ISSUES & DEBATES
GENDER BIAS
ALPHA BIAS : Tendency to exaggerate differences between males & females
- Leads to theories devaluing 1 gender in comparison to another
ANDROCENTRICENTRISM : Centred/focused in men
- Women are often neglected or excluded completely
BETA BIAS : Tendency to ignore or minimise the differences between men &
women
- Theories ignore questions looking at women's lives
- Assume insights from studies developed from male participants will equally
apply to women
GENDER BIAS : Differential treatment or representation of men or women based
on stereotypes rather than real differences
UNIVERSALITY : Aim of developing theories that apply to all
- These aim to include real differences
HARE - MUSTIN & MARECEK (1988)
● Suggested 2 key ways that theories are often biased
- Alpha bias : Theory assumes real enduring differences exist between
men & women
- Beta bias : Theory ignores or minimises gender differences
● Aim to produce theories & methods that apply to both men & women =
universality
ANDROCENTRISM
● Psychology & society have been very much male dominated
● Psychology is still male centred & theories developed representing the male
view of the world =
,ALPHA BIAS
● Eg -: Freud's research
- Represents 19th century society
- According to psychoanalysis femininity would have been viewed as
failed masculinity - exaggerating the difference between men and
women
- According to his theory women are seen as inferior to men due to
penis envy
- They cannot undergo oedipus conflict as men = morally inferior as
they have a weaker identification with their mothers (Josselson, 1988)
BETA BIAS
● Eg -: Biological research conducted on male animals
● Variations in levels make the research more difficult
● Male only sample are used assuming what is true for males will also be true
for females
● Stress responses of fight or flight was assumed as universal
● Talyor et al, (2000) showed evidence of females displaying a ‘tend and
befriend’ response under situations of stress = adaptive response to ensure
survival of offspring
● Beta approach lead to ignoring any possibility of differences between
males & females – ignored real differences that existed all along
UNIVERSALITY
● Aim of developing theories that apply to all
● Not trying to remove gender differences for all theories & research = beta
bias
● Solution = recognition of differences but not saying one gender superiority
over another
Eg -: KOHLBERG (1969) THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
- Suggested moral decisions made are based in ethic of justice
- Research on men/boys asked to describe ‘right’ behaviours in certain
situations related to fairness
- Assuming all responses would apply to all = beta bias
GILLIGAN (1982)
- Criticised his biased sample & scenarios used
- After criticism tested on women & found women to be less morally
developed than men & exaggerated this difference
- Beta bias led o alpha bias
2
, - Showed women favoured care orientation Vs women who favoured justice
orientation
- Findings showed a difference but neither moral reasoning was considered
as ‘better’ - just different
A03
P : One way to address androcentrism is to take a feminist perspective like
Gilligan did
E : Feminist psychology focuses on reducing the imbalances found with psych
theories & research. They agree to real biological based sex differences but argue
socially determined stereotypes contribute greater to perceived differences.
E : Social change would therefore, require revision of the facts we know as a
society as a whole. Feminist psychologist are identifying areas were differences
exist & creating opportunities to address them
L : This demonstrates how feminist psychologist seek to understanding behaviour
in terms of social processes & working towards greater equality
P : A critique of psychology theories & studies is that they are gender biassed due
to the methods being biased
E : ROSENTHAL (1966) found male experiments to be more pleasant, friendly &
encouraging to female participants than male participants. Male participants
consequently appeared to perform less well on these tasks assigned
E : feminists have also argued that controlled lab experiments disadvantage
women as they do not include experiences of women outside these settings.
Research has supported this when finishing women & men to be judged as similar
within real world settings
L : These criticisms suggest serious concerns with data collection methods used
by psychologists & show false idea of differences between these genders
P : One way to counter gender bias in psychology is to develop theories showing
the differences between men & women but emphasise the value of women
E : A example of this research showing instances where women are better should
be emphasised
E : A eg -: research by feminist psychologist than show women are better at
learning because they are more attentive flexible & organised (Cornwell et al 2013)
L : This challenges the stereotype of within any gender differences - the male
position must be better consequently changing people's preconceptions
3
GENDER BIAS
ALPHA BIAS : Tendency to exaggerate differences between males & females
- Leads to theories devaluing 1 gender in comparison to another
ANDROCENTRICENTRISM : Centred/focused in men
- Women are often neglected or excluded completely
BETA BIAS : Tendency to ignore or minimise the differences between men &
women
- Theories ignore questions looking at women's lives
- Assume insights from studies developed from male participants will equally
apply to women
GENDER BIAS : Differential treatment or representation of men or women based
on stereotypes rather than real differences
UNIVERSALITY : Aim of developing theories that apply to all
- These aim to include real differences
HARE - MUSTIN & MARECEK (1988)
● Suggested 2 key ways that theories are often biased
- Alpha bias : Theory assumes real enduring differences exist between
men & women
- Beta bias : Theory ignores or minimises gender differences
● Aim to produce theories & methods that apply to both men & women =
universality
ANDROCENTRISM
● Psychology & society have been very much male dominated
● Psychology is still male centred & theories developed representing the male
view of the world =
,ALPHA BIAS
● Eg -: Freud's research
- Represents 19th century society
- According to psychoanalysis femininity would have been viewed as
failed masculinity - exaggerating the difference between men and
women
- According to his theory women are seen as inferior to men due to
penis envy
- They cannot undergo oedipus conflict as men = morally inferior as
they have a weaker identification with their mothers (Josselson, 1988)
BETA BIAS
● Eg -: Biological research conducted on male animals
● Variations in levels make the research more difficult
● Male only sample are used assuming what is true for males will also be true
for females
● Stress responses of fight or flight was assumed as universal
● Talyor et al, (2000) showed evidence of females displaying a ‘tend and
befriend’ response under situations of stress = adaptive response to ensure
survival of offspring
● Beta approach lead to ignoring any possibility of differences between
males & females – ignored real differences that existed all along
UNIVERSALITY
● Aim of developing theories that apply to all
● Not trying to remove gender differences for all theories & research = beta
bias
● Solution = recognition of differences but not saying one gender superiority
over another
Eg -: KOHLBERG (1969) THEORY OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT
- Suggested moral decisions made are based in ethic of justice
- Research on men/boys asked to describe ‘right’ behaviours in certain
situations related to fairness
- Assuming all responses would apply to all = beta bias
GILLIGAN (1982)
- Criticised his biased sample & scenarios used
- After criticism tested on women & found women to be less morally
developed than men & exaggerated this difference
- Beta bias led o alpha bias
2
, - Showed women favoured care orientation Vs women who favoured justice
orientation
- Findings showed a difference but neither moral reasoning was considered
as ‘better’ - just different
A03
P : One way to address androcentrism is to take a feminist perspective like
Gilligan did
E : Feminist psychology focuses on reducing the imbalances found with psych
theories & research. They agree to real biological based sex differences but argue
socially determined stereotypes contribute greater to perceived differences.
E : Social change would therefore, require revision of the facts we know as a
society as a whole. Feminist psychologist are identifying areas were differences
exist & creating opportunities to address them
L : This demonstrates how feminist psychologist seek to understanding behaviour
in terms of social processes & working towards greater equality
P : A critique of psychology theories & studies is that they are gender biassed due
to the methods being biased
E : ROSENTHAL (1966) found male experiments to be more pleasant, friendly &
encouraging to female participants than male participants. Male participants
consequently appeared to perform less well on these tasks assigned
E : feminists have also argued that controlled lab experiments disadvantage
women as they do not include experiences of women outside these settings.
Research has supported this when finishing women & men to be judged as similar
within real world settings
L : These criticisms suggest serious concerns with data collection methods used
by psychologists & show false idea of differences between these genders
P : One way to counter gender bias in psychology is to develop theories showing
the differences between men & women but emphasise the value of women
E : A example of this research showing instances where women are better should
be emphasised
E : A eg -: research by feminist psychologist than show women are better at
learning because they are more attentive flexible & organised (Cornwell et al 2013)
L : This challenges the stereotype of within any gender differences - the male
position must be better consequently changing people's preconceptions
3
