Gender Bias

• According to Wilson (1994), the reason why 95% of bank managers, company directors, judges and university professors are male rather than female is because men are more competitive and are more dominant. Their dominance is biological and determined by male hormones. This is an example of alpha bias.
• Zimbardo (1969) investigated the effect of deindividuation on the size of electric shock participants are prepared to deliver. Female university students were put into one of two groups. The first group had to wear laboratory coats with hoods to hide their faces and the second group wore their own clothes and name badges. The shocks given by the first group were twice as great as the shocks given by the second group. This shows that deindividuation leads to an increase in antisocial behaviour. This is an example of beta bias.
• Universality: Underlying characteristic that is capable of being applied to all.
• Androcentrism: Male centred; when 'normal' behaviour is judged according to a male standard (meaning that female behaviour is often judged to be 'abnormal'
• When people think of 'British people', they think of 'British men'. Same results found across different cultures.
• Shelley et al (2000) have suggested that female biology has evolved to inhibit fight or flight response, shifting attention onto caring for offspring.
• Issues of gender bias often go unchallenged. Darwin's theory of sexual selection suggests that females are choosy. Recently, DNA has suggested that men and women are equally as choosy.
• Cornwell et al (2013) found that females are better at learning. Reduces gender roles / stereotypes.
• Feminist approach supported by many psychologists, such as Eagly (1978) who found that women are less effective leaders than men. But the purpose of this study was to help businesses improve resources.
• Worrell et al (1992) suggested that women should be studied in their natural settings.
• Some alpha bias theories heighten the value of women. Women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, and the stereotype of men having to 'pull themselves together' can be detrimental to their mental health
• Women remain underrepresented in psychology - most lecturers are men (Murphy 2014)
• Researching challenging gender bias may not be published. Formanowicz (2018) analysed more than 1000 articles relating to gender studies published over the past 8 years. Found that this sort of research is not funded as much, and is not favoured by prestigious journals.