Psychology A Level Essay Plans – Issues and Debates
Discuss gender bias in psychological research
AO1
unjustifiably represents experience of a gender (usually women), universality,
androcentrism (when normal behaviour is judged to a male standard)
alpha bias - focuses and exaggerates gender differences (eg freud’s psychosexual
stages, female superego weaker and so inferior), beta bias - focuses on similarities
and minimises differences (eg fight or flight vs tend or befriend)
AO3
limitation - biological vs social explanations, gender differences presented as fixed
(they are not), Joel (2015), brain scanning, found no sex differneces in brain
structure, disproved girls better verbal ability vs boys spatial, social stereotypes
rather than biological fact
limitation - sexism in research, women underrepresented in university, more male
lecturers and researchers, disadvantages female participants, insitutionalised gender
bias in psychology
limitation - gender biased research, Formanowicz (2018) analysed over 1000 articles
related to gender bias over 8 years, funded less + published by less presitigious
journals, fewer scholars aware of it, not taken as seriously
Discuss cultural bias in psychology
AO1
interprets everything through own culture’s lens, ignores cultural differences,
universitality, ethnocentrism (superiority of own culture) - eg Ainsworth’s strange
situation (Western bias)
cultural relativism - etic (looks at behaviour from outside a culture, eg Ainsworth -
studied behaviour inside US and applied to other cultures from outside), vs emic
(functions from inside a culture and identifies specifics behaviours to that culture)
AO3
limitation - classic studies, many influential studies culture biased, eg many of social
influence (Asch, Milgram, etc - all US participants) - Asch-like study replicated in
collectivist culture wil different results, understanding can only be applied to
individualist cultures
strength - emergence of cultural psychology, study of how people shape and are
shaped by cultural experience, emerging field, incorporates socio/anthropolgy etc,
modern + mindful
Discuss gender bias in psychological research
AO1
unjustifiably represents experience of a gender (usually women), universality,
androcentrism (when normal behaviour is judged to a male standard)
alpha bias - focuses and exaggerates gender differences (eg freud’s psychosexual
stages, female superego weaker and so inferior), beta bias - focuses on similarities
and minimises differences (eg fight or flight vs tend or befriend)
AO3
limitation - biological vs social explanations, gender differences presented as fixed
(they are not), Joel (2015), brain scanning, found no sex differneces in brain
structure, disproved girls better verbal ability vs boys spatial, social stereotypes
rather than biological fact
limitation - sexism in research, women underrepresented in university, more male
lecturers and researchers, disadvantages female participants, insitutionalised gender
bias in psychology
limitation - gender biased research, Formanowicz (2018) analysed over 1000 articles
related to gender bias over 8 years, funded less + published by less presitigious
journals, fewer scholars aware of it, not taken as seriously
Discuss cultural bias in psychology
AO1
interprets everything through own culture’s lens, ignores cultural differences,
universitality, ethnocentrism (superiority of own culture) - eg Ainsworth’s strange
situation (Western bias)
cultural relativism - etic (looks at behaviour from outside a culture, eg Ainsworth -
studied behaviour inside US and applied to other cultures from outside), vs emic
(functions from inside a culture and identifies specifics behaviours to that culture)
AO3
limitation - classic studies, many influential studies culture biased, eg many of social
influence (Asch, Milgram, etc - all US participants) - Asch-like study replicated in
collectivist culture wil different results, understanding can only be applied to
individualist cultures
strength - emergence of cultural psychology, study of how people shape and are
shaped by cultural experience, emerging field, incorporates socio/anthropolgy etc,
modern + mindful
