Psychology - Issues and debates - gender bias Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by Taalithaa

Gender bias is the differ­ential treatment between men and women based on stereo­types rather than real differ­ences There are two types of gender bias..

Alpha bias is the tendency to exaggerate the differ­ences between men and women. Conseq­uently resulting in theories that devalue one gender (usually females) in compar­ison. to the other. For example, Freud viewed femininity as failed mascul­inity. He thought females had a weather superego since they do not experience castration anxiety. Therefore, according to Freud, women have weather morals. Freud was exagge­rating the differ­ences between men and women.

Beta bias is the tendency to ignore or minimise the differ­ences between men and women For example, the fight or flight response was assumed to be universal. Biological research typically uses male samples as variations in female hormones makes research harder. The assumption was that the male findings could be applied to females. However, Taylor et al.cha­llenged this and provided evidence that females produce the tend and befriend response which is adaptive for the survival of their offspring. Therefore the conseq­uence was that early research did not understand a real difference between men and women due to beta bias

It is important to consider gender bias in psychology as most psycho­logists are male and they tend to produce theories that reflect males. This may create issues in areas such as mental health diagnoses. If abnorm­alities are based on male research (andro­cen­trism) then female mental health cannot be properly unders­tood. This can lead to stereo­types and unequal treatment of women.

However, an issue with addressing gender bias by trying to equal certain social processes for men and women is that it may be disadv­ant­ageous. For example, research has found that equal parental leave ignores the biological demands of pregnancy, childb­irt­h,b­rea­stf­eeding, and the unique abilities of women. This is therefore disadv­ant­ageous to women. This matters because arguing for equality between men and women draws attention away from women's unique abilities. By equalling policies for men and women it tends to benefit the group with more power. Therefore some would argue that beta bias should be avoided to ensure that signif­icant differ­ences are taken into account.

Therefore, another way to reduce gender bias is to take a feminist perspe­ctive and acknow­ledge real biological differ­ences between men and women. For example, Eagly claimed that women. are less effective leaders than men. This matters because by acknow­ledging such gender differ­ences, females can be provided with greater support, such as training programmes in the workplace to help them to succeed. Therefore, feminist psychology can be used to understand behaviour and thus increase equality in society. However, whilst feminist psychology aims to correct the imbala­nces, it may lead to a new kind of bias called gynoce­ntrism which is the dominant or exclusive focus on women in theory or practice.

This shows we must be careful to consider the research methods used in psycho­logical practices to minimise gender bias. For example, Eagly and Johnson reviewed studies in a meta-a­nalysis and noted that studies in real settings found women and men were judged more similar in styles of leadership than in lab settings. This matters because feminists argue that the lab experi­ments disadv­antage women because findings in these controlled settings lack genera­lis­ability of the behaviour of women in the real world. Therefore, androc­entrism in psycho­logy. may stem from the way data is collected in studies on women.

So, another way to reduce gender bias is to develop theories which show the differ­ences between men and women but while emphas­ising the value of women. For example, Kohlberg argued that females are less morally developed than men. This matters because Kohlberg's research was androc­entric as he used male-o­riented dilemmas and bared his theory of moral develo­pment on research conducted on male partic­ipants. Later, Gilligan found that women are not less morally developed, they simply favour a care oriented moral system rather than a justice oriented moral system. Therefore, Gilligan's research showed that males and females are different but women's approach to moral reasoning is not inferior. This reduces gender bias.