Gender And Culture In Psychology Flashcards
What is gender bias?
Differing treatment/representation of males and females based on stereotypes, arising from researchers failing to adequately consider differences between men and women
Which two biases arise from gender bias?
Alpha and beta bias
How has gender bias been historically seen in psychology?
Predominance of research based on samples of men (think why)
How can gender bias reduce the reliability of research?
Different researchers may have different expectations of men and women (may have alpha or beta bias), which may affect research outcomes, making it difficult to draw consistent conclusions
What are some ways that gender bias can be avoided in research?
. Don’t extrapolate findings from research with one gender to the other
. Use both males and females in research sample
. Avoid alpha bias
. Avoid beta bias
What is a reflexive approach to gender bias?
Constantly reflecting on own gender biases when carrying out research
What is alpha bias?
Theories that overemphasise differences between males and females where there aren’t any real differences
What is beta bias?
Theories that minimise the differences between the behaviour of males and females
What is androcentrism?
Having a ‘male-centred’ view of the world, where stereotypical male behaviour is judged to be the norm and stereotypical female behaviours are judged to be abnormal
What is the main problem with alpha and gender biases in research?
It leads to a misinterpretation of behaviour that can lessen the population validity of the findings
What are the two studies for alpha bias?
. Oedipus complex
. Evolutionary theory of relationships (expects male and female behaviour in sexual selection to be very different)
What are the two studies for beta bias?
. Kholberg’s levels of moral reasoning
. GAS assuming same stress response for everyone, recently realised the gender differences in stress
What is universality?
Believing some behaviours are the same for everyone, no differences in different cultures
