Issues And Debates – gender bias

Question 1

What is a bias?

Answer 1

A persons views are distorted in someway.

Question 2

What is universality?

Answer 2

That conclusions can be applied to everyone anywhere regardless of time or culture.

Question 3

What is a gender bias?

Answer 3

The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real difference.

Question 4

What is androcentrism?

Answer 4

– a viewpoint dominated by males.
– In the past most psychologist were male and the theories they produce tender to represent a male view of the world.

Question 5

What is an alpha bias?

Answer 5

Caused by attempting to avoid universality.
– Attend to over emphasise differences between males and females. This can lead to stereotypes and one gender being valued in comparison to the other.

Question 6

What is the Freud example of alpha bias?

Answer 6

Freud (1905)
He argued that because girls do not suffer the same Oedipal conflict as they do not identify with their mothers as strongly as boys identify with their fathers so develop weaker super egos.

Question 7

What is the Freud example of alpha bias?

Answer 7

Freud (1905)
He argued that because girls do not suffer the same Oedipal conflict as they do not identify with their mothers as strongly as boys identify with their fathers so develop weaker super egos.

Question 8

What is the Chodorow example of alpha bias?

Answer 8

Chodorow (1968)
Women develop better bond and empathy due to daughters more than some connected to mothers due to biological similarity.

Question 9

What does the evolutionary approach have to do with alpha bias?

Answer 9

In psychology the evolutionary approach suggests that evolutionary processes in the development of the human species explain why men tend to be dominant by women have a more parental investment in their offspring and why men are more likely to commit adultery. However, society has changed considerably recent years and the evolutionary perspective shouldn’t be used to justify gender differences.

Question 10

What is a beta bias?

Answer 10

Caused by trying to assume universality
– Attendance to ignore or downplay differences between males and females.
– Assumes insights arrive from studies of men will apply equally well to women.

Question 11

What does foils have to do with beta bias?

Answer 11

It was assumed that the fight or fight response would be the same for both sexes. Taylor (2000) suggests that the higher presence of oxytocin reduces fight/flight in women and promotes a ‘tend/befriend’.

Question 12

What does Kohlberg have to do with bias?

Answer 12

His stage theory of moral development was based on extensive interviews that he conducted with boys aged 10-16. The same or male sample was then re-interviewed at intervals of 3 to 4 years over 20 year period. His classification system is based on morality of justice and some researches such as Gilligan (1982), have found that women tend to be more focused on relationships when making more decisions and therefore often appear to be at a lower level of more reasoning when using Kohlberg’s system.

Question 13

What do Milgram Asch and Zimbardo have to do with Beta bias?

Answer 13

They all used all male samples to draw conclusions about the nature of respectively, destructive obedience, normative conformity and conformity to social roles.

Question 14

What are the strength of gender bias?

Answer 14

Efforts to overcome bias

Question 15

What are the strength of gender bias?

Answer 15

Efforts to overcome bias

Question 16

What are the two weaknesses on gender bias?

Answer 16

Sexist attitude produce gender biased-results
Gender differences presented as enduring.

Question 17

What is effort to overcome bias as a strength of gender bias? (PEEL).

Answer 17

P: a strength of the discussion around gender bias in research is that it has led to contemporary psychologist looking for ways to reduce it and increase the value of women in society.
E: Cornwell et al (2013) found that female showed advantages in learning showing more attentive and organised thus emphasising the positive attributes of women.
E: therefore by acknowledging the differences some psychologist attempt to develop theories that emphasise the importance of value of women.
L: as a result this type of research help to overcome sexist attitude and bias in research publications and therefore has application to society in the form of supporting social policies that promote gender equality.

Question 18

What is sexiest attitudes producing gender biased research as a limitation of gender bias? (PEEL).

Answer 18

P: an important limitation in the research process is the presence of sexism which has led to androcentrism.
E: Murphy et al (2014) argues that research is more likely to be conducted by males as there is a lack of women appointed at senior research positions in universities.
E: this may disadvantage females for example a male research may expect female participants to be irrational and unable to complete complex tasks (Nicholson, 1995).
L: this has application to society as it means that the institutional structures and methods of psychology may produce findings which are gender biased.

Question 19

What is gender differences presented as enduring as a limitation of gender bias?(PEEL).

Answer 19

P: limitation is that gender differences are presented as fixed and enduring.
E: Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) concluded that girls have better verbal ability and boys have better spatial ability due to hardwired biological brain differences.
E: however Joel et al (2015) used brain imaging and found no such gender differences.
L: this suggest that we should be cautious in the application of research as indicating biological factors when it might be better explained as malleable social stereotypes.