Issues and Debates

Alpha Bias- this occurs when differences between men and women are exaggerated. Stereotypically male and female characteristics may be emphasised.

Beta Bias- this occurs when differences between men and women are minimised. Findings obtained from men are applied to women without additional validation.

Androcentrism- taking male thinking as normal, and female thinking as inferior/abnormal.

Alpha- Has led to some theorists (Gilligan) to assert the worth and valuation of 'feminine qualities'    - Has led to healthy criticism of cultural values that praise certain 'male' qualities such as aggression and individualism as desirable and universal.   - Focuses on differences between genders, leads to the implication of similarity within genders and ignores the many ways women differ from eachother. - Can sustain prejudices and stereotypes 

Beta- Makes people see men and women as the same, which has led to equal treatment in legal terms and equal access to education and employment. - Draws attention away from the differences in power between men and women. - Major misrepresentation of both genders. 

1) Kohlberg based his stages of moral development around male moral reasoning and had an all male sample. He inappropriately generalised his findings to women (beta bias) and also claimed women generally reached lower level of moral development.

2) Freud's ideas are seen as inherently gender biased, but it must be remembered that he was a product of his time. All his theories are androcentric - 'penis envy' women are defined psychologically by the fact they aren't men. Freud's ideas have serious consequences as they reinforce stereotypes of women's moral inferiority. 

- Re-examining the facts about gender

- View of women as normal humans, not deficient men

- Skepticism towards biological determinism

- Research agenda focusing on women's concerns

- A psychology for women, rather than a psychology of women

Emics- An emic construct is one that is applied to only in one cultural group, so they vary from place to place. An emic approach refers to the investigation of a culture from within the culture itself. Research of European society from a European perspective is emic.

Etics- An etic construct is a theoretical idea that is assumed to apply in all cultural groups. Etic constructs are considered universal to all people, and are factors that hold across all cultures. Making the assumption that behaviours are universal across cultures can lead to imposed etics where a construct from one culture is applied inappropriately to another. 

Ethnocentrism- A researcher assumes that their own culturally specific practices are 'natural' or 'right'. The individual uses their own ethnic group to evaluate and make judgements about other individuals from other ethnic groups.

Cultural relativism- Principle of regarding the beliefs of a culture from the viewpoint of that culture itself.

Ainsworth's Strange Situation- Not appropriate for assessing children from non-US or UK populations as it is based on Western childrearing ideals. The original study only used American, middle class white infants and mothers and therefore the generalisability of the findings could be questioned as well as whether the procedure is valid for other cultures.

Nobles (1976) argues that Western psychology has been a tool of oppression and dominance. Cultural bias has also made it difficult for psychologists to seperate the behaviour they have observed from the context in which they observed it. 

Equal opportunity legislation aims to rid psychology of cultural bias and racism, but we must be aware merely swapping old, overt racism for new, more subtle forms of racism. 

Free Will- suggests we all have a choice and can control and choose our own behaviour. Emphasises the importance of the individual and studying individual differences. Fits societies view of personal responsibilty. 

Determinism- all behaviour is determined and predictable:

- Environmental determinism: behaviour is caused by an outside influence e.g parents

- Biological determinism: biological systems such as the nervous system govern behaviour.

- Psychic determinism: childhood experiences and unconscious motivations govern behaviour. 

Hard determinism- sees free will as an illusion and believes that every event and action has a cause.

Soft determinism- represents a middle ground, people do have a choice, but that choice is constrained by external factors.

Determinism is scientific and allows cause and effect relationships to be established.

Reductionist and doesn't account for individual differences. Underestimates uniqueness of human beings and their freedom.

Nature is the view that all our behaviour is determined by our biology, our genes. Evolutionary explanations of human behaviour exemplify the nature approach. Any particular behaviour has evolved because of it's survival value.

• Bowlby's explanation of attachment does not ignore environmental influences, as is generally true for evolutionary explanations. Bowlby proposed that infants become more strongly attached to the caregiver who responds most sensitively to the infants needs.

Nurture is the opposite view that all behaviour is learnt and influenced by external factors such as the environment. Behaviourist approach is the clearest example as it assumes all behaviour is learned through the environment.

• Empirical evidence shows that behaviour is learnt and can be modified through conditioning.
• Even learning itself has a genetic basis. Mutant flies missing a crucial gene cannot be conditioned.

Holism argues behaviour cannot be understood in terms of the components that make them up. This is commonly described as 'the whole being greater than the sum of it's parts'. Psychologists study the whole person to gain an understanding of all the factors that might influence behaviour.

• Looks at everything that may impact on behaviour.
• Does not ignore complexity of behaviour.
• Overcomplicates behaviour which may have simpler explanations.
• Neglects the importance of biological explanations.

Reductionism is the belief that behaviour can be explained by breaking it down into smaller component parts. The best way to understand why we behave as we do is to look closely at the simplest parts that make up our systems.

• Reductionist approach to studying mental disorders has led to the development of effective chemical treatments.
• Research into genetic basis on mental disorders has enabled researchers to identify specific genes responsible for schizophrenia. Enables scientific causes of behaviour and advances possibility of scientific study.
• Over simplistic. Humans and environments are so complex the reductionist explanation doesn't give the whole explanation of behaviour.

The nomothetic approach looks at how our behaviours are similar to eachother as human beings. The nomothetic approach to the study of personality compares individuals in terms of traits or dimensions common to everyone.

• More scientific than the idiographic approach as it takes an objective approach to formulate causal laws.

The idiographic approach looks at how our behaviours are different to eachother. Psychologists interested in this aspect want to discover what makes each of us unique.

• Focuses on individual differences however it is very time consuming and takes a lot of time and money to study individuals in depth.

Sieber and Stanley (1988) outline 4 groups that may be affected by psychological research:

1) Members of the social group being studied such as racial or ethnic groups.

2) Friends and relatives of those taking part in the study, where individuals may become famous or infamous e.g Genie's mother.

3) The researcher team

4) Institution the research was conducted in.

There are 4 main ethical concerns when conductiong socially sensitive research:

• The research questions or hypothesis
• The treatment of individual participants
• The institutional context
• The way in which the findings of research are interpreted

Privacy: asking people questions of a personal nature could offend.

Confidentiality: information leaked to others could affect the participants life.

Deception: causing wider public to believe something that isn't true.

Informed consent: participants should be made aware of how taking part in the research may affect them.

FOR:

• Psychologists have devised methods to resolve the issues raised.
• By gaining a better understanding of issues such as gender, race and sexuality we are able to gain a greater acceptance and reduce prejudice.

AGAINST:

• Flawed research has dictated social policy and put certain groups at a disadvantage.