Gender bias Flashcards
Universality
Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing. Gender bias and culture bias threaten the universality of findings in psychology.
Gender bias
When considering human behaviour, bias is a tendency to one individual or group in a different way from others. In the context of gender bias, psychological research or theory may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of men and women.
Androcentrism
Male-centred, when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard. (female behaviour usually judged as abnormal)
Beta bias
Research that focuses on similarities between men and women, and therefore tends to present a view that ignores or minimises differences.
Alpha bias example FREUD
Freud’s theory of psychosexual development. During the phallic stage both boys and girls develop a desire for their opposite-gender parent. In a boy this creates strong castration anxiety. This is resolved when the boy identifies with his father. abut a girls eventual identification with her same-gender parent is weaker, which means her Superego is weaker ( it develops as a result of taking on the same-gender parents moral perspective).
Therefore girls/women are morally inferior to boys/men.
Alpha bias favouring women CHODOROW
In the psychodynamic approach, Chodorow suggested that daughters and mothers have a greater connectedness then sons and mothers because of their biological similarities. As a result of the child’s closeness, women develop better abilities to bond with others and empathise.
Beta bias example
Fight or flight response. Biological research generally favoured using male animals because female behaviour is affected by regular hormonal changes due to ovulation. This simply ignores any possible differences. Early research into the fight or flight response assumed that both males and females respond to threatening situations with fight or flight.
LIMITATION EVAL-Biological versus social explanations
(Maccoby and Jacklin)- presented findings of several gender studies which concluded that girls have a superior verbal ability whereas boys have better spatial ability. They suggested that these differences are ‘hardwired’ into the brain before birth.
Such findings become widely reported and seen as facts.
EVAL counterpart-Biological versus social explanations
This does not mean that psychologists should avoid studying possible gender different in the brain. Ingalhaikar suggests that the popular social stereotype that women are better at multitasking may have some biological truth to it. It seems that a woman’s brain may benefit from better connections between the right and left hemisphere than in a man’s brain.
This suggests that there may be biological differences but we should still be wary of exaggerating the effect they may have on behaviour.
EVAL LIMITATION- Sexism in research
(Murphy et al.)
Women remain unrepresented in university departments, particularly in science. Although psychology’s undergraduate intake is mainly of women, lectures in psychology departments are more likely to be men.
This means research is more likely to be conducted by men and this mag disadvantage participants who are women.
