Issues &
Debates
Paper 3
Revision
,Gender and Culture - AO1 - Knowledge
● Bias
○ when a psychologist’s pre existing beliefs and viewpoints influence
their theories and data interpretation
○ bias comes from personal experiences, cultural background, education,
political beliefs and gender-related experiences
● Universality
○ is the claim observed behaviours being able to be applied to all humans,
regardless of differences in gender,biology or culture
○ if a hypothesis is not tested on a diverse sample, this claim is an
assumption and may not be generalisable
Gender and Culture - Gender Bias - AO1 -
Knowledge
● Gender Bias
○ in research happens when researchers stereotypical views about male
and female behaviour affect their theoretical assumptions
○ this leads to misinterpretation of actual male and female behaviour
● Alpha Bias
○ is the assumption that there are significant differences in behaviour
between genders, often leading to an overemphasis or exaggeration of
these differences between men and women (e.g. Bowlby's monotropic
theory)
● Beta Bias
○ is the assumption that there are no significant differences in behaviour
of male and females, often leading to underestimating or minimising
actual behaviour differences (e.g Asch and Milgram’s research)
● Androcentrism
○ psychologists and theories that tend to reflect and support a male-
centric view of the worlds
○ this bias is due to the fact that most psychologists who developed these
theories were male
, Gender and Culture - Culture Bias - AO1 -
Knowledge
● Cultural Bias
○ Refers to interpreting and judging human behaviour based on cultural
norms and experiences
● Ethnocentrism
○ Is when researchers consider their own culture or ethnic group to be
superior/the norm and use it as the standard for evaluating other
cultures (e.g Ainsworth’s strange situation)
● Cultural Relativism
○ Is the principle that human behaviour should be understood within
the context of the culture where it occurs, taking into account that
culture’s norms, values and beliefs
Gender and Culture - Dealing With Bias - AO3 -
Evaluation
● Henrich found findings are argued to be universal but are culture-biased as
they are conducted on WEIRD participants (western, educated,
industrialised, rich and demographic)
○ 68% of research subjects in a sample of hundreds of studies in nleading
psychology journals came from the USA and 96% were from western
industrialised nations
○ To reduce the WEIRD bias, it is important to use diverse samples or
replications across multiple cultures (Van ijzendoorn)
● Bias can be reduced through greater diversity and equal representation among
researchers
○ This includes encouraging more female researchers to reduce
androcentrism and to limit ethnocentrism
○ Indigenous psychology should be encouraged, research that is
conducted by individuals who are native to or deeply understand the
culture under investigation
Debates
Paper 3
Revision
,Gender and Culture - AO1 - Knowledge
● Bias
○ when a psychologist’s pre existing beliefs and viewpoints influence
their theories and data interpretation
○ bias comes from personal experiences, cultural background, education,
political beliefs and gender-related experiences
● Universality
○ is the claim observed behaviours being able to be applied to all humans,
regardless of differences in gender,biology or culture
○ if a hypothesis is not tested on a diverse sample, this claim is an
assumption and may not be generalisable
Gender and Culture - Gender Bias - AO1 -
Knowledge
● Gender Bias
○ in research happens when researchers stereotypical views about male
and female behaviour affect their theoretical assumptions
○ this leads to misinterpretation of actual male and female behaviour
● Alpha Bias
○ is the assumption that there are significant differences in behaviour
between genders, often leading to an overemphasis or exaggeration of
these differences between men and women (e.g. Bowlby's monotropic
theory)
● Beta Bias
○ is the assumption that there are no significant differences in behaviour
of male and females, often leading to underestimating or minimising
actual behaviour differences (e.g Asch and Milgram’s research)
● Androcentrism
○ psychologists and theories that tend to reflect and support a male-
centric view of the worlds
○ this bias is due to the fact that most psychologists who developed these
theories were male
, Gender and Culture - Culture Bias - AO1 -
Knowledge
● Cultural Bias
○ Refers to interpreting and judging human behaviour based on cultural
norms and experiences
● Ethnocentrism
○ Is when researchers consider their own culture or ethnic group to be
superior/the norm and use it as the standard for evaluating other
cultures (e.g Ainsworth’s strange situation)
● Cultural Relativism
○ Is the principle that human behaviour should be understood within
the context of the culture where it occurs, taking into account that
culture’s norms, values and beliefs
Gender and Culture - Dealing With Bias - AO3 -
Evaluation
● Henrich found findings are argued to be universal but are culture-biased as
they are conducted on WEIRD participants (western, educated,
industrialised, rich and demographic)
○ 68% of research subjects in a sample of hundreds of studies in nleading
psychology journals came from the USA and 96% were from western
industrialised nations
○ To reduce the WEIRD bias, it is important to use diverse samples or
replications across multiple cultures (Van ijzendoorn)
● Bias can be reduced through greater diversity and equal representation among
researchers
○ This includes encouraging more female researchers to reduce
androcentrism and to limit ethnocentrism
○ Indigenous psychology should be encouraged, research that is
conducted by individuals who are native to or deeply understand the
culture under investigation
