gender bias

• one problem associated with beta bias

  when differences between genders are minimised can lead to researchers forming invalid theories e.g. fight or flight theory research was done on males and was then assumed it applied to females but taylor et al (2000) found women have more of a tend and befriend response
• androcentrism

  when behaviour is judged to be normal when compared to a male standard which leads to female behaviour being judged as deficient or abnormal
• consequence of having gender bias in psychological research

  can impact females' lives, where gender bias is involved it can easily present scientific justification for denying women opportunities in the workplace and society
• gender bias is

  the differential treatment or representation of men and women based on

  stereotypes rather than real difference
• alpha bias is

  a tendency to exaggerate differences between men and women, suggesting there are real and enduring differences between the two sexes. the consequences are that theories devalue one gender in comparison to the other, but typically women
• alpha bias example

  psychodynamic explanations for offending behaviour suggests criminality occurs due to a deviant superego. according to freud, since females do not experience castration anxiety, they are under less pressure and have less of a need to identify with the moral standards of their same-sex parent, as compared to boys. this suggests that females, in line with the psychodynamic approach, are less moral than males - an idea which has been refuted by hoffman et al
• androcentrism is

  the consequence of beta bias
• androcentrism example

  pms has been criticised by some as being a social construction, which trivialises female emotion, particularly anger. on the other hand, male anger is seen as a logical response to external pressures (brescoll and uhlman)
• beta bias is

  a tendency to ignore or minimise differences between men and women. such theories tend to ignore questions about the lives of women, or insights derived from studies of men will apply equally well to women
• beta bias example

  kohlberg’s levels of moral reasoning theory was developed on the basis of studying groups of american males, who all answered questions based on moral dilemmas e.g. the heinz dilemma. these results were then generalised to represent levels of moral reasoning for both men and women
• feminist psychology

  argues that different psychology rises from biological explanations of behaviour. social constructionist approach aims to understand behaviour in terms of social processes. feminist psych argues that there are differences but socially determined stereotypes make a greater contribution to perceived differences. androcentrism can be countered by feminist view, eagly (1978) acknowledged women may be less effective leaders than men but the knowledge should be used to develop training programmes for a future with more woman leaders
• bias in research methods

  if theories or studies are gender biased the research may find differences between genders but it may be the methods used to test and observe them and not the gender. rosenthal (1966) found male experimenters are more pleasant to female participants therefore they perform better in tasks compared to male participants. fewer women being appointed at senior research positions means that female concerns are less likely to be reflected in experimental questions
• lab experiments may be example of institutionalised sexism

  male research have the authority to deem women as 'unreasonable, irrational and unable to complete complex tasks' (nicolson, 1995). eagly and johnson noted that studies in real settings found women and men were judged as more similar in styles of leadership than in lab settings, having higher ecological validity
• reverse alpha bias describes development of theories that show greater emphasis on women

  cornwell et al (2013) showed that women are better at learning because they are more attentive, flexible and organised. this research challenges the stereotypes that males must be better in gender differences and challenges peoples preconceptions
• avoiding a beta bias

  beta bias has allowed women greater access to educational and occupational opportunities however, hare, mustin and marecek pointed out that arguing for equality draws attention away from women's special needs e.g. equal parenting ignores biological demands of pregnancy and childbirth. this suggests some elements of beta bias may actually disadvantage women
• assumptions may need to be challenged

  gender bias remains unchallenged in many theories. darwin's theory of sexual selection portrays women as choosy and males as the ones who compete to be chosen, arguing women are coy and males aggressive as they are in competition with other males. this view has been challenged as it has found that women are equally competitive when needed, dna evidence supports the idea that it is a good adaptive strategy for females to mate with more than one man so this puts females in competition (vernimmen, 2015)
• assumptions need to be challenged

  gender bias remains unchallenged in many theories. darwin's theory of sexual selection portrays women as choosy and males as the ones who compete to be chosen, arguing women are coy and males aggressive as they are in competition with other males .this view has been challenged as it has found that women are equally competitive when needed, dna evidence supports the idea that it is a good adaptive strategy for females to mate with more than one man so this puts females in competition (vernimmen, 2015)