Gender bias

• What is androcentrism?

  Being centred on / dominated by men. Female behaviour is misunderstood and pathologised.
• what are the two types of gender bias?

  alpha and beta bias
• what is alpha bias

  theories which exaggerate the differences between males and females
• what is examples of alpha bias

  sexual selection, psychodynamic approach
• what is sexual selection?

  males are interested in impregnating as many women as possible to guarantee his genes are passed down. this is a females best chance to ensure the healthy survival of offspring. sexual promiscuity in males is genetically determined, when women who do the same are ”going against their nature”.
• what is the psychodynamic approach?

  Freud believes that females form a weaker super-ego. this is because they don’t have a penis and therefore don’t fear castration anxiety, as there is less pressure to identify with the same-sex parent. Females are morally inferior to males, as femininity is an expression of failed masculinity. vanity is a defense mechanism to make up for sexual inferiority to males.
• what is beta bias?

  theories that ignore and minimise the differences between sexes.
• what are the examples of beta bias?

  diagnosis of schizophrenia and Kohlberg’s moral development
• what is the diagnosis of schizophrenia?

  since the 1980’s, men have been diagnosed more often than women. Women are better at coping with the symptoms than men. Many women continue to function such as having a fairly stable family life.
• what is Kohlberg’s moral development?

  his stage theory of moral development was based on a longitudinal study of only American men. However, he argued that his findings were universal and represented the moral reasoning of both men and women.
• what is the positive of gender bias?

  increased understanding
• positive - increased understanding 


  Worrell suggested research criteria which helps to avoid gender bias in research. It considers how women function in their natural settings.
• what is the negative of gender bias?

  implications arise
• negative - implications arise 


  research into gender bias creates misleading and incorrect assumptions about females, allowing for negative stereotypes to develop. Sexual stereotypes allow males to be sexually promiscuous, but can have damaging effects for women. Women are two times more likely to be diagnosed with depression.