Gender bias

• universality 


  any underlying characteristics of human beings that is capable of being applied to all despite differences in experience and upbringing,
• what threatens the universality of findings in psychology?

  gender bias and cultural bias
• Gender bias


  psychological research or a theory that offers a view that does not just justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of both men and women
• Androcentrism 


  'Male-centered'

  • behaviour is judged according to the male standard
  • leads to female behaviour being misunderstood
• Beta bias 


  Theories that ignore or minimise differences between sexes
• Alpha bias 


  research and theories which exaggerate and overestimate differences between the sexes
• issues with gender bias: diagnostic tools 


  diagnostic tools such as the DSM-V are androcentric

  • since the 1980's men have being diagnosed with SZ more than women
  • women have closer relationships and therefore get better support
  • leads to women with SZ functioning better than men
  • underdiagnosed women due to their presentation of SZ being different to men and not receiving proper treatment
• issues with Gender bias: Implications with Gender Research

  sexism in research

  • women are underrepresented in uni departments, particularly in science
  • research is more likely to be conducted by men and this may disadvantage participants who are women
  • the behaviour of female participants may be affected by investigator bias (expectations and stereotypes)
  • institutional constructs and methods of psychology potentially breed gender bias
• issues with gender bias: less reporting research on gender bias

  research challenging gender bias is less likely to be published

  • research into genre bias is funded less and published in less prestigious journals
  • this means that fewer scholars are aware of its potential
  • suggests that gender bias is not taken seriously
• what are the three things we can do to reduce gender bias:

  • reflexive practice
  • feminist psychology
  • qualitative data
• reducing gender bias: reflexive practices 


  recognise the effect their values and assumptions have on their work. creates gender awareness of the role of personal basis in shaping research in the future
• reducing Gender bias: feminist psychology


  women studied in real-life context, participated rather than being objects of study, diversity within women also addressed
• reducing gender bias: qualitative data 


  allows for unexpected findings because questions are not fixed in advance. the data produced may not support existing views