gender bias

• what is gender bias?

  the differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences
• what is universality?


  the idea that theories or research can apply to all people regardless of gender and culture.

  -gender bias and culture bias threaten the universality of findings in psychology
• what are the two main forms of gender bias?


  -alpha bias

  -beta bias
• what is alpha bias?


  when a theory of piece of research exaggerates the differences between males and females
• whats an example of alpha bias ?


  -according to freud, since females do not experience castration anxiety they have less of a need to identify with their same sex parent, suggesting females are less moral than males
• what is beta bias?


  a theory or piece of research that ignores or minimises differences between men and women
• whats an example of beta bias?


  research conducted into fight or flight response used male lab mice as they experience fewer hormonal fluctuations and so changes in adrenaline could be more reliably measured
• what is androcentrism?


  the consequence of beta bias and occurs when all behaviour is compared according to a male standard often due to the exclusion of women
• which studies show gender bias?


  -MILGRAM, ASCH, ZIMBARDO all used male samples to draw conclusions about the nature of obedience, conformity and conformity to social roles
• what are some limitations of gender bias in psychology?


  -issues of gender bias GO UNCHALLENGED e.g. Dawrins theory of sexual selection suggests women and selective in terms of mate selection. these views have been recently challenged, suggesting women can be as competitive as men.

  -gender bias PROMOTES SEXISM in the research process. e.g. women remain underrepresented in uni departments, psychology lecturers tend to be male. this causes research to be conducted by men, disadvantaging women.
• limitation - biological vs social explanations


  -gender differences are often presented as fixed when they're not.

  e.g. Maccoby and Jacklin presented findings of gender studies which concluded that girls have better verbal abilities and boys spatial abilities, suggesting these differences were hardwired. These findings became to be seen as facts but were later proven by brain scan studies not to be true. These 'biological' facts may just be social stereotypes.