ao3 gender bias

Question 1

assumptions need to be challenged

Answer 1

• Gender bias remains unchallenged in many theories.
• Darwin’s theory of sexual selection:
  women = choosy and males = compete to be chosen
• arguing that women are shy and males as aggressive as they are in competition with other males.
• this view has been challenged = found that women are equally competitive when needed
• DNA evidence supports the idea that it is a good adaptive strategy for females to mate with more than one man and this puts females in competition with other females (Vernimmen, 2015)

Question 2

avoiding beta bias

Answer 2

• Beta bias has allowed women greater access to educational and occupational opportunities.
• Hare, Mustin and Marecek pointed out = arguing for equality draw attention away from women’s special needs
• e.g. equal parenting ignores the biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth and the special needs of women = this suggests that some elements of beta bias may actually disadvantage women.

Question 3

Reverse alpha bias describes the development of theories that show a greater emphasis on women

Answer 3

• Cornwell et al (2013) showed that women are better at learning = more observant, flexible and organised. - Such research challenges the stereotype that in any gender differences the male position must be better and challenges people’s preconceptions.

Question 4

The laboratory experiment may also be an example of institutionalised sexism within psychology

Answer 4

• Male researchers have the authority to deem women as “unreasonable, irrational and unable to complete complex tasks” (Nicolson, 1995).
• Eagly and Johnson = studies in real settings found women and men were judged as more similar in styles of leadership than in lab settings, hence having higher ecological validity.

Question 5

bias in research methods

Answer 5

• the research may find differences between genders but it may not be the genders that differ but simply the methods used to test or observe them.
• Rosenthal (1966) found that male experimenters are more pleasant and encouraging to female participants and subsequently they perform better in tasks/male participants appeared to perform less well.
• fewer women being appointed to senior research positions = that female concerns are less likely to be reflected in the experimental questions.

Question 6

feminist psychology

Answer 6

• Feminist psychology argues that difference psychology arises from biological explanations of behaviour.
• The social constructionist approach aims to understand behaviour in terms of social processes.
• Feminist psychology argues that there are real differences but socially determined stereotypes make a far greater contribution to perceived differences.
• Androcentrism can be countered by a feminist view and the balance can be readdressed. For example, Eagly (1978) acknowledged that women may be less effective leaders than men but this knowledge should be used to develop suitable training programmes and therefore create a future with more women leaders.