gender bias

Question 1

what is gender bias?

Answer 1

when gender is presented in a biased way in psychological research or theories. this leads to differential treatments of men and women based on stereotypes

Question 2

what are the 4 differences between boys and girls according to maccoby and jacklin (1974)

Answer 2

• girls have greater verbal ability
• boys have greater visual and spatial abilities
• boys have a greater arithmetic ability, only in adolescence
• girls are less aggressive than boys

Question 3

what is androcentrism?

Answer 3

• being centred on or revolving around the male viewpoint
• this can be conscious or unconscious
• in the past most psychologists were male so their theories produced a male view of the world

Question 4

what is alpha bias?

Answer 4

theories which exaggerate the differences between men and women

Question 5

give an example of alpha bias

Answer 5

in his psychoanalytic theory, freud argued that girls don’t suffer from the same oedipal conflict as boys and instead develop ‘penis envy’

Question 6

what is beta bias?

Answer 6

theories which ignore or minimise sex differences, often assuming that the findings from men can equally apply to women

Question 7

give an example of beta bias

Answer 7

• biological research into the fight or flight response has often been carried out on male animals as they have fewer hormone variations, it was assumed this wouldn’t be an issue as the response would be the same for men and women
• however later research by taylor et al (2000) challenged this and suggested women produce a tend and befriend response
• the beta bias in the earlier research means stress wasn’t fully understood

Question 8

evaluate gender bias
1/4

Answer 8

issues of gender bias often go unchallenged. for example darwins theory of sexual selection, which suggests that women are especially selective in terms of mate choice, has only recently been challenged by dna evidence that suggests women are equally as competitive as men when needed. highlights the importance of challenging previous research to help reduce gender bias within research and ensure that women are portrayed accurately in contemporary research studies

Question 9

evaluate gender bias
2/4

Answer 9

by developing a greater understanding of gender bias psychologists have put forward multiple solutions. for example some have tried to build theories that emphasise the importance or value of women. cornwell et al (2013) for example noted that women are better at learning and are more attentive and organised, emphasising the value of women. therefore this style of research helps to reduce negative or harmful stereotypes, which helps to reduce gender bias

Question 10

evaluate gender bias
3/4

Answer 10

taking a feminist approach, which attempts to restore the imbalance in psychological research and theories, can be a way to reduce gender bias. feminist psychology accepts that there are biological differences between men and women, for example eagly (1978) claims that women are less effective leaders than men. this study however was completed to help develop programmed to increase the number of female leads in the real world

Question 11

evaluate gender bias
4/4

Answer 11

gender bias within research has often led to reduced validity and applicability of different psychological theories. asch for example studied conformity using a sample of only men, and inaccurately generalised these results to women believing that conformity was universal. later research however indicated that women are more likely to conform than men, highlighting that asch was incorrect in applying his findings to women. this suggests how androcentric and gender biased theories and research can lead to invalid conclusions, contributing to an inaccurate understanding of a particular psychological phenomenon