I&D- Gender Bias

Question 1

What is universality?

Answer 1

Universality is when the conclusions drawn can be applied to everyone, regardless of time, culture or gender.

Question 2

What is gender bias?

Answer 2

Gender bias is when psychological research may offer a view that doesn’t justifiably represent the experience of men or women.

Question 3

What is alpha bias?

Answer 3

• Alpha bias is when there is a misrepresentation of behaviour because researchers overestimate/exaggerate the differences between the genders.
• These differences often devalue women in relation to men.

Question 4

What is an example of alpha bias?

Answer 4

• An example of alpha bias is in the sociobiological theory of relationship formation.
• It argues that it is in a males’ interest to impregnate as many different women as possible to increase the chance of his genes being passed one.
• Women, it argues, should focus on ensuring the healthy survival of their relatively few children.
• The message is that sexual promiscuity in males is genetically determined, and females who engage in the same behaviour are going against nature and so are abnormal.

Question 5

What is beta bias?

Answer 5

• Beta bias is when there is a misrepresentation of behaviour because researchers underestimate/minimise gender differences.
• This often happens when female participants’ are not included in a research study, but it is still assumed that the research findings can be applied to both genders.(eg: Asch an Milgram studies)

Question 6

What is an example of beta bias?

Answer 6

• An example of beta bias is the fight-or-flight response, early research focused exclusively
  on male animals and is was assumed that there would be a universal response to a threatening situation.
• However, more recently, Taylor et al. (2000) have
  suggested that biology has evolved to inhibit the fight-or-flight response in women, who instead have a tendency to tend-and-befriend.
• Forming groups is a more effective way to ensure the survival of offspring than running away or fighting.

Question 7

What is androcentrism?

Answer 7

Androcentrism means being centred on or dominated by males and can be conscious or unconscious.

Question 8

Evaluate gender bias. (ADVANTAGES)

Answer 8

+ Male researchers within psychology are still more likely to have their research published than female researchers, and research which finds gender differences is more likely to be published than research which finds no such difference. Psychology may be guilty of supporting a form of institutional
sexism.

+ Gender-biased research may provide scientific justification for denying women opportunities within society. In the 1930s ‘scientific’ research revealed
that intellectual activity (such as attending university) would shrivel women’s ovaries and reduce their chances of conceiving.

Question 9

Evaluate gender bias. (DISADVANTAGES)

Answer 9

• Many modern researchers have begun to recognise the effect that their own values and assumptions have on their work, Dambrin and Lambert (2008)
  included a reflection of how their own gender related experiences affected their reading of events when they investigated the reason for the lack of women in accountancy firms.
• Worell (1992) have put forward a number of criteria which should be adhered to in order to avoid gender bias in research: women should be studied within meaningful life contexts, women should genuinely participate in psychological research (not just be the objects of research), diversity within groups of women should be examined (rather than comparisons made between men and women), there should be more collaborative research methods used that collect qualitative data.