ISSUES - Gender Bias

Question 1

Gender Bias

Answer 1

Looking at research from only a male or female perspective

Question 2

Universality

Answer 2

Being able to generalise laws to both genders

Question 3

Androcentrism

Answer 3

Studying males and then developing theories that lower the superiority of females and higher the superiority of males

Question 4

Gynocentrism

Answer 4

Studying females and believing females are superior to males

Question 5

Alpha bias

Answer 5

Exaggerating the differences between genders

Question 6

Beta bias

Answer 6

Minimising the differences between genders

Question 7

ESSAY PEEL 1 - is it possible to avoid being gender biased

Answer 7

P - Can gender bias be avoided
E - Kohlberg created moral reasoning stages to explain offending behaviour based on 75 males - producing androcentric results from a male perspective which was then generalised to males and females hence minimising differences between genders (beta bias)
E - Gillian studied women separately (gynocentric) by making a new set of moral reasoning stages for women
L - However this is then alpha biased emphasising the differences by men and women by saying that women need to be reasoned differently to men. Therefore both gender biased and hard to avoid.

Question 8

ESSAY PEEL 3 - Psychologists should still attempt to remove gender bias

Answer 8

P - Psychologists should still try to remove gender bias as there can be real life implications
E - Majority of studies are androcentric which was shown in the Guardian article where an androcentric bias has pervaded the medical professions view of womens health eg women where treatment was not helpful are considered difficult and hysteria and textbooks used male phsysique but added wider hips and breasts to teach both female and male anatomy
E - therefore important for psychologists to ensure that all genders are inclusive within their research and careful consideration is made to make sure differences are not under or over exaggerated to avoid social sensitivity and stereotypes
L - Potentially psychologists can avoid gender bias by using male and female researchers with male and female ppts

Question 8

ESSAY PEEL 2 - removing beta bias creates an alpha bias

Answer 8

P - Removing a beta bias creates an alpha bias so doesn’t remove gender bias but creates a new one
E - example in Ainsworths study she studied childrens attachment to their mothers (gynocentric) and said that women are the main attachment figure which exaggerates differences between males and females (alpha bias) but research shows men are just as important
E - On the other hand if Ainsworth was to remove the bias she would need to study both males and females in her research
L - However if she aims to analyse the differences between males and females in her sample she is still alpha biased and if not could be accused of being beta biased. Hence practically not possible to completely avoid it