Summary
Summary Issues and debates content notes
- Module
- Issues and Debates
- Institution
- AQA
A* NOTES!!!!! Notes summarised from textbook. detailed A01 and clear and concise A03 following PEA structure to gain full marks
[Show more]
Content preview
Issues and debates within psychology.The issues The debates
Gender bias Free will and determinisation
Culture bias Nature-nurture
Ethical implications of research Holism and Reductionism
Idiographic and nomothetic.
Gender bias:
Universality and - Universality = underlying characteristic of human beings capable of
bias being applied to all, despite differences of experience and
upbringing.
- Gender bias threatens the universality of findings.
Androcentrism - Male-centred – when normal behaviour is judged according to a male
standard.
- Any behaviour that deviates from this standard is judged as
abnormal or inferior in comparison.
- Leads to female behaviour being misjudged and misunderstood.
Alpha bias - When the differences between men and women are shown, through
research and studies, and may be exaggerated.
- Either to heighten the value of women or devalue them.
o Example:
o Freud argued that because girls do not suffer the same
oedipal conflict as boys, they do not identify with their
mothers as strongly as boys identify with their fathers, and
so develop weaker superegos, limiting their morality
principle.
Beta bias - Theories that ignore or minimise the differences between sexes.
- These findings often assume that the findings are applicable to all
sexes.
- Mostly occurs when female participants are not included as part of
the research.
o Example:
o Kohlberg’s stage theory of moral development was based
on extensive interviews he conducted on boys aged 10-16.
o Research was based entirely on male participants but
argued that it was universal for men and women. Female
morality is different and based on ethic of care/
responsibility of others, but male morality is based on
abstract principles, (Gilligan, 1981) – this argument is alpha
bias – exaggerating the differences in morality.
Alpha vs Beta Alpha – they see the difference between men and women but
exaggerate it to devalue one sex over the other.
Beta – when they don’t even acknowledge there could be a difference
and generalise their findings to both sexes.
,STRENGTHS Use of reflexivity:
Feminist psychology:
-
WEAKNESSES Implications of gender bias:
- Can create misleading assumptions about female behaviour and fail
to challenge negative stereotypes and validate discriminatory
practices.
- May also provide justification to deny women opportunities or
employment opportunities.
- Any domain in which men set the standard or morality, making
women appear abnormal and feel this way too.
- Gender bias research is not just a methodological issue. It has
damaging consequences and can affect the lives/ prospects of real
women.
Sexism within the research process:
- Lack of women in senior research levels means female concern as
may not be reflected in research questions.
- Male researchers are more likely to have work published and studies
that prove there are gender differences are more likely to appear in
journals.
- Lab experiments disadvantage women as the female participants
are in an unbalanced relationship with a male researcher who can
label them unreasonable and unable to finish tasks.
- Psychology is guilty of supporting a form of institutional sexism that
creates bias in theory and research.
Essentialism:
- Many gender differences reported over the years are based on
essentialist perspective – gender is fixed in nature and inevitable.
- Creates a double standard in the way that same behaviour is viewed
from a male and female perspective.
Gender bias can devalue men:
- Women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and given
treatment than males.
- This could be because women are more likely to be diagnosed with
depression
, Culture bias:
Culture bias - The tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all
phenomena through the lends of one’s own culture
- The act of interpreting and judging behaviour and
psychological characteristics of one culture by holding them
to the standards of their own.
- Can be either by theories, which are applied inappropriately to
others, and through biased research methods which only use
participants which are not representative of all cultures.
- Attachment types by Ainsworth
- Deviation from social norms.
- Milgram and obedience.
Universality and - Mainstream psychology tends to ignore cultural as ain influence on
bias human behaviour – mistakenly assuming findings of one culture
apply to all.
- Claim to find something true of ‘all’ humans – but it often may only
apply to the group who were studied.
- Western culture studies cannot apply to non-western cultures.
- Asch and Milgram: US participants but reveal different results
when. Conducted in the rest of the world.
- 1992 – 62% of worlds psychology researchers were American.
- 2010 – 68% of research participants came from USA.
96% came from industrialised nations.
- 2008 – 80% of research participants were undergraduates studying
psychology.
- Psychologists are still claiming they have discovered facts about
human behaviour that are universal.
WEIRD WEIRD people set the standard.
- Western, Educated people from Industrialised areas, Rich,
Democracies
- If the norm is set by WEIRD people the behaviour from non-
western, less-educated, agriculture and poorer cultures inevitably
seen as ‘abnormal’, ‘inferior’ or ‘unusual’.
Ethnocentrism - The belief in the superiority of one’s own cultural group.
- A view that any behaviour which does not conform to one’s model
is deficient or undeveloped.
- Judging other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own
cultures.
- Extreme form = belief in the superiority of one’s own culture which
may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures.
o Ainsworth strange situation – reflected the norms and values
to an American culture which resulting in a secure attachment
being ideal. This ideal lead to misinterpreting child-rearing
practices in other countries where they parent differently and/
or encourage independence (Germany) or clingy attachments
(Japan).
Cultural - Idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards,
relativism can only be meaning and understood within specific social and
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller isabellafocus. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for £15.49. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
78637 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 14 years now