Issues & Debates - Gender bias

Question 1

Gender bias

Answer 1

Different treatment/representation of males & females based on stereotypes

Question 2

Alpha bias (gender)

Answer 2

Exaggerates the differences between men & women

Question 3

Beta bias (gender)

Answer 3

Ignores/minimises differences between men & women

Question 4

Androcentrism

Answer 4

Centred or focused on males

Question 5

Universality

Answer 5

Applicable to everyone

Question 6

How to prevent gender bias

Answer 6

• Use all genders in research
• Stratified sampling (representative split)
• Random allocation
• Gender-specific research outlined in the conclusions
• Avoid WEIRD samples (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic)

Question 7

Examples of alpha bias

Answer 7

Schizophrenia
- Higher diagnosis in men than women
- Schizophrenogenic mother - strong difference between mother & passive mother
Psychopathology
- Definitions of abnormality: attributed to hormones for women

Question 8

Examples of beta bias

Answer 8

Social Influence
- Asch: 50 men (applied to all)
- Zimbardo: 21 men (people conform to social roles)
- Milgram: 40 men (all people obey)
- Moscovici: 172 females
Psychopathology
- Little Albert: phobia ideas generalised

Question 9

Implications of gender bias (+)

Answer 9

+ Practical applications (beta bias minimises differences so equal treatment in work/education for men & women)
+ Challenge gender stereotypes (Cornwell - emphasised value & positive attributes of women being better at learning -> works towards more accurate & inclusive behavioural approaches)
+ Feminist approach (restore balance in psychological theories & research -> Eagly made training programmes to increase female leaders [initially seen as less effective])

Question 10

Consequences of gender bias (-)

Answer 10

• Socially sensitive (contributed to formation of stereotypes such as women as primary caregiver -> impact economy as high earning women will stay at home due to stereotyping)
• Differences don’t truly exist (Rosenthal - male experimenters are more pleasant towards female participants than the males [who then performed less well], lab experiments display different styles of leaderships than real settings)
• Research on bias is not funded (Formanwicz - 1000 articles analysed - published in less prestigious journals so less are aware & seen less serious)