gender & culture in psychology: gender bias

Question 1

define biased view

Answer 1

leaning towards subjective view which doesn’t necessarily reflect objective reality

Question 2

describe alpha bias
- give examples

Answer 2

• exaggerates differences which are typically presented as fixed & inevitable
• sometimes these heighten value of women, but mostly devalue them compared to men

eg. freud’s (1905) theory of psychosexual development:
- during phallic stage, boys/girls develop desire for opposite-sex parent
- creates sense of castration anxiety in boys & anxiety resolved when boy identifies with father
- girls eventual identification with same-gender parent is weaker, meaning her superego is weaker
- implies girls/women morally inferior to men

eg. favours women in psychodynamic approach sometimes:
- chadrow (1968) suggested daughters & mothers have greater connection than mothers & sons due to biological similarities
- means women develop better abilities to bond with others & sympathise

Question 3

describe beta bias
- give examples

Answer 3

• research which ignores/underestimates differences
• happens when assume research findings apply equally to men & women even when women weren’t involved in research process

eg. research on fight/flight response:
- biological research mainly favoured male animals as female behaviour affected by regular hormonal changes (ovulation) = ignores potential differences
- taylor et al. (2000) described tend & befriend response = oxytocin (love hormone) more plentiful in women & women respond to stress by increasing production
- illustrates how research that minimises gender differences may cause misinterpretation of womens behaviour

eg. research which minimises men’s behaviour
- research on attachment which assumed emotional care provided solely by mother
- research on role of the father showed fathers can supply emotional care

Question 4

describe androcentrism

Answer 4

• alpha bias & beta bias are consequences of androcentrism
• psychology has persistently presented male-dominated version of society
• traditionally subject produced by men, for men & about men (andorecentric perspective) = eg. american psychological association published list of 100 most influential psychologists of 20th century including only 6 women
• eg. feminists opposed to diagnostic category of pre menstrual syndrome as it medicalises womens emotions as hormonal changes but men’s anger’s is often seen as rational response to external pressures (brescoll & uhlmann 2008)

Question 5

-) gender differences often presented as fixed & endurng (eg. alpha bias) when they’re not

Answer 5

E:
- maccoby & jacklin (1974) presented findings of several gender studies concluding girls have superior verbal ability whilst boys have better spatial ability
- suggested differences are ‘hardwired’ into brain before birth
- such findings become widely reported/believed as facts but joel et al. (2015) used brain scanning & found no such sex differences in brain structure/processing
- maccoby & jacklins findings may be popularised as fit existing stereotypes as girls as ‘speakers’ & men as ‘doers’

T: suggests we should be wary when accepting research findings as biological facts when may be explained by social stereotypes

however, this doesn’t mean psychologists shouldn’t study possible gender differences in the brain as may be biological differences

Question 6

-) gender bias promotes sexism in research process

Answer 6

E:
- women still underrepresented in university departments, especially science
- while psychology’s undergraduate intake mainly women, lecturers are most likely men (murphy et al. 2014)
- means research most likely conducted by men which may disadvantage female participants (eg. male researcher may expect women to be irraitonal & unable to complete complex tasks - nicolson 1995) & such expectations may cause women to underperform in research studies

T: means institutional structures & methods of psychology may produce gender-bias findings

Question 7

-) research challenging gender-biases may be unpublished

Answer 7

E:
- formanowicz et al. (2018) analysed over 1000 articles relating to gender bias, published over 80 years
- found research on gender bias is funded less often & published by less prestigious journals
- means fewer scholars become aware of it or apply it within own work
- researchers argued still true when gender bias compared to other forms of bias (eg. ethnic bias) & when other factors controlled (eg. gender of author, methodology)

T: suggests gender bias in psychological research may not be taken as seriously as other forms of bias