Issues and Debates

Gender Bias (AO1)

Gender Bias: When considering human behaviour, bias is a tendency to treat one gender in a different way from the other

Universality: Any underlying behaviour of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of upbringing and experience

Alpha bias: Research that focuses on differences between men and women and so presents a view that exaggerates these differences

E.g. Freud’s theory of psychosexual development. During phallic stage, both boys and girls develop a desire for the opposite-gender parent. For a boy this creates castration anxiety which is resolved when the boy identifies with his father. A girl’s identification with her mother is weaker, so her Superego is weaker. 

Beta bias: Research that focuses on similarities between men and women and so presents a view that minimises differences (leads to androcentrism) 

E.g. Fight or flight response - most research is done on male animals because female behaviour is affected by regular hormonal changes. Early research into fight or flight response assumed that females and males response similarly to threatening situations. 

Androcentrism: ‘Normal behaviour’ is judged according to male standard , meaning the female behaviour is ‘abnormal’ or ‘deficient’ 

E.g. 

• ASA published a list of 100 most influential psychologists of the 20th century and only 6 were women. Psychology has traditionally been a subject created by by men, for men, about men 

• Women’s behaviour has been misunderstood and pathologised (taken as a sign of illness). Premenstrual syndrome medicalises women’s emotions such as anger by explaining it in terms of hormonal terms. Men’s anger is seen as a rational response to external pressures

Gender Bias (AO3)

Cultural Bias (AO1)

Cultural Bias (AO3)