Gender bias

• When researchers misrepresent the differences between men and women

• Alpha bias- exaggerating differences between genders

• Beta bias- minimising differences between genders

• Universality- idea that there are no differences between males and females, and behaviour that is found in one person is true for everyone

• Observations- researchers may consciously or subconsciously interpret behaviours differently due to expectations of genders

  • Behavioural categories may misrepresent behaviours

• Conclusions- researchers may interpret results differently or media may twist conclusions to sound different

• Experimental design- might only use male participants and assume generalisation to females

  • Could be dangerous- drug trials of Stilnox were fine on men, but women taking it started falling asleep while driving and other dangerous side effects

• Milgram, Asch and Zimbardo- all participants were men, concluded that results would generalise to everyone (beta bias)

• Fight or flight- research done on male animals, recently found that female animals have a tend and befriend response due to different hormones (beta bias)

• Freud- thought male behaviour was desirable and normal, and all women wanted to be like men (alpha bias)

  • Penis envy- angry at mothers for not being born as men

  • Suggested enormous and permanent psychological differences that resulted from women not having penises

Androcentrism

• Greek for man is “andro”, focuses on men

• Most research done in psychology has been by men on men

• Androcentric bias- male behaviour is taken as the norm and assumed as true for everyone

  • Makes studies lack validity and reliability

  • Leads to inaccurate and misleading representations of female behaviour

• Freud thought women wanted to be like men and were angry at their mothers because they weren’t (penis envy) and suggested there were huge permanent psychological differences between men and women

  • Androcentric alpha bias

• Female behaviour that is different may be presented as unimportant or deviant and may be pathologised

  • For example, PMS is seen as a condition to be treated rather than a normal part of women’s behaviour

• Also gynocentrism/gynocentric bias- focuses on women’s behaviour

  • Moscovici’s study on minority influence had only female participants but assumed generalisability to everyone (beta bias)

  • Bowlby and Ainsworth’s attachment studies used only women because they assumed women were biologically pre-programmed as mothers (alpha bias)

  • Many studies now use undergraduate psychology students, most of which are female (beta bias)

:) Awareness of gender differences has made society question behaviours based on the male norm

:( More senior male lecturers in universities, could lead to ignoring research into areas that affect women

Cultural bias

• Taking a universal viewpoint of behaviour and ignoring cultural differences

• Universality- when a theory of behaviour generalises to all cultures

  • Difficult due to important differences between cultures

Ethnocentrism

• When a researcher assumes that their own culturally specific practices are superior or normal

• Ethnocentric bias- when a study lacks validity or reliability due to ethnocentrism

  • Can cause low generalisability, misdiagnoses, and harmful stereotypes

• The norm may be set as the researcher’s cultural background and any deviation may be considered abnormal

  • Ainsworth’s Strange Situation is based on American (individualistic) children, was found to measure children from collectivist cultures as insecure

:( Research may lack external validity and reliability because results may not generalise to other cultures

:( People being judged outside their own culture may be misdiagnosed

:( Sampling bias can reduce population validity- participants from a specific sample may not be representative of all cultures

:( Research may reinforce cultural stereotyping and discrimination

Cultural Relativism

• Belief that cultural norms are within specific social contexts

• There is no global norm for behaviour

• Must analyse cultural context of behaviour to explain it

  • For example, countries like China have no concept of depression, and instead diagnose neurasthenia (emotional disturbance)

• Cross-cultural research- when research is done in many cultures by researchers from those cultures

:) Prevents ethnocentric bias

:( May lead to cultural alpha bias and prevent proposing universal theories

:( There are huge variations within cultures, can ignore these and cause beta bias

:) To reduce bias, more research should be done by people from within a culture

:) More cross-cultural and trans-cultural research is being carried out

Free will and determinism

• Free will- belief that we have control over our own behaviour and choose our decisions and actions

  • Psychology questions this and tries to determine causes of behaviour and thoughts

  • Humanistic approach supports this

:) Mental health is better if people believe they have free will

:( Means behaviour cannot be predicted or objectively measured

Determinism

• Belief that behaviour and actions are influenced by internal or external factors

• Hard determinism- belief that all behaviour is predetermined, includes biological, psychic and environmental determinism

• Soft determinism- belief that some behaviour is determined and some is due to free will, supported by cognitive approach

• Psychic determinism- behaviour is caused by childhood traumas in the unconscious mind

• Environmental determinism- behaviour is caused by environment (classical and operant conditioning)

• Biological determinism- behaviour is caused by biological factors, e.g. genes and neurotransmitters

:) Uses scientific conditions

:( Leaves people with no responsibility for their own actions

Nature-nurture

• Nature- behaviour is innate and a product of genetics (biological determinism)

• Nurture- behaviour is learnt from experiences (environmental determinism)

• Some approaches are interactionist- behaviour is influenced by both nature and nurture, genotype’s interaction with phenotype causes personality

:) Behaviour identified as learnt can be unlearnt, can be useful for criminal behaviour and mental disorders

:( Difficult to separate the influence of heredity and environment

Reductionism and holism

Reductionism

• Attempting to reduce complex behaviour down to basic components

• Suggests behaviour and experiences can be explained with reference to one factor

• Biological reductionism- explains behaviour purely from a biological approach, e.g. genetics, biochemistry or brain structures

• Environmental reductionism- simplifies behaviour into stimulus-response interactions, e.g. classical conditioning

:) By breaking down a phenomenon into its parts, it may be possible to understand it as a whole

:( Too simplistic- ignores complexities of human behaviour and experience

:( Behaviour often has multiple causes, reducing to just one can limit understanding

Holism

• Looks at an individual’s behaviour as a whole and takes into account all factors

• Looks at social context and biological factors

• Interactionist, suggests all factors are important

:) May be more appropriate for psychology as human behaviour is complicated

:( Not isolating individual factors may make it hard to discover causes of certain conditions or illnesses

:( More hypothetical, lacks scientific factors

Idiographic and nomothetic

Idiographic

• Involves studying a particular individual using methods like case studies and self-report

• Data is detailed and extensive, usually qualitative

• Sample is not representative- individuals are unique

• Useful in generating new areas of research

• For example, Freud’s study of Little Hans

:) Data is rich and often prompts ideas for further research

:( Lack population validity and generalisability

Nomothetic

• Involves testing a large sample using experimental method or correlational procedures

• Large amount of data, usually quantitative

• Sample should be representative of the wider population

• Useful in creating general laws of behaviour that can be applied to everyone

:) High population validity and generalisability

:( Some explanations are not appropriate because of individual differences

Ethics

• Guidelines by the BPS and university ethics committees try to avoid any research causing problems

• Socially sensitive research (SSR)- research that could directly or indirectly have costs for people involved or the group they represent

  • Could be due to the research question, treatment of participants, institutional context or interpretation and use of findings

  • For example, the family systems explanation of anorexia nervosa suggests the family are implicit

:) Suggested that SSR must be done as it may be important in raising awareness in topics such as race, sex, gender and abuse

:) Stopping research because of its sensitivity may be a step back, might be better to educate people about sensitive topics instead of avoiding them

:( Not always possible to anticipate the effects of research, hard to judge whether research should be carried out