What is Universality in psychology?
This is the assumption that psychological research findings, theories and observed behaviours apply to all humans, regardless of culture, gender or upbringing.
What are the forms of bias which threaten the universality of findings of psychology?
Gender and Culture Bias
What is Gender Bias?
This refers to treating a person in a more or less favourable way based on their gender.
What does gender bias involve?
It involves alpha bias, beta bias and Andocentrism.
What is alpha bias?
This is when there is a misrepresentation of behaviour because researchers overestimate or exaggerate the differences between men and women.
One example of Alpha Bias in psychology.
- Evolutionary explanation of partner preference: Evolutionary psychologists argue that males and females have evolved different mating strategies due to anisogamy. It portrays men as biologically driven to be promiscuous to spread their genes, while women are portrayed as “choosy” because of their limited eggs. By exaggerating these differences, the theory risks providing a biological excuse for male infidelity while stereotyping female behaviour.
Another example of alpha bias in psychology: Freud’s psychosexual stages of development.
Freud argued that gender development and the “superego” development occurs during the Phallic stage which is the stage where the boys experience the Oedipus complex, while the female experiences the Electra complex. To resolve these conflicts, both the male and female child have to identify with their same-sex parent and internalise their characteristics. However, Freud further argued that the female child does not identify with her mother as strongly as the male child does with his father and as a result, the girls develop a weaker superego and are therefore morally inferior to the men.
This displays alpha bias because Freud is exaggerating the difference between the male and female child in terms of their morality
What is beta bias?
This is when there is a misrepresentation of behaviour because researchers ignore, minimise or underestimate the differences between men and women.
Why does beta bias often occur?
Beta bias often occurs because research is conducted on an all male sample and the research findings are then assumed to apply equally to both sexes.
