AQA PSYCHOLOGY A LEVEL ISSUES
AND DEBATES QUESTIONS & A+
GRADED VERIFIED ANSWERS
Universality - correct answer ✔✔Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable
of being applied to all
Gender Bias - correct answer ✔✔When one gender is treated in a different way from another
Ekman (1989) - correct answer ✔✔Argued that facial expressions are an example of universality
Androcentrism - correct answer ✔✔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 - correct answer ✔✔Psychological theory which suggest a difference between males
and females e.g. Wilson's principle of survival efficacy
Beta Bias - correct answer ✔✔Theories that ignore or minimise the differences between males
and females e.g. Freud
Gender Bias - correct answer ✔✔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 - correct answer ✔✔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
Cultural Relativism - correct answer ✔✔The idea that norms, values and morals can only be
understood within a specific social and cultural context
Ethnocentrism - correct answer ✔✔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
Berry (1969) - correct answer ✔✔Distinguished between etic and emic
Etic - correct answer ✔✔Looks at behaviour outside of a culture and attempts to describe those
behaviours as universal
Emic - correct answer ✔✔Looks at behaviours within a certain culture an describes behaviour
within that culture
Cultural Bias - correct answer ✔✔Evaluation: Individualism and collectivism// Relativism vs
universality// Unfamiliarity with research tradition
Free Will - correct answer ✔✔The notion that human being can make choices that are not
determined by biological or external forces
Determinism - correct answer ✔✔The idea that behaviour is controlled by internal forces e.g.
genetics or external forces e.g. conditioning
Hard determinism - correct answer ✔✔Implies free will is not possible as our behaviour is
always caused by events beyond our control, sometimes called fatalism
AND DEBATES QUESTIONS & A+
GRADED VERIFIED ANSWERS
Universality - correct answer ✔✔Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable
of being applied to all
Gender Bias - correct answer ✔✔When one gender is treated in a different way from another
Ekman (1989) - correct answer ✔✔Argued that facial expressions are an example of universality
Androcentrism - correct answer ✔✔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 - correct answer ✔✔Psychological theory which suggest a difference between males
and females e.g. Wilson's principle of survival efficacy
Beta Bias - correct answer ✔✔Theories that ignore or minimise the differences between males
and females e.g. Freud
Gender Bias - correct answer ✔✔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 - correct answer ✔✔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
Cultural Relativism - correct answer ✔✔The idea that norms, values and morals can only be
understood within a specific social and cultural context
Ethnocentrism - correct answer ✔✔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
Berry (1969) - correct answer ✔✔Distinguished between etic and emic
Etic - correct answer ✔✔Looks at behaviour outside of a culture and attempts to describe those
behaviours as universal
Emic - correct answer ✔✔Looks at behaviours within a certain culture an describes behaviour
within that culture
Cultural Bias - correct answer ✔✔Evaluation: Individualism and collectivism// Relativism vs
universality// Unfamiliarity with research tradition
Free Will - correct answer ✔✔The notion that human being can make choices that are not
determined by biological or external forces
Determinism - correct answer ✔✔The idea that behaviour is controlled by internal forces e.g.
genetics or external forces e.g. conditioning
Hard determinism - correct answer ✔✔Implies free will is not possible as our behaviour is
always caused by events beyond our control, sometimes called fatalism
