Gender and culture in psychology – universality and bias. Gender bias including androcentrism and alpha and beta bias; cultural bias, including ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Qualification: A-Level Psychology
Paper: Issues and options in psychology
Unit: Issues and debates in psychology
Assessment criteria: Gender and culture in psychology – universality and bias. Gender bias including androcentrism and alpha and beta bias; cultural bias, including ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

• Gender bias = One gender is treated differently and more negatively than the other through discrimination, stereotyping and further forms of sexism.
• Androcentrism = Gender bias where female thinking and behaviour is seen as different and deviant whereas male thinking and behaviour is seen as normal and acceptable.
• Alpha bias = Too much emphasis is made on male and female differences and characteristics.
• Beta bias = Not enough emphasis is made on male and female differences and characteristics.
• Culture bias = Where research favours certain cultures or generalises findings of one culture to another, ignoring their differences.
• Ethnocentrism = Where the researcher presumes their own culture as ‘correct’ and research centres around this particular culture without looking into cultural differences.
• Cultural relativism = Viewing beliefs and values from a particular culture from the viewpoint of the culture itself.