Gender Bias

Question 1

What is universality?

Answer 1

Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing.

Gender bias threatens the universality of findings.

Question 2

What is gender bias?

Answer 2

Gender bias is when psychological theory and research does not accurately represent the experience and behaviour of men and women.

Question 3

What are the two types of gender bias?

Answer 3

• Alpha bias

* Beta bias

Question 4

Which type of gender bias leads to androcentrism?

Answer 4

Beta bias

Question 5

What is alpha bias?

Answer 5

Alpha bias is a tendency to exaggerate differences between men and women, suggesting that these differences are real and fixed across time. This may enhance or devalue one gender in comparison to the other, usually devaluing females in relation to males.

Question 6

Give an example of alpha bias in psychology

Answer 6

There is gender bias in the psychodynamic explanation for offending.

It is assumed within the theory that girls have a weaker superego than boys. This is because they have not experienced castration anxiety and are therefore under less pressure to identify with their mothers, so their superego is less fully realised.

This is an example of alpha bias because the girl forms a weaker superego than her male counterpart and therefore her sense of morality is inferior.

This is an implication as females are then seen as more likely to commit crime as Freud says they have weaker superegos and therefore weaker morals.

Question 7

What is beta bias?

Answer 7

Beta bias is a tendency to ignore or minimise differences between men and women, assuming that what is true for one gender is true for all mankind. The consequence is that one gender may be misrepresented.

It often occurs when females are not included in the research process and it is then assumed that the findings and insights gained from men will apply equally to women.

Question 8

Give an example of beta bias in psychology

obedience

Answer 8

Milgram studied obedience in male participants who were told to give electric shocks to ‘learners’ who gave a wrong answer on a memory task. He found 65% of participants went up to the maximum 450 volts. He concluded that people will obey immoral orders from authority figures.

This is an example of beta bias because it ignores the differences between the behaviour of males and females and minimises gender differences as it assumes that males and females will obey an authority figure in the same way.

Question 9

Explain how beta bias in Milgram’s obedience study may lead to androcentrism

Answer 9

It assumes that people will normally obey immoral orders, it may be that women do not show such strong levels of obedience. They then may be seen as deficient as a result.

Question 10

Give an example of beta bias in psychology

stage

Answer 10

Kohlberg’s stage theory of moral reasoning.

Kohlberg’s proposed a stage theory of moral development based entirely on a longitudinal study of a sample of American men and male moral reasoning. Therefore, the theory is based on a male perspective of justice rather than caring. He can be accused of inappropriate generalisation to women from just testing males. This is an example of beta bias because it minimised gender differences.

Question 11

How can beta bias in Kohlberg’s stage theory lead to androcentrism?

Answer 11

He claimed that women generally reach lower levels of development (as their reasoning is based on care instead of justice) which suggests they are morally inferior.

Question 12

What is androcentrism?

Answer 12

Androcentrism is a consequence of beta bias. It is a type of ‘male bias’ where men’s behaviour is taken as the norm meaning that female behaviour is often judged as abnormal or deficient in comparison. This leads to female behaviour being misunderstood and sometimes pathologised (seen as mentally ill).

Question 13

Give an example of androcentrism in psychology

Answer 13

In the biological explanation for gender, oestrogen is a ‘female’ hormone that can cause some women to experience heightened emotionality and irritability during their menstrual cycle. This is referred to as PMS. This is androcentric because it medicalises female emotions by explaining them in hormonal terms and categorises them as abnormal. Whereas male anger is seen as a ration response and normal behaviour for them.

Question 14

EVALUATION OF GENDER BIAS

Outline the evaluation points of gender bias

Answer 14

• Implications in the world
• Supports institutional sexism
• Beta bias has positive and negative effects
• Reverse alpha bias
• Feminists propose how gender bias can be avoided

Question 15

EVALUATION OF GENDER BIAS

Evaluate the implications of gender bias in psychological research

Answer 15

A problem with gender bias in research is that it might lead to misleading assumptions about female behaviour, which could validate discriminatory practise.

It may provide a scientific ‘justification’ to deny women opportunities within the workplace or in wider society.

This is a problem as if shows that gender bias in research is not just a methodological problem but may also have damaging consequences which affect the lives and prospects of real women.

Question 16

EVALUATION OF GENDER BIAS

How does gender bias promote sexism within the research process?

Answer 16

If psychological theories and studies are gender biases, one consequence is that research may find differences between genders that may not exist. It may not be the genders that differ, but the methods used to test/observe them are biased, so that males and females appear different.

Women are disadvantaged through the methodology used as female participants in lab studies are in an inequitable relationship with a (usually male) researcher who has the power to label them as irrational and unable to complete complex tasks.

This is a methodological problem and means that psychology may be guilty of supporting a form of institutional sexism that creates bias in theory and research.

Question 17

EVALUATION OF GENDER BIAS

Evaluate the different outcomes of beta bias in gender bias

Answer 17

Beta bias has consequences for women. On the positive side, equal treatment under law has allowed women greater access to educational and occupational opportunities.

However, arguing for equality for men and women draws attentions away from women’s special needs, and differences in power between men and women. For example, equal parental leave ignores the biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding and the special needs of women, therefore disadvantaging women.

Question 18

EVALUATION OF GENDER BIAS

Evaluate a strength of alpha bias

Answer 18

A strength is that we can use alpha bias as a way of dealing with gender bias by developing theories which show the differences between men and women but emphasise the value of women.

For example, women are better at learning because they are more attractive, flexible and organised.

Such research challenges the stereotype that in any gender difference the male position must be better, and challenges people’s preconceptions.

Question 19

EVALUATION OF GENDER BIAS

Evaluate how feminist psychologists propose how gender bias can be avoided

Answer 19

A strength is feminist psychologists propose how gender bias can be avoided.

Worrell suggests criteria researchers can follow to avoid gender bias.

• Women should be studied within meaningful real-life contexts, and genuinely participate in research instead of being objects of study.
• Diversity in groups of women should be studied, rather than comparisons between men and women
• There should be a greater emphasis on collaborative research methods that collect qualitative data rather than just relying on quantitative.

This way of doing research may be preferable, and less gender biased, than lab based research.

Question 20

EVALUATION OF GENDER BIAS

Explain how the feminists’ proposed approach to gender research may be less gender biased and more preferable than laboratory based research

Answer 20

Research that looked at diversity might show that female stereotypes don’t apply to all women and could reduce stereotypes.

Collaborative research producing qualitative data allows for unexpected findings because questions are not fixed in advance. The fate produced may not support existing (sexist) views.