Gender Bias

• Psychology claims to produce theories that can have universality and apply to all people, despite differences of experience and upbringing. Gender bias and cultural bias threaten the universality of findings in psychology.
• Gender bias

  The research/ theory that offers a view that is not representative of the experience or behaviour of men or women
• Androcentrism

  • means male centred
  • "normal" behaviour is judged according to a male standard
  • at best this leads to females being misunderstood, and at worst, pathologised
  • GYNOCENTRIC means female centred
• An e.g. of androcentrism is Freud's view of women and they are seen as morally inferior and envying of the male penis. Women are morally inferior according to Freud as the need to identify with their same sex parents and resolve their complex during the phallic stage is not as strong as males. The consequence of this is a weaker superego that results in an inferior moral part of their psyche.
• Alpha bias

  Theories that exaggerate gender differences. Differences may heighten the value of women or may devalue females in relation to males.

  Carol Gilligan has been criticised for alpha bias. She suggested that males base their moral decisions on justice and women base them on care. This exaggerated the differences between males and females. Later research showed that both males and females could use both orientations when making moral decisions.
• Beta bias

  Theories that ignore or minimise gender differences. This may occur when females are not included as part of research but then it is assumed that research may apply equally to both sexes. Kohlberg's theory or moral development is an e.g. of beta bias as only one gender (males) was used but then the stage theory was assumed to apply to women as well. In doing so it ignored the idea that both males and females may use different orientations to make decisions.
• KOHLBERG'S THEORY of moral development

  Level 3

  • Post conventional - shared standards, rights and duties.
  • stage 6 : self selection of universal principles
  • stage 5 : sense of democracy and relativity of rules

  Level 2

  • Conventional - performing rights roles
  • stage 4 - fulfiling duties and upholding laws
  • stage 3 - meeting expectations of others

  Level 1

  • Preconventional - values in external value
  • stage 2 - getting what you want by trade off
  • stage 1 - punishment avoidance
• A03

  • Problems with research design may be the reason for differences between males and females in some research studies. If a researcher brings their own values and biases when conducting the research, then the way they respond to males may be different to how they respond to females, e.g. being friendlier to either males or females could lead to a difference in performance in the study and create a difference in the findings
  • This could reduce the validity and create an alpha bias
• A03

  A further issue is that gender bias can also be created through publication bias. Selecting and publishing only those studies that have gender differences can lead to alpha bias and exaggeration of gender differences.

  • Formanowicz et al analysed over 1000 articles that related to gender bias that were published over 8 years
  • Found that research on gender bias is funded less often and is published by less prestiguous journals which results in fewer academics being aware of it or applying it to their own work.
  • Gender bias may not be taken as seriously as other forms of bias
• A03

  Research into gender differences can have negative consequences and can lead to women being seen as inferior to men. If research suggests that the women's place is at home looking after children then this would be seen to reinforce gender stereotypes. The research can create scientific justification for denying women opportunities in society. Thus gender bias in research is not just a metholodogical problem but may have damaging consequences which may affect lives and prospects of women.
• A03

  Gender bias still needs addressing and remains unchallenged in many theories. For e.g. evolutionary theory suggests that women are choody and males are competitive when considering partner preference. BUT recent research suggests that women can be equally competitive and aggressive when the need arises. Thus highlighting the importance of challenging gender research to ensure a valid picture of women being portrayed.
• Another e.g. of beta bias comes from the fight or flight response. The early research done into the fight or flight response predominantly studied male animals, however, Taylor et al later showed us that females respond differently, with a more nurturing response due to their production of oxytocin and their use of the "tend and befriend" response which is used due to their need to protect their offspring.