Issues and Debates

Question 1

what is gender bias?

Answer 1

when one gender is treated less favourably than the other

Question 2

what are the 3 consequences from gender bias

Answer 2

scientifically misleading
upholding stereotypical assumptions
validating sex discrimination

Question 3

what are the 2 types of gender bias?

Answer 3

alpha bias and beta bias

Question 4

what is alpha bias?

Answer 4

tendency to exaggerate differences between men and women
suggests that there are real and enduring differences between the sexes

Question 5

what is the onsequence of alpha bias?

Answer 5

theories devalue one gender in comparison to the other, typically devalue women

Question 6

what is beta bias?

Answer 6

tendency to ignore or minimise differences men and women
tend to ignore questions about the lives of women or insights derived from studies of men will apply well to women

Question 7

whats one example of alpha bias?

Answer 7

psychodynamic explanations for offending behaviour suggests that criminality occurs due to deviant superego
freud = because women do not experience castration anxiety, they are under less pressure

Question 8

whats another example of alpha bias?

Answer 8

wilson’s sociobiological theory of relationship formation suggests that sexual promiscuity in males is genetically determined, promiscuous females are going agaisnt their ‘nature’

Question 9

whats an example of beta bias?

Answer 9

early research into the fight of flight response - exclusively used in male lab mice because they experience fewer hormonal fluctuations and so changes in adrenaline and so changes in adrenaline could be more reliably measured
results from these studies were generalised to females

Question 10

whats androcentrism?

Answer 10

consequence of beta bias
occurs when all behaviour is compared according to a ‘male’ standard, often to the neglect or exclusion of women

Question 11

whats another example of beta bias?

Answer 11

Kohlberg’s levels of moral reasoning theory was developed on the basis of studying groups of American males, who all answered questions based on moral dilemmas (e.g., Heinz)
results generalised to represent levels of moral reasoning for the sexes

Question 12

whats an example of androcentrism?

Answer 12

PMS
has been criticised by some as being a social construction - trivialises female emotion, particularly anger
OTOH, male anger is seen as a logical response to external pressures (Brescoll and Uhlman)

Question 13

whats another example of androcentrism?

Answer 13

research on fight of flight
usually conducted with male animals as in females the variation in hormone levels would make research more difficult

Question 14

what are the 2 positive consequences of alpha bias?

Answer 14

led to theorists to assert the worth and valuation of ‘feminine qualities’ (Gilligan)
led to healthy criticism of cultural values that praise certain ‘male’ qualities (aggression and individualism) as desireable, adaptive and universal

Question 15

what is the positive consequence of beta bias?

Answer 15

makes people see men and women as the same, which has led to equal treatment in legal terms and equal access to (e.g., education adn employment)

Question 16

what are the negative consequences of alpha bias?

Answer 16

focus on the differences between genders leads to the implication of similarity within genders - ignores the many ways women differ from each other
can sustain prejudices and stereotypes

Question 17

what are the negative consequences of beta bias?

Answer 17

draws attention away from the differences in power between men and women
considered an egalitarian approach, but it results in major misrepresentations of both genders

Question 18

what’s one positive evaluation?

Answer 18

• feminist psychology argues that difference psychology arises from biological explanations of behaviour - the social constructionist approach aims to understand behaviour in terms of social processes
• argues that there are real differences but socially determined stereotypes make a greater contribution
• androcentrism can be countered by a feminist view and the balance can be readdressed
• e.g., Eagly (1978) acknowledged that women may be less effective leaders than men but this knowledge should be used to develop suitable training programmes and therefore create a future with more women leaders

Question 19

what’s another positive evaluation?

Answer 19

• reverse alpha bias describes the development of theories that show a greater emphasis on women = Cornwell et al 2013 showed that women are better at learning because they are more attentive, flexible and organised
• this research challenges the stereotype that in any gender differences the male position must be better and challenges people’s perconceptions

Question 20

whats another positive evaluation?

Answer 20

• avoiding beta bias = allowed women greater access to educational and occupational opportunities
• Hare, Mustin and Marecek pointed out that arguing for equality draws attention away from women’s special needs (e.g., biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth, menstrual cycle etc.)
• suggests that some elements of beta bias may actually disadvantage women

Question 21

what’s a negative evaluation of gender bias?

Answer 21

• RM = if theories and studies are gender biased, the research may find differences between genders but it may not be the genders that differ but the methods used to test or observe
• e.g., Rosenthal (1966) found that male experiments are more pleasant and encouraging to female participants and subsequently they perform better in tasks/male participants appeared to perform less well
• secondly, fewer women being appointed at senior research positions means that female concerns are less likely to be reflected in the experimental questions

Question 22

what’s another negative evaluation of gender bias?

Answer 22

• lab experiment may also be an example of institutionalised sexism within psych = male researches (e.g., Nicolson, 1995) have the authority to deem women as “unreasonable, irrational and unable to complete complex tasks”
• Eagly and Johnson noted that studies in real life settings in real life settings found women and men were judged as more similar in styles of leadership that in lab settings

Question 23

what’s the emicperspective?

Answer 23

• researching a culture from within to understand that culture specifically

Question 24

What’s the etic perspective?

Answer 24

-conducting research from an outside perspective to discover universal truths about human psychology
- i.e applying the findings to all cultures

Question 25

Whats and imposed etic perspective?

Answer 25

• perspective where the behaviours of a certain ethnicity or culture are seen as the default and normal (e.g. deviation from social norms)

Question 26

what can an imposed etic lead to?

Answer 26

• ethnocentrism

Question 27

what is cultural bias?

Answer 27

• tendency to judge all cultures and individuals in terms of your own cultural assumptions

Question 28

what is cultural relativism?

Answer 28

• view that morals, behaviour, standards and values cannot be judged properly unless they are viewed in the context of the culture in which they originate

Question 29

what’s an example of cultural relativism?

Answer 29

• milgrims study of obedience - replicated with Spanish students, replicated again with Australian students - specifically bound to american cultures

Question 30

how can alpha bias lead to cultural bias?

Answer 30

• when the assumption of real differences lead psychologists to overlook universals

Question 31

how can beta bias lead to cultural bias?

Answer 31

• cultural relativism is often discussed in the context of defining mental disorders
• behaviours that are statistically infrequent in one culture may be more frequent in another

Question 32

whats an example of alpha and beta bias in cross-culture research?

Answer 32

• the distinction that is often made between individualistic collectivist cultures
• we would expect individualistic cultures to be less conformist as they are less orientated towards group norms and value the needs of the group over the individual

Question 33

whats a study that researches the distinction between individualistic and collectivist cultures? what does it suggest?

Answer 33

• Takaho and Osaka reviewed 15 studies that compared thew US and Japan in terms of collectivist/individualism and foudn that 14 out of 15 studies did not support the common view about differences in conformity
• suggests that there is of a collectivist/individualist divide in an increasingly global world

Question 34

whats an example of beta bias in culture?

Answer 34

• IQ tests
• psychologists use IQ tests to study intelligence in many different cultures based on American intelligence
• non-western people may appear less intelligent

Question 35

what are the percentages of studies globally fro bias?

Answer 35

• 66% of the studies were American
• 32% European
• 2% rest of the world

Question 36

what are the consequences of cultural bias?

Answer 36

• the us army IQ test showed that European immigrants fell slightly below white Americans, therefore stereotypes