gender bias

• what is an issue?

  • something to consider when looking at contributions made to understanding behaviour
  • can be from perspective of who conducts research/how research is conducted/who it applies to
• 3 consequences of gender bias?

  1. scientifically misleading
  2. upholding stereotypes
  3. validating sex discrimination
• define gender bias?

  • when study/theory fails to account for genuine gender differences/exaggerating gender differences
• gender bias in social influence?

  • asch only used male behaviour in conformity by testing 123 males on how they would conform to answers of confederates
  • found 32% conformity & generalised to all human conformity regardless of gender
  • he ignored potential gender differences in conformity & assumed women would conform just as much as men
• what is a consequence of beta bias?

  • androcentrism
• androcentrism?

  • male centred view
  • if our understanding of what is normal comes from research that usually used all male sample then any behaviour that deviates from this standard is likely to be judged as abnormal/inferior
  • leads to females being misunderstood & pathologised
• androcentrism in social influence?

  • zimbardo used 24 all male sample
  • findings about conformity to social roles indicates how men may react but cannot be generalised to behaviour of women
  • females may have conformed to social roles more/less
• define alpha bias?

  • misrepresentation of behaviour as they exaggerate gender differences
  • ususally devalue women in relation to male counterparts
• alpha bias in attachment?

  • field suggested mothers & fathers take different roles to parenthood
  • mothers have more naturing role whereas fathers take on role of playmate & get involved with rough & tumble play
  • shows alpha bias as not all mothers & fathers take on these roles & are far more likely to share roles
  • eg both feed infant - exaggerates gender differences in parenting
• define beta bias?

  • misrepresentation of behaviour as they attempt to minimise gender differences
  • occurs usually when research only looks at 1 sex
• beta bias in biopsych?

  • fight or flight response
  • this research is mainly based on male animals & asssumes its universal & applies to both genders
  • lee & hartley 2012 found that women behave differently
  • they instead prefer to tend (look after offpsring) & befriend (form defensive networks with other females)
• define universality?

  • belief that some behaviours are same for all genders
  • theory/study applied to all genders
• universality in slt?

  • bandura tested both boys & girls in 1960s research into slt & aggression
  • found boys & girls both imitated aggressive models & both genders imitated same gender model
  • suggests slt happens in both genders & can be considered universal explanation for aggression
• consequence of socially sensitive conclusions?

  • 1 theory guilty of alpha bias is evolutionary explanation of attraction
  • states men & women have very different reproductive strategies
  • men look for multiple partners whereas women go for quality partner who protects them
  • seen as socially sensitive as may excuse infidelilty on part of man
  • sleeping with multiple partners seen as something hes evolved to do - makes him less responsible
  • important as it means exaggerating gender differences between men & women can be used to excuse poor behaviour of men/lead to inappropriate stereotypes
• feminist approach to research - fix?

  • to avoid gender bias in research should use both males & fem/avoid generalising findings from samples representing single sex/promoting idea that not all members of sex are same
  • to do this use feminist approach - doesnt ignore gender diff but seeks to identify & address imbalances
  • eagly 1978 research into leadership skills & found women seen as less effective leaders than men
  • used to help develop training programmes aimed at reducing lack of fem leaders in real world
  • important as its meant genuine gender diff are addressed & close psych gender gap
• X treats gender as binary concept?

  • huge amount of evidence that gender is not binary concept
  • 30000 people in uk alone identify as non binary
  • leads to consequence in psychopath where diagnostic manuals refer to gender typical behaviour
  • eg autism is more commonly diagnosed in males than females & massively underdiagnosed in non binary people
  • important as it means theres large body of individuals who are not represented in psych research
  • even work done on addressing gender bias tends to ignore people
  • more work needs to be done to make psych more inclusive for all gender identities