Gender and culture in Psychology:Gender bias -A-Level Psychology

Universality-any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all,despite differences of experience and upbringing.

Gender bias-psychological theories/research may offer a view that doesn’t justifiably represent the experience/behavior of men and women(usually women).

Androcentricism-male centered,when normal behavior is judged according to a male standard

Alpha bias-theories that suggest that there are real,enduring differences between and men and women.These may enhance/undervalue members of either sex
Beta bias-theories that ignore/minimise differences between the sexes.This often happens when findings obtained from men are applied to women without additional validation.

Gender bias: 

Gender bias results when one gender is treated less favourably than the other, often referred to as sexism and it has a range of consequences including:

Universality and bias:Psychologists have their own beliefs and values that have been influenced by the social/historical context within which they live.So,bias is inevitable.These biases undermine the universality of findings in psychology.

Gender bias:

Alpha bias within research is the exaggeration or overestimation of differences between the sexes.These differences are presented as fixed and inevitable .They usually devalue females compared to males e.g the sociobiological theory of relationship formation.

Issues:

-double standards

-stereotypes

In contrast,beta biasminimises/underestimates the differences between men and women.This occurs when female participants aren’t included as part of the research process and then findings are assumed to be applicable to both sexes equally.For example,the fight or flight response.Early research into this was based exclusively on male animals and was assumed to be an universal response to a threatening situation. Recently,Shelley et al(2000) have suggested that female biology has evolved to inhibit flight or fight response,shifting attention onto caring for offspring.

Issues:

-those who deviate from general laws of these theories may be seen as abnormal or deficient.

Androcentrism:

A consequence of beta bias.If the classification of normal behaviour is drawn for research from all male samples,then any behaviour that deviates from this standard is seen as abnormal by comparison.This leads to female behavior being misunderstood or pathologised.

Evaluation:

Implications of gender bias- gender biased research may create misleading assumptions about female behaviour,fail to challenge negative stereotypes and validate discriminatory practices.It may provide a scientific ‘justification’ to deny women opportunities in a workplace or wider society.This has damaging effects on the lives and prospects of women.

Beta Bias-Makes people see men and women as the same, which has led to equal treatment in legal terms and equal access to, for example, education and employment.

Essentialism-many of the gender differences reported by psychologist are based on an essentialist perspective that gender difference is inevitable and fixed in nature.Essentialist accounts in psychology are often politically motivated arguments disguised as biological ‘facts’ which creates a double standard for the way the same behavior is viewed from a male and female perspective .

Reflexivity-the role of personal beliefs in research.Dambrin and Lambert studied the lack of women in executive positions in accountancy firms.They included a reflection on how their gender-related experiences influenced their readings of events.It may lead to greater awareness of the role of personal biases in shaping research in the future.