AO1

• Alpha bias is a tendency to exaggerate differences between men and women
• Beta bias is a tendency to minimise or ignore differences between men and women
• Gender bias is the different treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences
• Androcentrism is centred or focused on men, often to the neglect or exclusion of women
• Example of Alpha Bias:

  • Freud argued that 'anatomy is density' meaning that there are genuine psychological differences between genders
  • He claimed that girls suffer from Penis envy and viewed feminity as failed masculinity
• Example of Beta Bias:

  • It was thought fight or flight was universal
  • However, Taylor showed that females produced 'tend to befriend' response at times of stress which is adaptive because it ensures the survival of their offspring
• Example or Androcentrism:

  • Holberg theory of moral development believing that our moral decisions are based on justice
  • The theory was based on boys and men and their responses to being asked about moral ailments
  • As such when he finally tested women he found them to be morally inferior to men
• Examples of Alpha Bias:

  • Psychodynamic explanations for offending behaviour suggests that 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.