Issues and Debates

Attachments:

• Exemplar 16 marker- Gender Bias

1. Gender bias is the tendency to treat one gender in a different way to the other. Psychological theory and research may offer a view that does not represent the experience and behaviour of men and women.
   1. Alpha Bias- Theories and research that suggest that there are differences between men and women. They may enhance or undervalue members of either sex.
      1. Freud's psychodynamic theory states that boys have a stronger sense of morality than girls because the conflict resolved when they identify with their father is greater for them- and so girls develop a weak identity with their mother..
   2. Beta bias- Theories and research that suggest that there are no, or minimal differences between men and women but then use a same-sex sample which is generalised to all genders.
      1. Zimbardo investigated the effect of deindividuation on the size of electric shock participants are prepared to deliver. Female university students were used. Half has to wear coats with hoods to hide their faces and the second group wore their own clothes. The shocks given by the first group were twice as great as the second group. Zimbardo generalised this to show deindividuation leads to increased antisocial behaviour in all people.
   3. Androcentricism- A male centered bias where men's behaviour is the standard which women's behaviour is compared to.
2. Causes of bias
   1. Male Samples- results generalised to women
   2. Male behaviour as standard
   3. Biological differences emphasised
3. Why is it important to control?
   1. Sexism in research- lack of female researchers may mean female concerns are not represented.
   2. Justification to deny opportunities- may be used as an excuse to deny women opportunities in the workplace etc.
   3. Misleading assumptions- fails to challenge negative stereotypes, women begin to feel abnormal.
4. Universality- the assumption that all research findings can be applied to both genders, despite sex, experiences and upbringing.

1. Cultural bias refers to the tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret phenomena through the perspective of one culture.
   1. Ethnocentrism- It is the belief that one's own culture is superior and seeing any behaviours at deviate from this is deficient, unsophisticated and abnormal.
   2. Cultural relativism- is when norms and values, including ethics and morals, are only understood and become meaningful within the specific social and cultural context.
2. Etic- looking at behaviour from outside a culture and describing it as universal. An imposed etic is when research imposes the theory, ideals or conclusion universally.
3. Emic- when research looks within a culture and identifies specific behaviours for that culture.
4. Van-Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg- Used a meta-analysis to distinguish the cross-cultural differences in attachment types in infants, worldwide. They found that the ratios of attachment types varied across countries between individualist and collectivist cultures. However the most variation occurred within each culture.
5. Asch's study could be accused of being culturally biased because his conclusions were used to explain why people conform around the world. It used all American male participants. Perin and Spencer found that people from England conform less, which shows Asch's research is affected by cultural relativism.
6. :(Individualist vs collectivist: refers to cultures as being individualist or collectivist, however this is too simplistic. Differences within cultures can be as great as between cultures. :(Scientific lab research is familiar to western cultures, and not to others, causing demand characteristics. :(Many cultures have sub-cultures. :)Not all behaviours are culturally-specific.
7. Why is it important to control?
   1. Can lead to racism and discrimination.
   2. Cross-cultural research allows us to be more sensitive to individual differences and cultural relativism in future research.

1. Free will assumes that all behaviour is the outcome of choices individuals make. Free will means we can choose to over-write any biological or environmental influences.
   1. :)supported by research: Roberts found that those with an internal locus of control tend to be happier. This suggests that simply thinking we have free will can affect our own behaviour.
      1. :(questioned by research: Soon et al recorded activity in the decision making areas of the brain in participants up to 10 seconds before they were aware they were making a decision. This shows that behaviours are determined by the brain before we are aware.
2. Determinism assumes that all behaviour is the outcome of internal (biological) or external (environmental) forces over which we have no control.
   1. Hard determinism- Implies that free will is not possible as our behaviour is caused by factors beyond our control.
   2. Biological Determinism- implies that behaviour is caused by biological influences.
      1. Genetic explanation for aggression- Genes determine the levels of serotonin and testosterone. Aggression is explained as a imbalance in these biochemicals.
   3. Soft determinism- Implies that all behaviour has causes which can be internal or external, but behaviour can also be determined by out conscious choices.
   4. Environmental Determinism- Implies that behaviour is caused by environmental influences.
      1. Social explanations of gender identity disorders suggest gender abnormalities are learned through socialisation processes. This may occur through operant conditioning where the child is reinforced for exhibiting cross-gender behaviour.
   5. Psychic determinism- Implies that behaviour is caused by unconscious conflicts.
   6. :)Meets characteristics of a science: able to establish cause and effect, i.e the relationship between hormone levels and certain behaviours. Leads to the development of treatments and therapies.
   7. :(Goes against moral and legal framework of society. Individuals are help accountable for their own actions, if not, they cannot be punished since they can claim their actions are out of their control.

1. Nature- Early nativists argued that all human characteristics are innate and are results of heredity. Rene Descartes- "even some aspects of knowledge are innate"
   1. Gottesman study on OCD and genetics with MZ and DZ twins. Hollands study on anorexia and genetics with MZ and DZ twins.
   2. Heredity- the passing on of physical or mental characteristics generally from one generation to another.
   3. Bowlby's theory of monotropy where attachment gives a survival advantage. Infants have an innate tendency to connect with a specific caregiver for safety and development.
2. Nurture- Environmental influences determine our characteristics and behaviours. Empiricism suggests were are born a blank slate with no innate mechanisms.
   1. Mowrer proposed the two process model of phobias and said they develop through associating something that we have no fear of with something that already triggers an anxiety response.
3. Interactionism- suggests that both genetics and environment play a role in our behaviour. Genetics act as a predisposition, and environment moderates our genes and expresses these in different ways.
   1. Diathesis Stress Model (DSM)- suggest that our behaviours/ characteristics are caused by biological/genetic vulnerability which is only expressed when couple by environmental triggers.
      1. Tienari et al found that in a group of Finnish adoptees, those who developed schizophrenia had biological relatives with the disorder and their relationship with their adopted parents was also defined as dysfunctional.
   2. Epigenetics refers to a change in our genetic activity without changing our genetic code. This process happens throughout life and is cued by interaction with the environment. I.e smoking, diet.
4. :( siblings may not experience the same upbringing and so separating nature and nurture is completely impossible. Twin studies are also effected since twins often experience similar nurture. :( Extreme nature or nurture perspectives also demonstrate hard determinism. :) Constructivism suggests we create our own 'nurture' by selecting our environment that is appropriate to our 'nature'. E.g aggressive children wanting to play with other children playing aggressive game. This is known as nurture of nature (Plomin). Impossible to separate influences of nature and nurture.

1. Holism- refers to the idea that a theory/concept can only be understood fully when the whole indivisible system is studied.
   1. Beck suggested that depression is a result of a cognitive vulnerability through his theory of 'Negative Triads'.
2. Reductionism- Analyses behaviour by breaking it down into it's convenient parts. It is the simplest and easiest explanation.
   1. Parsimony- All phenomena should be explained using the most basic principles.
   2. Biological reductionism- All behaviour can be explained through neurochemical, neurophysical, evolutionary and genetic influences.
   3. Environmental reductionism- Does not concern itself with mental processes of the mind. The mind is a 'black box' and is shaped through the environment.
   4. Watson and Rayner's case study of Little Albert examined how phobias could be learnt through associating a bang with the presentation of a toy.
3. Levels of explanation- there are different ways of viewing the same phenomena in psychology- some more reductionist than others.
4. :) Reductionism recognises the importance of biological explanations meaning research can be easily tested. :( Over simplifies behaviour. :( Holism cannot be rigorously tested meaning it may lack empirical evidence.

1. This approach is able to generate hypotheses for further study, findings may reveal important insights about normal functioning which may contribute to overall understanding. However, it is restrictive and not scientific due to the reliance on subjective accounts, meaning it is open to bias.
   1. HM- following surgery to treat his severe epilepsy, he developed anteograde amnesia. He was able to recall information from before his surgery, but was not able to form new long-term memories. His case proved invaluable in revealing how different types of long term memory work, leading to further study taking place.
2. Humanistic and psychodynamic approaches.

1. This research tends to be scientific- testing under standardised conditions, using data sets , prediction and control, giving psychology greater scientific credibility. However, in its search for generalities, it may sometimes overlook the richness of human experience. (Knowing the 1% risk of developing schizophrenia tells us little about what it is like to live with that disorder.)
   1. Skinners rats- researched operant conditioning using rats in laboratory experiments. Every time the rat activated a lever within the box it was rewarded with a food pellet. It would then continue to perform the behaviour due to the reinforcement.
2. Behaviourist, cognitive and biological approaches.

1. Sieber and Stanley- Implications: the wider effects should be considered as some research could provide justification for prejudice and discrimination. Uses/Public policy: What is the research going to be used for? What would happen if it was used in the wrong way? Validity: findings should be presented as objective and unbiased.
2. Goddard issued IQ tests ( requiring English understanding) to immigrants as they arrived in the US and went on to claim that his findings demonstrated how the majority of Russians, Jews, Hungarians and Italians were 'feeble minded'.
3. Minuchin argued that families are intensely emotionally connected, connecting to each other's needs and moods. Dysfunctional family interactions may result in anorexia in individuals in response so as to reduce disagreement amongst the family.