Shortened issues and debates
GENDER BIAS– occurs when there’s a differential treatment of men and women
based on stereotypes rather than real differences. Leading to differential treatments
of men and women
Alpha bias – exaggerating the differences between men and women
- Freud psychosexual development
- Phallic stage, boys develop incestuous desires for mothers creating castration
anxiety (OEDIPUS) resolved when boy identifies with father
- Girls’ identification with mother is weaker due to having less of a need to do
so, women seen as morally inferior
Beta bias – exaggerating the similarities between men and women
- Fight or flight
- Used male animals as it was believed female animals are affected by
hormonal changes, applied findings to both genders
- Taylor: females produce tend and be friend response, adaptive (ensures
survival of offspring)
- Social influence research (Asch/Milgram only used men)
Androcentrism – male view of the world
- Psych is historically male dominated
- Assuming male behaviour is normal it can lead to female behaviour being
regarded as inferior
Universality
- Moral reasoning Kohlberg only used boys Heinz Dilemma
- Replicated with females relating to a moral care of hurting someone’s
feelings
- Moral reasoning of gender’s wasn’t better just different.
A03
- Several findings of gender studied conclude females have better verbal
ability then men who have better spatial ability, these differences are
hardwired into the brain before birth
- HOWEVER – brain scans showed no gender differences in brain structure/
processing
- Should be wary of accepting research findings as biological facts, when they
may be social stereotypes
- MRI scans of 1000 males and females found women multitask better than
men, had better connections between LH and RH. Men showed more activity
in parts of the brain related to motor skills (bio differences do exist)
, - Women underrepresented in uni departments, intake is mainly female
lecturers are mainly male, research is more likely or be conducted by men
and disadvantage females
- Analysed 1000 articles and found Gender bias research is funded/ published
less in prestigious journals, don’t become aware of it, or apply it within their
work
- may provide a scientific ‘justification’ to deny women opportunities within the
workplace or wider society, particularly where men set the standards of
‘normalcy ‘may lead to damaging consequences affecting the lives and
prospects of women
solutions to gender bias
feminist approach accept bio differences and focus on studied that understand
women better, emphasise value/ importance of women
reflective approach constantly reflecting on own gender biases when carrying out
research
use male and female researchers, don’t extrapolate findings across genders
CULTURAL BIAS– tendency to judge people in terms of your own cultural
assumptions
- reviewed 100s of studied and found 68% of research ppts came from US and
were 4000x more likely to be ppts in a study. 96% from industrialised nations
(used term WEIRD to describe ppl most likely to be in psych research
westernised, educated ppl from industrialised rich democracies) – leads to
non-westernised behaviour being seen as abnormal
ethnocentrism – seeing the world from own cultural perspective and believing it is
normal correct and superior to others
- Ainsworth Strange Situation researchers reflected the norms and values of
American culture. showed the ‘ideal’ attachment type as an infant showing
moderate distress when left alone by the caregiver (secure attachment).
- led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practices in other countries that
deviated from US norms.
- German mothers were seen as cold and rejecting rather than encouraging
independence from their children
- In Japan babies are rarely left on their own they were more likely to be
classed as insecurely attached due to distress when separated from their
mother
Cultural relativism – behaviour can only be understood if the cultural context and
norms and values are considered for the specific culture
- Berry etic and emic approaches, etic approach looks at behaviour from
outside a given culture so may look at many different cultures (universal
GENDER BIAS– occurs when there’s a differential treatment of men and women
based on stereotypes rather than real differences. Leading to differential treatments
of men and women
Alpha bias – exaggerating the differences between men and women
- Freud psychosexual development
- Phallic stage, boys develop incestuous desires for mothers creating castration
anxiety (OEDIPUS) resolved when boy identifies with father
- Girls’ identification with mother is weaker due to having less of a need to do
so, women seen as morally inferior
Beta bias – exaggerating the similarities between men and women
- Fight or flight
- Used male animals as it was believed female animals are affected by
hormonal changes, applied findings to both genders
- Taylor: females produce tend and be friend response, adaptive (ensures
survival of offspring)
- Social influence research (Asch/Milgram only used men)
Androcentrism – male view of the world
- Psych is historically male dominated
- Assuming male behaviour is normal it can lead to female behaviour being
regarded as inferior
Universality
- Moral reasoning Kohlberg only used boys Heinz Dilemma
- Replicated with females relating to a moral care of hurting someone’s
feelings
- Moral reasoning of gender’s wasn’t better just different.
A03
- Several findings of gender studied conclude females have better verbal
ability then men who have better spatial ability, these differences are
hardwired into the brain before birth
- HOWEVER – brain scans showed no gender differences in brain structure/
processing
- Should be wary of accepting research findings as biological facts, when they
may be social stereotypes
- MRI scans of 1000 males and females found women multitask better than
men, had better connections between LH and RH. Men showed more activity
in parts of the brain related to motor skills (bio differences do exist)
, - Women underrepresented in uni departments, intake is mainly female
lecturers are mainly male, research is more likely or be conducted by men
and disadvantage females
- Analysed 1000 articles and found Gender bias research is funded/ published
less in prestigious journals, don’t become aware of it, or apply it within their
work
- may provide a scientific ‘justification’ to deny women opportunities within the
workplace or wider society, particularly where men set the standards of
‘normalcy ‘may lead to damaging consequences affecting the lives and
prospects of women
solutions to gender bias
feminist approach accept bio differences and focus on studied that understand
women better, emphasise value/ importance of women
reflective approach constantly reflecting on own gender biases when carrying out
research
use male and female researchers, don’t extrapolate findings across genders
CULTURAL BIAS– tendency to judge people in terms of your own cultural
assumptions
- reviewed 100s of studied and found 68% of research ppts came from US and
were 4000x more likely to be ppts in a study. 96% from industrialised nations
(used term WEIRD to describe ppl most likely to be in psych research
westernised, educated ppl from industrialised rich democracies) – leads to
non-westernised behaviour being seen as abnormal
ethnocentrism – seeing the world from own cultural perspective and believing it is
normal correct and superior to others
- Ainsworth Strange Situation researchers reflected the norms and values of
American culture. showed the ‘ideal’ attachment type as an infant showing
moderate distress when left alone by the caregiver (secure attachment).
- led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practices in other countries that
deviated from US norms.
- German mothers were seen as cold and rejecting rather than encouraging
independence from their children
- In Japan babies are rarely left on their own they were more likely to be
classed as insecurely attached due to distress when separated from their
mother
Cultural relativism – behaviour can only be understood if the cultural context and
norms and values are considered for the specific culture
- Berry etic and emic approaches, etic approach looks at behaviour from
outside a given culture so may look at many different cultures (universal
