Gender Bias

• what is meant by universality

  An underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of gender, experience and upbringing.
• what is a gender bias

  The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences.
• what are the different ways that gender bias can appear

  - how research has been carried out (biased sampling)

  - theories (Freud = females as inferior)

  most often in psychology the bias is against females, favouring males
• what is androcentrism


  Male centred; when normal behaviour is judged according to a male standard

  andro = male centrism = centered
• what can androcentrism lead to

  by excluding or judging women in comparism to male norms it can lead to:

  females being seen as inferior/abnormal/deficient
• what is the opposite of androcentrism

  gynocentrism = female centered
• what is an example of androcentrism (that feminists oppose) - explain

  PMS:

  feminists oppose this diagnostic category of PMS because it trivialises female experiences, it's a social construction that medicalises female emotions and views them as abnormal

  whereas male emotions (anger) are a rational response to external pressure, instead of being a condition
• what are the 2 types of gender bias

  - alpha bias

  - beta bias
• what is an alpha bias


  assuming men and women are DIFFERENT when they are NOT, so exaggerates the differences when there might not be any

  e.g: Freud's research/ideology
• what is a beta bias

  assuming men and women are SIMILAIR when they are NOT, so trying to apply a theory to women that have been tested on men = could downplay differences

  e.g same sex samples
• what are 2 examples of studies that have an alpha bias


  - Freud's theories on women as morally inferior

  - females are diagnosed with depression more than males
• explain why Freud's theories have an alpha bias

  Freud: believed female behaviour was a "failed form of masculinity"

  penis envy = women were defined psychologically by being not men

  unable to experience castration anxiety = don't experience same pressure to identify with same sex parent which has implications on superego development

  therefore women = morally inferior
• how are the studies on depression an alpha bias

  doctors may show bias in diagnosis: overdiagnosing women and underdiagnosing men
• give 3 examples of studies that have a beta bias

  - FBI offender profiles

  - Asch study on conformity

  - fight or flight response
• Explain Asch's study


  Asch study on conformity - American male students to generalise universaly
• explain how FBI profiling has a beta bias

  FBI conducted interviews with 36male convicted serial murderers = a small Androcentric sample was then used to generate the typologies for all killers in America
• explain how the fight or flight response has a beta bias

  early research described F/F as a reaction to stressful situations - this was based on male p's as they believed the hormone cycle for females would interfere with the stress hormones

  so F/F = a human response to stress, but based on male samples
• what theory has both alpha and beta bias - explain

  Kohlberg's theory on moral development: studies on American males assumed to apply universally, when females were tested they typically scored lower on MD = Kohlberg assumed girls as not as moral as boys

  beta = male only sample

  alpha = assumed difference betwen was due to gender
• what is a negative implication of gender bias


  - gender biased research could provide scientififc justification for discrimination in the workplace
• what is an example of this gender bias - explain why this is an issue

  e.g: females are seen as a slave to their biology and hormones, this could lead to wrongful assumptions about their behaviour

  ISSUE: coul lead to negative consequences for women in terms of their prospects and their psychological wellbeing
• how could this explain why females are 2x likely to be diagnosed with depression

  females could be seen as a slave to their biology = perception of depression as associated more with female behaviour
• give an example of how there could be sexism within psychology research

  there is a lack of women appointed at senior research levels, which means findings are often interpreted from a masculine viewpoint , also research has shown male researchers treat female participants differently
• explain how this is a weakness of gender bias

  this means that psychology may be guilty of supporting a form of institutional sexism that creates bias in theories
• what is a however to this issue - modern psychology example

  research has shown that the gender discrepancy in research is decreasing

  Gannon: in 1970 there were 16% female first authors

  in 1990 = 40%, this suggests the gender bias is decreasing, with the potential of more FF authors in today, compared to 1990
• what have studies found about gender bias in publication of research

  studies have found evidence of a gender difference are more likely to be published than those that find no differences:

  this makes it seem as though there are more gender differences than there really are
• what does feminist psychology suggest for reducing gender bias in psychology

  gynocentric view: learning instead of discrimination

  they argue it's possible to use evidence that women may be inferior to provide support for women to improve
• give an example of how this improvement could occur

  Eagly: females might be less effective leaders, this knowledge should be used to offer training for females to create more female leaders, rather than use it for discrimination

  therefore psych doesn't have to have gender bias that oppresses women, but it can be used to help them instead
• what is another approach that feminists argue for

  to develop theories that demonstrate gender differences, but to instead emphasise the value of women instead = reverse alpha bias
• what is the aim of reverse alpha bias

  to change peopl'e perceptions that the male position is always better, e.g the concept of womb envy for males
• However what is an issue with reversing this bias

  this replaces an androcentric bias by creating a gynocentric bias; psychology should strive to be bias free