published a limitation of gender bias

formanowicz et al 2018 analysed 1000 articles relating to gender bias, research less funded and published by less prestigious journals, still true when gender bias was compared to racial bias when other factors controlled,gender bias may not be taken seriously

why is positive consequences of recognising gender bias a strength of gender bias

2006 US report made recommendations to increase recruitment of women to top research positions in science, e.g blind interviews reduce bias and hiring quotas for women in leadership roles led to gradual rise in women professors in last 2 decades

in cultural bias who is over represented in research

Americans and students

what did Henrich et al (2020) review into Americans and students being over represented in research find

• 68% ppts came from US

• 96% ppts came from industrialised

who else did a review into over representation in research studies

Arnett 2008

what did Arnett find his review

80% research ppts were undergrads studying psych

what term did Henrich et al create

WEIRD

what does WEIRD describe

group of people most likely to be studied by psychologists

what does WEIRD stand for

westernised, educated people from industrialised, rich democracies

true or false WEIRD people set standard

true

what are non WEIRD people behaviour viewed as

atypical, inferior or unusual

what are the terms WESTERNISED and INDUSTRIALISED simplifications of

differences between nations and cultures

ethnocentrism

judging other cultures by standards and values of one's own culture, often with belief that one's own culture is superior

how is ethnocentrism shown in research

through view that any behaviour that doesnt conform to European or American standards is deficient or underdeveloped

name an example of ethnocentrism

strange situation, Ainsworth and Bell 1970 research on attachment type reflected norms of us culture, a baby labeled as insecure may actually be secure

Cultural relativism

principle that a person's behavior, values, and mental processes must be understood within context of their own culture rather than judged by external or Western standards

what are the etic and emic approaches in cultural bias

universality vs cultural relativism

what does Berry 1969 argue about the etic approach

looks at behaviour from outside, given culture and identifies behaviours that are universal

what does Berry 1969 argue about the emic approach

functions from inside a culture and identifies behaviours specific to that culture

why does Ainsworth and Bells research illustrate imposed etic

studied behaviours inside a single culture, American, assumed attachment type could be applied universally

what is a strength of cultural bias

emergence of cultural psych and it uses emic approach, research conducted within cultures alongside local researches, help reduce cultural bias, however only few culture are compared, limits how representative findings are

what is a limitation of cultural bias

classic studies culturally biased, Asch and Milgram original study used white, middle class US ppts, replications found higher conformity in collectivist cultures, suggests findings about SI may not apply equally across cultures

what is a counter point for classic studies being culturally bias

Takano and Osaka 1999 found no individualistic differences in 14 out 15 studies, suggests globalisation may reduce cultural differences

Apart from classic studies being culturally biased what is another limitation of cultural bias

discrimination in UK education, Caribbean children were given iq tests favouring white, middle class children, caused many to be wrongly labeled educationally subnormal and placed in special school, shows how cultural bias in intelligence testing restricts education opportunities

free will

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

what do humanistic psychologists believe about free will

believe people are self-determining, this is important for mental health

name an example of a humanistic psychologist

Carl Rogers

what is situated freedom

people free to make choices but are made within specific context that determines what actual choices are, context also determines meaning of our choices, similar to soft determinism

2 types of determinism

soft and hard

hard determinism

all human action has a cause, should be possible to identify these causes

soft determinism

all human action has a cause, people are free to make choices within range of options, feature of cognitive approach

examples of determinism

biological, environmental, psychic

biological determinism

describes many causes of behaviour, e.g influence of ans on stress response, modern psychologists recognise mediating influence on our bio structures, e.g identical twins dont stay identical

environmental determinism

skinner described free will as an illusion and claimed all behaviour is result of conditioning, experiences of choice is sum total of reinforcement contingencies throughout our lives

psychic determinism

Freud emphasised influence of biological drives and unconscious conflicts repressed in childhood,something random like a slip of the tongue can be explained by unconscious

causal explanations

statement that shows how or why an event happened by identifying factors that brought it about

why are causal explanations fundamental in science

basic principle of science is every event has a cause and can be explained with general laws, knowledge of laws allows scientists to predict and control events

how can psychologists/scientists predict and control events

lab experiment allows researchers to stimulate conditions of test tube and remove all other ev’s to demonstrate a causal effect

strength of free will

practical value, we may or may not have free will but just thinking can improve our mh, adolescents who believed their lives were decided by events outside of their control were at greater risk of depression, suggests that just believing we have free will is useful

limitation of free will

Brain scan evidence doesnt support, libet et al 1983 suggested brain activity began before ppts consciously decided to move, suggests our decisions may be determined unconsciously

strength of determinism

explanations fit with aims of science, psych is often defined as scientific study of mind and behaviour, ideal of science is to demonstrate causal explanations especially using experiments, means that determinist explanaitions are inevitably part of scientific psych

limitation of determinism

hard determinsim stance is that individual choice is not cause of behaviour, however our legal syatem suggests that offenmdeers are responsible for their actions, exercised free will, suggests that irl determinist arguments are undesirable

nature nurture debate

relative importance of heredity and environment in determining behaviour, interactionist approach

nature

genes

nurture

environment

interactionist approach

not really a debate because all characteristics combine nature and nurture, e.g eye colour only 0.80 heritable, e.g attachment can be explained in terms of quality of parental love influenced by a childs innate temperament, enviro and heredity interact

what is diathesis stress model in nature nurture

behaviour is caused by biological or psychological vulnerability which is only expressed when coupled with biological or psychological stress

an example for diathesis stress model

person who inherits a genetic vulnerability for ocd may not develop the disorder but combined with a psychological stressor then disorder may dissapear

epigenetics in nature nurture

change in genetic activity without change in genetic code

what can cause epigenetics

lifestyles and events we encounter leaves marks on our dna, switching genes on or off, has life long influences that can be passed onto future gen

what did early nativists argue for nurture

environmental influences on behaviour and development, human characteristics are innate

example of early nativists

Descartes 17th century

what did empiricists argue for nurture

mind is a blank slate shaped by environment

example of an empiricist

Locke 17th century

what did Lerner 1986 identify for nurture

levels of environment, prenatal and postnatal factors

prenatal factors example

mother smoking during pregnancy

postnatal factors example

social conditions a child grows up in

what to use to measure nature and nurture

concordance, heritability

concordance

degree to which 2 people are similar on a particular trait

heritability

proportion of variation in a trait within a population, value of 1%=very little contribution, 100% means genes totally account for individual difference

what did Plomin 1994 suggest is the figure for heritability in iq

0.5

why is using adoption studies a strength of the nature nurture debate

rhee and waldman 2002, found that 41% of variation in aggressive behaviour was due to genetic factors, supports role of nature

why is support for epigenetics a strength for nature nurture debate

life experiences can cause epigenetic changes, which can affect future gens, shows that enviro can influence how genes are expressed

what is a counterpoint for the adoption studies strength for nature nurture

children may choose environments that match their genetic tendencies, e.g aggressive child may choose aggressive friends, makes nature and nurture difficult to separate

obesity has application for nature nurture why is this a strength

research suggests that new treatments could target epigenetic changes, shows that nature nurture debate has practical applications

holism

view that its inappropriate to subdivide behaviour into smaller units, part of whole are interconnected

what do gestalt psychologists study in holism

study perceptions and behaviours by focusing on complete patterns and configurations rather than individual parts

name an example of a gestaly psychologist

kohler 1925, watched chimpanzees solve a puzzle, chimps didn’t use trial and error but planned a strategies and used it holistically

what puzzle did the chimps in Kohler 1925 study have to complete

how to get a banana from outside of cage using stick

what other psych topic does holsm link to

humanistic

why does holism link to humanistic psych

humanistic focuses on self and experience which cant be reduced to biological units, humanistic psych use qualitative methods to investigate if self themes are analysed rather than breaking concept into component behaviours

reductionism

break into consistent parts, based on scientific principle of parsimony

what is parsimony in reductionism

all phenomena should be explained using simplest principles

6 levels of explanation in reductionism

socio-cultural, psychological, physical, environmental/behavioural, physiological, neurochemical

in terms of ocd what is socio-cultural explanation in reductionism

ocd interrupts social relationships

in terms of ocd what is the psychological explanation in reductionism

persons experience of anxiety

in terms of ocd what is the physical explanation of reductionism

movements involved in washing hands

in terms of ocd what is the physiological explanation of reductionism

atypical function in frontal lobes

in terms of ocd what is the neurochemical explanation in reductionism

production of low serotonin

what is biological reductionism in reductionism

all behaviour can be explained through neurochemical, physiological, evolutionary and or genetic influences