Gender bias Flashcards
What is alpha bias
Exaggerates the difference between men and women - typically devalues women
Example of alpha bias in psychological research
Freud’s theory of psychosexual development
- During the phallic stage of development both boys and girls develop a desire for their opposite-gender parent
- In a boy this creates strong castration anxiety
- The anxiety is resolved when the boy identifies with his father.
- But a girl’s eventual identification with her same-gender parent is weaker which means her Superego is weaker as it develops by taking on the same-gender’s moral perspective
- Therefore, girls/women are morally inferior to boys/men
Alpha bias can sometimes favour women in the psychodynamic approach
- Research suggests that daughters and mothers have greater connectedness than sons and mothers because of biological similarities
- As a result of the child’s closeness, women develop better abilities to bond with other an empathise
What is beta bias
Psychological research that ignores or underestimates differences between genders i.e. only studying one and applying to both
What is example of psychological research that is beta biased
Fight or flight response
- Biological research generally favoured using male animals because female behaviour is affected by regular hormonal changes due to ovulation - this ignores any differences
- Assumes both men and women respond to threatening situations with fight or flight
HOWEVER
- more recently Taylor et al claimed this is not true and described the tend and befriend response
- The ‘love’ hormone - oxytocin - is more abundant in women than men and it seems that women respond to stress by increasing oxytocin production.
- This reduces the fight or flight response and enhances a preferred social support and connection response when facing a threat
This illustrates how research that minimises gender differences may result in a misrepresentation of women’s behaviour.
Other examples
- Attachment - primary caregiver = mother BUT men have a role too
- Asch = only men
What is androcentrism
MALE CENTRED - ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to male standard - female behaviour = ‘abnormal’ or ‘deficient’ by comparison
Over years psychology has presented a male-dominated version of world - beta and alpha bias are consequences of androcentrism
- e.g. American Psychological Association published a list of 100 most influential psychologists of 20th century = only 6 women - suggests psych traditionally is a subject produced by men - an androcentric perspective
Women’s behaviour if it has been considered has been misunderstood and at worst pathologised - taken as a sign of illness.
e.g. feminists have objected to the diagnostic category of premenstrual syndrome = women’s emotions such as anger are explained in hormonal terms whereas men’s anger = rational response to external pressures
Evaluation
BIOLOGICAL VS SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS
P - One limitation is that gender differences are often presented as fixed and enduring - an example of alpha bias - when they are not
E - Researchers presented the findings of several gender studies which concluded that girls have superior verbal ability whereas boys have better spatial ability. They suggested that these differences are ‘hardwired’ into the brain before birth. Such findings become widely reported and seen as facts. Brain scanning has found no such sex differences in brain structure or processing and therefore previous research may be popularised because it fits existing stereotypes of girls as ‘speakers’ and boys as ‘doers’.
E - This suggests that we should be wary of accepting research findings as biological facts when they might be better explained as social stereotypes.
HOWEVER.. this does not mean we should avoid studying brain differences. For example, research suggests that the popular social stereotype that women are better at multitasking than men may have some biological truth to it as a woman’s brain may benefit from better connections between the left and right hemisphere than in a man’s brain. This suggests that there may be biological differences but we still should be wary of exaggerating the effect they may have on behaviour.
SEXISM IN RSEARCH
P - Another limitation is that gender bias promotes sexism in the research process.
E - Women remain underrepresented in university departments, particularly in science. Although psychology’s undergraduate intake is mainly of women, lecturers in psychology departments are more likely to be men. This means research is more likely to be conducted by men and this disadvantages participants who are women. For example, a male researcher may expect women to be irrational and unable to complete complex tasks and such expectations are likely to mean that women underperform in research studies.
E - This means that the institutional structures and methods of psychology may produce findings that are gender-biased
GENDER BIASED RESEARCH
P - One further limitation is that research challenging gender biases may not be published
E - Researchers analysed more than 1000 articles relating to gender bias published over 8 years. They found that research on gender bias is funded less often and is published by less prestigious journals. The consequence of this is that fewer scholars become aware of it or apply it within their own work. The researchers argued that this still held true when gender bias was compared with other forms of bias, such as ethnic bias and when other factors were controlled, such as the gender of the authors and the methodology used.
E - This suggests that gender bias in psychological research may not be taken as seriously as other forms of bias
