Gender bias

• What topics link to gender bias.

  • Attachment:role of the father -> alpha bias
  • Milgram, Asch and Zimbardo -> beta bias leading to androcentrism
  • Stress response (FIF) -> beta bias (universal, may have gender difference)
  • Psychodynamic -> alpha bias (women have weaker moral code and little Hans)
  • Evolutionary explanation for relationships-> alpha bias
• Outline of debate

  The extent that psychological research or theories may give views on behaviours that do not represent the experiences of men or women (usually women)
• Universality definition

  The ability to applying underlying characteristics of human beings found from research to everyone
• Gender bias definition

  The tendency of the psychological research to offer views that do not represent the experience and behaviour of men or women
• Androcentrism definition

  A possible consequence of beta bias. Whereby the behaviour of males from all male research becomes the norm, causing any behaviour deviating from such to be seen as abnormal which may lead to female behaviour being misunderstood
• Alpha bias definition

  A form of gender bias that exaggerates or overestimates difference between men and women. The differences are presented as enduring, fixed and inevitable. Often times, females are devalued due to alpha bias.
• Definition of beta bias

  This is a form of gender bias that ignores, minimises or underestimates differences between men and women, often when female ops are not involved but foundlings are applied to both females and males.