Issues and debates-gender bias

Question 1

what is alpha bias

Answer 1

Alpha bias – this occurs when the differences between men and women are exaggerated. Therefore, stereotypically male and female characteristics may be emphasized. This can be done Either to heighten the value of women or devalue them.
➢These differences are presented as real and enduring, fixed and inevitable.

Question 2

What’s an example of alpha bias hint psychodynamic

Answer 2

According to Freud, since females do not experience
castration anxiety, they are under less pressure and have less of a need to identify with the moral standards of their same-sex parent, as compared to boys. This suggests that females, in line with the psychodynamic approach, are less moral than males - an idea which has been refuted by Hoffman et al.
Furthermore Josselson (1988) points out ‘In his theory women are seen as being inferior to men as they are jealous of men’s penises and because they cannot undergo the same Odeipus conflict as boys do. Because the superego develops from the conflict women must therefore be morally inferior because they have a weaker identification with their mother.

Question 3

What’s another example of alpha bias hint sociobiological + relationships

Answer 3

Wilson’s sociobiological theory of relationship formation suggests that sexual promiscuity in males is genetically determined, whereas promiscuous females are going against their ‘nature’. Females, from an evolutionary standpoint, need to be more selective when choosing their mates, due to having a limited supply of eggs and requiring more energy and effort to reproduce, compared to men. Therefore, such alpha bias may lead to prejudice and stereotyping of women who engage in these behaviours.

Question 4

What is beta bias

Answer 4

When differences between the two sexes are ignored or minimised or underestimated.
➢This often occurs when female participants are not included as part of the research process and it is then assumed that the research findings apply equally to both sexes.

Question 5

Beta bias example hint 👊🏾or🏃🏾‍♀️

Answer 5

Early research into fight or flight was based exclusively on male animals and was assumed to be a universal response to a threatening situation.
However more recent research….
* Taylor et al (2000) suggested that female biology has evolved to inhibit the fight or flight response, shifting attention towards caring for offspring and forming defensive networks with other females

Question 6

A second beta bias example

Answer 6

Beta bias – example Kohlberg (1973)
* His stage theory of moral development was based entirely on a longitudinal study of a sample of American men.
* Though he argued his findings were universal and represented the moral reasoning of both men and women.
* Claimed women generally reached lower level of development (androcentrism)

Question 7

What is androcentrism

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Androcentrism – example PMS

Answer 8

PMS has been criticised by some as being a social construction, which trivialises female emotion, particularly anger. On the other hand, male anger is seen as a logical response to external pressures (Brescoll and Uhlman).

Question 9

Androcentrism - gynocentrism

Answer 9

Gynocentric; a study conducted only on females but generalised also to males

Question 10

How does androcentrism affect society

Answer 10

• Females discriminated against (failed men)
• Females can’t cope with situations throughout the working month (time of the month)

Question 11

What’s the difference between androcentrism and gynocentrism

Answer 11

Androcentrism:
A study conducted only on males but generalised also to females.
Gynocentric; a study conducted only on females but generalised also to males

Question 12

example of gender bias

Answer 12

Gilligan & moral development
Highlighted bias inherent in Kohlberg’s work
Suggested women make moral decisions in a different way to men (care ethic vs. justice ethic)
Arguably also (alpha) biased, as M & F moral reasoning is more similar than her work suggests

Question 13

androcentrism- example Freud

Answer 13

As girls do not experience castration anxiety in the phallic stage- not under same pressure to identify with same-sex parent.
Female then forms a weaker superego and so her sense of morality is inferior to a males
Feminity is an expression of failed masculinity
Vanity- a defence mechanism to make up for sexual inferiority to men.

Question 14

gender bias: Alpha Bias

Answer 14

Karen Horney stated it was wrong to think females were envious of men’s attribute’s but they were jealous of their social class.
She coined the term, ‘womb envy’ , in which males were envious of females ability to have children and compensated for that by achieving in other domains.

Question 15

what are the implications of gender bias

Answer 15

Gender-biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour, fail to challenge negative stereotypes and validate discriminatory practices. It may provide a scientific justification to deny women opportunities both in the workplace and society.
Travis (1993)-it becomes ‘normal’ for women to feel abnormal
It may therefore have lasting and damaging consequences for real women

Question 16

Institutional Sexism

Answer 16

Lack of women at senior level means that female concerns may not be reflected in the research questions asked.
Lab experiments have female participants and male researchers- what might this mean?
Nicholson (1995) this creates an inequitable relationship with male researcher where they could be labelled.
Denmark et al (1988)- psychology is institutionally sexist and creates bias in theory and research

Question 17

reflexivity

Answer 17

Modern researchers are beginning to recognise the effect their won values and assumptions have on the nature of their work
rather than see bias as a problem they embrace it and see it as a critical aspect of the research process.
Dambrin and Lambert (2008)-reflected on their own gender-related experiences in their research.
Reflexivity is an important development in psychology and has led to greater awareness of the role of personal bias in research

Question 18

Essentialism

Answer 18

Many gender differences are based on the essentialist perspective that gender differences are fixed and enduring.
These can often be politically motivated facts that create double-standards,

Question 19

Feminist psychology

Answer 19

Worrell (1992) stated that a number of criteria should be adhered to in order to avoid gender bias:
Women should be studied in real life context
They should not be objects of study
Diversity within groups of women should be examined as opposed to differences between men and women.

Question 20

Addressing gender bias

Answer 20

Feminist perspective
Re-examining the ‘facts’ about gender
View of women as normal humans, not deficient men
Skepticism towards biological determinism
Research agenda focusing on women’s concerns
A psychology for women, rather than a psychology of women

Question 21

what is culture

Answer 21

culture refers to a set of customs, social roles, behavioural norms and moral values that are shared by a group of people. As osychology developed in western countries, researchers would typically study people who were available-people form their own cultural background. Historically, there hasnt been much research to compare people of different cultures. There are various possible reasons for this

Question 22

name 3 reasons for cultural differences

Answer 22

Researchers assumed that people from western cultures are essentially the same as people in other cultures. So whatever was found about people from one culture was applied to all other people
It may have been assumed that non-western cultures were more primitive and less worthy of study.
Researchers who wanted to do cross cultural research couldn’t because they lacked time and resources

Question 23

what two main ways did berry (1969) conclude are the approaches to research which could lead to cultural bias

Answer 23

etic research
emic research

Question 24

what is etic research

Answer 24

etic research from a specific culture which is then applied to others cultures to find universal laws, giving the studies universiality
Its possible that there are lots of these. All humans have basically the same physiology and many behaviours are found in all cultures, eg language, attachment formation, agression.
However, becuase studies have to tale samples of the population, its difficult to generalise the findings to all cultures. If researchers do this, they could be guilty of bias in the form of an imposed etic

Question 25

what is emic research

Answer 25

emic research is researched based on a specific culture that’s used to understand that culture from within. It isn’t generalised to other cultures. Instead it studies variations in behaviour between groups of people. This avoids the problem of cultural bias through an imposed etic (ie making universal laws)
However, bias may still occur by exaggerating differences between cultural groups, and neglecting to look at the differences within cultural groups.
This is what happens in claims like ‘people from country x are more generous than people from country Y’. Even if evidence showed that, on average, country X residents are more generous, its still likely that many of them aren’t, and that many people from country Y are. So its important not to neglect the variety found within groups-individual differences

Question 26

explain this in terms of homo and hetero sexuality

Answer 26

For example, research on relationships might focus on studying heterosexuals, and so neglect homosexual relationships (emic bias) The findings might then be generalised to homosexual relationships, despite not having studies them (etic bias)