gender bias

• gender bias


  the differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences
• androcentric bias


  a dominantly male perspective
• alpha-bias


  the differences between males and females are exaggerated e.g. Freud viewed femininity as failed masculinity
• beta-bias


  the differences between males and females are minimised to the extent that usually only the male view is considered and applied to both genders e.g. the fight or flight response (Taylor et al 2000) suggests that females take a tend and befriend response whereas males take a fight or flight response
• limitation


  P - gender differences are given as fixed and enduring

  E - Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) concluded that girls have better verbal ability and boys better spatial ability - due to hardwired biological brain differences

  E - Joel et al (2015) used brain scanning and found no such gender differences

  L - this suggest that we should be wary of accepting research as biological facts when might be explained better as social stereotypes

  COUNTERPOINT

  - Ingalhaliker et al (2014) suggests the popular social stereotype that females are better at multitasking may have some biological truth to it - their hemispheres are better connected

  - this suggests that there may be biological differences but we still should be wary of exaggerating the effect they may have on behaviour
• limitation


  P - gender bias promotes sexism in the research process

  E - women are underrepresented in university departments (Murphy et al 2014). Research is more likely to be conducted by males which may disadvantage females

  E - for example a male researcher may expect female participants to be irrational and unable to complete complex tasks (Nicolson 1995) which may mean they underperform

  L - this means that the institutional structures and methods of psychology may produce findings that are gender biased
• limitation


  P - research challenging bias may not be published

  E - Formanowicz et al (2018) analysed 1000 articles relating to gender bias - such research is funded less often and is published by less prestigious journals

  E - this still held true when gender bias was compared to ethnic bias, and when other factors were controlled e.g. the gender of the author and methodology

  L - this suggests that gender bias in psychological research may not be taken as seriously as other other forms of bias
• strength/limitation


  P - good or bad?

  E - gender-biased research creates misleading assumptions about female behaviour, fails to challenge negative stereotypes and validates discriminatory practices

  E - however, modern researchers recognise the effect assumptions have on their work (reflexivity) and embrace them as a crucial aspect of the research process

  L - this suggests that gender bias may add an extra dimension to research if psychologists are up front about it in their work
• conclusion


  some psychologists argue for universality; they aim to develop theories that apply to all people, which may include recognising real differences between the genders but not the superiority of one over the other