gender bias

• Hare-Mustin and Marecek proposed that there are 2 different ways that a theory may be biased. The aim is to avoid the bias and produce theories that have universality. For most of the past, psychology has been male dominated. Almost all psychologists were men and so present a male-world view. This is described as androcentrism which can result in either an alpha or beta bias.
• Alpha bias is where the gap between men and women is exaggerated and the consequence of this is that it devalues a gender in the comparison. For example, Freud’s research. Freud’s research reflected his culture where men were seen as more educated and powerful than women. Freud viewed femininity as failed masculinity. It is pointed out that in his theory women are seen as inferior to men due to the jealousy of men’s penises and because they can’t undergo the same Oedipus conflict as boys do.
• The next type of bias is beta bias. This is where people assume that what is true for men is also true for women, so this gender is ignored. For example, the fight or flight response. Biological research is usually conducted in male animals due to female variations from hormones make the research more complicated. In the stress research, it was concluded that the results were universal. However, this was challenged and proved wrong as there was evidence for females to produce the ‘tend and befriend’ response at times of stress, due to adaption to ensure survival of offspring.
• continue of beta bias: This real difference was ignored and therefore led to the research not being fully understood. It would be wrong to eradicate gender differences as this is beta bias, so it is important to recognise differences but not allow a superiority of one over the other.

   
• One strategy to counter stereotypes is do create studies that emphasise the value of women.

  For example, feminist research shows instances where there is a difference, but women are better. Such as learning, women are found to be better due to being more attentive, flexible and organised.

  Such research can challenge stereotypes that in all gender differences, males must be better.
• Equal treatment may give women greater opportunities, but this can be a disadvantage.

  It has been pointed out by Hare-mustin and Marecek that arguing for equality between men and women draws attention away from womens special needs and from differences in power between them. For example, equal parental leave ignores the biological demands for pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, and the special needs of women, therefore disadvantaging them.

  This suggests we must avoid beta bias to ensure significant differences are taken care of.
• One way to counter androcentrism is to take a feminist perspective.

  Feminist psychology agrees there are real biological based sex differences, but that stereotypes allow these differences make a contribution to perceived differences. One way to redress the balance is using the evidence that women are ‘inferior’. Eg, evidence that women may be less effective leaders can be used to make effective training programmes and allow the future to have more confident and good women leaders. This shows how feminist psychology seeks to understand behaviour and thus finds a way to greater equality.
• One criticism of the psychological theories/studies is that they are gender biased due to the methods used. For example, it was found that male experimenters are more pleasant, friendly and encouraging to female pt than male. The results then is that male pt tend to perform worse on the tasks. Also, lab settings tells little about real life female experiences. In the real settings, women and men were found to be treated more similarly in styles of leadership than in lab. These criticisms suggest that there is serious issues with data collection which creates a false idea of differences.
• One way to counter androcentrism is to take a feminist perspective. It agrees there are real biological sex differences, but stereotypes make a greater contribution to differences. So, social change must be a revision of our 'facts' about gender that create our beliefs about women. One way to redress the balance is to use evidence that women may be 'inferior'. It was claimed that women may be less effective leaders than men, so this should be used to develop training programmes and create more women as leaders. This demonstrates how feminist psychology seeks to find a way to greater equality.
• One criticism of theories/studies is that they're biased because the methods used are biased. Male experimenters are found to be more friendly and encouraging to female pts. Male pts then appeared to perform less well on the tasks. Feminists argue that lab experiments disadvantage women because findings created tell us very little about experiences of women outside labs. A meta-analysis found studies in real life found women and men were judged more similar in styles of leadership. This suggests serious issues with the way data is collected, which creates a false picture of differences.
• One strategy to counter gender bias is to develop theories which show the differences between men and women but that emphasise the value of women. This can be seen in feminist research which shows instances where women are better. For example, research shows that women are better at learning because they are more attentive, flexible and organised. Such research challenges the stereotype that in any gender differences the male position must be better, and changes people's preconceptions.
• Equal treatment for men and women has given women greater opportunities, but this may be a disadvantage. Hare-Mustin and Marcek point out arguing for equality draws attention away from women's special needs and from differences in power. In a society where one group holds most of the power, neutral actions end up benefiting the group with the power. For example, equal parental leave ignores the biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, and the special needs of women. This suggests that we should avoid beta bias in order to ensure that significant differences are noted.