Gender bias Flashcards
gender bias
= the differential treatment +/or representation of males + females based on stereotypes
alpha bias
= theories or research that exaggerates the difference between males and females
beta bias
= theories or research that minimises or ignores the differences between males + females
androcentrism
= theories which are centred or focused on males - becomes norm + females then taken against this standard
universality
= theory can be applied to all people irrespective of culture or gender
historically…
…psychology has been a male-dominated discipline + many major theories + explanations reflect this
– female perspective marginalised + minimised
bias may be…
…unavoidable as all researchers likely to be influenced by social + historical context in which they live, education + training
andocentrism can be…
…conscious or unconscious bias
– in past most psychologists were male + therefore constructed theory tended to represent male view of world + therefore present a level of bias
alpha bias - Freud…
…psychodynamic approach - ms + fs experience different conflicts in psychosexual dev
– girls don’t suffer same oedipal conflict as boys + therefore don’t identify w/ mothers as strongly as boys w/ fathers
–argued that impacted dev - girls are inferior to boys + develop weaker superego (research into morality + offending behaviour proved this to be untrue)
alpha bias - evolution + attachment…
…evolutionary psych explains behaviour through human need to survive + reproduce
– ms + fs innately different to help adaptation to roles, aid survival
– males more dominant, females more empathy + parental investment to aid survival of offspring
beta bias - assumption…
…findings from research on males can apply equally to females (or vice versa)
beta bias - social influence…
…Asch’s conformity sample consisted of only male ppts - beta + androcentric bias - assumed females would respond in same way + show same conformity rates
beta bias - contrast to Asch…
…Mori + Arai found gender differences in conformity rates + therefore Asch’s research unable to provide support for complete explanation of conformity
how to prevent gender bias…
- use all genders in research sample
- use stratified sample to get representative gender split
- make sure ppts randomly allocated to conditions + distinctions between gender not made within results
- if research is gender specific then outline this in conclusions rather than generalising to other genders
WEIRD sample…
… Western
Educated
Industrialised
Rich
Democratic
implications (strengths) - practical applications…
…beta bias minimised differences between men + women + has PAs - can lead to equal treatment of men + women in work + education
– HOWEVER… Hare-Mustin and Mareck argue equality not always beneficial e.g. women have more physical demand in pregnancy so equal paternity may be problematic
implications - solutions…
…contemporary psychologists have looked for ways to reduce GB by proposing no. of solutions
– Cornwell noted females are better at learning as they are more attentive + organised thus emphasising both the value + (+) attributes of women in contrast to earlier research that focused only on men - helps to reduce + challenge gender stereotypes + helps work towards more accurate + inclusive approaches to studying human behaviour
implications - feminist approach…
…GB allows for a feminist approach which attempts to restore the imbalance in psychological theories + research
– Eagly claims females are less effective leaders than males (purpose of research is to help develop training programmes aimed at reducing lack of female leaders in world)
consequences (limitations) - socially sensitive…
…GB is SS - research has contributed to formation of rigid gender stereotypes - e.g. women as primary CG - such assumptions have contributed to widespread beliefs of gender roles in family
– these SS views can have impacts on economy e.g if mother is breadwinner but believes she should stay home as a result of gender stereotypical research
consequences - biased methodology…
…GB may result in research finding differences between genders that don’t actually exist - can be result of biased research methodologies +/or as result of gender of researcher
– Rosenthal found male experimenters are more pleasant towards female ppts than male ppts + in same research males performed ‘less well’
– feminists argue lab experiments disadvantage women because of controlled nature + research found although men + women had different leadership types in lab based research, in real settings they were more similar
– demonstrates impact of GB on validity of research
consequences - not recognised as much…
…Formanwicz analysed over 1000 articles relating to GB - found research on GB is not well funded + is published in less prestigious journals - means fewer scholars become aware of it or apply it to own work - GB may not be taken as seriously as other biases