Issues and Debates

• Gender bias

  This is when psychological theories/studies don't represent experiences by one gender - usually women
• Universality


  Underlying human characteristics of human beings that can be applied to all despite differences of upbringing
• Beta bias


  Psychological theories/research that ignores gender differences assuming that findings from one gender can be applied to all
• Androcentricsm

  Normal behaviour= men's experience, so women's behaviour is deemed abnormal or deviant
• Alpha Biased research

  Gilligan's theory of moral development assumed that women make more moral decisions in a different way from men
• Beta bias research

  Fight or flight response- based on male examples, an example can come from 'Invisible Women'- women are more likely to die as it is based on the male response to stress
• Gender bias occur before the research due to the research design and question format. It can occur after due to drawing innapropriate conclusions.
• Publication bias- the tendency for researchers to publish only those studies that support their hypothesis, can link to gender bias