Universality → is the idea that there are a range of psychological characteristics of human beings that can be applied to all of us despite differences in experiences and upbringing.
what is androcentrism?
Androcentrism → taking male thinking/behaviour as normal, regarding female thinking/behaviour as deviant, inferior, abnormal, ‘other’ when it is different
what is alpha bias?
Alpha bias → refers to theories which exaggerate the differences between males and females
Give example of alpha bias
This view of gender divergence in personality development has implications for other aspects of development.
For example, Freud’s view of morality was that it was regulated by the superego, which is an internalisation of the same sex parent that regulates behaviour through the threat of punishment.
In boys, immoral behaviour is regulated through the mechanism of castration anxiety – men obey the rules because of an unconscious fear that their father will take away their penis.
Give another example of alpha bias
The evolutionary approach in psychology has been criticised for its alpha bias.
This is because this approach suggests that evolutionary processes in the development of the human species explain why men tend to be dominant, why women have a more parental investment in their offspring, and why men are more likely to commit adultery.
However, society has changed considerably over recent years, and it is argued that the evolutionary perspective shouldn’t be used to justify gender differences.
What is beta bias?
-Beta bias theories have traditionally ignored or minimised sex differences. These theories often assume that the findings from males can apply equally to females.
Give evidence to beta bias
Male and female participants are used in most studies, but there is normally no attempt to analyse the data to see whether there are significant sex differences.
Rosenthal reported male experimenter were more pleasant, friendly, honest and encouraging with female than with male participants
she concluded: “Male and female subjects may, psychologically, simply not be in the same experiment at all.”
What is the result of beta bias?
The result of beta bias in psychological research is that we end up with a view of human nature that is supposed to apply to men and women alike, but in fact, has a male or androcentric bias.
E.g. Asch’s (1955) conformity studies involved all male participants, as did many of the other conformity studies and therefore it was assumed that females would respond in the same way.