Issues and Debates- Gender bias

?
  • Created by: Abbie
  • Created on: 19-03-19 21:10

Gender Bias in Psychology:

This is a view within psychology that doesn't adequately represent the experiences/behaviours of a gender- usually women.

Can be split into 2 major forms of bias: alpha bias and beta bias. Alpha bias involves the suggestion of real/enduring differences between the sexes. Whilst this can undervalue/enhance either, it typically undervalues women. Beta bias involves the minimisation of the differences between sexes.

Androcentrism is a 'male centred' approach, in which research/theories are based on a male standard of behaviour, often leading to female behaviour being viewed as 'abnormal' in compariosn. The opposite of this is gyanocentrism. Argued that Androcentrism is a consquence of beta bias; when all male samples are used, they don't reflect the behaviour of women, meaning conclusions are drawn about a 'normal' standard of behaviour under the impression that this represents both sexes, however this may not be the case. This can lead to female behaviour being misunderstood- feminist critics of PMS being a social construct to medicalise female emotion, when outbursts of anger are viewed as 'normal' in men. This is an example of Alpha bias.

The concept of universality is used when describing phenomena that psychologists believe can apply to everyone everywhere, regardless of their individual circumstances. This is challenged by the existence of gender and cultural bias, as if reseach doesn't truly reflect different genders and cultures, then it is impossible to assume that the findings can be generalised to them,

Alpha bias, example: sociobiological theory of relationshop formation: innate tendency for men to be sexually promiscuous, as quantity over quality (intra-sexual selection), but women would be going against their nature to act in this manner, as their focus is on quality due to their greater investment (inter-sexual selection).

Beta bias example: Fight/flight response- original research typically only involved male animals, assumed this could be generalised to females. But…

Comments

No comments have yet been made