Psychology Notes:
Contents:
0. Welcome
0. Key Studies
8. Issues and Debates (Paper 3)
9. Gender (Paper 3)
10. Schizophrenia (Paper 3)
11. Aggression (Paper 3)
Welcome:
Welcome to my notes! These were used when I was studying for Paper 3 of my Psychology
A-Level for the AQA Exam Board. There may be a few spelling errors, but as far as I know
everything is as it should be. Paper 3 includes optional topics and will also have elements of
research methods in it (though my research methods notes are only included in the Paper 1
and 2 notes).
Before we start, here’s the quizlet I made/used alongside these notes:
https://quizlet.com/fleurcasson/folders/psychology-paper-3/sets
I hope you find everything in here useful and get the grades you want!
Key Studies:
10. Pharoah et al (2010), Tienari et al (2014)
11. Bandura et al (1961). Zimbardo (1969), Greitmeyer and Mugge (2014)
,8. Issues and Debates
Gender in Psychology: Gender Bias
Information
Androcentrism: Centred/focused on men. In the past, almost all psychologists were men,
meaning that the theories produced tended to present the male-world view. This led to either
alpha or beta bias.
Alpha Bias: Proposed by Mustin and Mareck, it’s the idea that the differences between men
and women are exaggerated. This leads to a bias which devalues one gender in comparison to
the other. Think about Freud’s work: women are morally inferior as they don’t resolve their
Oedipus complex and suffer from penis envy.
Beta Bias: Androcentrism can also lead to the assumption that what’s true for men also must
be true for women. The consequence of this is that the needs of one gender (usually women)
are ignored. Think about the fight-or-fight stress response. Women aren’t usually included in
research due to hormone variation, yet a researcher showed that women veered more towards
the tend-or-befriend response. This meant the stress response wasn’t fully understood for a
long time as gender-based variations were ignored.
Universality: The aim to develop theirs that apply to all people, which may include real
differences. Ignoring the gender differences is an example of beta bias, so we much recognise
these differences without promoting the superiority of one gender over the other.
Moral Reasoning Research: Kohlberg suggested was very influential within moral
develop, suggesting that the moral decisions we make are based on an ethic of justice.
He only interviewed men and boys by asking them hypothetic situations and what
behaviour right/fair would be, meaning his research was subject to beta bias. Gilligan
also pointed out the hypotheticals were also biased as they had a moral orientation-
they were concerned with justice rather than other types of morality like the moral of
care. Kohlberg tested women and said they were morally inferior (alpha bias) as he
didn’t consider the differences between the sexes (beta bias). Gilligan found that
women favoured a care orientation, whilst men preferred justice. Gilligan is an
example of universality as she demonstrated the differences without hailing one type
of morality as better than the other.
Evaluation
Strength: Reverse Alpha Bias- One strategy to counter gender bias is to emphasise the value
of women. For example, research shows that women are better at learning because they’re
more attentive, flexible and organised. This is a strength as it challenges the superiority of
the male position and may change people’s preconceptions. However, it has been argued
that this is not a long-term solution as it still leads to a gender-identity being
undervalued.
Strength: Avoiding Beta Bias- Equal treatment for the sexes has led to more opportunity for
women, but this may be a disadvantage. It’s been argued that wanting for straight equality
ignores women’s needs, and even seemingly neutral actions benefit the group in power. For
,example giving men the same paternity leave as women ignores the biological demands of
giving birth. Thus, this suggests that beta bias is bad and that universality is best.
Strength: Feminist psychology- Feminist psychology attempts to redress the imbalances in
theory/research. This branch of psychology agrees that there are biological differences, but
they are worsened by socially determined stereotypes. One way to redress the balance is to
use evidence that women are ‘inferior’ to provide them with support. A researcher claimed
that women are less effective leaders, but this should be used to provide women with suitable
training programmes. This is as strength as it demonstrates how femininity psychology
seeks to understand behaviour in terms of social progress and this find a way to greater
equality.
Strength: Bias in Research Methods- It was found that male experimenters are nicer to female
participants than to male, which led to male participants to seem to prefer worse on assigned
tasks. It’s also been argued by feminists that lab experiments disadvantage women, as it was
found in a meta-analysis that studies in real life settings found women and men were judged
as more similar in styles of leadership than in lab settings. This is a strength as it suggests
androcentrism has even affected the way data is collected, which creates a false picture
of male-female differences.
Strength: Assumptions need to be examined- As androcentrism has been around for so long,
there are so many theories which have yet to be examined. For example, Darwin’s theory of
sexual selection suggests women as choosy and men and competitive. This idea, however,
seems to be rooted in Victorian gender roles, as research has shown that women can be
competitive if they need too be. An example is that DNNA evidence supports the idea that
it’s a good strategy for females to mate with more than one man, which puts females in
competition. This is a strength as it highlights the importance of challenging gender
research to ensure it portrays a valid picture of women.
, Culture in Psychology: Culture Bias
Information
Mustin and Marecke didn’t stop at gender bias:
They also suggested that alpha bias can refer to the assumption that there are real and
enduring differences between cultural groups. An example is how there’s often a
distinction made about individualistic and collectivist cultures, and an assumption
made that individualistic cultures are less likely to be conformist. A meta-analysis of
15 studies found this isn’t true, and 14/15 of the studies didn’t support this view point.
This suggests that the individualistic/collectivist divide is no longer useful.
Beta bias refers to how theories ignore/minimise cultural differences. IQ tests as a
good example of this. Western societies view intelligence and something within the
person, whilst collectivist cultures such as Uganda see it as a function relationships of
sharing knowledge with the community. This means that Western IQ tests will make
non-western cultures seem less intelligence. Such tests are descried as having an
imposed etic, as a cultural idea is imposed onto others.
Ethnocentrism: Refers to the use of one’s own ethnic/cultural group as a basis for judgement
about other groups. Your cultural norms are normal, and everyone else’s are deviant. It is an
example of alpha bias as you’re considering your own culture as different and superior.
However, it can also lead to beta bias if psychologists believe their world view is the only
one. An example of this is IQ testing.
Cultural Relativism: The idea that all cultures are worthy of respect and that in studying
another culture we need to try and understand they ways they view the world. It can lead to
alpha bias as there’s the assumption of differences leads to universal truths to be overlooked.
An example is how it was included that Papua New Guinea men were more aggressive than
women, but this is applicable to almost all cultures. However, it avoids beta bias, which
leads to the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality being used to diagnose people
with mental disorders just because they display behaviour which isn’t frequent in our culture.
Evaluation
Strength: Indigenous Psychologies- One strategy to counter ethnocentrism in psychology is to
encourage indigenous psychologies, which is the development of different groups of theories
within different countries. An example is Afrocentrism, which is a moment who propose that
all black people have roots in Africa, and thus all psychological theories concerning such
people must be Africa-centred and express African values. Afrocentrism disputes the idea
that European values are universally appropriate descriptions of behaviour. This has led to
the development of theories relevant o the life and culture of people of African descent.
Strength: The emic-ethic distinction- Indigenous psychologies is the ‘emic’ approach, which
emphasises the uniqueness of every culture by focusing on culturally specific phenomena.
The problem with the emic approach is that the findings only tend to be significant to one
culture, limiting generalisability. However, the etic approach seeks universals of behaviour.
One way to achieve this, whilst avoiding culture bias, is to use indigenous researchers in each
cultural settings, but collect data around the same thing. This was done in a study of mate
Contents:
0. Welcome
0. Key Studies
8. Issues and Debates (Paper 3)
9. Gender (Paper 3)
10. Schizophrenia (Paper 3)
11. Aggression (Paper 3)
Welcome:
Welcome to my notes! These were used when I was studying for Paper 3 of my Psychology
A-Level for the AQA Exam Board. There may be a few spelling errors, but as far as I know
everything is as it should be. Paper 3 includes optional topics and will also have elements of
research methods in it (though my research methods notes are only included in the Paper 1
and 2 notes).
Before we start, here’s the quizlet I made/used alongside these notes:
https://quizlet.com/fleurcasson/folders/psychology-paper-3/sets
I hope you find everything in here useful and get the grades you want!
Key Studies:
10. Pharoah et al (2010), Tienari et al (2014)
11. Bandura et al (1961). Zimbardo (1969), Greitmeyer and Mugge (2014)
,8. Issues and Debates
Gender in Psychology: Gender Bias
Information
Androcentrism: Centred/focused on men. In the past, almost all psychologists were men,
meaning that the theories produced tended to present the male-world view. This led to either
alpha or beta bias.
Alpha Bias: Proposed by Mustin and Mareck, it’s the idea that the differences between men
and women are exaggerated. This leads to a bias which devalues one gender in comparison to
the other. Think about Freud’s work: women are morally inferior as they don’t resolve their
Oedipus complex and suffer from penis envy.
Beta Bias: Androcentrism can also lead to the assumption that what’s true for men also must
be true for women. The consequence of this is that the needs of one gender (usually women)
are ignored. Think about the fight-or-fight stress response. Women aren’t usually included in
research due to hormone variation, yet a researcher showed that women veered more towards
the tend-or-befriend response. This meant the stress response wasn’t fully understood for a
long time as gender-based variations were ignored.
Universality: The aim to develop theirs that apply to all people, which may include real
differences. Ignoring the gender differences is an example of beta bias, so we much recognise
these differences without promoting the superiority of one gender over the other.
Moral Reasoning Research: Kohlberg suggested was very influential within moral
develop, suggesting that the moral decisions we make are based on an ethic of justice.
He only interviewed men and boys by asking them hypothetic situations and what
behaviour right/fair would be, meaning his research was subject to beta bias. Gilligan
also pointed out the hypotheticals were also biased as they had a moral orientation-
they were concerned with justice rather than other types of morality like the moral of
care. Kohlberg tested women and said they were morally inferior (alpha bias) as he
didn’t consider the differences between the sexes (beta bias). Gilligan found that
women favoured a care orientation, whilst men preferred justice. Gilligan is an
example of universality as she demonstrated the differences without hailing one type
of morality as better than the other.
Evaluation
Strength: Reverse Alpha Bias- One strategy to counter gender bias is to emphasise the value
of women. For example, research shows that women are better at learning because they’re
more attentive, flexible and organised. This is a strength as it challenges the superiority of
the male position and may change people’s preconceptions. However, it has been argued
that this is not a long-term solution as it still leads to a gender-identity being
undervalued.
Strength: Avoiding Beta Bias- Equal treatment for the sexes has led to more opportunity for
women, but this may be a disadvantage. It’s been argued that wanting for straight equality
ignores women’s needs, and even seemingly neutral actions benefit the group in power. For
,example giving men the same paternity leave as women ignores the biological demands of
giving birth. Thus, this suggests that beta bias is bad and that universality is best.
Strength: Feminist psychology- Feminist psychology attempts to redress the imbalances in
theory/research. This branch of psychology agrees that there are biological differences, but
they are worsened by socially determined stereotypes. One way to redress the balance is to
use evidence that women are ‘inferior’ to provide them with support. A researcher claimed
that women are less effective leaders, but this should be used to provide women with suitable
training programmes. This is as strength as it demonstrates how femininity psychology
seeks to understand behaviour in terms of social progress and this find a way to greater
equality.
Strength: Bias in Research Methods- It was found that male experimenters are nicer to female
participants than to male, which led to male participants to seem to prefer worse on assigned
tasks. It’s also been argued by feminists that lab experiments disadvantage women, as it was
found in a meta-analysis that studies in real life settings found women and men were judged
as more similar in styles of leadership than in lab settings. This is a strength as it suggests
androcentrism has even affected the way data is collected, which creates a false picture
of male-female differences.
Strength: Assumptions need to be examined- As androcentrism has been around for so long,
there are so many theories which have yet to be examined. For example, Darwin’s theory of
sexual selection suggests women as choosy and men and competitive. This idea, however,
seems to be rooted in Victorian gender roles, as research has shown that women can be
competitive if they need too be. An example is that DNNA evidence supports the idea that
it’s a good strategy for females to mate with more than one man, which puts females in
competition. This is a strength as it highlights the importance of challenging gender
research to ensure it portrays a valid picture of women.
, Culture in Psychology: Culture Bias
Information
Mustin and Marecke didn’t stop at gender bias:
They also suggested that alpha bias can refer to the assumption that there are real and
enduring differences between cultural groups. An example is how there’s often a
distinction made about individualistic and collectivist cultures, and an assumption
made that individualistic cultures are less likely to be conformist. A meta-analysis of
15 studies found this isn’t true, and 14/15 of the studies didn’t support this view point.
This suggests that the individualistic/collectivist divide is no longer useful.
Beta bias refers to how theories ignore/minimise cultural differences. IQ tests as a
good example of this. Western societies view intelligence and something within the
person, whilst collectivist cultures such as Uganda see it as a function relationships of
sharing knowledge with the community. This means that Western IQ tests will make
non-western cultures seem less intelligence. Such tests are descried as having an
imposed etic, as a cultural idea is imposed onto others.
Ethnocentrism: Refers to the use of one’s own ethnic/cultural group as a basis for judgement
about other groups. Your cultural norms are normal, and everyone else’s are deviant. It is an
example of alpha bias as you’re considering your own culture as different and superior.
However, it can also lead to beta bias if psychologists believe their world view is the only
one. An example of this is IQ testing.
Cultural Relativism: The idea that all cultures are worthy of respect and that in studying
another culture we need to try and understand they ways they view the world. It can lead to
alpha bias as there’s the assumption of differences leads to universal truths to be overlooked.
An example is how it was included that Papua New Guinea men were more aggressive than
women, but this is applicable to almost all cultures. However, it avoids beta bias, which
leads to the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality being used to diagnose people
with mental disorders just because they display behaviour which isn’t frequent in our culture.
Evaluation
Strength: Indigenous Psychologies- One strategy to counter ethnocentrism in psychology is to
encourage indigenous psychologies, which is the development of different groups of theories
within different countries. An example is Afrocentrism, which is a moment who propose that
all black people have roots in Africa, and thus all psychological theories concerning such
people must be Africa-centred and express African values. Afrocentrism disputes the idea
that European values are universally appropriate descriptions of behaviour. This has led to
the development of theories relevant o the life and culture of people of African descent.
Strength: The emic-ethic distinction- Indigenous psychologies is the ‘emic’ approach, which
emphasises the uniqueness of every culture by focusing on culturally specific phenomena.
The problem with the emic approach is that the findings only tend to be significant to one
culture, limiting generalisability. However, the etic approach seeks universals of behaviour.
One way to achieve this, whilst avoiding culture bias, is to use indigenous researchers in each
cultural settings, but collect data around the same thing. This was done in a study of mate
