AQA Psychology A Level Issues and Debates| Questions with 100% correct Answers | Verified

Universality - Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all Ekman (1989) - Argued that facial expressions are an example of universality Gender Bias - When one gender is treated in a different way from another Androcentrism - When 'normal' behaviour is judged according to a male standard and so anything which deviates from this is seen as 'abnormal' PMS is often thought as a stereotype when in fact is a diagnosable disorder under the DSM-5 Alpha Bias - Psychological theory which suggest a difference between males and females e.g. Wilson's principle of survival efficacy Beta Bias - Theories that ignore or minimise the differences between males and females e.g. Freud Gender Bias - Evaluation: Implications of bias- misleading assumptions of female behaviour// Sexism within research- more likely to be published if highlighting differences between males and females// Reflexivity- psychologists now consider this when conducting research Cultural Bias - The tendency to ignore the cultural differences and interpret information through the 'lens' of our own culture ie. in 1992, 64% of the worlds psychology researchers were American Ethnocentrism - Judging other cultures by the standards and values of one's own cultures and in extreme cases the superiority of one e.g. Ainsworth's strange situation Cultural Relativism - The idea that norms, values and morals can only be understood within a specific social and cultural contextBerry (1969) - Distinguished between etic and emic Etic - Looks at behaviour outside of a culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal Emic - Looks at behaviours within a certain culture an describes behaviour within that culture Cultural Bias - Evaluation: Individualism and collectivism// Relativism vs universality// Unfamiliarity with research tradition Free Will - The notion that human being can make choices that are not determined by biological or external forces Determinism - The idea that behaviour is controlled by internal forces e.g. genetics or external forces e.g. conditioning Hard determinism - Implies free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by events beyond our control, sometimes called fatalism