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Psychology Issues and Debates: The Gender Bias
Key Definitions
Gender Bias: The differing treatment/representation of males and females based on
stereotypes and unreal differences.
Beta Bias-Ignores or minimises sex differences, assume male findings apply equally
to females without research support
Alpha Bias- Overemphasising differences between male and female e.g.
sociobiological theory
Androcentrism: Theories/studies that are male centred, which could represent male
behaviour as the norm.
Gynocentrism: Theories/studies centred on females.
Theory example of Alpha bias:
Freud argued that there are genuine psychological differences between males and females.
His theories suggest an inferiority in women because they suffer ‘penis envy’ and views
femininity as a failed form of masculinity. Freud’s phallic stage also denies the possibility of
homosexual feelings
Theory example of Beta bias:
Biological research into the Fight or Flight response was only studied on Male animals and
results were generalised to female, assuming results are universal. This encouraged research
by Taylor (2002) who found that females adopt a ‘tend and befriend’ response. This due to
women being more likely to protect offspring (Tend) and to form alliances with other
women (Befriend).
Theory example of Androcentrism:
Asch’s conformity study had a sample of 123 Males and did not research into females, this
creates assumed that social conformity is the same in both sexes, and could have affected
future psychological research into conformity as it provided a potential inaccurate
explanation for female conformity.
Evaluation of the Gender bias
The implications of gender bias; There could be damaging consequences if female are
believed to be twice as likely as men to be depressed. If mental health issues are seen as a
female disorder, it would be harder for males to seek out and get help from specialists.
Similarly, if research suggests that men are much more likely to be violent, the
consequentiality (Foster) could be quite extreme e.g. the criminal justice system whereby
charges are more severe for men or they may feel more inclined to internalise that
stereotype (self-fulfilling prophecy)
Misleading assumptions of female behaviour; in any research domain where male
behaviour is the norm, ‘It becomes normal for women to feel abnormal’(Tavris-1993)
suggesting that gender bias is not just a methodological issue but could have damaging
implications of social sensitivity amongst the lives of women. Nonetheless, modern
researchers are beginning to realise the effects of their personal assumptions on the nature
of their work (Reflexivity) although personal views affect objectivity, they do not see this as
an issue and instead believe it’s crucial to the research process. For example, Dambrin and
Lambert in their study into lack of women in executive accounting positions, include
reflection on how their own gender related experiences influenced their reading of events.
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