GENDER BIAS

• What is Gender bias?

  Representing men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences. Could be in the way research is carried out or in theories that are biased towards one gender
• what is alpha bias?

  research which exaggerates the differences between men and women
• how can alpha bias be caused?

  preconceived stereotypes or by investigator effects
• What did Rosenthal report?

  male experimenters acted more encouraging with female participants compared to male participants
• example of Alpha bias

  evolutionary explanation of relationships says that sexual promiscuity in males is genetically determined, whereas this behaviour in females is unnatural
• Alpha bias meta analysis

  researchers proposed that males and females had more similarities than differences, conducted meta analysis of studies that found a difference between male and female behaviour and compared the difference. found that in over 70% of studies the difference was close to 0
• what are clear well established gender differences from the meta analysis?

  motor performance

  measures of sexuality (attitudes to sex and sexual relationships)

  physical aggression
• what are the exaggerated claims of gender differences from the meta analysis?

  morality

  maths ability

  self esteem

  verbal aggression
• what is beta bias?

  research which ignores the differences between men and women, assuming they are the same
• when can beta bias occur?

  when researchers study a sample of males and females but don’t analyse the data to see if there were any gender differences
• example of beta bias in social psychology

  Zimbardo Stanford prison experiment

  Milgram

  Asch
• example of beta bias in biopsychology

  fight or flight response, early research carried out on males due to female hormone fluctuations. recent research suggests females react with a tend and befriend response
• what is androcentrism?


  belief that males and male behaviour represents the norm and therefore that any behaviour typical of females might be judged abnormal
• example of androcentrism


  formula to determine standard office temperature was developed around the metabolic resting rate of a man, recent research found the metabolic rate of females was significantly lower than men’s. Office temperatures on average are 5 degrees too cold for women
• evaluation point 1


  WHY its an issue

  gender biased research has negative implications eg women seen to be caregivers only, men judged when experiencing mental health issues
• evaluation point 2


  the psychological research process could be labelled as sexist, there is a lack of women at the senior research level of psychology (33% of professors are female, 80% of students) the Matilda Effect means women often do not receive credit for their research
• evaluation point 3


  feminist psychologists have made suggestions on how to improve research process. These include, gathering qualitative data in a way female participants are involved, studying diversity in groups of women, formulating questions in a gender sensitive way.
• evaluation point 4


  effects of gender biased research can be reduced through reflexivity. this means acknowledging your own values and experiences will influence how you see the world. Encouraged to be reflexive when reporting their research so any potential bias is clear and understood. For example, female researchers studying sexism in workplace should be upfront about their own experiences