Gender & Culture in Psychology (AQA A Level Psychology)

A psychologist asked men aged 25 to 35 years to keep a diary record of how many miles they walked in a week. The psychologist also asked each man to climb a flight of stairs, then took each man’s heart rate.

For each man, the number of miles walked in the week was correlated with heart rate after climbing stairs. The findings showed a significant negative correlation. A national newspaper reported the findings under the headline ‘Everyone should walk for a healthy heart’.

Explain how the newspaper headline might be an example of beta bias.

Briefly suggest one way in which psychologists might address the problem of beta bias in their research.

Explain one problem with the method used to determine the number of miles walked in the week. Suggest an alternative measure that would overcome this problem.