Gender bias

• What is universality?

  Any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing.
• What is gender bias?

  Psychological research may offer a view that does not justifiably represent the experience and behaviour of men or women (usually women).
• What is androcentrism?

  Male-centred; when 'normal' behaviour is judged according to a male standard (meaning that female behaviour is often judged to be 'abnormal' by comparison).
• What is alpha bias?


  Psychological theories that suggest there are real and enduring differences between men and women. These may enhance or undervalue members of either sex, but typically undervalue females.
• What is beta bias?

  Theories that ignore or minimise differences between the sexes.
• Taylor et al. have suggested that female biology has evolved to inhibit the fight or flight response, shifting attention towards caring for offspring and forming defensive networks with other females. Tending and befriending.
• AO3 - Implications of gender bias:

  Gender-biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour, fail to challenge negative stereotypes and validate discriminatory practices. It may provide a scientific 'justification' to deny women opportunities within the workplace or in wider society.
• AO3 - Sexism within the research process:

  A lack of women appointed at senior level means that female concerns may not be reflected in the research questions asked. Male researchers are more likely to have their work published and studies which find evidence of gender differences are more likely to appear in journal articles that do not. This suggests that psychology may support a form of institutional sexism that creates bias in theory and research.
• AO3 - Reflexivity:

  Many modern researchers are beginning to recognise the effect their own values and assumptions have on the nature of their work. Rather than seeing such bias as a problem that may threaten the objective status of their work, they embrace it as a crucial and critical aspect of the research process in general. Such reflexivity is an important development and may lead to greater awareness of the role of personal biases in shaping research in the future.
• AO3 - Essentialism:


  Gender difference in question is inevitable and 'fixed' in nature. Walkerdine (1990) reports how, in the 1930s, 'scientific' research revealed how intellectual activity would harm her chances of giving birth. Such essentialist accounts in psychology are often politically motivated arguments disguised as biological 'facts'. This often creates a 'double-standard' in the way that the same behaviour is viewed from a male and female perspective.