Gender bias

Question 1

gender bias

Answer 1

= the differential treatment +/or representation of males + females based on stereotypes

Question 2

alpha bias

Answer 2

= theories or research that exaggerates the difference between males and females

Question 3

beta bias

Answer 3

= theories or research that minimises or ignores the differences between males + females

Question 4

androcentrism

Answer 4

= theories which are centred or focused on males - becomes norm + females then taken against this standard

Question 5

universality

Answer 5

= theory can be applied to all people irrespective of culture or gender

Question 6

historically…

Answer 6

…psychology has been a male-dominated discipline + many major theories + explanations reflect this

– female perspective marginalised + minimised

Question 7

bias may be…

Answer 7

…unavoidable as all researchers likely to be influenced by social + historical context in which they live, education + training

Question 8

andocentrism can be…

Answer 8

…conscious or unconscious bias

– in past most psychologists were male + therefore constructed theory tended to represent male view of world + therefore present a level of bias

Question 9

alpha bias - Freud…

Answer 9

…psychodynamic approach - ms + fs experience different conflicts in psychosexual dev

– girls don’t suffer same oedipal conflict as boys + therefore don’t identify w/ mothers as strongly as boys w/ fathers

–argued that impacted dev - girls are inferior to boys + develop weaker superego (research into morality + offending behaviour proved this to be untrue)

Question 10

alpha bias - evolution + attachment…

Answer 10

…evolutionary psych explains behaviour through human need to survive + reproduce

– ms + fs innately different to help adaptation to roles, aid survival

– males more dominant, females more empathy + parental investment to aid survival of offspring

Question 11

beta bias - assumption…

Answer 11

…findings from research on males can apply equally to females (or vice versa)

Question 12

beta bias - social influence…

Answer 12

…Asch’s conformity sample consisted of only male ppts - beta + androcentric bias - assumed females would respond in same way + show same conformity rates

Question 13

beta bias - contrast to Asch…

Answer 13

…Mori + Arai found gender differences in conformity rates + therefore Asch’s research unable to provide support for complete explanation of conformity

Question 14

how to prevent gender bias…

Answer 14

• use all genders in research sample
• use stratified sample to get representative gender split
• make sure ppts randomly allocated to conditions + distinctions between gender not made within results
• if research is gender specific then outline this in conclusions rather than generalising to other genders

Question 15

WEIRD sample…

Answer 15

… Western
Educated
Industrialised
Rich
Democratic

Question 16

implications (strengths) - practical applications…

Answer 16

…beta bias minimised differences between men + women + has PAs - can lead to equal treatment of men + women in work + education

– HOWEVER… Hare-Mustin and Mareck argue equality not always beneficial e.g. women have more physical demand in pregnancy so equal paternity may be problematic

Question 17

implications - solutions…

Answer 17

…contemporary psychologists have looked for ways to reduce GB by proposing no. of solutions

– Cornwell noted females are better at learning as they are more attentive + organised thus emphasising both the value + (+) attributes of women in contrast to earlier research that focused only on men - helps to reduce + challenge gender stereotypes + helps work towards more accurate + inclusive approaches to studying human behaviour

Question 18

implications - feminist approach…

Answer 18

…GB allows for a feminist approach which attempts to restore the imbalance in psychological theories + research

– Eagly claims females are less effective leaders than males (purpose of research is to help develop training programmes aimed at reducing lack of female leaders in world)

Question 19

consequences (limitations) - socially sensitive…

Answer 19

…GB is SS - research has contributed to formation of rigid gender stereotypes - e.g. women as primary CG - such assumptions have contributed to widespread beliefs of gender roles in family

– these SS views can have impacts on economy e.g if mother is breadwinner but believes she should stay home as a result of gender stereotypical research

Question 20

consequences - biased methodology…

Answer 20

…GB may result in research finding differences between genders that don’t actually exist - can be result of biased research methodologies +/or as result of gender of researcher

– Rosenthal found male experimenters are more pleasant towards female ppts than male ppts + in same research males performed ‘less well’

– feminists argue lab experiments disadvantage women because of controlled nature + research found although men + women had different leadership types in lab based research, in real settings they were more similar

– demonstrates impact of GB on validity of research

Question 21

consequences - not recognised as much…

Answer 21

…Formanwicz analysed over 1000 articles relating to GB - found research on GB is not well funded + is published in less prestigious journals - means fewer scholars become aware of it or apply it to own work - GB may not be taken as seriously as other biases