Issues and Debates Evaluation
Gender Bias
1. Strength: Feminist psychology; Carol Gilligan took a feminist
perspective, as feminist psychology is a branch of psychology that
aims to redress the imbalances on theory and research in
psychology. It agrees that there are real biologically based sex
differences. This demonstrates how feminist psychology seeks to
understand behaviour in terms of social processes and this find a way
to greater equality.
2. Weakness: Bias in the methods; for example, Rosenthal found that
male experimenters are more pleasant, friendly and encouraging to
female participants than to male participants. The result was that the
male participants appeared to perform less well on tasks. These
criticisms suggest that there are serious issues with the way data is
collected, which creates a false picture of male-female differences.
3. Strength: Reverse alpha bias; one strategy to counter fender bias is
to develop theories which show the differences between men and
women that emphasise the value of women. This can be seen in
feminist research which shows instances where woman are better.
For example, research shows that women are better at learning
because they are more attentive, flexible and organised. Such
research challenges the stereotype that in any gender differences the
male position must be better, and changes people’s preconceptions.
4. Weakness: Avoiding beta bias; although equal treatment for men and
women has given women greater opportunities, this may be a
disadvantage. Hare-Mustin points out that arguing for equality
between men and women draws attention away from women’s
special needs and from differences in power between men and
, women. This suggests that we should avoid beta bias in order to
ensure that significant differences are taken into account.
Determinism
1. Weakness: Genetic vs environmental determinism; a problem with
the two is that neither can be the sole determining factor in behaviour.
Studies that compare identical twins find about 80% similarity in
intelligence. In other words, if one twin has a high IQ, there is only an
80% chance that the other twin will be the same. Therefore genes do
not entirely determine behaviour. But equally the environment doesn’t
entirely determine behaviour. This means that an interactionist
approach better represents reality.
2. Weakness: Scientific determinism; Dennett argues that, in physical
sciences, it is now accepted that there is no such thing as total
determinism. Chaos theory proposes that very small changes in initial
conditions can result in major changes. The conclusion is that causal
relationships are probabilistic rather than deterministic. Determinist
explanations tend to oversimplify human behaviour. This means that
the idea of ever finding a simple determinist formula from
psychological research is unrealistic.
Free Will
1. Weakness: Free will is an illusion and a culturally-relative concept;
just being able to decide between different courses of action is not
free will but gives the illusion of free will. This argument was put
forward by the behaviourist B.F Skinner. His point was that a person
might ‘choose’ to buy a particular car or see a particular film, but in
fact these choices are determined by previous reinforcement
experiences. This suggests that free will is a product of socialisation
and not something ‘real’.
Gender Bias
1. Strength: Feminist psychology; Carol Gilligan took a feminist
perspective, as feminist psychology is a branch of psychology that
aims to redress the imbalances on theory and research in
psychology. It agrees that there are real biologically based sex
differences. This demonstrates how feminist psychology seeks to
understand behaviour in terms of social processes and this find a way
to greater equality.
2. Weakness: Bias in the methods; for example, Rosenthal found that
male experimenters are more pleasant, friendly and encouraging to
female participants than to male participants. The result was that the
male participants appeared to perform less well on tasks. These
criticisms suggest that there are serious issues with the way data is
collected, which creates a false picture of male-female differences.
3. Strength: Reverse alpha bias; one strategy to counter fender bias is
to develop theories which show the differences between men and
women that emphasise the value of women. This can be seen in
feminist research which shows instances where woman are better.
For example, research shows that women are better at learning
because they are more attentive, flexible and organised. Such
research challenges the stereotype that in any gender differences the
male position must be better, and changes people’s preconceptions.
4. Weakness: Avoiding beta bias; although equal treatment for men and
women has given women greater opportunities, this may be a
disadvantage. Hare-Mustin points out that arguing for equality
between men and women draws attention away from women’s
special needs and from differences in power between men and
, women. This suggests that we should avoid beta bias in order to
ensure that significant differences are taken into account.
Determinism
1. Weakness: Genetic vs environmental determinism; a problem with
the two is that neither can be the sole determining factor in behaviour.
Studies that compare identical twins find about 80% similarity in
intelligence. In other words, if one twin has a high IQ, there is only an
80% chance that the other twin will be the same. Therefore genes do
not entirely determine behaviour. But equally the environment doesn’t
entirely determine behaviour. This means that an interactionist
approach better represents reality.
2. Weakness: Scientific determinism; Dennett argues that, in physical
sciences, it is now accepted that there is no such thing as total
determinism. Chaos theory proposes that very small changes in initial
conditions can result in major changes. The conclusion is that causal
relationships are probabilistic rather than deterministic. Determinist
explanations tend to oversimplify human behaviour. This means that
the idea of ever finding a simple determinist formula from
psychological research is unrealistic.
Free Will
1. Weakness: Free will is an illusion and a culturally-relative concept;
just being able to decide between different courses of action is not
free will but gives the illusion of free will. This argument was put
forward by the behaviourist B.F Skinner. His point was that a person
might ‘choose’ to buy a particular car or see a particular film, but in
fact these choices are determined by previous reinforcement
experiences. This suggests that free will is a product of socialisation
and not something ‘real’.
