Gender bias:
The differential treatment of males and females based on stereotypes and not real differences
Androcentrism:
- Theories which are centred on, or focused on males
- Psychology has been a male dominated fields for years – most psychologists are males
- Focus on male-oriented view of the world
- The result of beta bias in psychological is that we end up with a view of human nature that is supposed
to apply to men and women alike, but in fact, has a male androcentric view
- Androcentrism can effect psychological research provides as it potentially misleading representation of
how one sex will respond in a given situation (social conformity)
- Example: Asch
o Asch’s conformity studies – he had 123 male participants and then at the end he just assumed
that the results could be applied to females too.
Gynocentrism (not needed):
- Theories which are centred on, or focused on females
2 types of gender bias:
Alpha bias:
- Refers to theories which exaggerate the differences between males and females
- Example: Freud
o In his theory he viewed ‘femininity as failed masculinity’- he exaggerated the difference
between males and females
o Josselson – ‘in this theory women are inferior to men because they are jealous of men’s penises
(penis envy) and they cannot undergo the same Oedipus conflict as boys do. Women must be
inferior because they have a weaker identification with their mother’
Beta bias:
- Refers to theories which ignore or minimise sex differences.
- These theories assume that the findings from males can apply equally to females
- Example: fight or flight response:
o Biological research into the fight or flight response is often carried out on male animals
because their testosterone levels are more stable and therefore psychologists assumed firstly
that the fight or flight response would apply to humans but they also assumed it would apply to
human male and females equally.
o It can also have a positive effect because psychologists came out with more research on
females now.
- Example: ‘tend or befriend’:
o Taylor et al. found that females adopt a ‘tend and befriend’ response in stressful situations:
women are more likely to protect their offspring (tending) and form alliances with other women
to keep safe (befriending) rather than fight or run away.
Universality:
- The tendency to assume that one's personal qualities and characteristics, including attitudes and values,
are common in the general social group or culture.
- Gilligan...
, Culture bias:
The tendency to judge people in terms of their own cultural assumptions
(Alpha bias a beta bias are applied the same way in culture as in gender too)
Alpha bias:
- Occurs when a theory assumes that cultural groups are profoundly different
Beta bias:
- Occurs when real cultural differences are ignored and all people are assumed to be the same resulting in
universal research designs and conclusions
Ethnocentrism:
- Seeing the world only from one’s own cultural perspective and believing that this one perspective is both
normal and correct. Ignorance to other people in the world
- Example: Ainsworth’s strange situation
o The strange situation was developed to assess attachment types and many researchers assume
that the strange situation has the same meaning for the infants from other cultures, as it does
for American children
Cultural relativism:
- Insists that behaviour can be properly understood only if the cultural context is taken into
consideration.
- Example: Sternberg
o The meaning of intelligence is different in every culture. Sternberg pointed out that
coordination skills are essential in preliterate societies (e.g. tribes value motor skills like
shooting a bow and arrow) but these motor skills are irrelevant for people in a literate and
more ‘developed society’
Examples of cultural bias:
- Milgram
- Asch
- Zimbardo
o ... all assumed that the findings of their research applied to other cultures when in fact
obedience/ conformity rates differ in collectivist/ individualistic cultures
Evolution paragraph: cultural bias in textbooks
One way to deal with cultural bias is to recognise it when it occurs. Smith and Bond found in their 1998
survey of European textbooks on social psychology that 66% of the studies were American, 32%
European, and only 2% from the rest of the world. This suggests that psychological research is severely
unrepresentative and can be greatly improved by simply selecting different cultural groups to study.
Therefore, just by appreciating and understanding cultural bias can help psychologists to avoid and
overcome this issue.
Evaluation: cultural bias and stereotypes
One issue is that culturally biased research can have significant real-world effects by, for example,
amplifying and validating damaging stereotypes. The US army used an IQ test before WWI which was
The differential treatment of males and females based on stereotypes and not real differences
Androcentrism:
- Theories which are centred on, or focused on males
- Psychology has been a male dominated fields for years – most psychologists are males
- Focus on male-oriented view of the world
- The result of beta bias in psychological is that we end up with a view of human nature that is supposed
to apply to men and women alike, but in fact, has a male androcentric view
- Androcentrism can effect psychological research provides as it potentially misleading representation of
how one sex will respond in a given situation (social conformity)
- Example: Asch
o Asch’s conformity studies – he had 123 male participants and then at the end he just assumed
that the results could be applied to females too.
Gynocentrism (not needed):
- Theories which are centred on, or focused on females
2 types of gender bias:
Alpha bias:
- Refers to theories which exaggerate the differences between males and females
- Example: Freud
o In his theory he viewed ‘femininity as failed masculinity’- he exaggerated the difference
between males and females
o Josselson – ‘in this theory women are inferior to men because they are jealous of men’s penises
(penis envy) and they cannot undergo the same Oedipus conflict as boys do. Women must be
inferior because they have a weaker identification with their mother’
Beta bias:
- Refers to theories which ignore or minimise sex differences.
- These theories assume that the findings from males can apply equally to females
- Example: fight or flight response:
o Biological research into the fight or flight response is often carried out on male animals
because their testosterone levels are more stable and therefore psychologists assumed firstly
that the fight or flight response would apply to humans but they also assumed it would apply to
human male and females equally.
o It can also have a positive effect because psychologists came out with more research on
females now.
- Example: ‘tend or befriend’:
o Taylor et al. found that females adopt a ‘tend and befriend’ response in stressful situations:
women are more likely to protect their offspring (tending) and form alliances with other women
to keep safe (befriending) rather than fight or run away.
Universality:
- The tendency to assume that one's personal qualities and characteristics, including attitudes and values,
are common in the general social group or culture.
- Gilligan...
, Culture bias:
The tendency to judge people in terms of their own cultural assumptions
(Alpha bias a beta bias are applied the same way in culture as in gender too)
Alpha bias:
- Occurs when a theory assumes that cultural groups are profoundly different
Beta bias:
- Occurs when real cultural differences are ignored and all people are assumed to be the same resulting in
universal research designs and conclusions
Ethnocentrism:
- Seeing the world only from one’s own cultural perspective and believing that this one perspective is both
normal and correct. Ignorance to other people in the world
- Example: Ainsworth’s strange situation
o The strange situation was developed to assess attachment types and many researchers assume
that the strange situation has the same meaning for the infants from other cultures, as it does
for American children
Cultural relativism:
- Insists that behaviour can be properly understood only if the cultural context is taken into
consideration.
- Example: Sternberg
o The meaning of intelligence is different in every culture. Sternberg pointed out that
coordination skills are essential in preliterate societies (e.g. tribes value motor skills like
shooting a bow and arrow) but these motor skills are irrelevant for people in a literate and
more ‘developed society’
Examples of cultural bias:
- Milgram
- Asch
- Zimbardo
o ... all assumed that the findings of their research applied to other cultures when in fact
obedience/ conformity rates differ in collectivist/ individualistic cultures
Evolution paragraph: cultural bias in textbooks
One way to deal with cultural bias is to recognise it when it occurs. Smith and Bond found in their 1998
survey of European textbooks on social psychology that 66% of the studies were American, 32%
European, and only 2% from the rest of the world. This suggests that psychological research is severely
unrepresentative and can be greatly improved by simply selecting different cultural groups to study.
Therefore, just by appreciating and understanding cultural bias can help psychologists to avoid and
overcome this issue.
Evaluation: cultural bias and stereotypes
One issue is that culturally biased research can have significant real-world effects by, for example,
amplifying and validating damaging stereotypes. The US army used an IQ test before WWI which was
