Issues and Debates Revision Notes
Issues
Gender and Culture in Psychology: Gender Bias
Universality and Bias:
• Psychologists hold beliefs and values that have been influence d by the social and
historical context within which they live however these beliefs may be biased,
leaning towards a subjective view that does not reflect objective reality.
• Bias undermines psychology’s claims to universality, that conclusions drawn can be
applied to everyone, regardless of time or culture.
Alpha Bias:
• Psychological research that exaggerates difference is alpha-biased.
• Sometimes these differences heighten the value of women, but more often devalue
women in relation to men.
• An example of alpha bias is Freud’s (1905) theory of psychosexual development.
During phallic stage of development both boy boys and girls develop a desire for
their opposite-gender parent.
• This creates strong castration anxiety for the boy, and this is resolved when he
identifies with his father.
• But a girl’s eventual identification with her same gender-parent is weaker, meaning
her superego is weaker. Therefore girls/women are morally inferior to boys/men.
• Alpha bias can sometimes favour women in the psychodynamic approach.
Chodorow (1968) suggested that daughters and mothers have a greater
connectedness than sons and mothers because of biological similarities meaning
women develop better abilities to bond with others and empathise.
,Beta Bias:
• Psychological research that ignores or underestimates differences is beta-biased.
• Happens when we assume that research finding apply equally to both men and
women.
• An example of beta bias is research on fight or flight response. Biological research
favoured using male animal because female behaviour is affected by regular
hormonal changes due to ovulation. This simply ignores any possible differences.
• However, Taylor et al. (2000) claimed this is not true and described the tend and
befriend response. ‘Love’ hormone oxytocin is more plentiful in women increase the
production of this when stressed. This reduces fight or flight response and enhances
a preference for ‘tend and befriend’ (looking after others).
• Illustrates how research that minimises gender differences may result in
misrepresentation of women’s behaviour.
Androcentrism:
• Alpha and beta bias are consequences of androcentrism.
• Over the years, psychology has presented a male-dominated version of the world,
e.g. the American Psychological Association published a list of 100 most influential
psychologists of the 20th century, only including 6 women.
• Suggests that psychology has traditionally been a subject produced by men, for men
and about men – an androcentric perspective.
• Women’s behaviour has been misunderstood. Feminists have objected to the
diagnostic category premenstrual syndrome, e.g. on the ground that is medicalises
women’s emotions, such as anger, by explaining these in hormonal terms.
, Evaluation:
Biological VS Social Explanations
• Limitation is that gender differences are often presented as fixed and enduring
(alpha bias) when they are not.
• Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) presented the findings of several gender studies which
concluded that girls have superior verbal ability whereas boys have better spatial
ability.
• They suggested that these differences are ‘hardwired’ into the brain before birth.
• Such findings become widely reported and seen as facts. In fact Joel at al. (2015)
used brain scanning and found no such sex differences in brain structure n
processing.
• It is possible that the data from Maccoby and Jacklin was popularised because it
fitted existing stereotypes of girls as ‘speakers’ and boys as ‘doers’.
• Suggests that we should be wary of accepting research findings as biological facts
when they might be explained better as social stereotypes.
Counterpoint – Wary of Exaggerating Effect
• However, this does not mean that psychologists should avoid studying possible
gender differences in the brain.
• For instance, research by Ingalhalikar et al. (2014) suggests that the popular
social stereotype that women are better at multitasking may have some
biological truth to it as it seems that a woman's brain may benefit from better
connections between the right and the left hemisphere than in a man's brain.
• Suggests that there may be biological differences but we still should be wary of
exaggerating the effect they may have on behaviour.
Issues
Gender and Culture in Psychology: Gender Bias
Universality and Bias:
• Psychologists hold beliefs and values that have been influence d by the social and
historical context within which they live however these beliefs may be biased,
leaning towards a subjective view that does not reflect objective reality.
• Bias undermines psychology’s claims to universality, that conclusions drawn can be
applied to everyone, regardless of time or culture.
Alpha Bias:
• Psychological research that exaggerates difference is alpha-biased.
• Sometimes these differences heighten the value of women, but more often devalue
women in relation to men.
• An example of alpha bias is Freud’s (1905) theory of psychosexual development.
During phallic stage of development both boy boys and girls develop a desire for
their opposite-gender parent.
• This creates strong castration anxiety for the boy, and this is resolved when he
identifies with his father.
• But a girl’s eventual identification with her same gender-parent is weaker, meaning
her superego is weaker. Therefore girls/women are morally inferior to boys/men.
• Alpha bias can sometimes favour women in the psychodynamic approach.
Chodorow (1968) suggested that daughters and mothers have a greater
connectedness than sons and mothers because of biological similarities meaning
women develop better abilities to bond with others and empathise.
,Beta Bias:
• Psychological research that ignores or underestimates differences is beta-biased.
• Happens when we assume that research finding apply equally to both men and
women.
• An example of beta bias is research on fight or flight response. Biological research
favoured using male animal because female behaviour is affected by regular
hormonal changes due to ovulation. This simply ignores any possible differences.
• However, Taylor et al. (2000) claimed this is not true and described the tend and
befriend response. ‘Love’ hormone oxytocin is more plentiful in women increase the
production of this when stressed. This reduces fight or flight response and enhances
a preference for ‘tend and befriend’ (looking after others).
• Illustrates how research that minimises gender differences may result in
misrepresentation of women’s behaviour.
Androcentrism:
• Alpha and beta bias are consequences of androcentrism.
• Over the years, psychology has presented a male-dominated version of the world,
e.g. the American Psychological Association published a list of 100 most influential
psychologists of the 20th century, only including 6 women.
• Suggests that psychology has traditionally been a subject produced by men, for men
and about men – an androcentric perspective.
• Women’s behaviour has been misunderstood. Feminists have objected to the
diagnostic category premenstrual syndrome, e.g. on the ground that is medicalises
women’s emotions, such as anger, by explaining these in hormonal terms.
, Evaluation:
Biological VS Social Explanations
• Limitation is that gender differences are often presented as fixed and enduring
(alpha bias) when they are not.
• Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) presented the findings of several gender studies which
concluded that girls have superior verbal ability whereas boys have better spatial
ability.
• They suggested that these differences are ‘hardwired’ into the brain before birth.
• Such findings become widely reported and seen as facts. In fact Joel at al. (2015)
used brain scanning and found no such sex differences in brain structure n
processing.
• It is possible that the data from Maccoby and Jacklin was popularised because it
fitted existing stereotypes of girls as ‘speakers’ and boys as ‘doers’.
• Suggests that we should be wary of accepting research findings as biological facts
when they might be explained better as social stereotypes.
Counterpoint – Wary of Exaggerating Effect
• However, this does not mean that psychologists should avoid studying possible
gender differences in the brain.
• For instance, research by Ingalhalikar et al. (2014) suggests that the popular
social stereotype that women are better at multitasking may have some
biological truth to it as it seems that a woman's brain may benefit from better
connections between the right and the left hemisphere than in a man's brain.
• Suggests that there may be biological differences but we still should be wary of
exaggerating the effect they may have on behaviour.
