Issues and Debates - Gender Bias Flashcards
What is universality?
- Universality is the idea that any conclusions drawn about an underlying characteristic of human beings can be applied to all people, anywhere, regardless of time or culture i.e. despite differences of experience and upbringing.
- Psychologists are people and therefore have values and beliefs that are influenced by the social and historical context they live in. Consequently, bias may be an inevitable part of the research process.
Examples of a gender bias
Simone De Beauvoir - The representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of man; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with the truth
- Carl Rogers, a humanistic psychologist, developed theories on unconditional positive regard as he lacked this in his own childhood
Key terms for gender bias
Bias = when considering human behaviour, bias is a tendency to treat one individual or group in a different way from others, which creates a distorted view of the world.
Gender bias = a type of bias where psychological research or theory may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience of men or women (usually women). It is the differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences.
Androcentrism - male-centered. When research is done only with male samples, ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard and this means that female behaviour that deviates from this is often judged to be abnormal, different, inferior, or deficient by comparison
Types of gender bias - alpha bias
- Psychological theories/research that over exaggerate or overestimate differences between the sexes. Such differences are typically presented as real and enduring, fixed and inevitable.
- They may enhance or undervalue members of either sex, but typically undervalue females.
Examples of studies / theories that show an alpha bias
1) Sociobiological theory of relationship formation (sexual selection) suggests it is the interest of the male to impregnate as many women as possible to increase the chance of his genes surviving, leading to a preference for short term relationships and for young women with signs of fertility based on a waist:hip ratio. In contrast, the best chance of the female for preserving her genes is to ensure the healthy survival of few offspring, and so they prefer wealthy, older strong men and long term relationships.
- This shows an alpha bias as it exaggerates the differences between men and women; not all men desire this or not all women desire this
2) Psychodynamic theory states that morality is governed by the superego - boys solve the Oedipus complex through identification with the father and assimilation of his morals; they have a stronger sense of morality than girls because their conflict is greater. Girls do not have the same pressure to form identification with the same-sex parent due to penis envy, and women are considered to be psychologically defined by the fact they are not women. Female vanity is a defence mechanism used to make up for sexual inferiority by focusing on physical charms
- This is alpha bias as it exaggerates the differences between the two sexes, and also creates a very damaging image of women
- This suggests that females are not as moral as males, which reinforces the stereotype that women need men in order to make progression in their moral development.
Examples of studies / theories with an alpha bias cont.
3) Wilson (1994) - the reason why 95% of bank managers, company directors, judges and university professors are male rather than female as men are more competitive and dominant. Their dominance is biological and determined by hormones.
- Alpha - women are capable of showing these traits, and this idea creates a very damaging image of women in the workplace, which can lead to misogyny in hiring and normalises sex discrimination
- Overestimate differences. This undervalues women and suggests a real difference between males and females because of the difference in their hormones. This could lead to offering jobs more to men because men are seen as able to do the job better due to their inherited dominance. This therefore reinforces stereotypes.
4) According to the biological approach, depression and other abnormal behaviour can be explained in terms of neurochemical / hormonal processes, and twice as many women are diagnosed; women’s hormones make the difference. PMS can also be used to support the effect hormones have on women’s emotions.
- Alpha - places too much emphasis on biological differences, and so ignores other factors that could impact depression and also leads to sex discrimination in diagnosis
Examples of theories / studies with an alpha bias (pt 3)
5) Erikson’s psycho-social theory of development stated that both men and women go through 8 universal stages of life - Stage 5 and 6 involved the development of identity and intimacy, a sequence seen as being different for females. Females suspend the development of their identity to prepare for them to attract a man who will marry them (intimacy stage) and men develop their identity before starting a relationship.
- This is an alpha bias as it is a universal account of development whereas it is based on male experiences and, consequently, undervalues women as they are seen as only knowing themselves through their relationship with a man. Men on the other hand are seen as being able to develop themselves fully without a woman being in their life, which suggests that women need men in order to reach their potential.
Types of gender bias - Beta bias
- Psychological theories/research that ignore, minimise or underestimate differences between the sexes. This often occurs when females are not a part of the research process and then it is assumed that research findings apply equally to both sexes.
Examples of beta bias - the fight or flight response
- Early research into this response was based exclusively on male animals (female hormones fluctuate) and was assumed to a be a universal response to a threatening situation; recently challenged by the tend-and-befriend response. This suggests the evolutionary differences have resulted from differing social roles in society - men would have benefitted from fight or flight as hunters, but women would not have as their primary role is to protect their offspring
- As a result, there is a likelihood of an entirely different stress response system in women - fleeing too readily at danger would risk their children, and so they are likely to have a tend and befriend result in which the threat is met with tending to their offspring and befriending other females for protective alliances - studies have shown women release oxytocin under stress, and this suppresses fight or flight
- A beta bias, as the original research assumed there was no difference in response between genders
Examples of beta bias - Kohlberg’s stages of moral development
- Moral decisions based on ethics of justice - study was based on American men in which they were asked to describe what behaviour would be right in situations related to fairness
- He therefore did not originally account for female differences in moral development, and instead concluded they are just less moral - he argued such principles were universal and represented the moral reasoning of both males and females.
- This study only uses men and some argue that mens’ morality is based on abstract principles of law and justice, while womens’ is based on principles of compassion and care; women feel unseen as the research does not fully apply to them
- In her 1981 book ‘In a different voice’, Gilligan attacked Kohlberg for the absence of female participants within his research.
- Her argument was that whilst male morality is based on abstract principles such as the importance of justice, female morality is more influenced by an ethic of care and responsibility to others.
- Gilligan argued that the natural female tendency towards care would place women at a lower and less mature level of moral reasoning in Kohlberg’s model.
- Through her own research with female participants she sought to demonstrate how female morality whilst being different from that of men, is no less mature or sophisticated.
Examples of beta bias in studies cont.
1) Zimbardo (1969) investigated the effect of deindividuation on the size of electric shock participants were prepared to deliver - female university students were put into one of two groups, with the first having to wear lab coats with hoods to hide their faces and the second in normal clothing and name badges - the first group gave shocks twice as great, showing how deindividuation leads to antisocial behaviour
- Minimises differences. It ignores that there may be a difference in men and women and whether they show de-individuation in the same way, which would create problems with generalising results from women to men.
- This could therefore lead to inaccurate beliefs about male behaviour and gender bias.
2) Milgram’s study of obedience - 65% delivered shocks based on authority figure orders
- It ignores a possible difference between the behaviour of males and females. It assumes that females will obey authority figures in the same way. Women may not show such a strong level of obedience to authority, which makes the research gender biased.
Evaluation of gender bias in Psychology - 1&2
1) Gender-biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour; it can be misunderstood and misrepresented (beta or alpha) and sometimes pathologized (psychological disorders) and so it is normal for women to feel abnormal, and such research creates misleading assumptions about female behaviour, leading to a failure in challening negative stereotypes and validate discrimination. It may provide scientific justifications for denying women opportunities in the workplace or society (PMS diagnosis has been criticised for medicalising female emotion whereas male anger is perceived to be a rational response to pressures, leading to overdiagnosis of mental illness in women)
- Gender bias is therefore not just a methodological problem - it can have damaging social consequences for women
2) A lack of women appointed at senior research levels means that female concerns are not always reflected in research questions asked - male researchers are more likely to be published and studies finding gender differences more likely to appear in journal articles. Laboratory experiments may also further damage women - female participants placed in inequitable relationships with a usually male researcher who has the power to label them unreasonable, irrational and unable to complete complex tasks.
- They also tell us little about the experience of women outside these controlled settings e.g. a meta-analysis found that females and males were found to be more similar in their research styles in a real-world context than in a lab - studies create differences.
Evaluations of gender bias in psychology - 3&4
3) Feminist psychology agrees that there are real biologically-based sex differences, but socially determined stereotypes makes a far greater contribution to perceived between the genders - this branch aims to address the imbalances in theory and research in psychology and one way to do this is to use evidence that women may be inferior to provide women with greater support e.g. lab experiments about leadership suggest women may benefit from suitable training programmes to create future with more female leaders
- Furthermore, criteria have been put forward to avoid gender bias in research e.g. using field experiments, studying diversity in groups of women rather than making comparisons between the sexes and using qualitative research methods
4) Beta bias has consequences for women; equal treatment under the law (beta bias) has allowed women greater access to educational and occupational opportunities - however, arguing for equality between men and women draws attention away from women’s needs and from differences in power between men and women
- In a society where one group holds most of the power, seemingly neutral actions end up benefiting the group with the power e.g. equal parental leave ignores the biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding therefore disadvantaging women
Evaluation of gender bias - 5
5) Many modern researchers are beginning to recognise the effect their own values and assumptions have on their own work - rather than seeing bias as a problem that may threaten objectivity - it is embraced as being a crucial and critical aspect of the research process. For example, Dambrin and Lambert (2008) studied the lack of women in executive positions in finance and included a reflection on how their gender-related experiences influence their reading of events
- This reflexivity is an important development in psychology as it may lead to greater awareness of the role of personal biases in shaping research in the future
