Gender bias

• Gender bias refers to when theories and psychologists describe male and female behaviour in research based on stereotypes rather than actual differences
• Alpha bias refers to theories and research that exaggerates the difference between male and female behaviour.
• Beta bias refers to theories and research that minimises the differences between the two genders.
• Androcentrism is when men are seen as the centre of culture as male behaviour is considered the norm
• Due to Androcentrism- theories are then developed based on male behaviour which is then applied to females.
• Example of Androcentrism- Milgram's study looked at obedience in male participants only which was then generalised to the whole population.
• Ethnocentrism is the opposite in that female behaviour is the norm and women are seen as the centre of culture, however this is a much rarer phenomenon.
• Androcentrism exaggerating the differences between men and women ends up often devaluing one gender in comparison to the other
• Androcentrism- Josselyn suggested that Freud's theory portrayed women as the inferior gender, as they are jealous of men's penises (penis envy) and so women do not experience the same oedipus conflict as boys do. I.e suggesting female is a failed masculinity.
• Beta bias minimises the difference between men and females, which often occurs when research only studies one gender and then applies it to the other gender
• Beta bias example- the fight or flight response suggests that men and women respond in the same physiological way to stressors in the environment. However research by Taylor found that women actually show more of a tend and befriend response than men, who are more likely to respond with action.
• often studies use male animals, because variations in female hormones due to menstrual cycle can act as extraneous variable potentially influencing behaviour making it more difficult to assume cause and effect.
• Using male only samples is seen not to be an issue because what is true for males should also be the same for females so results can be generalised
• Feminists argue that lab based experiments put women at a disadvantage because findings created within a lab tell us little about the experiences of women in the real world
• research has always shown that women more likely to conform than men, however this was challenged by Eagly and Carli who showed that this was only true for asch-like studies in which a public opinion was required that was likely to disrupt group harmony. I.e if answers were not made public conformity was much less
• evolutionary explanation for gender differences in partner preferences portrays women as picky and men as. And how has this research been challenged

  competative e.g inter sexual selection for the females attention. However, this view has been challenged and more recent research has shown females to be equally as competitive when required to be
• evolutionary explanation for gender differences highlights the importance of challenging gender differences and minimising gender bias in order to ensure research portrays a valid picture.
• In addition to this the evolutionary explanation for gender differences suggests that it is legitimate and natural for men to be promiscuous but not women. Potentially providing an excuse for male infidelity.
• Gender biases can also be produced in publication bias. Its been suggested that research findings that show difference in behaviour of men and women more likely to be published than those that show no difference
• Public findings that show a difference in behaviour between men and women may exaggerate the difference between genders, leading to alpha bias.