Summary AQA Psychology for A Level Year 2 Student Book, ISBN: 9781912820467 Issues and Debates
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AQA Psychology for A Level Year 2
A succinct and complete summary of the Issues and Debates topic of AQA A-level Psychology. Using only this material when revising for the Issues and Debates section of Paper 3 I was able to achieve an A* in psychology.
ethical implications of research studies and theory
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Issues and debates revision notes
Gender bias
Bias in Psychology
- Psychology attempts to conduct research that is ‘objective’ and ‘value free’
- However, psychologists (like the rest of us) are people who have beliefs and values that are
shaped by social and historical context. Therefore, it is fair to argue that bias is an inevitable
part of the research process.
Universality
- Any underlying characteristics of human beings that are capable of being applied to all,
despite differences of experience and upbringing.
- Recognising differences between genders, but not assuming that one gender is superior over
another.
- Gender bias and culture bias threaten the universality of findings in psychology
Gender bias:
The differential treatment and/or representations of males and females, based on stereotypes and not
real differences.
Androcentrism:
Centred or focused on men. When ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to the male standard as a
result female behaviour is considered to be abnormal in comparison.
- The American Psychology Association found that out of the 100 most influential psychologists
only 6 were female.
Example of Androcentrism:
- The result of beta bias in psychological research is that we end up with a view of human
nature that is supposed to apply to men and women alike, but in fact, has a male or
androcentric view.
- For example, Ash’s research into conformity which was conducted on an entirely male
sample. Ash assumed that the findings would be similar for both males and females, which is
known as a beta bias. This can affect psychological research as it provides a potentially
misleading or inaccurate representation of how one sex (namely females) will respond in a
given situation (social conformity).
Two types of gender bias
Alpha bias:
Refers to the exaggeration of differences between males and females. As a result, one gender is
usually devalued.
Example of Alpha bias
Freud argued that there are genuine psychological differences between men and women. His theory
suggests that women are inferior as young girls suffer from ‘penis envy’, and he viewed femininity as
a failed form of masculinity.
Beta bias:
This is shown when a study/theory ignores or minimises gender differences.
Excuses previously used:
- The behaviour of women does not matter
- It would be unfair to put women in this situation
- There would not be any differences, so no need to use both genders
Example of beta bias:
- Early research into flight or fight response was based exclusively on male animals and was
assumed to be a universal response to a threatening situation
, - Shelly Taylor et al. (2000) has suggested that females produce a tend and befriend response.
Difference between an alpha and beta bias (answer format)
- One difference between an alpha and a beta bias is that an alpha bias exaggerates the
differences between males and females, whereas a beta bias minimises the differences
between males and females.
- For example, Freud’s work is alpha biased as he exaggerated the differences by saying that
women were inferior and suffered from penis envy. On the other hand, the biological
explanation of fight or flight has previously demonstrated a beta bias, as it was assumed that
men and women responded to stress/danger in the same way.
Limitation of Ash's research - including issues and debates
Point - One issue with Asch’s research is that it lacks population validity.
Evidence/Example - Asch’s sample consists of 123 male college students from America and is therefore biased.
Issue / Debate - Asch assumed that the results of his research would apply to females, which is known as a beta bias,
where a psychologist minimises the difference between males and females. This can result in a biased view which
assumes that men and women are alike when it comes to conformity, and therefore demonstrates an androcentric view
of conformity.
Explain - This matters because we are unable to generalise the results to females and we do not know if females would
have conformed in a similar way, on the basis of Asch’s beta biased research.
Evaluations
Biological versus social explanations
Gender differences are often presented as fixed and enduring (ie.g. Alpha bias) when they are not.
Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin presented the finding of several gender studies which concluded
that girls have superior verbal ability whereas boys have better spatial ability. Maccoby and Jacklin
suggested that these differences are ‘hardwired’ into the brain before birth. Such findings become
widely reported and seen as facts. In fact Daphna Joel et al. used brain scanning and found no such
sex differences in brain sturcutrure or processing. It is possible that the data form Maccoby and
Jacklin was popularised because it fitted existing stereotypes of girls as ‘speakers’ and boys as
‘doers’. This suggests we should be wary of accepting research findings as biological facts when they
might be better explained as social stereotypes.
However,
This does not mean that psychologists should avoid studying possible gender differences in the brain.
For instance, research by Madura Ingalhalikar et al. suggests that the popular social stereotype that
women are better at multitasking may have some biological truth to it. It seems that a woman’s brain
may benefit from better connections between the right and left hemisphere than in a man’s brain.
Sexism in research
Women remain underrepresented in university departments, particularly in science. Although
psychology’s undergraduate intake is mainly of women, lecturers in psychology departments are more
likely to be men. This means research is more likely to be conducted by men and this may
disadvantage participants who are women. For example, a male researcher may expect women to be
irrational and unable to complete complex tasks and such expectations are likely to mean that women
underperform in research studies. Meaning that the institutional structure and methods of psychology
may produce findings that are gender biased.
Gender bias research
Research challenging gender biases may not be published.
Magdalena Formanowicz et al. analysed more than 1000 articles relating to gender bias, published
over eight years. They found that research on gender bias is funded less often and is published by
less prestigious journals. The consequences of this is that fewer scholars become aware of it or apply
it within their own work. The researchers argued that this still held true when gender bias was
compared with other forms of bias, such as ethnic bias, and when other factors were controlled, such
as the gender of the authors and the methodology used.
This suggests that gender bias in psychology research may not be taken as seriously as other forms
of bias.
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