Psychology of Women & Gender (Chapters 1 & 2)
Feminist Evolutionary Psychology and Feminist Sociobiology
* 3 core components - Thinking critically about sex and gender - Recognizing women as active agents in evolutionary processes - Recognizing women as active agents in human dynamics * Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (1999) - Argues that women evolved to care for their children and ensure survival, but subverts many ideas about traditional gender roles and whether they have an evolutionary basis * Female primate examples - They combine work and family—must be successful foragers or their offspring will starve - Female chimpanzees also have status hierarchies that determine the status and survival of their offspring - Mate promiscuously with invading males • Possibly trying to confuse paternity, because males will kill infants that are not theirs but will protect infants they have sired • In this situation, it is a good idea to mate with strangers
Sexual Selection
* A mechanism that acts in parallel to natural selection * Consists of two processes - Members of one gender (usually males) compete with each otherfor mating privileges with members of the other gender (usually females) - Members of the other gender (usually females) have preferences for certain members of the first gender (usually males) and decide who they are willing to mate with * Explains differences between the males and females of a species - Particularly the greater size, strength, and aggressiveness of males
Gender Binary
A system of conceptualizing gender as having two distinct and opposing groups or kinds (i.e., male and female)
Intersex
A variety of conditions in which a person is born with genitals or reproductive anatomy that is not typical female or male people. Also termed disorders of se development in the DSM-5 and differences of sex development or genital diversity.
Social Role Theory
* Alice Eagly (top) and Wendy Wood (bottom) * Critiques evolutionary psychology - If gender differences are the products of evolution, they should not vary so widely across cultures * Proposes an alternative explanation for gender differences, attributing them to men's and women's different positions in the social structure - Psychological gender differences result from adaptations to the restrictions on or opportunities for their gender in society * Acknowledges physical differences but emphasizes that their importance is amplified by cultural beliefs * Suggests that society's division of labor by gender drives all other gender differences in behavior - E.g., women's responsibilities in the home led them to be more nurturing * Evidence for social role theory - In countries where opportunities for men and women are more equal, men and women are more similar (Eagly & Wood, 1999)
Gender-Fair Research
* Research that is not guilty of any of the previously discussed biases * Suggests that we continue to use the same rules of research but improve the procedures so that the rules are observed fairly * Characteristics of gender-fair research - Limits single-gender research - Critically examines theoretical models, assumptions, and questions asked - Diverse research teams to limit experimenter effects - Examines interpretations of results and, when possible, offers several
Feminist Reformulation of Moral Development
* Also Gilligan * Men and women reason differently about moral dilemmas - Men take a justice perspective, emphasizing individual rights - Women take a care perspective, emphasizing relatedness and communication * Since Kohlberg designed his theory with males as the norm, females' answers seem immature, when in reality they are just based on different concerns * Gilligan's research exemplifies many qualities of feminist scholarship - She detected androcentrism in Kohlberg's theory and reconstructed the theory according to women's perspectives - However, she still makes it appear as if men and women think completely differently—which seems unlikely * What does the evidence say? - On average, women score at the same moral level as men, so Kohlberg's scale does not seem to shortchange them - Gilligan's hypothesized reasoning differences do exist, but they are small, and most people reason use a mix of both perspectives
Gender Differences in Moral Development
* Also Kohlberg (1969) * Proposed that people go through stages in moral development * He would present people with moral dilemmas whose solution supposedly indicated their level of moral development * He found that: - Most adults never reach postconventional morality - Most males eventually reach stage 4 - Most females only reach stage 3 * Printed of picture that goes with *
Evolutionary Psychology
* An updated version of sociobiology proposed by David Buss and others * Humans' psychological mechanisms are the result of evolution based on natural selection - Psychological mechanisms that exist today are adaptive—they helped us survive and/or reproduce * Sexual strategies theory - Explains certain psychological gender differences - States that men and women have different mating strategies - Because it is evolutionarily advantageous for men to disseminate their genes to as many women as possible, they focus on short-term mating • They look for fertile women and are jealous about sexual infidelity because they want to remove the uncertainty of paternity - Because women have greater parental investment, they want to make sure their offspring survive, so they focus on long-term mating strategies • They seek to identify men who can provide resources and are willing to make a long-term commitment • They are also more concerned with emotional infidelity, because it threatens the resources they and their offspring will need - However, the data does not support differences in responses to sexual vs. emotional infidelity
Feminist Research
* Argues that psychological research needs to be reformed * Characteristics of feminist research - Focuses on observing people in their natural environments instead of manipulating them - Avoids objectifying and dehumanizing people through using the term "participants" rather than "subjects" - Uses the two-step method of determining participant gender, considering both gender assigned at birth and participants' own descriptions of their gender - Pays attention to the special concerns of women and marginalized groups - Views variables as interactive and mutually influential - Attempts to empower people and eliminate inequities - Considers diverse and innovative ways of studying behavior, such as qualitative or mixed methods - Understands that scientific research and political activism can exist comfortably in the same space • Good research can lead to social change! • Researcher-activists just need to be open about their values
Feminist Critique of Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology
* Biological explanations tend to be used to rationalize the status quo - E.g., men are dominant and women are subordinate due to genes, so that can never change * Take an androcentric (male-centered) perspective - For example, ignore or minimize the significance of the active role of women in evolution * Ignore or minimize animal data that contradict human stereotypes * Rely on data from nonindustrial societies * Based on an outmoded version of evolutionary theory that many biologists today consider to be naïve - Modern biologists focus on the survival of the group and species as well as the individual * Many studies contradicting evolutionary psychology are emerging * Rooted in heteronormativity and the gender binary - So they can contribute to marginalization, and they cannot explain diversity in gender and sexual orientation * Not falsifiable
Critique of Kohlberg's Work on Moral Development
* Carol Gilligan (1982) * The main characters of Kohlberg's dilemmas tend to be men - Girls and women may have trouble relating to him * Kohlberg's original sample for his theory was all male - So the theory may not apply well to women * Kohlberg's theory interprets women only reaching stage 3 as a deficiency in their development - But maybe it reflects a deficiency in Kohlberg's theory instead—maybe it can't adequately describe female development
Conclusions
* Different theoretical perspectives operate from very different underlying assumptions and provide very different views of women and gender * Psychoanalytic theory and evolutionary theories see the nature of women and gender differences as rooted in biology * Social learning theory and feminist theories emphasize culture and society in the creation of gender differences and gender roles * Cognitive-developmental theory, gender role theory, and gender schema theory are interactionist, describing interactions between the organism and information from the environment * Evidence - Much more evidence for social learning theory, gender schema theory, and cognitive-developmental theory than psychoanalytic theory - Mixed evidence for evolutionary psychology
Feminist Theories
* Gender as Status and Power - Men and women have unequal status in our society, with women holding a lower status - Sexism is pervasive • It exists in many spheres: political, academic, economic, and interpersonal - Men have greater power than women • Male dominance is paired with female subordination • Male power and dominance occur on many levels, from the individual to the institutional - The personal is political • Personal, individual experiences are manifestations of larger political and power-related issues - 4 basic sources of power that operate between any two unequal groups • Threat of violence or the potential to harm • Economic power or control of resources • Ability to promote ideologies that tell others what they should desire or disdain • Relational power -----When one person in a relationship needs the other more than the reverse * Intersectionality - There are multiple aspects of our identity, and we should not consider any of them, including gender, in isolation - Categories such as race, social class, sexual orientation, gender, and religion are interconnected and combine to create a whole that is qualitatively different than the sum of its parts - Video explaining intersectionality and its importance for feminism: *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-nmxnmt_XU* - Essential elements of intersectional research • Focuses on the experience and meaning of simultaneously belonging to multiple intertwined social categories • Examines how power is connected to belonging in each of these intersecting categories ----One category may confer privilege, while another may confer disadvantage • Social categories are examined as properties of a person as well as their social context, so these categories and their significance may change depending on time, location, situation, etc. - Rooted in social constructionism and critiquing the gender binary - Proposes that gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation are not stable, fixed, biologically based characteristics - Instead, they are fluid and dynamic and are shaped by culture * Gender Roles and Socialization - Every known society recognizes and elaborates gender differences • Gender roles are powerful and pervasive • Gender roles differ across cultures • Patriarchal societies are the majority, and egalitarian or matriarchal societies are the minority - Early on, we are socialized to conform to these roles (in agreement with social learning theory) - These roles are constricting • They tell us what we can and cannot do • They restrict our potential and aspirations • So we would be better off revising or eliminating them * External Versus Internal Attributions of Problems - Feminists are critical of analyses that assume that women's problems are caused by internal or personal factors - Instead, they view the sources of women's problems as external, having their roots in societal forces * Consciousness Raising - Ideally begin with women sharing their feelings and experiences, move into feminist theoretical analyses of these feelings and experiences, and result in action - Occurs a great deal now on social media - Central to the feminist perspective • A means for women to reflect on their experiences and understand themselves • Involves a theoretical lens through which to view experiences • Helps women realize that perceived individual problems are common and have external causes • The power base for political action * Diversity of Feminisms - Liberal feminism • Women should have opportunities and rights equal to men • Believe in working within the system for reform - Cultural feminism • Women have special, unique qualities that differentiate them from men (e.g., nurturing, connectedness, intuition) • Our society devalues those qualities, so we need to elevate them - Marxist or socialist feminism • The oppression of women is just one instance of class-based oppression, which is rooted in capitalism • To fix it, we need dramatic reform, including an overhaul of our capitalist economy and the concept of private property - Radical feminism • Radical change is necessary • Radical-libertarian feminists believe that femininity limits women's development and instead advocate for androgyny • Radical-cultural feminists argue that femininity and feminine values are preferable to masculinity and masculine values and that men should strive to be more feminine • Since such radical change is difficult, sometimes advocate for separatist communities - Essentialist and postmodern feminism • An academic movement that is concerned with epistemology—how we know things • Seeks to reform thought and research • Questions rationality and objectivity as methods for finding the truth • Advocates social constructionism instead - Women of color feminism • Highlights the unique experiences of women of color as members of multiply marginalized groups • Promotes a more inclusive and intersectional perspective - Ecofeminism • Links women's oppression to humans' domination of nature • Advocates that patriarchy harms both women and nature • Environmental issues are understood as intertwined with gender equality and well-being - The main point: There is a wide spectrum of feminist beliefs and practice! - Many feminist theories were not proposed as scientific theories, so some of their propositions are difficult to evaluate scientifically • However, many theories have been reformulated with a feminist perspective * Objectification Theory - The feminine body is socially constructed as an object to be looked at—an object of the male gaze and male desire - When women are objectified, their worth is reduced to the attractiveness of their body parts - Girls learn to view their bodies as if they are outside observers • Objectified body consciousness or self-objectification: experiencing one's own body as an object to be viewed and evaluated - Elements of objectified body consciousness • Internalization of cultural standards -----Girls and women come to believe the cultural standards are their own personal standards • Body surveillance ----Constant self-surveillance to make sure one's body is conforming to cultural standards, which it can never do perfectly -----Can be a source of shame when their appearance does not measure up • Control beliefs -----Girls and women come to believe that their appearance can be controlled and that, with enough effort, they can achieve cultural standards of beauty and a perfect body -----This can lead to excessive dieting, eating disorders, anxiety, and depression - Effects • Self-objectification can lead to negative psychological outcomes • When observers focus on women's physical appearance, they attribute less competence, warmth, and morality • Observers also visually process women in the same way as they visually process objects—so women are literally objectified - Provides a sociocultural explanation for internal experiences
Critiques of Chodorow's Theory
* Has a heterosexist and cisnormative bias - Assumes that and explains why children will grow up heterosexual and consistent with the gender binary * Lacks intersectionality - Focuses only on the impact of gender in people's lives - Ignores other factors, such as race and class * Like Freud's ideas, most evidence is from people seeking psychotherapy, so it may not apply to everyone
Psychoanalytic Theory = Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
* Important contribution to psychology: saw personality as the result of development - Understood the importance of previous experiences * Proposed a theory of psychosexual development * Each stage of development was characterized by a focus on one of the erogenous zones * Stages of development 1. Oral stage - Infant derives pleasure from sucking and eating - Experiences the world primarily through the mouth 2. Anal stage - Pleasure is derived from defecating 3. Phallic stage - Ages 3 to 6 - Where the experiences of boys and girls diverge * The Phallic Stage for Boys - Become fascinated with their penises - Oedipal Complex • Sexual attraction to and love for their mothers and desire to kill their fathers, who are rivals for their mothers' affection • But their fathers are too powerful as opponents, and boys fear retaliation by castration, so they repress their feelings for their mothers and shift to identifying with their fathers • This is how boys acquire their gender identities • Also by identifying with their fathers, they incorporate the values and ethics of society • This helps them to develop a conscience, or superego * The Phallic Stage for Girls - Feel penis envy - They believe that they used to have penises and have somehow been castrated - Since their penis envy cannot be satisfied, it transforms into a desire to become impregnated by their fathers, which persists in the form of maternal urges - Electra complex • Girls hold their mothers responsible for their lack of penis, so they renounce their love for their mothers • They also become attracted to their fathers - According to Freud, the Electra complex is never fully resolved, leading to lifelong feelings of inferiority, predispositions to jealousy, and maternal desires - Because they do not go through an Oedipal complex like boys do, girls develop an immature superego • They never fully internalize society's standards and values, so they are morally inferior and lack a sense of justice
Why study the psychology of women and gender?
* It's interesting!/It's a fascinating topic! * To understand when, how, and why gender matters in psychology * To address biases in psychological research - Most psychological theories have been about cisgender men - They have also relied on traditional assumptions about gender roles * To help us understand our society and improve people's lives
Variations on a Freudian Theme
* Karen Horney (1885-1952) - Believed that Freudian theory articulates boys' childish views of girls - Also found Freud's psychological theory of women to be phallocentric - Stated that the importance of penis envy was overstated, and the critical factor in development is actually male envy of women • Particularly envy of the ability to reproduce—womb envy - According to Horney, male achievement represents overcompensation for feelings of anatomical inferiority * Helene Deutsch (1884-1982) - Extended Freud's analysis of female development to later stages of development • Began in prepuberty, because she believed that the critical processes of development revolves around the transition from girlhood to womanhood - Viewed motherhood as the most critical feature in women's development - Believed that to be a woman, one has to develop a "feminine core" in the personality • Including narcissism, masochism, and passivity • The desire for motherhood is rooted in those traits, which are rooted in anatomy - Like Freud, tended to confuse biological and cultural forces * Nancy Chodorow (1944-present) - Combined psychoanalytic and feminist perspectives - Tried to understand why women are the primary caretakers of children - Theorized that childcare performed by women produces different experiences for daughters than for sons • Produces daughters who want to mother and sons who dominate and devalue women • Both boys and girls start out intensely connected to their mothers • Their early relationship, in which they depend on their mothers, produces a view of women as caring and self-sacrificing • Girls' relationships with their mothers are never entirely broken, so they do not see themselves as separate, and they continue to define themselves as caregivers • To develop a masculine identity, boys have to repress or break their relationship with their mothers • They begin to define masculinity as the opposite or lack of femininity, which involves denying maternal attachment ----This fosters devaluation of women • For boys, absent or uninvolved fathers' qualities are idealized and a sense of masculine superiority emerges • Men's capacity for parenting is reduced through their denial of relatedness - Adulthood • Men's relational needs are less than women's and are satisfied by heterosexual relationships • Women's relational needs cannot be satisfied by men, so they have children • The cycle of mothering by women thereby perpetuates itself - Women's mothering perpetuates the gendered division of labor, since when women take on childcare, men must do the other necessary work in society - Women's mothering also contributes to the devaluing of women - How is this feminist? • Engages in feminist reconstruction of Freudian ideas • Argues that penis envy is not the result of the inherent superiority of the penis, but of the fact that the penis symbolizes power men have in our society • States that women's mothering is taken for granted and is not given adequate attention • Seeks to decrease inequities for women by encouraging men to start participating equally in childcare - Testing Chodorow's theory • At least one study has shown that girls are closer to their mothers and boys separate themselves from their mothers (Benenson et al., 1998)
Social Learning Theory
* Key mechanisms in gender typing include: - Reinforcement and punishment • Men and women learn to act "appropriately" for their genders because they are rewarded for displaying gender-appropriate behaviors and are not rewarded or are punished for displaying gender-inappropriate behaviors - Imitation/modeling • Children do what they see others doing • Particularly likely to imitate authority figures—parents, other adults, or older peers • Imitate similar-gender parents and adults more often • Explains the acquisition of subtle and complex aspects of gender roles that may not be subject to reinforcement - Observational learning • Children learn by watching others • Can store information for use later in relevant situations * Cognitive Social Learning Theory - Add emphases on cognitive processes - Attention • Children imitate or model behaviors that are relevant to them • Gender influences which behaviors seem relevant -----Children pay more attention to same-gender models - Self-regulation • As children learn the significance of gender, they monitor and regulate their behavior according to internalized gender norms - Self-efficacy • Our beliefs about our ability to accomplish something to produce a particular outcome • Affects our goals, how much time and effort we put into achieving our goals, and whether we persist when faced with challenges • As girls observe women who are successful at a task or job, their sense of self-efficacy in that role increases • However, if they see few women doing what they want to do, their sense of self-efficacy in that regard declines - Suggests that children can learn different gender roles if powerful others change which behaviors they reinforce and model
Cognitive-Developmental Theory
* Kohlberg (1966) extended Piaget's and Inhelder's cognitive principles to gender roles, viewing gender role learning as one aspect of cognitive development * Children learn what men and women do and behave accordingly * Gender role learning is self-motivated and reflects active engagement with the social environment - Children socialize themselves and select behaviors to be learned and performed on the basis of rules about what is gender-appropriate in their society * Gender constancy - Understanding that gender is a stable and consistent part of oneself is a critical part of children's gender development - Begins with children acquiring their gender identity—knowing their own gender • This typically happens around 2 years of age
Types of Sexism
* Old-fashioned sexism (1950s and earlier) - Overt or open prejudice * Modern sexism or neosexism (today) - Covert or subtle prejudice - Consists of denial that discrimination exists, antagonistic feelings about women's "demands," and resentment about perceived special favors granted to women * Hostile sexism - Negative, hostile attitudes toward women and adversarial beliefs about gender, such as the idea that women try to control men * Benevolent sexism - Seeing women as pure beings to be protected and adored - Problematic because it portrays a view of women as weak and dependent on men, and being put on a pedestal is confining
Parental Investment
* One focus of sociobiologists has been to explain why females typically perform most of the care for offspring * Parental investment: behaviors or other investments of the parent that relate to the offspring that increase the offspring's chance of survival, but also cost the parent something *Females usually have larger parental investment than males - They only have one egg per month, whereas males have many sperm - They also invest a great deal of resources in pregnancy and nursing *It is most adaptive for the parent with the highest parental investment to care for the offspring - After investing so much, the female wants to make sure her offspring survive - For the male, who has not invested much, the best reproductive strategy is to continue impregnating females * Females also tend to care for offspring because maternity is certain—they know the offspring are theirs - Sometimes the males cannot be sure of this, and it does not make sense for them to invest in offspring that may not carry their genes - It is adaptive for the females, on the other hand, to care for offspring that definitely carry their genes and therefore guarantee their genes' survival
Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology
* Proposed by E. O. Wilson in 1975 * Concerned with understanding how social behaviors are the product of natural selection * Rests on evolutionary theory - Evolution is the result of natural selection - The fittest animals survive, reproduce, and pass on their genes, whereas less fit animals do not - In this way, traits that are evolutionarily advantageous get passed down through generations * Suggests that evolutionary theory can be applied to social behaviors - Adaptive social behaviors increase reproductive fitness, so they are passed on - Maladaptive social behaviors are not - So the social behaviors we have today should be adaptive, since they are the product of evolutionary selection
Gender Schema Theory
* Sandra Bem (1981) * Schemas - General knowledge frameworks about certain topics - Organize and guide perception - Help us process and remember information - Filter and interpret information—meaning they can cause errors * Gender schemas are our knowledge frameworks about gender * Gender role acquisition is the result of gradual learning of cultural gender schemas * Gender schemas are closely linked to our self-concepts - Our self-esteem depends on how well we measure up to our schemas about our gender - So we become internally motivated to conform to society's gender roles * To some extent, we may have different gender schemas based on different information we are exposed to throughout our childhoods * Gender schemas are more central to some people's self-concepts than others * Supported by empirical evidence - Gender-typed people tend to cluster words according to gender (Bem, 1981) • They use gender schemas to organize information - Children filter out incoming information that is inconsistent with their gender schemas and reinterpret it to be consistent with their gender schemas (Martin & Halverson, 1983)
Evidence for Social Learning Theory
* Studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of imitation and reinforcement in shaping behavior - Albert Bandura (1965) • Children imitate differentially based on the perceived consequences of a behavior • Gender differences can be influenced by reinforcements * There is also evidence that parents treat boys and girls differently and differentially reward some behaviors - They may encourage gender-stereotyped activities (Lytton & Romney, 1991) * Additionally, there is evidence of gender-stereotyped roles in the media, which can shape children's gender typing (Pike & Jennings, 2005)
Feminism
* Supporting political, economic, and social equality of all people—regardless of gender * First wave (late 1800s and early 1900s) - Focused on voting rights * Second wave (1960s through 1990s) - Took on issues such as sexual freedom, reproductive rights, pay equity, equal opportunity in education, and gender-based violence * Third wave (1990s) - Emphasized intersectionality and diversity among women - Favored everyone's right to define feminism for themselves * Fourth wave (today) - Continues to emphasize intersectionality - Critiques and rejects the gender binary
Criticisms of Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory
* The concepts cannot be evaluated scientifically to determine their accuracy - Many of these forces are unconscious and therefore cannot be studied * Most of the ideas were developed based on therapy patients - So his views may not apply well to individuals without psychological concerns * Overemphasized biological factors (e.g., anatomy) and gave inadequate attention to social or cultural forces that might shape behavior * Phallocentric: assumes that the penis is superior to the vagina and clitoris * Exemplifies the historical theme of women as sinful and evil (their immature superego) * Also exemplifies a male-as-normative/androcentric model
The Female Orgasm and The Double Standard
* The female orgasm - Exists in few, if any, other species - According to sociobiologists, it evolved in humans because human babies have so many needs that they require two parents in order to survive - A monogamous mating system is therefore adaptive - The female orgasm—and continuous interest in sex—evolved to hold the mated pair together * The double standard - Tolerance of male promiscuity and disapproval of female promiscuity is considered adaptive - Eggs are precious, and females have huge parental investment, so it is advantageous for them to be careful and selective about who they mate with - Sperm, on the other hand, are relatively cheap in comparison, so it advantages males to distribute sperm to as many females as possible
Historical Themes
* The male as normative - The male is seen as the norm/the default, whereas the female is seen as variation/deviation from the norm—the Other - Androcentrism: male centeredness, or the belief that males are the standard - E.g., Adam and Eve, the use of "he/him/his" as general pronouns when specifics aren't known - Contributes to women and nonbinary people being marginalized, devalued, or ignored * Feminine evil - Women are often portrayed as the source of evil - E.g., Eve and original sin, Pandora and the box of evils, the persecution of witches, the hostile sexist view that women use their sexuality to trap helpless men * Gender differences and similarities - Historically, research has focused on gender differences - Understanding gender similarities is key for a comprehensive and unbiased psychology * Critiquing the gender binary - It has a very narrow and restrictive range - It assumes that gender stems from physical characteristics - It assumes that everyone is cisgender - It excludes people who are transgender, intersex, or genderqueer * Intersectionality of gender - Considering the experience and effects of gender simultaneously with other aspects of identity, such as ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation * Social construction of gender - Gender and gender-related processes are a product of social interactions and culture * Difference between theories and empirical evidence - There are a lot of theories, but not all of them are supported by scientific evidence * Internal vs. external determinants of behavior - Is behavior determined by internal factors (e.g., personality) or external factors (e.g., the situation)? - This debate has practical implications for targets of change
Are we making progress?
* The short answer: Yes! - Nonsexist research methods are becoming more popular - More researchers and participants are women * However, biases still remain, such as biases against transgender and nonbinary individuals * So we still have work to do!
Sources of bias in psychological research
* Think critically about potential biases in the research you read! * 3 skills you need to learn: - Understand the research process - Be aware of the ways in which gender bias may affect research - Be aware of the problems that may exist in research on gender roles or the psychology of women * Bias in theory - A scientist's theoretical model influences the assumptions they base their research on, the research process, and the conclusions they draw - A feminist solution: ask the community being researched for input on the research design, and build theories later * Bias in research design - Studies of gender differences are not true experiments-they are quasi-experimental, since group membership is not randomly assigned - Some argue that laboratory experiments are inherently gender biased - The content and wording of test questions may be biased against women • Some questions may involve situations men experience more often or knowledge men have more access to - A biased sample can lead to overgeneralization—assuming that the results apply to everyone * Bias in data collection - Experimenter effects • Experimenter characteristics (e.g., gender) can affect how participants behave • Solution: have several experimenters who differ on characteristics of concern - Observer effects (AKA rater bias) • When researchers' expectations influence their observations and recording of the data • Stereotyped expectations may lead to finding stereotyped gender differences that are not actually present * Bias in interpretation of results - Results can often be interpreted in multiple ways - Interpretations tend to be made based on a female deficit model, under which women's behavior is seen as deficient * Bias in publishing findings - There is a tendency to only publish results that are statistically significant - This means that studies where gender differences are found are more likely to be published than studies that find gender similarities or nonsignificant gender differences - This in turn leads to emphasizing gender differences and ignoring similarities * Bias against female researchers - A tendency for them to be considered less authoritative - This may be on the decline! * Other kinds of gender bias - Tendency for researchers to remember and use studies that conform to their own personal beliefs and biases - Gender bias and cisgenderism in language - Perception of research about people outside the gender binary as a specialty or fringe topic * CONCLUSIONS ABOUT BIAS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH * - Psychologists have historically viewed psychological research as objective and value-free - However, research is an interaction between researchers and participants in a specific context - As long as researchers have values (and they all do!), those values might influence the research process - In this way, scientific studies cannot be 100% objective - So it's important for researchers to acknowledge their values and consider how they may impact the research process
Chapter 1
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Feminist Alternatives
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Genderqueer
A gender category that is not exclusively male or female and therefore is not captured by the gender binary
Gender Identity
A person's internal sense of their own gender
Trans
An umbrella term for the transgender spectrum; may include people who identify as transgender, genderqueer, cross-dressing, gender nonconforming, gender fluid, or other nonbinary identity.
Transgender
Describes a person whose gender identity differs from the gender they were assigned at birth
Cisgender
Describes a person whose gender identity matches the gender they were assigned at birth
Sex
Physical or physiological characteristics of maleness and femaleness; sexual behaviors
Gender
The state of being male, female, both male & female, or neither
Chapter 2
Theoretical Perspectives on Gender
