gender bias Flashcards
what is gender bias?
the differential treatment of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences
what is universality?
any underlying characteristics of humans that are capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience or upbringing
what type of bias threatens psychological research?
gender bias and culture bias
what does universality allow?
that conclusions can be made from research
what is alpha bias?
psychological research that exaggerates or overestimates the difference between sexes
what does alpha bias do?
enhance or undermine members of either sex, usually women
give an example of alpha bias
biological roles of men and women, e.g.
- mens best interest: impregnate as many women as possible
- womens best interest: produce offspring to ensure healthy survival of genes
what is beta bias?
theories that ignore/minimise the differences between the sexes
what does beta bias do?
often assumes that findings from males can be universally applied
give an example of beta bias
fight or flight research has often been carried out on male animals due to less hormone variation
what is androcentrism?
‘normal’ behaviour is judged to be the male standard, any other behaviour is considered abnormal
what does androcentrism do?
leads to female behaviour being misunderstood
give an example of androcentrism
kohlberg based stages of moral development around male standards
- claimed women generally reached a lower level of development
give one strength of gender bias in research
researchers are starting to recognise the effect of their own values and assumptions on their work
give one weakness of gender bias in research
it creates wrongly scientific justifications to negative stereotypes
- could deny men/women opportunities in the workplace
how are women denied opportunity due to gender bias?
in workplace and in wider society, men set the boundaries of normality
gender based research about women is carried out by…
male researchers, which is not a true reflection of female concerns due to lack of women appointed in senior research level
why is gender bias common in research?
too few women are at the senior level of research
- male researchers are more likely to get their work published and therefore questions to tackle stereotypes are not asked
give 3 evaluation points for gender bias
- scientific justifications to negative stereotypes
- bias research methods
- feminist psychologists aim to redress the gender bias in theory and research in psychology
evaluation: negative stereotypes
ID: a negative implication of gender bias in psychology is that it can lead to making assumptions about female behaviour which validates discriminating against women and perpetuates negative stereotypes
Q: this could deny women opportunities in the workplace
EV: Brescoll and Uhlman - PMS is social construct, medicalises human emotion such as anger by explaining it as due to hormones whereas male anger is seen as a rational response to external pressures.
AN: Such research has frequently been used to support arguments that women should not fulfil certain roles e.g pilot. (androcentrism)
evaluation: bias research methods
ID: it may not be that males and females are different , but that the methods used to test or observe them are biased.
Q: gender bias can lead to sexism in the research process which compromises psychology’s credibility at an objective science.
EV: there is evidence that male researchers are more likely to have their work published as too few women are at the senior level of research. research showing evidence of gender differences is more likely to be published than research that doesn’t. Denmark: this supports institutional sexism that creates bias in theory and research.
AN: this feminist criticism suggests that there are serious issues with the way data is collected, creating a false picture of male -female differences. this means that ‘scientific’ psychology may not be objective
evaluation: feminist psychologists re-addressing gender bias
ID: feminist psychologists aim to redress the gender bias in theory and research in psychology.
Q: they argue that one way to reduce gender bias and androcentrism is to take a feminist perspective.
EV: for example they argue that although there may be real biologically based sex differences - socially determined stereotypes can lead to these being exaggerated creating reverse alpha bias.
chodorow: women are more caring and relational
cornwell: showed that women are better at learning as they are more attentive, flexible and organised.
AN: this approach can help reverse alpha bias in psychology.
