AQA A-LEVEL: Issues and Debates - Gender Bias

GENDER BIAS

GENDER BIAS - Differential treatment and/or representation of males/females based on stereotypes and not real differences.

ANDROCENTRISM

  • Refers to theories which are centred around males. For example, if there was an all male sample and the research from it is applied to both genders
  • PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES 
    • Oedipus Complex
    • Penis Envy
  • PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH (Which used male samples)
    • Milgram
    • Asch
    • Zimbardo

ALPHA BIAS

  • Attempt to exaggerate differences between men and women
    • E.g. Freud's theory of moral development
      • Arguing women have weaker morals due to an underdeveloped superego, they have less of a conscious
    • E.g. Evolutionary theory about mate preferences statesmen seek youth and attractiveness in partner whereas women look for wealth and status

BETA BIAS

  • Attempt to downplay differences between genders and assuming they're the same. Such as androcentric sample research being applied to women
    • E.g. The fight or flight response is considered to be universal
    • HOWEVER, Harley (2012) indicates women are more likely to tend and befriend in response to a stressful situation

EVALUATION OF GENDER BIAS

Many theories on human behaviour are based on androcentric research 
  • Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development
    • Developed a stage theory on research based only on boys
    • Later tested girls against flawed criteria which showed women as having a lower level of moral development
    • ALPHA-BIAS conclusions that women have inferior moral understanding
RESEARCH EVIDENCE - Hare-Mustin and Marecek against Beta Bias
  • When arguing for equality between men and women it draws attention away from the power imbalance between men and women
  • Greater imbalances may occur due to Beta Bias
    • Arguing for equal parenting rights which ignore the biological demands of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding 
DIFFERENCES appear between genders due to Gender Bias in research
  • Rosenthal (1996) - Found male researchers to be more friendly and encouraging towards female pts than male pts which can skew results
  • Researchers have to be careful on how they carry out research with minimal experimental bias as possible to avoid misinterpreting data
Psychologists are beginning to CHALLENGE GENDER BIAS in established psychological theories
  • E.g. Recent DNA evidence suggests women are equally competitive and aggressive compared to males in situations where they need to be.
  • This contradicts the Darwinian view that males are competitive and females are more passive
  • Darwin may have been influenced by the Victorian attitudes people had then toward women, so his research may be gender biased

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