Gender bias

• gender bias is the differential treatment of males and females based on stereotypes or not real differences
• androcentrism is where theories are centred or dominated by males or the male viewpoint
• in the past many psychologists where males therefore would have androcentrism theories as they tended to represent the male view of the world
• gynocentrism are theories centred on or focused on females
• alpha bias refers to theories which exaggerate the differences between males and females
• beta bias refers to theories which ignore or minimise sex differences - often assume findings from males can apply equally to females
• maccoby and jacklin concluded there are only 4 differences between girls and boys including

  • girls have greater verbal ability
  • boys have greater visual and spatial abilities
  • boys have greater arithmetical ability
  • girls are less aggressive than boys
• maccoby and jacklin researched the sex differences between boys and girls and found 4 differences
• cross cultural studies are any similarities found across cultures which can then be assumed to be natural because it eliminates the chance of it being cultural
• universality is the aim to develop theories that apply to all people which may include real differences
• alpha bias - exaggerates differences
• beta bias - minimise differences
• theories of gender:

  • sociobiological theory
  • freuds theory
  • fight or flight response
  • kohlbergs theory of moral development
• the sociobiological theory is alpha bias where women and men have different roles in reproduction
• the sociobiological theory

  • view all human behaviour is the result of evolutionary pressures
  • main goal as humans is to survive and reproduce genes
  • women and men have differing adaptive strategies in the way they reproduce
  • men mate often maximising offspring - dominant and more likely to commit adultery as they want as many genes passed on
  • women are cautious when selecting mate - desire for partner who will support and provide. have parental investment as they have fewer chances to reproduce
• implications to sociobiological theory

  • men seen as stronger and women needier
  • lead to implications in maternity pay
  • gender pay gap - 'men should earn more than women'
  • men viewed as more promiscuous and women are more cautious - damaging stereotypes
  • view that differences are 'natural' therefore permanent
  • with society changing it is argued evolutionary perspective should not be used to justify gender difference.
• freuds theory was alpha bias because he exaggerated the differences between men and women stating women are a failure of masculinity
• freuds theory

  • argued 'anatomy is destiny' -genuine psychological differences between males and females due to physiological differences
  • boys suffer oedipal complex - adopts male role and develop superego
  • girls suffer electra complex -take on a female gender role
  • freud argued as females do not suffer same oedipal conflict boys do -dont identify with their mothers as boys identify with their fathers so develop weaker superegos
  • femininity to freud is a failure to masculinity and women are seen as less developed as men
• implications to freuds theory

  • implies women are less than men - less developed, less moral
  • men by implication should be decision makers + power of household
  • suggested differences are inevitable and universal - women should not struggle for suffrage/equal rights just because they are less capable than men
• fight or flight response follows beta bias as it minimises differences between males and females
• fight or flight response

  • response to shock or sudden stressors - walter cannon
  • biological research response has often been carried out with male animals
  • Research is conducted using male animals because female animals hormonal fluctuations of menstrual cycle can confuse results
  • assumed would not be problem for fight or flight - would be same for both sexes
• implications to fight or flight response

  • assumes male results are valid for both sexes can limit research and understanding of human behaviour
  • beta bias can prompt research - taylor et al - females adopt tend to befriend response in stressful situations - women more likely to protect offspring and form alliance with women tha fight or flee the situation
• kohlbergs theory of moral development is beta bias he conducted a study regarding all male sample where he then generalised and minimised differences between males and females
• kohlbergs theory of moral development

  • stage model of development of morality in children
  • all male sample - stages reflect male definition of morality (androcentrism)
  • criticism - theory emphasises justice +ignores other values such as principles of compassion and care (may be seen as more important to women)
  • he stated women tend to get stuck at level 3 focusing on details of how to maintain relationships - men more likely to move onto abstract principles and so are seen as more highly moral
  • carol gilligan found women tend to be more focused on relationships when making moral decisions
• implications to kohlbergs theory of moral development

  • women seen as less moral because they stay stuck at stage 3
  • more typically 'male' morality valued more and so seen as only true kind of morality
  • 'feminine' type morality seen as inferior which may have implications for female criminals because they are seen as less moral
• example of beta bias in psychology

  • male and females being used in studies but no attempt to analyse analyse data to see if there are significant sex differences - were differences are found may be possible these occur because researchers ignore differential treatment of participants
  • for example - rosenthal reported male experimenters were more pleasant and friendly with female participants than males
  • led rosenthal to conclude 'male and female subjects may physiologically simply not be same experiment at all'
• evaluation - gender bias often unchallenged - limitation

  • limitation to gender bias is there are often issues within that go unchallenged
  • example - darwins established theory of sexual selection suggests women are selective in terms of male selection
  • views only recently been challenged by DNA evidence suggesting women are as competitive as men when need arises
  • with old theories being reviewed with current research being conducted to support claims can then be made
• evaluation - research support improving gender bias

  • strength is developing understanding of gender bias which can create solutions
  • example - some psychologists attempt to develop theories emphasising importance of women
  • cornwell et al noted females better at learning because they are more organised emphasising positive attributes of women
  • this type of research helps reduce or challenge gender stereotypes changing peoples preconceptions which is important for reducing gender bias
• evaluation - feminist approach

  • way of reducing gender bias is by taking a feminist approach that attempts to restore the imbalance in psychological theories and research
  • example - feminist psychology accepts there are biological differences between males and females but argues socially determined stereotypes make greater contribution to perceived differences
  • research by eagly claims females are less effective leaders than males
  • purpose of claim was it helps researchers develop training programmes training programmes aimed at increasing number of female leaders in real world
• evaluation - criteria to prevent gender bias

  • strength includes specific criteria which was suggested to be put in place in order to prevent gender bias
  • example - worrell suggested number of research criteria that are important to ensure research investigations are not gender bias
  • criteria - using alternative methods of inquiry to explore personal lives of women, consider women in natural settings which they function in, collab with research participants to explore personally relevant variables
  • following criteria should prevent results containing gender bias
• evaluation - different not better

  • strength includes society changing and females are progressing further in academic disciplines therefore there have been changes
  • carol gilligan propose women have different sense of moral understanding from men - put together own stage theory of moral understanding
  • approach showed men and women are different but neither kind of moral reasoning is considered to be better - just different
• evaluation - bias against males

  • limitation to gender bias - remember there can be gender bias against males too - some alpha bias theories heighten value of women
  • example - chodorow viewed women as more relational and caring, another example includes women more likely to be diagnosed with depression and given treatment than males
  • because women are more likely to suffer from depression or could be the diagnostic system being biased towards finding depression in women
  • therefore, expecting males to 'pull themselves together' highlights issue with diagnostic system for mental disorders