Gender Bias Flashcards
What is universality
Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all despite difs of experience and upbringing, threatened by gender and culture bias
What is gender bias
When psychological research/theories may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of men and women
What is beta bias
Theories that ignore/minimise differences between the sexes
What is alpha bias
Psychological theories that suggest there are real and enduring differences between men and women, may enhance/undervalue females
What is androcentrism
Male centred view, when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard meaning female behaviour is often judged as abnormal/deficient by comparison
Two examples of alpha gender bias in research
-Freud in the Oedipus and Electra complex, suggested boys develop a stronger superego than girls so women are morally inferior to men which over exaggerated differences between sexes
-evolutionary psychology, men being dominant and seeking attractiveness and women seeking resources in a mate, however found differences exaggerated in DNA evidence that showed women are equally as competitive as men when the need arises
-role of the father, nurture vs play by Grossman
-Bowlbys monotropic theory-emphasis on the mother and the importance of this relationship, but father can also take on nurturing role
Two examples of beta gender bias in research
-Asch carried out study on male sample and generalised to women
-fight or flight research initially carried out on only male animals and assumed same response for all but research has found females adopt a tend and befriend response instead
-SZ diagnosis and classification based on symptoms experiences by men
Why is gender bias a problem in psychology
Psychology has historically been a male dominated field as many theories assume and represent a male point of view (androcentrism)
-leads to differential treatment of males and females based on stereotypes and not real differences
Expand on implication of diagnostic tools eg DSM-V being androcentric
-since 1980s more men have been diagnosed with SZ which is possibly because women have better support networks so have better support and able to better mask their symptoms
-leads to under diagnosis in women due to their presentation of SZ which means they will not receive appropriate treatment and services which could benefit them
-men are more likely to experience negative symptoms and earlier onset while women are more likely to present affective symptoms (hallucinations and delusions)
-means women will be mis/under diagnosed
Expand on implication of gender bias within the design of research
-found to be sexism in research: women remain underrepresented in uni departments, particularly in the sciences
-means research is more likely to be conducted by men which may disadvantage female ppts as in experiments behaviour of female ppts may be more affected by investigator bias (expectations and stereotypes of investigator) than male ppts
-therefore the institutional constructs and methods of psychology may breed gender bias in research
Expand on implication that there is less reporting of gender bias research
-research challenging gender bias is less likely to be published/ is published in less prestigious journals and receives less funding
-means fewer scholars are aware of its potential/ apply it to their own work
-suggests gender bias is not taken seriously within psychological research
How to deal with gender bias
-reflexive practices (recognising the effect of their own values and assumptions on the nature of their work which creates greater awareness of the role of personal biases in shaping research in future)
-female researchers (ensure there are female researchers part of the research team when ppts are female, avoids stereotypes and investigator bias)
-qualitative data (allows for unexpected findings as questions are not fixed in advance, data produced may not support existing views)
