controversies- sexism Flashcards
male samples, androcentric - first para
up until recently the majority of psychological research has been conducted by men, using male samples. This created an androcentric view where males views, opinions and behaviour is seen as standard, with anything deviating from it being seen as inferior. This is due to historical and social context of psychology where men were seen as having superior mental capacity, leading to the involvement of no women in research. However as society and views are changing women are becoming more prominent in psychology. This essay will discuss the historical unsocial context of psychology and why the sexism in it is changing or not .
differences between genders - second para
cross cultural studies
historically research was conducted to show differences between the genders and this had a tendency of being explained as biological, giving the perception the differences are innate and avoidable. Research on mate selection by BUSS find men wanted young physically attractive females whilst women wanted males with status and resources. This was explained as an innate biological difference as men wanted fertile women and women wanted men who could provide.
In addition to this, research by DABBI suggested how the differences in agression between genders was due to hormones. With men having increased testosterone and low levels of oxytocin and women having higher levels of oxytocin. The historical tendency of using biology to explain the difference is the lead to sexism with society and psychology.
gender bias - third para
gender bias is another example of sexism present in past psychological research. There are two examples of gender bias, alpha bias and beta bias, alphas bias is where any of the differences between gender is exaggerated, perpetuating stereotypes and promoting androcentric bias. An example of alphas bias is Freuds psychosexual stages. He feared femininty as failed masculinity and concluded that women had we care super egos the men causing them to have weaker moral conscience. This further perpetuated the view of womens inferior mental capacity. However this could be explained with historical and social context. Freud established this theory during the very patriachal era of Victorian society. This therefore could have influenced his views and the conclusions that led to sexism within his research. Beta bias is where any differences between gender is minimised, ignoring the important subjective experiance of being a woman. An example of research with beta bias is KOHLBERG theory of moral development. Including any women in the sample, he concluded that women reach lower levels of moral development than men do. This was critised by researcher GILLIGAN for caring. However the views of kohlberg could be explained with historical and social context as society at the time still had deep rooted gender stereotypes. Therefore sexism in this research maybe due to the sexism already in society and Kohlbergs conclusions mirror what was already thought. In reference to the question both these pieces of research demonstrate sexism, through gender bias which reflects societys views at the time
heterosexism- fourth para
another form of sexism present in psychology is heterosexism. Historically psychology has failed to appreciate the richness of sexuality and gender identity. In historical terms, research on the queer community didnt take place. This is because up until recently it was illegal to be homosexual and it was still diagnosable mental disorder until the 1970s. This meant very little research on this community occurred heterosexual relationships was seen as the standard. However suggestions to reduce heterosexism by HEREK ET AL focused on the sample and research design. The sample should be reflective of the whole LHBTQ community and not perpetuate stereotypes. Research design should be modified to not include any heterosexism biased questions or answer options. Although research on this community is socially sensitive. for example suggesting there are big differences and completely different research is required demonstrated alpha bias, and suggesting there are no differences so no additional research is required, ignores their subjective experiance and demonstrates beta bias. Therefore whilst the rights and values are changing there may still be social issues that cause the lack of research that isnt heterosexist
another aspect invisibility of women in society
There is a glass ceiling effect where women are promoted to high research positions due to the historical view of their inferior mental capacity. The academic gender imbalance is caused by the lack of female researchers, a lack of research on topics of interest to women, and male biased editors who only publish research by men or research showing gender differences. This then caused sexism within psychology. However things are changing as more notable female psychologists are creating notable research. For example the first femal psychologist to research the differnces in males and female mental capacity far no empirical data to suggest any differences. Other notable female psychologists include HOLLINGSWORTH and her research on the mental effects of menstrual cycle and KOBASA and her research on stress. In reference to the question, whilst historically there as been a vast amount of sexism reflecting the views of society in psychology, as society is changing so is the amount of sexism
conclusion
in conclusion, whilst historical research means psychology will never be free from sexism, things are going in the right direction. For example DENMARK ET AL suggestion on reducing gender bias of redesign, correction and perception. Redesign refers to altering design if gender differences arise from an all male sample. Correction refers to correcting the fact majority of research is conducted by males by increasing amount of female researchers producing research if interest to women. Perception then refers to being aware of the increased likelihood of research suggesting differences to be published rather than research showing similarities. By following these suggestions the amount of gender bias and therefore sexism within psychology can be reduced. This can lead to less sexism in psychology however psychology will never be free from sexism as it always be somewhat present in society and history.
