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Summary Issues and Debates Notes, AQA A Level Psychology
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These notes are for the 'Issues and Debates' topic in A2 Psychology (AQA). I only used these notes to revise and achieved an A grade.
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A2: Issues and DebatesTopic Notes
, Gender Bias
AO1: AO3:
Strengths Limitatons
Gender Bias – the diferental treatment and/or representaton of males and females based
on stereotypes and not real diferences RLA: Always, ‘like a girl’ campaign Alternatve Theory
Kitzinger (1998) gender diference is just scientfc, they’re also
RLA; This Girl Can politcal (women have same rights as men). So gender
Alpha bias – theories which exaggerate the diference between males and females – e.g. diferences distorted to maintain the status quo of male power.
Freud – Psychosexual Stages Alpha Bias
• Has led to some theorists (Gilligan) to Alpha Bias
assert the worth and valuaton • Focus on diferences between genders leads to the
Freud argued that there are genuine psychological diferences between men and women. His ‘feminine qualites’. implicaton of similarity WITHIN genders, thus this ignores
theory suggests that women are inferior as young girls sufer from ‘penis envy’, and he viewed • Has led to healthy critcism of cultural the many ways women difer from each other.
femininity as failed form of masculinity. values that praise certain ‘male’ • Can sustain prejudices and stereotypes.
qualites such as aggression and
individualism as desirable, adaptve and
Beta bias - refers to theories which ignore or minimise sex diferences. These theories ofen
universal. Beta Bias
assume that the fndings from males can apply equally to females e.g. Fight or Flight • Draws atenton away from the diferences in power
between men and women.
Research Beta Bias • Is considered as an egalitarian approach but it results in
Makes people see men and women as the major misrepresentatons of both genders.
Biological research into the fght or fight response has ofen been carried out on male same, which has led to equal treatment in
animals, and it has assumed that the results will be applicable to both males and females, the legal terms and equal access to, for
role of testosterone in male animals is not taken into account, and therefore the diference example, educaton and employment. Problems in Psychological Research:
between genders in this situaton should be considered • Gender-bias research may create misleading assumptons
about female behaviour and validate discriminatory
Understanding Leads to Reflexivity: practces.
This research led Taylor (2002) to conduct research which found that females adopt a ‘tend
• Researchers recognise the efect of • It may provide a scientfc justfcaton to deny women
and befriend’ approach in stressful and dangerous situatons their values on their work (refexivity). opportunites within the workplace or in wider society (e.g.
This is because women are more likely to protect their young (tend) and form alliances with other women
• They embrace bias as an important Because of PMS).
(befriend) rather than fghtng or feeing
aspect of the research process rather • Gender bias in research is not just a methodological
than see it as a problem threatening problem but may have damaging consequences which afect
the objectve status of their work. the lives and prospects of real women.
Androcentric: taking male thinking/behaviour as normal, regarding female • In their study of the lack of women in
thinking/behaviour as deviant, inferior, abnormal, when it is diferent e.g. Asch 1995, only executve positons in accountancy Promotes Sexism in the Research Process:
used male partcipants for his line study frms, Dabrin and aambert include • A lack of women at senior research level means female
refecton on how their gender-related concerns may not be refected in research questons asked.
experiences infuence their • Male researchers are more likely to have work published.
understanding of events. • Also, female partcipants in lab studies are in an inequitable
Gynocentric: taking female thinking/behaviour as normal, regarding male • Such refexivity is an important relatonship with a (usually male) researcher who has the
thinking/behaviour as deviant, inferior, abnormal when it is diferent development in psychology and may power to label them irratonal and unable to complete
lead to greater awareness of the role of complex tasks.
personal bias in shaping future • This means psychology may be guilty of supportng a form
research. of insttutonal sexism that creates bias in theory and
Universality: All research applies equally for both sexes research.
Reflexivity: Researchers recognize the social implicatons of their work and can choose to
alter accordingly
Highly Gender Schematsed: blue is for boys and pink is for girls, boys toys stereotypes, girl
toys stereotypes
, Cultural Bias
AO1: AO3:
Cultural Bias - tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptons. This
therefore distorts your judgements. Strengths Limitatons
The recogniton of both cultural relatvism and universals The distncton between
The imposed etc shows the culturally-specifc nature individualism and collectvism
of psychology but we should not assume all Psychologists have ofen
Ethnocentrism – seeing the world from one’s own culture – and believing that that is the psychology is culturally relatve and that there is no referred to culture in the
correct and normal way. such thing as universal human behaviour. context of individualism
Ekman (1989) suggests basic facial expressions for versus collectvism.
EXAMPLE: Ainsworth emotons are the same all over the human and Individualist cultures value the
• Ainsworth has been critcised as refectng only the norms and values of American culture animal world. Some features of human atachment individual and independence.
in atachment research. are universal. Collectvist cultures value the
• She identfed he key defning variable of atachment type as the child's experience of group and interdependence.
anxiety on separaton. Cross-cultural research challenges Western assumptons
• She suggested the ideal (or secure) atachment was the infant showing moderate distress Cross-cultural research challenges the typical Cross-cultural research prone to
when lef alone by the mother fgure.
western way of thinking. demand characteristcs
• This led to misinterpretaton of child-rearing practces in other countries which deviated
Understanding that the knowledge and concepts we When conductng western
from the American norm.
• For example, German mothers were seen as cold and rejectng rather than encouraging
take for granted are not shared by others may research, the partcipants
independence in their children. Thus the strange situaton was revealed as an inappropriate promote greater sensitvity to individual diferences familiarity with the general
measure of atachment type for non-American children. and cultural relatvism. aims and objectves of
This means the conclusions psychologists draw are scientfc enquiry is assumed.
likely to have more validity if they recognise the role In cultures without historical
of culture in bringing them about. experience of research local
Cultural Relatvism – insists that behaviour can be properly understood only if the cultural populatons may be more
context is taken into consideraton RLA: CHITLING TEST afected by demand
ARMY - Highlights how ethnic background can alter characteristcs than western
EXAMPLE: Diagnosis and classifcaton of SZ – in some African cultures, it is normal to hear scores on an intelligence test, if the questons are partcipants.
voices, whereas in Western culture, this is seen as auditory hallucinatons and would relatve to a culture, then people from that
therefore classify someone as SZ background will get beter scores and be seen as Difcultes with the interpretaton of
‘more intelligent’ variables
Another issue with conductng
RLA: DOVE ADVERT research in diferent cultures
Cultural bias in the media – black woman lifs her is that the variables under
Berry proposed: shirt to reveal a white women, implying that black review may not be
Imposed Etc – where you apply behaviour of ones culture to another – Ainsworth studied skin is dirty. experienced in the same way
behaviours in a single culture and then assumed her ideal atachment type could be applied by all partcipants.
universally.
Imposed Emic– where behaviour within a partcular culture are said to be specifc to that
culture.
Universality – ignores culture as an important infuence on human behaviour and has
assumed that western cultures can be applied all over the world. Eg. Asch and Milgram
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