gender and culture

• universality - the idea that psychological conclusions can be applied to everyone regardless of time, place or culture
• universality and bias

  psychologists hold beliefs and values influenced by social and historical contexts that they live in

  • this means it may not be value-free and things discovered may not necessarily be facts
  • also undermines claims that psychology is universal so it may not reach conclusions that are applicable to everyone
• alpha bias and gender

  alpha bias - some psychological research exaggerates or overestimates differences between the sexes eg. differences are often presented as fixed and biological when they aren't

  • often devalues women
  • eg. freud's claim that women are inherently hysterical and so are completely incapable of moving through the fifth psychodynamic stage so are incapable of forming healthy adult relationships
  • wilson - argued that men were genetically predisposed to sexual promiscuity but women engaging in the same sexual behaviour were going against their nature
• beta bias and gender

  beta bias - research that minimises or underestimates differences between men and women

  • taylor - found female biology has evolved to inhibit the fight or flight response which was previously thought to be universal in order to tend to offspring
• andocentrism

  a consequence of beta bias - if most research is completed on men and our perception of 'normal' is based purely on men, any female behaviour that deviates from this standard is considered abnormal or inferior, even if it is normal for women

  • eg. different views on pmt and male anger
  • discrepancies in female autism diagnoses due to the standard being based on men
• gender bias strengths

  • reflexivity - researchers recognise that their biases affect their work and are beginning to use it as a tool in their research
  • dambrin + lambert - used their own experiences of sexism within employment in their study
  • feminism - feminists have put forward criteria that should be met by research to avoid gender bias so it can be prevented
  • women should participate in research rather than being objects of study
  • differences within groups of women should be investigated
• gender bias limitations

  • implications - gender bias in research can provide scientific 'justification' for discriminatory behaviour, which can have damaging consequences on real life
  • sexism within research - senior positions in psychology are mainly held by men who decide what to research so it represents men's priorities
  • women participating in lab experiments are made inferior to male researchers who are free to label them
  • essentialism - many gender differences are based on the idea that a difference is fixed and inevitable so portray politically motivated beliefs as biological 'facts'
• cultural bias - a tendency to ignore cultural differences and assume everyone functions the same as members of your own culture
• ethnocentrism


  a belief in the superiority of one's own cultural group

  • ainsworth's strange situations have been criticised for reflecting only the norms and values of american culture and then forcing it onto other cultures and assuming 'normal' in those cultures are the same as her own
• cultural relativism

  norms and values are only able to be understood in specific social and cultural contexts

  • ainsworth's study has been criticised for being an imposed etic and finding an ideal american attachment and assuming it's universal
  • berry - psychology argues concepts are universal when they should be more aware of the fact concepts only apply to their culture
• cultural bias strengths

  • individualism v collectivism - the difference in culture is thought to have the biggest effect within cultural bias eg. in strange situations, but globalisation may mean this is less impactful
  • takano + osaka - 14 of 15 usa v japan studies found no difference in individualism
  • callenging assumptions - cross-cultural research develops greater sensitivity to individual differences and counter the effects of scientific racism
• cultural bias limitations

  • relativism v universality - some psychological phenomena are universal eg. basic facial expressions for emotions, so we need to study both universally and relatively to understand people
  • unfamiliarity with tradition - western researchers may not understand local cultures, and these locals may be less trusting of science so exaggerate demand characteristics
  • operationalisation - variables may be experienced differently by different cultures, so the researcher may not be able to operationalise the variables needed to be studied