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Why Study the Psychology of
Women?
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Critical thinking about gender issues.
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Qualitative/Phenomenological vs.
Quantitative.
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Statistical Significance.
Components of critical thinking.
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Ask good questions about what you see or hear: a
search for moderator variables.
Determine when conclusions are supported by the
evidence provided.
Suggest alternative interpretations of the evidence.
Why Study the Psychology of
Women?
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Many traditional psychological theories were
developed by studying all male sample, and
thus, have been gender biased .
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Androcentrism = The male experience is viewed as
standard.
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http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/18735108/ns/todaytravel/t/discrimination-debate-women-only-hotelfloors/
Women and Men: Similar or
Different?
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Similarities Approach: Beta bias
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Men and women are basically alike in their intellectual and social
behavior
Differences between women and men are produced by
socialization, not biology
Women and Men: Similar or
Different? (Cont…)
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Differences Approach: Alpha bias
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Emphasizes differences between women and men
Essentialism = Differences are thought to arise from essential
qualities within the individual that are rooted in biology
May emphasize and celebrate positive qualities historically
associated with women (cultural feminism)
Definitions.
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sex = the classification of individuals as
female or male based on their genetic makeup,
anatomy, and reproductive functions.
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gender = the meanings that societies and
individuals give to female and male categories.
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gender differences = psychological differences
between males and females w/o regard for
causation.
Definitions (Cont…)
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feminist = a person who favors political,
economic and social equality of men and
women, and therefore, favors legal and social
changes that will be necessary to achieve that
equality.
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Post-feminism?
Ambivalent Sexism (Glick &
Fiske, 2007; Lee et al., 2010)
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Hostile sexism: negative
stereotypes of women
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Benevolent sexism: positive
characterizations such as
“women are pure” or
“women should be
protected”
Changes in sexist attitudes
over time
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Sexism has decreased in the U.S. since 1970
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May be due in part to changes in legislation
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However, may reflect decreased social acceptability of blatantly
sexist views rather than real changes in beliefs
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Women vary in their willingness to acknowledge their own
experience with discrimination (e.g., Carvallo & Pelham, 2006)
Sources of Sex Bias in
Psychological Research.
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Bias in topic selection & questions asked.
Bias in choice of sample.
Bias in measurement.
Experimenter effects.
Observer effects.
Bias in interpretation.
Bias in publishing the results.