Sexism

• What does gender bias mean?

  The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes, rather than real differences.
• Why should gender bias not be present in psychological spaces?

  It can distort research and the interpretations of findings in a way that misrepresents women (and sometimes men)
• What is Androcentrism?

  The tendency for research to place focus on males
• What is a researcher that explains androcentrism in psychology?

  Wilkinson (1991)
• What did they say?

  Argued that psychological theories often exclude women/ distort their experience by generalising it to males or stereotypes
• How has psychology historically reflected a male- dominated perspective?

  Only 6 women were included in the American Psychological Association’s list of the 100 most influential psychologists of the 30th century (August, 2002)
• What does this suggest?

  The field has been largely shaped by and for men
• What had this led to?

  Women’s behaviour being misunderstood or pathologised
• What does pathologised mean?

  Seen as a sign as illness
• What is criticised by feminist psychology?

  The diagnosis of pre menstrual syndrome as it medicalises women’s emotions, like anger, whilst explaining men’s behaviour as a rational and natural reaction to stress
• Who studied this theory?

  Brescia and Ulhmann, 2008
• What is another theory about PMS?

  Tavris (1993) argued that men and women have the same mood swings, but women have theirs classes as a medical condition
• Why is it important to consider gender differences in society?

  More women are diagnosed with depression than men- this shows there is a biological difference that can explain why more women are diagnosed.
• What is the wider societal impact of gender biases in psychology?

  Results that are discriminatory can be used to justify exclusion of women from certain areas.
• What is evidence of a political impact?

  Kitzinger (1988) argued that researchers are influenced by social and political contexts.
• What makes it clear if it is gender bias?

  if it is due to male psychiatrists viewing

  female behaviour as ‘abnormal’ - e.g. by using a diagnostic

  criteria made using male participants in research.
• Why might sex differences be found in psychological research?

  Researchers ignore the differences in treatment between the sexes in those studies
• How many key differences are there between men and women?

  4
• Who proposed this?

  Maccoby and Jacklin (1974)
• What are girls better at than boys?

  Verbal Ability
• What are boys better at than girls?

  Boys have greater visual & spatial abilities and arithmetic ability
• What are the differences in terms of agression?

  Girls are less aggressive than boys
• How can biases in the research process influence psychology?

  Male behaviour is often seen as the ‘norm’ that female behaviour is compared to
• What can it also signify?

  Women being seen as invisible and their data being seen as less important
• How many main biases are there in psychology?

  2
• What are they?

  Alpha and Beta biases
• What is alpha bias?

  The overemphasis of differences between the sexes
• What is beta bias?

  The undermining of differences between the sexes- most shown in generalising
• What bias is more likely to occur?

  Alpha bias
• Why?

  Because research that finds no difference tends to go unpublished. We are more aware of research that has empirical evidence of differences. The overgeneralisation of this is alpha bias.
• What is an example of an Alpha- based theory?


  Freud’s theory of psychosexual development.
• What did Freud say about femininity?

  It was failed masculinity
• What did he denounce?

  The idea that men and women are equal
• What year was this?

  1925
• Why are women seen as defective?

  Absence of a penis
• What else are they said to be inferior at?

  Morality
• How is this shown?

  The superego develops through the oedipus complex but women don’t go through this.
• But what has to be considered?

  Historical and social context
• What view do beta biases favour?

  That there is no difference between men and women
• Why is this bad?

  It is a misrepresentation