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Description
Flashcards by Ellie Harvey, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Ellie Harvey
over 1 year ago
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| Question | Answer |
| What is universality? | When a theory or behaviour is described as universal and applied to all people irrespective of gender or culture. |
| What is bias? | This is a false or inaccurate perception about a group of people. |
| What is gender bias? | The differential treatment or representation of men and women based on stereotypes rather than real differences. When one gender is treated favourably to another, often referred to as sexism. |
| What is alpha bias? | - This occurs when the differences between men and women are exaggerated, therefore stereotypically male and female characteristics may be emphasised. - This presents gender differences as real and enduring, fixed and inevitable. - Alpha bias makes one gender (typically male) seem better than the other and involves the devaluation of the less superior gender. |
| One example of alpha bias | Freud's suggestion that girls have weaker superegos than boys as they do not experience the Oedipus complex and are therefore morally inferior/ weaker. |
| What is beta bias? | - Theories that ignore or minimise differences between the sexes. - This often happens when findings obtained from men are applied to women without additional validation - Helps to view women as equal but neglects how gender differences affect individuals |
| One example of beta bias | - Research into the "flight or fight" response was based on male animals (female animals affected by hormonal fluctuations) and this was just applied to all humans. - But more recent studies (Taylor et al, 2000) have found that because of the hormone oxytocin in women their "flight or fight" response is often "tend and befriend" (involves caring for offspring and creating female defensive networks) |
| What is androcentrism? | - This is a consequence of beta bias. - This is taking male thinking and behaviour as the norm and regarding female thinking as deviant, inferior or "other" when it deviates from this male "norm". - This occurs when studies feature all male participants then women are judged as abnormal if they deviate from the behaviour exhibited by men. - The opposite is gyno centrism. |
| One (of two) example of androcentrism | - Kohlberg generalised findings on moral development to women even though the study was all-male. His stage theory, despite being based on all-male research was presented as being universal to both males and female. Gillian attacked this saying that women's morality, unlike men who focused on abstract concepts such as justice, was based on an ethic of care and responsibility. She argued this would place them in lower stages of moral reasoning in Kohlberg's model. - PMS is also an example |
| One evaluation of gender bias (Implications) | Research which is gender-biased may create assumptions about female behaviour that are misleading and fail to challenge negative stereotypes and instead validates discriminatory practices. - Studies that are gender-biased may give "scientific justification" which enables people to deny women opportunity in the workplace and in wider society (e.g. PMS) where men set the standards and deviation is considered abnormal. - Thus, gender biased studies have negative consequences on the lives and prospects of women in real life. |
| One evaluation of gender bias (Sexism in research) | - Female concerns may not be accurately reflected in research questions as less women are appointed at senior research positions. - The works of male researchers are more likely to be published and studies which find evidence of gender differences are more likely to be put in journals (alpha bias). - Women may be further at a disadvantage as they are put in a unequitable relationship with a usually male researcher who has the power to label them as unreasonable, irrational and unable to complete complex tasks (Nicolson). - This suggests that psychology as a field may be supporting an institutional sexism - creating bias in theory and in research (Denmark et al). |
| One evaluation of gender bias (Essentialism) | Gender bias is often seen in "essentialist" arguments which promote double standards and advocate the idea that gender difference is inevitable and fixed. An example is Walkerdine's reports that research in the 1930s suggested that intellectual development harmed women's chances of getting pregnant and that it "shrivelled up their ovaries". These politically motivated arguments undoubtedly have implications with the double standards for women in how the same behaviour is viewed differently for men and women. This is also seen in Wilson's sociological theory that in one breathe justifies male sexual promiscuity and in the next describes it as abnormal for women based on biological "fact". |
| One evaluation of gender bias (Feminist Psychology) | Feminist psychology has developed with the purpose of reducing/ tackling gender bias. For example, Worell and Remer developed criteria which allow psychologists to avoid gender bias. It includes studying women in real life contexts, having them participate in research rather than being the object of study, examining diversity within groups of women rather than comparing to men as well as collecting qualitative rather than quantitative data. This encourages more awareness in psychology regarding the prevention of bias through how women are researched. |
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