gender bias

• gender bias


  the differential treatment or representation of males and females based on stereotypes and not real differences
• alpha bias


  theories that exaggerate the differences between males and females
• beta bias


  theories that minimise or neglect differences between males and females - assume findings from males can be generalised to females
• androcentrism


  theories which are centred/focused on males (Asch, 1955)
• gynocentrism


  theories which are centred on/focused on females
• alpha bias (example)


  Freud argued that there are genuine psychological differences between men and women, suggesting women to be inferior as young girls suffered from the electra complex or 'penis envy'
• beta bias (example)


  biological research into the fight or flight response has often been carried out with male animals, it would be assumed that this would not be a problem as the fight or flight response would be the same for both sexes - however Taylor et al. (2002) found females adopt a 'tend and befriend' response in stressful situations, acting differently to men
• universality


  psychologists want to be explain human behaviour of everyone, and therefore results should apply to everyone, anywhere, regardless of time, culture or gender - a characteristic emerging from research applying to everyone, regardless of experience or upbringing, is a universal characteristic

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  an ideal piece of research has high universality - there are many things that could threaten this including poor ecological validity, demand characteristics, culture bias and gender bias
• ao3 - reflexivity


  as we become more aware of gender bias being present in psychological research - it is important that it is considered when running research (reflexivity) - many researchers include reflection on how their experiences with gender could influence their objectivity, preventing beta bias as it recognises the differences between genders

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  this can also lead to revisiting and revising existing theories with the issue of gender bias in mind
• ao3 - implications


  gender-biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour, fail to challenge misleading stereotypes, and validate discriminatory practises - it could provide a 'justification' for denying women opportunities in the workplace or in wider society, demeaning them as inferior to men

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  gender bias in research is not just a methodological problem, but something that may have damaging consequences on the lives of women - socially sensitive
• ao3 - sexism within the research process

  there is a greater number of male researchers and male-led research that is published, meaning women do not have as much representation in research - this male-led research then means that they have to power to deem a female participant as 'unreasonable' or 'abnormal', an example of androcentrism as male behaviour is considered to be the norm
• ao3 - applications


  increased understanding of androcentrism has led to applications in how to overcome the issue:

  • being conscious of stereotypes and biases when asking research questions/interpreting results/selecting participants - treat male and female participants similarly to avoid introducing extraneous variables and adopt research methodology that does not disadvantage women
  • more women could be appointed to senior research positions
• ao3 - applications (2)

  further ways to overcome the issue of gender bias:

  • theories could be developed to emphasise the importance or value of women to readdress the balance e.g., Cornwell et al. (2013) noted that women are better at learning because they are more organised and attentive - helping to address gender stereotypes by emphasising their value and position
  • accepting there are differences, but understanding them constructively - developing training programmes for women if they are found to be worse leaders than men