1. gender bias Flashcards
Psychologists hold beliefs and values that have been influenced by the social and historical context within which they live.
These beliefs may be biased :
leaning towards a subjective view that does not necessarily reflect objective reality.
This means bias in research projects may be inevitable
Bias also undermines psychology’s clams to universality, which means:
that conclusions drawn can be applied to everyone anywhere, regardless of time and culture.
define alpha bias
Research that focuses on the and exaggerates differences between men and women. Such differences are likely to be presented as fixed and inevitable. Sometimes they heighten the value of women but most of the time they devalue women in relation to men.
give an example of alpha bias
e.g. Freud’s theory of psychosexual development shows alpha bias during the phallic stage of development both girls and boys develop a desire for their opposite gender parent. In boys this creates a very strong castration anxiety, but it is resolved when the boy identifies with his father and develops his superego. In girls, this eventual identification is weaker as they do not have castration anxiety meaning her superego is also weaker.
Therefore, girls are morally inferior to men.
define beta bias
Research that focuses on the similarities between men and women that ignores or underestimates differences:
assumes research findings apply to both men and women even if women have been excluded from the research process.
give an example of beta bias
e.g. research on the fight or flight response biological research favoured using male animals because female behaviour is affected by regular hormonal changes due to ovulation. This ignores any possible differences and early researched assumed males and females respond to threatening situations with fight or flight. However, Taylor et al. claimed this is false and described the ‘tend-and-befriend’ response - the love hormone oxytocin is more plentiful in women, and it seems women respond to stress by increasing oxytocin production. This reduces the fight or flight response and enhances a preference for tend and befriend - an evolved response for looking after others.
Alpha and beta bias are consequences of androcentrism.
define androcentrism and give 2 examples (psychology list/PMS)
androcentrism is where behaviours are judged according to a male-centred standard where male behaviour are judged to be the norm.
Over the years, psychology has presented a male dominated version of the world. E.g. the American psychological association published a list of 100 most influential psychologists of the 20th century and only 6 were women suggests that psychology has traditionally been a subject produced by men, about men, and for men androcentric perspective.
Women’s behaviour, if considered, has been misunderstood and at worst, taken as a sign of illness premenstrual syndrome medicalises women’s emotions such as anger by explaining it in hormonal terms. In contrast, men’s anger is often seen as a traditional response to external pressure.
AO3: limitation of gender bias
BIOLOGICAL V SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS (Maccoby, Jacklin vs Joel )
Gender differences are often presented as fixed and enduring when they are not.
Maccoby and Jacklin presented the findings of several gender studies which concluded that girls have superior verbal ability whereas boys have better spatial ability. They suggested such differences are hardwired into the brain before birth, which became widely reported and was seen as facts. In fact, Joel et at used brain scanning and found no such sex differences in the brain structure or processing. This suggests that the data from Maccoby and Jacklin’s study was popularised because it fit existing stereotypes.
This means that we should be wary of accepting research finding as biological facts when they might be explained better as social stereotypes.
AO3: strength of gender bias
COUNTERPOINT - Ingalhalikar
However, this does not mean psychologists should avoid studying possible gender differences in the brain.
Research by Ingalhalikar suggests that the popular social stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men may have some biological truth to it. She found women have left and right hemispheres that are better connected than in men’s brain.
This suggests that there may be biological differences, but we still should be wary of exaggerating the effect they may have on behaviour.
AO3: limitation of gender bias
SEXISM IN RESEARCH
Gender bias promotes sexism in research.
Women remain underrepresented in university departments. Lecturers in psychology departments are more likely to be men. This means that research is more likely to be conducted by men and this may disadvantage participants who are women - for example, a male researcher may expect women to be irrational and unable to complete complex tasks and such expectations are likely to mean that women underperform in research studies.
This means that the institutional structures and methods of psychology may produce findings that are gender biased.
