Gender bias

• Universality and bias:

  • psychologists possess values and beliefs that have been influenced by the social and historical context within which they live
  • Therefore, bias may be an inevitable aspect of the research process
  • This is despite arguments psychologists might have to have discovered facts about human behaviour that are objective
  • There are two main forms of bias: gender and culture bias
  • can it be applied to eveyone
• Androcentrism:

  • For most of its life psychology has been very much male-dominated
  • Almost all psychologists were and men and therefore the theories they produce tend to represent a male world-view
  • This means that normal behaviour is judged according to a male standard meaning female behaviour is often judged to be abnormal or deficient by comparison
  • This is described as androcentrism and may result in an alpha-bias or a beta-bias
• Alpha bias:


  • An alpha bias is that which exaggerates or overestimates differences between the sexes
  • Theories that are alpha biased devalue one gender in comparison to the other
• Example of Alpha bias: Freud’s theories

  • his theories reflected to the culture in which they lived
  • In 19th century men were more powerful and more educated and regarded as superior to women
  • In his alpha-biased theory of psychoanalysis , fraud viewed femininity as failed masculinity and said women were morally inferior to men - he exaggerated the difference between men and women
• Beta Bias:


  • A beta bias ignores , minimises or underestimates the differences between men and women
  • This often occurs if female pps are not included in the research and then it’s wrongfully assumed that findings apply to both sexes
• Example of beta bias: fight or flight response

  • early research into fight or flight was based exclusively on male animals
  • It was assumed to be a universal response to a threatening situation
  • more recent research (shelley Taylor et al) have suggested that females have evolved to tend and befriend response to threatening situations
  • Caring for offspring - tending and forming defensive networks with other females - befriending
• AO3:


  • negative implication of gender biased research - may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour
  • This may lead to justification of discrimination against women and denying women opportunities
  • For example, if research suggests that women are more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness this may affect their future work opportunities
  • Therefore there may be wider consequences of gender bias in research
• AO3:

  • Another problem is that publication of studies is also biased. 
  • For example, a lack of women appointed at senior research level means that female concerns are not reflected in research questions.
  • Furthermore, males are more likely to have their work published and studies which find gender differences receive more attention than those that do not find a gender difference. 
  • This means that psychology may be guilty of supporting institutional sexism, creating bias in theory and research (Denmark et al. 1988)
• AO3:

  • A problem is that much of the gender differences reported in research are a direct result of essentialist perspective. 
  • According to this approach gender differences is an inevitable (essential) and fixed consequence of biological differences between men and women 
  • For instance, in 1930s, it was argued that attending university would have negative consequences on a woman’s’ ovaries. 
  • This is a problem because the essentialist perspective assumes that gender bias must exist and is natural when really this may lead to discrimination against a gender.
• AO3:

  • One positive outcome of gender biased research is that a number of criteria have been developed that should be followed to avoid gender bias in the future.
  • For example, women should be studied within meaningful real-life contexts and genuinely participate in research rather than being the objects of the study.
  • Diversity within groups of women should also be examined rather than simply making comparisons between men and women.

  This is a strength of the response to gender-biased research as these criteria can ensure gender bias is avoided in future research