Discuss gender bias in psychological research.

AO1

• a bias refers to a tendency to treat or view an individual or group differently

• gender bias in psychological research refers to that which fails to sufficiently address the experience of one of the genders, often portraying one in a negative light

• alpha bias is…

  • example of sexual selection, large difference in strategies due to biology

• beta bias is…

  • example of social influence research e.g. Asch, all-male sample, tells us nothing of female conformity

• androcentrism refers to our standards of behaviour being based on that of males; deviation from this norm (often by differing female behaviour) results in the pathologisation of female behaviour, looked at with a negative view

  • e.g. the label of PMS

AO3

• androcentrism creates negative ideas about female behaviour e.g. sexual selection shames women for engaging in promiscuous behaviour

• ‘scientific’ findings from a biased procedure (power imbalance between a female participant and male researcher)…

• can be used to justify discriminatory practices/perpetuate damaging stereotypes

• recognition of gender bias can strengthen research, use of reflexivity, inclusion of biased influences in the discussion of research leads to greater awareness of its impact in the field