Gender bias

• Universality is any underlying characteristic human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences and

  upbringing. Gender bias and culture bias threaten the universality of findings in psychology.
• when considering human behaviour, bias is a tendency treat one individual or group in a different way from others. In the context of gender bias psychological research or theory may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience or behaviour of men or women
• Androcentrism, male centred, when ‘normal’ behaviour is judged according to a male standard- meaning that female behaviour is often judged to be abnormal or deficient by comparison
• Alpha bias is research that focuses on differences between men and women, and therefore tends to present a view that exaggerates these differences
• Beta bias is research that focuses on similarities between men and women, and therefore tends to present a view that ignores or minimises differences
• What is one example of Alpha bias research?

  Alpha bias refers to theories which exaggerate the differences between males and females. One example of this is Sigmund Freud‘s theory of psychosexual stages of development , in his psychoanalytic approach, Freud argued that because girls do not suffer the same oedipal conflict as boys, they do not identify with their mothers as strongly as boys identify with their fathers, so develop weaker superegos. Therefore girls/women are inferior to boys/men.