Gender bias means that one gender is treated in a more or less favourable way, based on gender stereotypes rather than real differences. Can you think of gender biases you may be able to notice in everyday life? These can often be based on unfair stereotypes about people of a certain gender and some can even have serious consequences, such as behaviour surrounding discrimination or hate crimes.
- First, we will look at the gender bias meaning.
- Next, we will explore gender bias in psychology.
- After we will briefly mention unconscious gender bias.
- Then we will mention examples of gender bias in society.
- Finally, we will explore some gender bias experiments and research theories.
Fig. 1: Gender bias affects how many people are treated across different areas of life.
Gender Bias Meaning
Gender bias refers to treating a person in a more or less favourable way based on their gender. Typically, gender bias occurs due to a set of beliefs that one gender is superior or inferior to the others. Gender bias can affect society in numerous ways, for instance, pay discrepancies.
Bias is a false or inaccurate perception about a group of people or a set of beliefs. These perceptions are often based on stereotypes relating to characteristics such as race, gender, or sexual orientation. Everyone is biased to a certain extent; however, if bias is not acknowledged, it can cause harm.
Let's look at an example of bias.
A white person may be biased against a non-white person because they associate a certain skin colour with a lack of intelligence, moral inferiority, and the like.
At the same time, a person of colour may feel negatively biased towards a white person for no other reason than the colour of their skin. These are not accurate perceptions.
In psychology, bias affects research as it can impact the way groups of people are studied. It can also affect the way the results of such studies are applied. Gender bias specifically is:
Gender bias means that one gender is treated in a more or less favourable way, based on gender stereotypes rather than real differences.
Gender bias can cause misleading or inaccurate scientific results, maintain gender stereotyping, and justify gender discrimination. It can also lead to a discrepancy in gender research, and issues with the generalisability of research results often occur in the case of gender bias.
Gender Bias in Psychology
There are two main types of gender bias in psychology that you need to know about, alpha and beta bias.
Alpha Bias
Alpha bias in gender refers to the exaggeration of the differences between men and women. Alpha bias emphasises the stereotypical differences or characteristics between men and women. Beta bias is the opposite, often minimising differences between the sexes.
- Alpha bias makes one gender, usually male, seem 'better' than the other. This usually involves the devaluation of the less 'superior' gender.
An example of this is Freud's suggestion that girls have weaker superegos than boys because they do not experience an Oedipus complex. Weaker superegos imply weaker or inferior morality. According to Freud, girls are morally inferior because they are unable to resolve the Oedipus conflict as successfully as boys.
Another example is Parson's outdated Sex Role theory. In this theory, women are said to grow up internalising 'feminine' traits due to their roles in the household, such as empathy and caregiving, whilst men internalised delinquent ideologies and behaviours growing up. Overall, the theory led to debates on the origin of criminality, suggesting there were fewer women who were criminals because of their internalised feminity.
Beta Bias
Beta bias refers to the minimisation of the differences between men and women. This is in contrast to alpha bias.
For example, a psychological study with male and female participants may result in the same findings for both genders without additional research to consider gender differences.
There are two types of beta bias.
Androcentrism
Androcentrism (a type of beta bias) refers to the idea that male thinking and behaviour are 'normal', whilst female thinking and behaviour are 'abnormal', as there's a lack of research focused on female participants as their differences to males have been minimalised.
If female participants are considered similar on many, if not all scopes to men psychologically, some may assume there is no reason to conduct the same study on men and women, as the results should, according to androcentrism, be the same.
An example of this is using only male participants in a psychological study and applying results to everyone. Any behaviour which deviates from this is likely to be judged negatively.
Gynocentrism
Gynocentrism (a type of beta bias) refers to the idea that female thinking and behaviour are 'normal' whilst male thinking and behaviour are 'abnormal'.
For example, using only female participants in a psychological study and applying results to everyone. Any behaviour which deviates is likely to be judged negatively.
Unconscious Gender Bias
Gender bias (and bias in general) can either be a conscious thought (something you are aware of and actively choosing to do) or also something that happens unconsciously, without you even being aware that it is influencing your behaviour.
For example, an employer may prefer male applicants for a job over female applicants because they may be seen as more competent leaders or decision-makers.
Similarly, female applicants may be preferred over male applicants for professions requiring more sensitivity and empathy, such as care, teaching or therapy.
We can hold such gender stereotypes that affect people's lives without realizing it.
Again, this is why it is important to be mindful when conducting, writing up and even reading the results of research. An unconscious bias that you may not be aware of can influence your interpretation of any findings.
Fig. 2: Gender bias can affect job opportunities.
Gender bias (whether conscious or unconscious), greatly impacts society, the consequences of which we will look at next.
Examples of Gender Bias in Society
Research into gender bias has found mixed consequences of gender bias in society.
Positive consequences
First, let's consider alpha bias:
- Some research has been done into stereotypically female qualities.
- Alpha bias in psychological research has led to a lot of criticism when 'male' qualities are valued more highly than 'female' ones. Examples of these include seeing dominance and aggression as desirable traits.
Now, beta bias:
- Minimising the differences between men and women can help. This can lead to equal opportunities and access to society. For example, women are less likely to be refused employment based on their gender.
Negative consequences
First, we will explore alpha bias:
- Even if men and women are different from each other, not all men are the same and not all women are the same. Individual differences exist between men and women, and they differ within their own genders. Alpha bias does not consider this.
- Emphasising gender differences can reinforce gender stereotypes and discriminatory behaviour. This can lead to the view that one gender is inferior because of these differences.
- Stereotypes created from seeking research have been used to justify male dominance in political, educational, and social contexts. Many psychologists state that the differences between men and women are not as great as they are claimed to be.
- It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between actual gender differences and culturally created gender differences. Therefore, some claims made through alpha bias may result from cultural differences in values and perceptions.
- Applying research results equally to all genders ignores the impact of power structures. It is suggested that there are many differences between the genders.
- Beta bias is considered a misrepresentation.
- Androcentrism can result in a misleading understanding of human behaviour because research is mainly focused on male behaviour, patterns, and interests. This means similar research for females may not be pursued to the same extent.
Fig. 3: Alpha and beta bias have different effects on society.Gender Bias Experiments
Here are some examples of the different types of gender bias in psychological research.
Freud:
- Alpha bias - Freud reinforced gender stereotypes based on physical differences between men and women. He claimed that physical differences meant that there were also psychological differences. He also established agender stereotypes based on sex. Deviations from such roles were considered abnormal.
- Androcentrism (beta bias) - Freud theorised that women have 'penis envy', especially if they had career ambitions as this meant they wanted to be like men.
Kohlberg:
- Androcentrism (beta bias) - Kohlberg's findings on moral development were generalised to women despite collecting data from only male participants. He claimed that women do not morally develop as much as men do. Kohlberg's classification system was based on justice.
- Alpha bias - Gilligan criticised Kolhberg's findings and claimed that women make moral decisions based on relationships rather than justice, which is why they might appear to have a lower level of moral reasoning under Kohlberg's system.
However, the differences between men's and women's moral reasoning may not be as different as Gilligan's research shows.
Gender bias - key takeaways
Gender bias means that one gender is treated in a more or less favourable way, based on gender stereotypes rather than real differences. It can have a major impact on psychological research and reinforce gender stereotypes.
Bias is the set of natural perceptions or beliefs about a certain group of people that can cause favourable or unfavourable treatment towards them.
The main types of gender bias are alpha bias and beta bias. Alpha bias emphasizes the psychological differences between men and women whilst beta bias minimises them.
Research into women's psychology has been carried out to address the issue of alpha bias in psychology, which tends to perceive men as superior. Alpha bias reinforces gender stereotypes and leads to prejudice and discrimination.
Beta bias can help view men and women equally as human beings rather than according to gender. However, beta bias fails to consider differences between the genders that may impact the way each individual thinks or behaves.
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