Issues and debates
Gender Bias
AO1: knowledge
o Gender Bias: When psychological research or theory offers a view that doesn’t justifiably
represent the experience and behavior of each gender.
o Alpha Bias: An exaggeration of the difference between men and women.
o Beta Bias: Tendency to minimize or ignore differences between men and women and
assume they are the same. An example of this is androcentrism.
o Theories that have a male oriented focus or is completed focused on males, can occur if all
male samples are used in research and then a theory is developed from this study and then
generalized to both genders.
Research Evidence
o Much of the research stemming from 1950-70s used all male samples, an example of this
would-be Asch’s research into conformity. Asch used a sample of 123 university student
males in his research and then generalized his findings to the target populations. In the past,
androcentrism might have been due to lack of availability, as it was much more common to
have male students than female students in university. However, now-a-days there is
approximately 70% of the modern psychology undergraduate students are female and so more
recent research may be in favor of woman rather than males, especially when using
opportunity sampling.
o Freud argued that women experienced penis- envy during the Electra complex and that
women are an example of failed masculinity and are therefore inferior to men. Making an
exaggeration in the differences between both men and women. He defined women as ‘not-
men’.
Consequences:
o Many significant theories have been built on androcentric research which have then gone
on to test women using flawed criteria and then found results which showed significantly
large differences between the two genders. For example, Kohlberg proposed a stage theory of
moral development based on research on boys only. He then later tested both males and
females with the criteria developed from the androcentric research. He found that on average
women researched a lower level of moral development which led to alpha biased conclusions
that women have inferior moral understanding. Meaning that psychology as a field may have
some significant biases in terms of understanding behavior in relation to gender.
Solutions:
o Critical analysis of beta bias has led us to see that whilst equality is important, we shouldn't
minimize the differences between the genders is this means disadvantaging on gender. For
example, it is possible that arguing for equality between men and women draws attention
away from the current power imbalance between them and may inadvertently lead to an even
greater imbalance. E.g. arguing for equal parenting rights/ times ignores biological demands
of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. Meaning that beta biased approaches that seek to
minimize gender differences can be as damaging as alpha biased ones.
o Psychologists are beginning to challenge the potential gender bias in many well-established
psychological theories. For example, recent DNA evidence suggests women are equally
aggressive and competitive compared to males in situations where they need to be, which
contradicts the long-held Darwinian view that males are aggressive, and females are passive.
Suggesting that Darwin may have been influenced by the view of Victorian times and that
many of the theories we assume to be unbiased and scientific may be gender biased.
, Issues and debates
Culture Bias
AO1: knowledge
o Culture bias: When psychological research or theory offers a view that does not justifiably
represent the experiences and behavior of all cultural groups.
o Etic approach: Where research is carried out across cultures in order to discover elements of
behaviors that might be universal.
o Ethnocentrism: The tendency to use one ethnic group as a reference point for making
judgements about other cultures behavior. Western culture of most research is seen as
‘normal’ and those which deviate from this is seen as ‘primitive’ or ‘different’.
o Emic Approach: Where one culture is studied to discover culture specific behaviors.
o Cultural relativism: Regarding the beliefs, values, and practices of a culture from the
viewpoint of that culture and its cultural context. The Definitions of abnormality- DIMH and
DSN both regard the cultural context needed to make a judgement.
o Imposed Etic: Assuming behaviors are universal when they’re not, as cultural differences
have been ignored.
Research Evidence:
o An example of an Etic approach being taken in psychology can be seen in Berry’s (1969)
study which replicated Asch’s study into conformity. It was to see whether the conformity
rates seen in the US were replicated among the Temne people of Sierra Leone or the Inuit
people of Canada. The Temne people had higher rates of conformity and the Inuit people had
low levels of conformity. This difference was put down to the different focus in lifestyle,
where the Temne people's lifestyle was largely agricultural, and the Inuit's people were
largely hunting. Showing that conformity isn’t in fact a universal behavior.
o Margaret Mead took an Emic approach to learning behavior in Samoa, she studied several
tribes who lived in New Guinea and drew conclusions about the approach each of the tribes
took to gender roles and behavior. This research found that the people of the Arapesh tribe,
both men and women had a temperament which was gentle, responsive, and cooperative,
whereas the people of Mundugumor: both men and women were aggressive and violent, both
seeking power and positions without prejudices of gender making those decisions. Making the
conclusion that gender roles were culturally specific rather than universal.
Consequences:
o Taking an Etic approach can result in a method becoming an imposed etic. For example, the
strange situation had a method developed from research of the US culture and their take on
attachment and then Van Ijzendoorn then collected a meta-analysis of multiple different
cultures attachment types according to this US specific criteria. Japanese babies reacted badly
to being left alone and so had a lot higher rates of separation and stranger anxiety than other
cultures. It wasn’t a social norm in Japan to leave your infant alone and so for almost all
infants this had been the first time they had been left by their caregiver. Showing that this is a
very culturally specific.
o However, another issue of culture bias even if it has only been generalised to one culture is
that a lot of studies into behaviour is mostly done on university students. Especially if this
influential research was done decades ago such as that of Asch’s androcentric research into
conformity. Researchers tend to use their university students as they’re easily able to collect
samples of participants and often willing to as it could aid their own research, but using this
sample normally means you have a group of people who are the same age, all have higher
education, tend to have similar personality characteristics and done in mostly western culture
and so altogether they’re not always representative of the target population. Meaning that
much of the psychological research gone into understanding human behaviour is not only
unrepresentative on a global scale but may also be unrepresentative of western culture too.
Gender Bias
AO1: knowledge
o Gender Bias: When psychological research or theory offers a view that doesn’t justifiably
represent the experience and behavior of each gender.
o Alpha Bias: An exaggeration of the difference between men and women.
o Beta Bias: Tendency to minimize or ignore differences between men and women and
assume they are the same. An example of this is androcentrism.
o Theories that have a male oriented focus or is completed focused on males, can occur if all
male samples are used in research and then a theory is developed from this study and then
generalized to both genders.
Research Evidence
o Much of the research stemming from 1950-70s used all male samples, an example of this
would-be Asch’s research into conformity. Asch used a sample of 123 university student
males in his research and then generalized his findings to the target populations. In the past,
androcentrism might have been due to lack of availability, as it was much more common to
have male students than female students in university. However, now-a-days there is
approximately 70% of the modern psychology undergraduate students are female and so more
recent research may be in favor of woman rather than males, especially when using
opportunity sampling.
o Freud argued that women experienced penis- envy during the Electra complex and that
women are an example of failed masculinity and are therefore inferior to men. Making an
exaggeration in the differences between both men and women. He defined women as ‘not-
men’.
Consequences:
o Many significant theories have been built on androcentric research which have then gone
on to test women using flawed criteria and then found results which showed significantly
large differences between the two genders. For example, Kohlberg proposed a stage theory of
moral development based on research on boys only. He then later tested both males and
females with the criteria developed from the androcentric research. He found that on average
women researched a lower level of moral development which led to alpha biased conclusions
that women have inferior moral understanding. Meaning that psychology as a field may have
some significant biases in terms of understanding behavior in relation to gender.
Solutions:
o Critical analysis of beta bias has led us to see that whilst equality is important, we shouldn't
minimize the differences between the genders is this means disadvantaging on gender. For
example, it is possible that arguing for equality between men and women draws attention
away from the current power imbalance between them and may inadvertently lead to an even
greater imbalance. E.g. arguing for equal parenting rights/ times ignores biological demands
of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. Meaning that beta biased approaches that seek to
minimize gender differences can be as damaging as alpha biased ones.
o Psychologists are beginning to challenge the potential gender bias in many well-established
psychological theories. For example, recent DNA evidence suggests women are equally
aggressive and competitive compared to males in situations where they need to be, which
contradicts the long-held Darwinian view that males are aggressive, and females are passive.
Suggesting that Darwin may have been influenced by the view of Victorian times and that
many of the theories we assume to be unbiased and scientific may be gender biased.
, Issues and debates
Culture Bias
AO1: knowledge
o Culture bias: When psychological research or theory offers a view that does not justifiably
represent the experiences and behavior of all cultural groups.
o Etic approach: Where research is carried out across cultures in order to discover elements of
behaviors that might be universal.
o Ethnocentrism: The tendency to use one ethnic group as a reference point for making
judgements about other cultures behavior. Western culture of most research is seen as
‘normal’ and those which deviate from this is seen as ‘primitive’ or ‘different’.
o Emic Approach: Where one culture is studied to discover culture specific behaviors.
o Cultural relativism: Regarding the beliefs, values, and practices of a culture from the
viewpoint of that culture and its cultural context. The Definitions of abnormality- DIMH and
DSN both regard the cultural context needed to make a judgement.
o Imposed Etic: Assuming behaviors are universal when they’re not, as cultural differences
have been ignored.
Research Evidence:
o An example of an Etic approach being taken in psychology can be seen in Berry’s (1969)
study which replicated Asch’s study into conformity. It was to see whether the conformity
rates seen in the US were replicated among the Temne people of Sierra Leone or the Inuit
people of Canada. The Temne people had higher rates of conformity and the Inuit people had
low levels of conformity. This difference was put down to the different focus in lifestyle,
where the Temne people's lifestyle was largely agricultural, and the Inuit's people were
largely hunting. Showing that conformity isn’t in fact a universal behavior.
o Margaret Mead took an Emic approach to learning behavior in Samoa, she studied several
tribes who lived in New Guinea and drew conclusions about the approach each of the tribes
took to gender roles and behavior. This research found that the people of the Arapesh tribe,
both men and women had a temperament which was gentle, responsive, and cooperative,
whereas the people of Mundugumor: both men and women were aggressive and violent, both
seeking power and positions without prejudices of gender making those decisions. Making the
conclusion that gender roles were culturally specific rather than universal.
Consequences:
o Taking an Etic approach can result in a method becoming an imposed etic. For example, the
strange situation had a method developed from research of the US culture and their take on
attachment and then Van Ijzendoorn then collected a meta-analysis of multiple different
cultures attachment types according to this US specific criteria. Japanese babies reacted badly
to being left alone and so had a lot higher rates of separation and stranger anxiety than other
cultures. It wasn’t a social norm in Japan to leave your infant alone and so for almost all
infants this had been the first time they had been left by their caregiver. Showing that this is a
very culturally specific.
o However, another issue of culture bias even if it has only been generalised to one culture is
that a lot of studies into behaviour is mostly done on university students. Especially if this
influential research was done decades ago such as that of Asch’s androcentric research into
conformity. Researchers tend to use their university students as they’re easily able to collect
samples of participants and often willing to as it could aid their own research, but using this
sample normally means you have a group of people who are the same age, all have higher
education, tend to have similar personality characteristics and done in mostly western culture
and so altogether they’re not always representative of the target population. Meaning that
much of the psychological research gone into understanding human behaviour is not only
unrepresentative on a global scale but may also be unrepresentative of western culture too.
