A01: Gender Bias

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  • A01: Gender Bias
    • Alpha Bias
      • Differences between sexes are exaggerated
      • Usually devalue females in relation to males
      • E.g. Freudian theory
        • Freud saw femininity as failed masculinity
        • He believed women formed weaker superegos than men
        • This meant he saw a woman's sense of morality as weaker than that a man
    • Beta Bias
      • Differences between sexes are ignored or minimised
      • Studies usually assume findings can be applied to both males and females
      • E.g. Fight or Flight response
        • Early research into the response was conducted exclusively on male animals
        • Researchers then assumed the findings were universal
    • Androcentrism
      • Any behaviour that deviates from the 'norm' is seen as unusual
      • Lots of psychological research comes from studying all male samples
      • This male behaviour is seen as the 'norm'
      • This means female behaviour is often mis-understood
      • E.g. PMS
        • PMS is seen to medicalise female emotions such as anger, by explaining them in hormonal terms
        • If a man gets angry, it is seen as a rational response to external pressures (Brescoll and Uhlman, 2008)

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