Sexism

• sexism in psychology


  many psychological theories are characterised by a gender bias resulting from a 'male as norm' perspective. In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in women-centred psychology in order to counteract this male (androcentric) bias

  
  

  the use of traditional research methods in psychology has also been biased towards males, and the development of feminist research methods has done much to redress the balance, and represent women in a technically more accurate manner.
• gender differences/gender bias


  psychologists have identified differences between men and women but these may be due to biases in the research process.

  
  

  Rachel Hare-Mustin and Jeanne Maracek (1988) applied their idea of alpha bias and beta bias to gender as well as to culture. In the case both biases outcome is that the women is portrayed as inferior
• what is alpha bias?


  alpha biased theories assume that their are real and enduring differences between men and women.
• alpha biased- theories


  Sigmund Freud's theory of psychosexual development is an example of an alpha-biased theory because he viewed femininity as failed masculinity, an inescapable difference He claimed that 'we must not allow ourselves to... regard the two sexes in completely equal position and worth' (1925)

  
  

  The 'deficiency' of women was, according to Freud, caused by the absence of a penis. Women are jealous of men's penises (penis envy) and they are morally inferior (because the superego, which governs moral behaviour, develops from the Oedipus complex and women don't experience this).

  Ruthellen Josselson (1988) points out; 'classical psychoanalytic theory is grounded in the genital inferiority of women and deduces their moral inferiority as well'.
• what is beta bias?

  beta biased theories tend to ignore of minimise differences, in this case between men and women. Such theories tend to either ignore questions about the lives of women, or assume that insights derived from studies of men will apply equally well to women.

  
  

  There is an androcentric bias in psychology (i.e. theories and studies tend to be written by and/or conducted by men) therefore beta biased theories/studies tend to favour the male perspective
• beta bias- theories


  Kohlberg's (1968) theory of moral reasoning considered how people think about moral decisions. This theory had an androcentric bias for two reasons- the dilemmas used to assess moral reasoning were based on a male perspective (justice orientation) and the stage theory was based on research with males. Nevertheless the theory was taken and applied to both men and women assuming that it had universal relevance. Kohlberg found females did not reason at the higher level that males did.

  The beta bias in the theory produced evidence of a difference which may not be real and the end result is that the female perspective is devalued- the importance of care in moral judgements (a female perspective) is devalued.

  
  

  Carol Gilligan (1982) argued that women use the principle of care rather than justice in their moral judgements. Kohlberg's judgement devalues the female perspective.
• what is heterosexism?


  the assumption that the 'natural' kind of sexual/romantic relationship is between males and females, as opposed to homosexuality.

  
  

  for many years mainstream social psychological research tended to concentrate on romantic love relationships between heterosexuals. This was challenged by Julia Wood and Steve Duck (1995) in their book entitled 'Understudied Relationships', where they argued that psychological research actually only focused on a small sample of human relationships, ignoring long distance relationships, online relationships, lesbian and gay relationships ect.
• heterosexism- alpha or beta bias?

  research on homosexual relationships is an example of socially sensitive research - by distinguishing heterosexual and homosexual relationships as different (and requiring different research) this may perpetuate stereotypes (an alpha bias).

  By disregarding the differences, one group may be devalued= beta bias.
• heterosexism- nature or nurture?

  there is a further socially sensitive issue related to gender.

  
  

  if for example, a region of the brain was identified as being unique to gay men then it might help people to be more accepting of gay-ness (because gay individuals are simply made like that).

  
  

  on the other hand, it might be seen negatively because the individuals may feel their behaviour is inevitable rather than a matter of choice.
• historical and social context- Caroline Smith and Barbara Lloyd (1978)


  Caroline Smith and Barbara Lloyd (1978) observed mothers playing with an infant who was either presented as a boy (in terms of name and clothing) or as a girl.

  The study showed that mothers selected gender-appropriate toys (e.g. a doll for girls or a squeaky hammer for boys) and also responded more actively when a 'boy' showed increased motor activity. This shows that parents differentially reinforce gender stereotypes from a very early age.

  
  

  Young children are also exposed to gender stereotypes in the media- a case of vicarious reinforcement.
• historical and social context- Emily Mondschien et al (2000)


  more recent studies indicate that gender stereotypes are still present.

  
  

  Emily Mondschien et al (2000) asked mothers to predict how successful their babies would be at a crawling task. There were no actual gender differences in crawling yet mothers had lower expectations for girls.
• historical and social context- Corrine-Moss Racusin et al (2012)


  in another study Corrine-Moss Racusin et al (2012) sent job applications out to academics. If the application was from 'Jennifer' it was perceived as less competent than when labelled 'John'. This shows that stereotypes continue to bias the way we treat men and women.
• biological research


  traditionally males have been used in research, even biological research where it was argued that female hormonal variations would have an effect on behaviour and therefore it was best to use, for example, male rather than female rats.
• biological research- fight or flight

  the view that people respond to high anxiety situations by producing an aggressive response (fight) or fleeing.

  
  

  Shelley Taylor et al (2000) have produced evidence that this is not a typical response in females who react to stress with a tend-and-befriend response. So for a long time fight-or-flight was presumed to be a universal response but this turns out to be an example of beta bias.
• feminist psychology


  feminist psychologists argue that there may be real biologically based sex differences but socially determined stereotypes make a far greater contribution to perceived differences than biological ones.

  
  

  feminist psychology takes the view that a prerequisite to any social change with respect to gender roles must be a revision of our 'facts' about gender. Whether such facts are true or not, they perpetuate our beliefs about women. Feminist psychology is a branch of psychology that aims to redress the imbalances in psychology.
• the 'invisibility' of women in psychology

  people are often mildly surprised when they realise a particular researcher is a women. The academic practice of using last names only means we are often not aware of a researcher's gender.

  
  

  Authors are most likely to be male- the American Psychological Association published a list of the 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century- only 6 were women.

  
  

  The gender imbalance is strange as most undergraduate psychology students are female. Fionnula Murphy et al (2014) argues that the problem lies with women's own implicit stereotypes about women; women also endorse male superiority. Murphy et al. recommend that we must all become aware of our biases.