L1 - Gender Bias

Question 1

Gender bias

Answer 1

The differential treatment and/or representation of males and females, based on stereotypes and not on real differences.

Question 2

Alpha bias

Answer 2

An alpha bias refers to theories/studies that overestimate or exaggerate the differences between males and female

Question 3

Beta bias

Answer 3

A beta bias refers to theories/studies that ignore or minimise or underestimate sex differences. These theories/studies often assume that the findings from studies using males can apply equally to females.

Question 4

Androcentrism

Answer 4

• Theories which are centred on, or focused on males.
• Gender bias might result in androcentrism – the belief that men’s behaviour represents the norm and
  therefore that any behaviour typical of women might be judged abnormal.
• Both Alpha and Beta bias are the consequences of androcentrism

Question 5

Universality

Answer 5

believing that some behaviours are the same for both genders and should therefore be applied to both genders

Question 6

What is gender bias in psychology?

Answer 6

• bias is used to suggest that a person’s views are distorted in some way, and in psychology there is evidence that gender is presented in a biased way.
• This bias leads to differential treatment of males and females, based on stereotypes and not real differences.
• Anatomically men and women are different, some psychologists argue that the idea of gender differences is much exaggerated and that the differences within genders are actually much greater than between genders!
• so two females can be just as different from each other as a male and female.
  E.g. one female could be short and moody and the other female could be tall and happy. Also one female
  could be strong and agile whereas another female could be fragile.

Question 7

2 types of gender bias

Answer 7

Psychologists Hare-Mustin and Marecek (1988) argued for there being two types of gender bias: alpha and beta bias.

Question 8

Examples of alpha bias in research

Answer 8

• In his psychoanalytic approach, Freud argued that because girls do not suffer the same oedipal conflict as boys, girls don’t identify with their mothers as strongly as boys identify with their fathers, and so develop weaker superegos – this point is insinuating a difference between boys and girls with girls being morally weaker than boys
• The evolutionary approach is also criticised for its alpha bias as it suggests that evolutionary processes in the development of the human species explain why men tend to be dominant, why women have more parental investment in their offspring, and why men are more likely to commit adultery. Also it suggests promiscuity in men is normal and acceptable whilst promiscuity in women is abnormal and unacceptable. Therefore the evolutionary approach could be creating or encouraging gender bias

Question 9

Beta bias (detail)

Answer 9

• There is evidence of beta bias in psychological research. Male and female participants are used in most studies, but there is normally no attempt to analyse the data to see whether there are significant sex differences.
• Where differences are found, it may be possible that these occur because researchers ignore the differential treatment of participants.
  E.g. Rosenthal (1966) reported that male experimenters were more pleasant, friendly, honest, and encouraging with female participants than with male participants. This led Rosenthal to conclude: “Male and female subjects may,psychologically, simply not be in the same experiment at all

Question 10

Animal research

Answer 10

• Some animal research can be argued to suffer from beta bias e.g. biological research into the fight-or-flight response has often been carried out with male animals because they have fewer variations in hormones than females. It was assumed that this would not be a problem as the fight-or-flight response would be the same for both, but later stress research by Taylor et al. (2000) has challenged this view by providing evidence that females produce a tend-and-befriend response. The beta-bias in the earlier animal studies meant that for a long time the stress response was not fully understood and a real difference was ignored.

Question 11

Examples of beta bias

Answer 11

• animal research
• women vs men’s morality

Question 12

women vs men’s morality

Answer 12

• Research into moral development that suggests women’s morality might be less sophisticated than that of men.
• Kohlberg’s stage theory of moral development was based on extensive interviews that he conducted with boys aged 10-16. The same all- male sample was then re-interviewed at intervals of 3-4 years over a 20- year period. His classification system is based on a morality of justice – this is an example of beta biased research – carried out on only males.
• However, some researchers, such as Gilligan (1982), have found that women tend to be more focused on relationships when making moral decisions and therefore often appear to be at a lower level of moral reasoning when using Kohlberg’s system.
  -Therefore Kohlberg’s approach meant that a real difference was ignored

Question 13

What is the result of beta bias in psychological research

Answer 13

• The result of beta bias in psychological research is that we end up with a view of human nature that is supposed to apply to men and women alike, but in fact, has a male or androcentric bias.
  E.g. Asch’s (1951; 1955) conformity studies involved all male participants, as did many of the other conformity studies (e.g., Perrin & Spencer, 1980) and it was just assumed that females would respond in the same way.
• Zimbardo (1973) in his prison experiment only used male students but it was assumed that females would react in the same way to prison life. This is again another example of beta bias.

Question 14

Androcentrism

Answer 14

• being centred on, or dominated by, males or the male viewpoint, can be conscious or unconscious
• In the past most psychologists were male, and the theories they produced tended to represent a male view of the world.
• Both alpha bias and beta bias are the consequences of androcentrism.
• American Psychological Association published a list of the 100 most influential psychologists of the 20th Century which included only six women.
• suggests that psychology has traditionally been a subject produced by men, for men and about men – an androcentric perspective
• Another example of androcentric bias is the way a woman’s behaviour is interpreted.
  E.g. if a woman gets angry then this is categorised as a sign of premenstrual syndrome meaning it is because of her hormones whereas when a man gets angry then this is often seen as a rational response to external pressure (Brescoll and Uhlmann 2008)

Question 15

Evaluation

Answer 15

strengths
- solutions put forward
- research criteria
- described as universal
weaknesses
- unchallenged
- seen as fixed/enduring
- institutional sexism
- can work against males

Question 16

Solutions put forward

Answer 16

• Although one way to reduce gender bias is by developing a greater understanding of gender bias, psychologists have put forward a number of solutions.
  E.g. some psychologists attempt to develop theories that emphasise the importance or value of women. Cornwell et al. (2013) noted that females are better at learning, as they are more attentive an organised, thus emphasising both the value of and the positive
  attributes of women.
• As a result, this type of research helps to reduce or challenge gender stereotypes, which is important in reducing gender bias

Question 17

Research criteria

Answer 17

• Worrell (1992) also suggested a number of research criteria that are particularly important to ensure that research investigations are not gender biased: using alternative methods of inquiry to explore the personal lives of women; considering
  women in the natural settings in which they function; collaborating with research participants to explore personally relevant variables and studying diverse samples - women who vary by age, socio-economic class, partner preference, minority or ethnic group

Question 18

Described as universal

Answer 18

• It is also important to note that when a theory is described as universal, it means that it can apply to all people, irrespective of gender.
• However, this also means that it needs to include real differences.
• In relation to gender, this means developing theories that show the similarities and differences between males and females, without devaluing
  either gender.
• This may mean using a variety of research methods and considering women in the natural settings in which they function.

Question 19

Often unchallenged

Answer 19

• problem with issues of gender bias is the fact that unfortunately they often go unchallenged.
  E.g. Darwin’s established theory of sexual selection suggests that women are selective (choosy) in terms of mate selection and men are more competitive with each other in order to attract a female mate.
• These views have only recently been challenged by DNA evidence suggesting that women are equally as
  competitive as men when the need arises.
• Does this mean that previous theories on sexual selection are not correct or do they just lack temporal validity or are they just gender biased

Question 20

Presented as fixed/enduring

Answer 20

• Another problem with issues of gender bias is that gender differences are often presented as fixed and enduring when they are not.
  E.g. Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) concluded that girls have superior verbal ability than boys whereas boys have better spatial ability.
• They suggested that these differences were hardwired into the brain before birth. Such findings were spread and seen as facts.
• This may have been due to the popular stereotypes at that time with girls being ‘speakers’ and boys ‘doers’.
• In fact, in a recent study by Joel et al (2015) who used brain scanning and found no such sex differences in brain structure or processing.
• Therefore, gender differences should be treated with caution in terms of whether they are biological facts or based on social stereotypes

Question 21

Promotes institutional sexism

Answer 21

• another problem with gender bias is that it promotes institutional sexism. Women
  remain underrepresented in university departments as research scientists.
• Although there are more female undergraduates studying psychology than males, psychology
  lecturers tend to be men (Murphy et al. 2014).
• This means that research is more likely to be conducted by men and this may disadvantage female participants despite male researchers being more friendly towards their female participants (Rosenthal 1966), they may expect women to be irrational and unable to complete tasks (Nicholson, 1995) and such expectations are likely to mean that women underperform in research studies.
• This means that there is sexism occurring in the research process.

Question 22

Can work against males

Answer 22

• important to remember that sometimes the gender bias can work against males as well as females, as sometimes alpha bias theories heighten the value of women.
  E.g. women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and given treatment than males. This may be because woman are more likely to suffer from depression, or it could be that the diagnostic system may be biased towards finding depression among women.
• The expectation that if males do suffer from depression should be able to ‘pull themselves together’ may highlight an issue with the diagnostic
  systems for mental disorders. It also highlights the fact that societal pressures do not allow men to be sad.