Gender bias Flashcards
Gender and culture in psychology
What is universality?
All behaviors can be applied to all people of all cultures
What is Alpha bias?
Research that exaggerates difference
How does bias undermine universality?
Psychologists hold beliefs and values that may be influenced by their social and historical context
- beliefs may be biased and have subjective viewpoints
- bias in the field may be inevitable
What can these differences in alpha bias do in research?
Heighten or devalue the value of women in relation to men
What’s an example of women’s value being heightened?
- Chodorow suggested mothers and daughters have a closer relationship than mothers and sons
- Women develop better abilities to bond and emphasize with others
What’s an example of women being devalued?
- Freud’s theory of psychosexual development
- Phallic stage: boys and girls develop a desire for their opposite gender parent
- Creates castration anxiety: resolved when boy identifies with father
- A girls identification with mother weaker = weaker superego
What is beta bias?
Research that ignores or underestimates differences
When does beta bias happen?
Happens when we assume that findings apply equally to men and women
What’s an example of beta bias in fight or flight research?
Usually uses male animals due to female behavior being affected by hormonal changes during ovulation
- ignores any possible differences
- Early research suggests no difference in male/female reaction to a threat
What’s an example in research that disapproves of beta bias?
Taylor et al suggests a ‘tend and best friend’ response
- ‘Oxytocin’ levels higher in women
- Women respond to stress by increasing oxytocin
- Reduces fight or flight response
- Enhances tend or befriend (looking after others)
- Research that minimizes gender differences may result in a misrepresentation of women’s behavior
How about beta bias in attachment research?
Suggests that emotional care is solely provided by mothers
- means men were misrepresented
What is androcentrism?
- prioritizing male perspectives, experiences and values
What is alpha and beta bias a result of?
androcentrism
How is psychology androcentric?
Psych presents a male dominated version of the world
- American psych association published 100 most influential psych
- only 6 were female
- Psych: a subject produced by men, for men and about men
How has androcentrism in psych affected women?
Women’s behavior misunderstood or taken as a sign of illness
- feminists object to diagnostic category of ‘premenstrual syndrome’ > medicalizes women’s emotion such as anger
- Men’s anger often seen as a rational response to external pressures
Who was mentioned in non-fixed gender difference as a limitation?
- Maccoby and Jacklin - presented findings of many gender studies
- Joel et al - brain scans
What did Maccoby and Jacklin find?
- studies concluded girls have superior verbal ability and boys have superior spatial ability
- suggested that these differences were ‘hard wired’
- Findings published and seen as fact
What did Joel et al do?
Used brain scans and found no such thing in relation to Maccoby and Jacklin’s findings
- some research presented as biological facts when its simply a social stereotype
Why is gender bias research promoting sexism a limitation?
Women underrepresented in uni departments
- undergrad intake mainly female in psych
- Lecturers more likely to be male
- research more likely to be conducted by males
What did Nicolson suggest in relation to gender bias promoting sexism?
- Suggested women are irrational and unable to complete complex tasks
- means women may underperform in studies
- means the structure pf uni may produce gender biased findings
Why is gender bias research not being published a limitation?
- Formanowicz et al analyzed 1000 articles related to gender bias
- Found that gender bias research funded less often
- Published in less prestigious journals
- Fewer scholars become aware of it
- suggests gender bias research not taken as seriously
What are strengths of gender bias?
- Shouldn’t avoid gender differences
- some studies suggest women are better at multitasking
- may have some biological truth
- women’s brain seem to have a better connection between hemispheres
- Suggests some biological differences between men and women
