Gender Bias in Psychology Flashcards
What is Universality?
It is any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable
of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing.
What is Gender bias?
Bias is a tendency to treat one individual or a 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 or women (usually women).
What is Androcentrism?
Male-centred; when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard (meaning female behaviour is often judged to be ‘abnormal’ or ‘deficient’ by comparison).
What is Alpha bias?
It is psychological theories that suggest there are real and enduing differences between men and women. These may enhance or undervalue
members of either sex, but typically undervalue females.
What is Beta bias
Theories that ignore or minimise differences between the
sexes.
What is Gender?
Gender is the behavioural, cultural and psychological
characteristics that distinguish men and women.
What is Sex (birth)
Sex is what you are assigned at birth
What is an example of Alpha bias research?
Freud argued that there are genuine differences between men and women (e.g. penis envy and femininity as a failed form of masculinity).
Freud suggested that women develop a weaker superego (morality principle) meaning they are more liable for immoral behaviour argued that because girls do not suffer the same oedipal conflict as boys, they do not identify with their mothers as strongly as boys identify with their fathers, so develop weaker superegos.
What is an example of Beta bias research
Early research on fight or flight was based exclusively on male animals (preferred for research because female hormones fluctuate) and was assumed to be the universal response to a threatening situation = female response has been ignored/minimised.
However, more recently Taylor et al (2002) suggested that female biology has evolved to prevent the fight/flight response, shifting attention towards caring for offspring (tending) and forming defensive networks with other females (befriending).
What is an example of androcentrism
Feminists have objected to the diagnostic category pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) on the grounds that it stereotypes and underestimates the female experience.
Critics claim that PMS is a social construction which medicalises female emotions, especially anger, by explaining these in hormonal terms. Male anger, on the other hand, is often seen as a rational response to external pressures.
Explain the difference between alpha bias and beta bias (4 marks)
One difference between alpha bias and beta bias is that alpha bias exaggerates the differences between sexes whereas beta bias minimises them.
For example Freud’s work is alpha biased as he exaggerated the differences between men and women by saying women were inferior and suffered from penis envy.
On the other hand, the biological explanation of fight or flight has demonstrated beta bias as it assumed men and women responded to stress/danger in the same way.
What is the correlation between diagnosed depression and gender bias
Biological explanations of mental illness, in particular depression, are gender-biased.
Illnesses like depression can be explained in terms of chemical imbalances in serotonin and noradrenaline as causing malfunctions in parts of the brain associated with emotion.
When explaining why twice as many women as men are diagnosed with depression, supporters of the biomedical view tend to suggest that this is because of hormonal differences, for example post-natal depression, to show how fluctuations in female sex hormones can lead to abnormalities of mood.
This might be a biased view because most doctors are men and hold stereotypes which may lead them to give certain diagnoses and that’s why more women receive the diagnosis.
Why is androcentrism a problem for psychological
research?
P: A limitation is that the lack of women appointed to senior research level means that female concerns may not be reflected in the research questions asked.
E: Male researchers are more likely to have their work published and studies which find evidence of gender differences are more likely to appear in journal articles than those that do not. In lab experiments, female participants are placed in an inequitable relationship with
(usually a male) researcher who has the power to label them as
unreasonable etc (Nicholson, 1995)
L: This means that psychology may be guilty of supporting a form of institutional sexism that created bias in theory and research, (Denmark et al, 1988)
Outline how androcentrism has affected psychological research
Androcentrism refers to theories or research
which is centred on males.
For example Asch’s research into conformity was conducted on an entirely male sample and Asch
assumed the findings would be the same for both
males and females (known as beta bias).
This can affect psychological research as it potentially provides a misleading or inaccurate representation of how one sex (namely females) will respond in a given situation (social conformity).
One problem with alpha and beta bias
The problem with alpha bias is that the differences
between males and females are exaggerated. An example of this is Freud’s psychosexual stages, where he suggests that females develop penis envy because they are unable to progress through the Oedipus complex. This can lead to serious misconceptions about gender development which might lead to stereotypes
about masculinity and
femininity.
The problem with beta bias is that the differences between males and females are ignored or minimised. An example of this is the fight or flight response as it assumed that males and females respond to stress or danger in the same way. This can lead to female
behavioural responses being overlooked or medicalised, creating a negative assumption about them.
