Gender bias

Question 1

Universality

Answer 1

any underlying characteristic of humans that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences in experience and upbringing.

Question 2

Gender bias

Answer 2

bias is a tendency to treat one individual or group in a different way from others. A view that does not justifiably represent the experience and behavior of men or women.

Question 3

• Alpha bias

Answer 3

(aka false positive aka type one error): psychological theories that exaggerates or overestimates differences between sexes.
* Differences are also seen as real and enduring, fixed, and inevitable

Question 4

• Beta bias

Answer 4

type two error or false negative): theories that ignore or minimize differences between the sexes.
* Often occurs when female participants are not included as part of a study, and it is assumed that findings apply equally to the sexes.

Question 5

• Eg. Taylor et al (2000)

Answer 5

suggested that female biology has evolved to inhibit fight or flight response and shifting towards tending and befriending.

Question 6

Androcentrism

Answer 6

• Male centered, possible consequence of beta bias. Occurs when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard (female behaviour judged to be ‘abnormal’ or deficient by comparison’

Question 7

Androcentrism things ti look out for

Answer 7

• Things to look for: gendered verb elements, the speaking roles of girls and boys, voice-overs, power discourse, limited activity, action, agency and control.

Question 8

Evaluation

Implications of Gender Bias
creates

Answer 8

• Misleading assumptions about female behaviour.
• Fail to challenge negative stereotypes.
• Validate discriminatory practices.
• Provide ‘justification’ to deny women opportunities.
• Gender bias in research is not just a methodological problem but may have damaging consequences that affect lives of real women.

Question 9

Reflexivity
eval

Answer 9

• Modern researchers recognize the effect of bias in their values and assumptions of their work.
• Embrace bias as crucial and critical aspect of research process in general

Question 10

Cultural Bias
eval

Answer 10

• Refers to a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture.
• Despite restricting enquiries to one part of the world, psychologists claimed universal facts about human behaviour.

Question 11

Universality and Bias (Revisited) eval

Answer 11

• Critics: mainstream psychology generally ignored culture as important influence on human behaviour.
• Can these studies in the western world be applied around the world?
• If ‘norm’ or ‘standard’ is only from one culture, then any culture differences in behaviour will be seen as ‘abnormal’ or ‘unusual’ -> cultural bias.

Question 12

Ethnocentrism

Answer 12

• Ethnocentrism: judging other cultures by the standard and values of one’s own culture. In its extreme form it is the belief in the superiority of one’s own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures.
• Ainsworths’s strange situation is an example.

Question 13

Cultural Relativism

Answer 13

• Cultural relativism: the idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.

Question 14

IQ Tests and Ethnocentrism

Answer 14

• Yerkes gave this test to 1.75 million army recruits; it was used to allot ranks in the army.
• J.S Gould did a lot of research on how IQ tests can be hugely egocentric, and that this ethnocentrism has had huge consequences for non-white groups in the US.
• He founded that IQ tests in the 20s were biased towards ‘white’ Americans and that this changed how ‘non-white’ people were treated and even informed a ‘racist’ immigration policy.