Gender and Culture

• Gender Bias - Alpha Bias:

  :( scientific justification for gender stereotypes

  > evolutionary psychologists suggest there are innate differences between males and females

  > feminist psychologists argue this can be used against women to maintain male power, such as denying women opportunities within employment

  > alpha bias may impact females' life prospects, and negatively impact the economy due to a lack of women in the workforce
• Gender Bias:

  :( emphasised by research process

  > psychology is dominated by male psychologists researching male issues, using lab experiments and standardised procedures

  > assumes that men and women will receive equal treatment by the research and respond in the same ways to the situation - could create differences that do not exist or mask real ones

  > there should be more female psychologists using qualitative methods to enable more equality in research = more valid understanding of female behaviour
• Gender Bias - Androcentrism:

  :) androcentrism does not always mean gender bias

  > e.g. Milgram's research used a male only sample, but this was relevant to his aim of understanding Nazi soldiers' behaviour (all male)

  > this recognition is important in scrutinising whether there is gender bias within research
• Culture Bias - Ethnocentrism:

  :) IQ tests

  > clear example of ethnocentric bias - developed and tested in Western cultures, based on Western views of intelligence, so are not suitable for other cultures - been misused to reinforce superiority of Western culture e.g. led to discrimination in immigration policy

  > when using culturally relative IQ tests, differences in scores do not exist
• Culture Bias - Ethnocentrism:

  :( outdated concept

  > viewing cultures as Western or non-Western is a lazy generalisation - there are many similarities between culture due to globalisation and shared media influences

  > e.g. Van Ijzendoorn found greater variation within cultures than between in attachment types, suggesting the concept of culture may lack validity
• Culture Bias - Cultural Relativism:

  :( research in psychology

  > much research can be criticised for lacking cultural relativism e.g. deviation from social norms - different cultures have different social norms e.g. messages from spirits (symptom of schizophrenia or spiritual gift)

  > due to culture bias, it may not be appropriate to use Western manuals to diagnose mental health conditions in non-Western cultures
• Culture Bias - Cultural Relativism:

  :) cultural relativism and universality

  > while some behaviours may be culturally relative, it would be inappropriate to assume there is not some universality

  > e.g. Ainsworth's research found secure attachment to be the most common across all cultures, but difference in insecure attachment types in different cultures

  > to fully understand human behaviour, it is essential to consider the contributions of cultural relativism and universality