Gender Bias

Question 1

Universality and bias:

Answer 1

• Psych researchers have beliefs and values that have been influenced by the social context within which they live.
• Aim for universality - developing theories that apply to all people despite gender and cultural differences - regardless of time and culture
• This is often threatened by gender biases as they undermine Psych’s claims to be applied to everyone

Question 2

Universality def:

Answer 2

developing theories that apply to all people despite gender and cultural differences - regardless of time and culture

Question 3

Two types of gender bias:

Answer 3

• Alpha bias
• Beta bias

Question 4

Alpha bias:

Answer 4

• AB is when researchers exaggerate differences between men and women.
• Differences percieved as: enduring, fixed + inevitable and causes misunderstanding of behaviour of the sex seen as inferior
• AB more likely to devalue females compared to males
• E.g. Freud viewed femininity as ‘failed masculinity’ - thus exaggerated the difference between men and women
• Josselson argued that Freud’s theory of penis envy are another example of alpha bias
• Consequence of AB: can lead to misrepresentation of female behaviour and thus misunderstanding.

Question 5

Alpha bias is when:

Answer 5

researchers exaggerate differences between men and women.

Question 6

Differences between males and females percieved as:

Answer 6

enduring, fixed + inevitable and causes misunderstanding of behaviour of the sex seen as inferior

Question 7

AB more likely to _____ females compared to males

Answer 7

devalue

Question 8

Consequence of AB:

Answer 8

Can lead to misrepresentation of female behaviour and thus misunderstanding.

Question 9

Beta bias is when:

Answer 9

• research underestimates differences between men and women
• Often occurs when female ppts are not included in research: findings from male only samples are assumed to apply to them regardless
• E.g. this can be seen in animal research on the fight or flight stress hormone
• Biological research is usually conducted with male animals- researchers assume what is true for males would be true for females
• Proven to not be the case as females can show the ‘tend and befriend response’

Question 10

What response might females show instead of “fight or flight”?

Answer 10

Tend and befriend

Question 11

What is a consequence of beta bias?

Answer 11

androcentricism

Question 12

Androcentricism:

Answer 12

• consequence of beta bias
• happens when our understanding of what counts as being ‘normal’ behaviour is drawn from research that involves all-male samples.
• behaviour that deviate from this standard is likely to be judged as ‘abnormal’ by comparison
• this leads to female behaviour being misunderstood / pathologised - meaning it is seen as a sign of psychological instability or disorder.
• e.g. many feminists have objected to the diagnostic catagory pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) as it medicalises natural female experiences.

Question 13

Four evals:

Answer 13

• has far reaching consequences for everyday life of women
• led to the rise of feminist psychology
• applications to apply to future research
• bias in the research methods

Question 14

An implication of gender bias: has far reaching consequences for everyday life of women.

Answer 14

Gender biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour leading to negative stereotypes and validate discriminatory practices. May provide scientific ‘justification’ to deny women opportunities within the workplace and in wider society.
This shows that gender biased research is not just a methodological problem it also has damaging consequences which affect the lives of women.
Therefore researchers must ensure their research is not gender biased.

Question 15

Another implication of GB research: led to rise of feminist psychology which propose that women are not inferior rather just different to men.

Answer 15

E.g. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development may be seen as androcentric as it was developed using men as participants and claimed later that women are less morally developed than men. However, such gender biased research paves the path for feminist researchers like Gilligan who drew up her own moral development research which concluded that male and female moralities are different. Male morality is more justice orientated and female morality is care orientated. One isn’t ‘more moral’ than others. As a result, awareness of GB led to a deeper understanding of female behaviour.

Question 16

Another implication of GB research: there are applications to apply to future research. Our understanding of gender bias has led to specific guidelines and criteria being drawn up to help us avoid such misunderstandings in the future.

Answer 16

Worrell: women should be studied in real life meaningful contexts in order to gain real understanding, rather than seeing them as ‘objects of study’.
To understand women, study diversity within women instead of comparing them to males. Compare women with other women with subtle differences between them, e.g. economic status.
Worrell suggested in-depth qualitive data allowing for in-depth analysis - not just quantitive which can lack insight.
Therefore, GB research has led to practical applications in future research to avoid gender bias.

Question 17

Another implication of GB research: bias in the research methods. Gender biased research methodology makes it appear like there are significant differences between males and females which in reality may not exist.

Answer 17

E.g. Rosenthal found that male experimenters are more pleasant and encouraging to female participants than to male ppts. Males appeared to perform less well on tasks assigned. Problem because: extraneous variables like treatment between males and females make it difficult to measure gender differences due to invalid comparison / data. In order to prevent this; methodology needs to be scientficially standardised to reduce bias and address the problem of exagerrated gender differences.