Discuss gender and cultural bias issues in psychology

Question 1

outline gender bias

Answer 1

Gender bias is when a theory or research unfairly exaggerates or minimises the differences between men and women.

Alpha bias occurs when a theory or research unfairly exaggerates differences between men and women (makes the two genders seem unfairly different).

Beta-bias is when a theory or research unfairly minimises differences between men and women (makes the two genders seem unfairly similar).

Androcentrism is when a theory or research unfairly favours men.
- This is sometimes because the research uses all-male samples.

Universality is when a theory developed in applied to all people, despite individual differences (such as gender).

Question 2

outline cultural issues

Answer 2

Cultural bias is when a theory or research is developed in one culture and then unfairly applied to other cultures.

Ethnocentrism is when a theory is developed using the researcher’s own cultural background then unfairly applied to other cultures.

Cultural relativism is the view behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates.

Question 3

gender 1

Answer 3

There is evidence that research methods used in psychology can be biased.

It may not be that males and females are different, but that the methods used to test or observe them are biased.

For example, Rosenthal found that male experimenters are more pleasant, friendly and encouraging to female participants than to male participants.

The result was that male participants appeared to perform less well on the tasks assigned.

This means there are serious issues with the way data is collected, which creates a false picture of male-female differences.

Question 4

gender 2

Answer 4

There is evidence of gender-biased assumptions in theories.

For example, Darwin’s theory of sexual selection portrays women as choosy when it comes to mate selection.

However, these views were rooted in Victorian ideas about gender roles and have recently been challenged.

Evidence suggests that women are equally competitive and aggressive when the need arises.

This highlights the importance of challenging gender research, to ensure that research portrays a valid picture of women.

Question 5

cultural limit

Answer 5

A limitation of culturally biased research in psychology is that it creates or reinforces stereotypes.

The US Army used an IQ test before WW1 which was culturally biased.
- The test showed that African Americans were at the bottom of the scale in terms of IQ.

The data from this test had a profound effect on the attitudes held by Americans towards other groups of people, highlighting the danger of culturally biased research.

Question 6

cultural strength

Answer 6

There is evidence of cultural bias in research methods within psychology.

Smith and Bond surveyed a European textbook on social psychology and found 66% of studies were American, 32% European and 2% from the rest of the world.

This suggests that psychological research is severely unrepresentative and can be improved by using samples from different cultural groups.