gender bias

Question 1

androcentrism

Answer 1

• Theories which are centred on, or focused on males.
• androcentrism – belief that men’s behaviour represents the norm
  = therefore that any behaviour typical of women might be judged abnormal

Question 2

gender bias

Answer 2

The differential treatment and/or representation of males and females, based on stereotypes and not on real differences.

Question 3

alpha bias

Answer 3

An alpha bias refers to theories/studies that overestimate or exaggerate the differences between males and females.

Question 4

beta bias

Answer 4

A beta bias refers to theories/studies that ignore or minimise or underestimate sex differences. These theories/studies often assume that the findings from studies using males can apply equally to females.

Question 5

Universality

Answer 5

believing that some behaviours are the same for both genders

Question 6

positives of gender bias - recognise

Answer 6

• Many modern researchers have begun to recognise the effect that their own values + assumptions have on their work
• Dambrin and Lambert (2008) included a reflection of how their own gender related experiences affected their reading of events
• when they investigated the reason for the lack of women in accountancy firms.

Question 7

positives of gender bias - criteria to avoid

Answer 7

• Worell (1992) have put forward a number of criteria which should be adhered to in order to avoid gender bias in research:
• women should be studied within meaningful life contexts,
• women should genuinely participate in psychological research (not just be the objects of research)
• diversity within groups of women should be examined (rather than comparisons made between men and women)
• there should be more collaborative research methods used that collect qualitative data.

Question 8

negatives of gender bias - institutional sexism

Answer 8

• Male researchers within psychology are still more likely to have their research published than female researchers
• research which finds gender differences is more likely to be published than research which finds no such difference
  = psychology may be guilty of supporting a form of institutional sexism

Question 9

negatives of gender bias - ‘scientific’ reasoning/ prevent

Answer 9

• gender biased research may provide ‘scientific’ justification for denying women opportunities within society
• in the 1930s ‘scientific’ research revealed that intellectual activity (such as attending university) would shrivel women’s ovaries + reduce their chances of conceiving

Question 10

negatives of gender bias - essentialist perspective

Answer 10

• many of the gender differences reported over the years are based on the essentialist perspective
  = that gender differences are fixed and inevitable (essential) + determined by nature
• this is not necessarily the case, in societies where men and women both go out to work + share child care and domestic chores
  = the psychological differences between men and women are far less.