Gender bias

• Gender Bias-

  Alpha bias-

  • exaggerated gender differences
  • Real with fixed/inevitable differences
  • E.g- sexual selection- males have unlimited sperm, while women have to be picked due to limited chances
• Gender Bias-

  Beta Bias-

  • ignored diffrences between genders
  • occurs when females aren’t included, assuming that the results apply to both genders
  • e.g- Asch only uses men, meaning that his results cant be generalised to females too
• Gender Bias-

  Androcentrism-

  • often a consequence of beta bias
  • Male behaviours viewed as the norm, females as abnormal
  • e.g- male anger is seen as valid, while females Is seen as menstruation
• Gender Bias-

  Overcoming-

  • not to generalise findings, that shouldn’t be
  • use mixed participant groups
  • check validity through pilot studies
  • avoid alpha and beta bias
  • constant reflection
• Gender Bias-

  CPW- Maccoby + Jacklin 1974- girls verbal ability is shown in a brain scan while boys in spatial awareness is better

  • Joel 2015- found no diffrence
  • boys play with Lego and girls with dolls

  CPS- biological differences- women can multitask- better communication between the right and left brain, than a mans
• Gender Bias-

  W- promotes sexism- women are underrepresented, partially in science- most psychology lectures are men, students are female- different view of the opposite genders

  W- research challenging gender bias might not be published- 1000+ articles analysed that were published over 8 years- funded less published by less established publishers, meaning it wont be applied - psychological research that my not be taken as seriously