gender bias

Question 1

define gender bias

Answer 1

when research shows prejudice towards or against 1 gender.

Question 2

define alpha bias in gender

Answer 2

differences between genders are maximised, heightening the value of women or devaluating them.

Question 3

define beta bias in gender

Answer 3

differences between the genders are ignored or minimised.

Question 4

examples of alpha bias in gender

Answer 4

Freud’s psychodynamic theory, woman are inferior to men as they have penis envy and are unable to go through the Oedipus complex so cannot develop a superego.

Question 5

example of beta bais in gender

Answer 5

Milgrams obedience study, he only used 40 males (aged 20-50) and he still generalised his findings to females who may have acted differently in this situation

Question 6

androcentrism

Answer 6

our understanding of what is normal behaviour is drawn from research which involves all male samples.

Question 7

name 3 studies which show beta bias

Answer 7

milgram, asch, zimbardo.

Question 8

Kilham and Mann research (beta bias)

Answer 8

In a milgram replication, 40% males obeyed 16% woman obeyed.

Question 9

define universality

Answer 9

assuming people are all the same regardless of age, culture, experience… etc. Resulting in theories which are believed to apply to all people.

Question 10

who proposed the two ways research may be gender bias?

Answer 10

Hare-Mustin and Marecek (1988)

Question 11

give 1 weakness of gender bias AO3 (pt.1)

Answer 11

1. feminist argue GB can create misleading and false views of woman, to maintain male supremacy. Harmful sterotypes woman lower math ability.
2. Travis argues this lowers woman self esteem- inadequate and shows the damaging consequences of gender bias.

Question 12

give another weakness of gender bias AO3 (pt.2)

Answer 12

1. Psychology is a male dominated field and there is a lack of female researchers due to the facts males are more likely to get their work funded and published (a-level curriculum eg, Asch & zimbardo).
2. This lack means woman aren’t reflected and their issues aren’t researched, institutionalised sexism in psychology creates gender bias- 21st centuries Ainsworth.

Question 13

give a strength of gender bias AO3

Answer 13

1. +ve implications, allows us to highlight gender bias in society, making us question sexism and enable change e.g equal pay act. Reduce institutional gender bias.
2. lets us understand underresearched researched areas like childcare, topics which would have been previously ignored by males/deemed unimportant- studied equally to reduce this.

Question 14

reducing gender bias AO3- 3 ways

Answer 14

1) males and females researched
2) females studied in real life contexts
3) inclusion of woman in the psychology research process