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Psychology 320: Gender Psychology

Lecture 7

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Announcement

Due to limited seat space in the Arts 200 Café, I must change the location and time of my earlier office hour on Fridays. My new office hours on Fridays are:

11:30 – 12:30 Kenny 2517

3:30 – 4:30 Kenny 2517

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Invitational Office Hour Invitations, by Student Number for October 1st

11:30-12:30, 3:30-4:30 Kenny 2517

12705075

24156093

35605104

44908077

60527082

74014069

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2. What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology?

Research Methods and History of Research on Gender Psychology

1. What sources of bias do psychologists encounter when conducting research on gender? (continued)

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. identify sources of participant-related bias in gender psychology.

2. discuss strategies to minimize researcher- and participant-related bias in gender psychology.

3. describe major shifts in theory and research on sex and gender between 1894 and 1920.

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• Participant effects:

SDR: Refers to the tendency to behave in ways that promote a favorable image (i.e., a gender-consistent image).

Participants may introduce biases into gender-related research by displaying demand characteristics,

specifically socially desirable responding (SDR).

What sources of bias do psychologists encounter when conducting research on gender? (continued)

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• Remedies for researcher effects:

Collaborate with researchers with diverse views.

Employ research assistants who are “blind” to the hypotheses and/or sex of the participants.

Employ standardized instructions, questions, and/or behavioural protocols.

Replicate findings using different samples and/or methodologies.

Conduct meta-analyses.

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• Remedies for participant effects (i.e., SDR):

Administer questionnaires anonymously.

Use “gender-neutral” items to describe characteristics.

Disguise the purpose of the study.

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Use separate measures to assess and control for SDR:

Use multiple measures of the behaviour of interest (e.g., self-report, peer-report).

E.g., Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Paulhus Deception Scales.

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Items from the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (T/F)

I never hesitate to go out of my way to help someone. (T)

I have never intensely disliked anyone. (T)

No matter who I’m talking to, I’m always a good listener. (T)

There have been times when I was quite jealous of the good fortune of others. (F)

On occasion I have had doubts about my ability to succeed in life. (F)

There have been occasions when I felt like smashing something. (F)

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Items from the Paulhus Deception Scales (T/F)

I never swear. (T)

I always obey laws, even if I’m unlikely to get caught. (T)

When I hear people talking privately, I avoid listening. (T)

I have never dropped litter on the street. (T)

I sometimes drive faster than the speed limit. (F)

I have received too much change from a salesperson without telling him or her. (F)

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What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology?

A. 1879 – 1894: The Inception and Rise of Psychology

• Wundt proposed a natural science of the mind: psychology.

• Psychology adopted a structuralist perspective.

• Little interest in sex and/or gender differences.

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B. 1894 – 1920: Sex Difference in Intelligence

• Psychology shifted to a functionalist perspective.

• Ellis (1894) published Man and Woman.

• Primary sex difference of interest: intelligence.

• Researchers largely studied sex differences in brain size and mass.

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• Early research demonstrated sex differences in the size of the brain.

• Later research demonstrated sex differences in the size of the frontal lobes

• These findings were taken as support for the widelyheld belief that females are less intelligent than males:

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“We might ask if the small size of the female brain depends exclusively upon the small size of her body. Tiedemann has proposed this explanation. But we must not forget that women are, on the average, a little less intelligent than men, a difference which we should not exaggerate but which is, nonetheless, real. We are therefore permitted to suppose that the relatively small size of the female brain depends in part upon her physical inferiority and in part upon her intellectual inferiority” (Broca, 1861, p. 153).

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“The man who fights for two or more in the struggle for existence, who has all the responsibility and the cares of tomorrow, who is constantly active in combating the environment and human rivals, needs more brain than the woman whom he must protect and nourish, than the sedentary woman, lacking any interior occupations, whose role is to raise children, love and be passive” (Topinard, 1888, p. 22).

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“In the most intelligent races, as among the Parisians, there are a large number of women whose brains are closer in size to those of gorillas than to the most developed male brains. This inferiority is so obvious that no one can contest it for a moment; only its degree is worth discussion. All psychologists who have studied the intelligence of women, as well as poets and novelists, recognize today that they represent the most inferior forms of human evolution and that they are closer to children and savages than to an adult, civilized man. They excel in fickleness, inconstancy, absence of thought and logic, and incapacity to reason. Without doubt there exist some distinguished women, very superior to the average man, but they are as exceptional as the birth of any monstrosity, as, for example, of a gorilla with two heads; consequently, we may neglect them entirely” (Le Bon, 1879, p. 60-61).

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• Ultimately, Terman and Cox (1936) published Sex and Personality, in which they concluded that there are no sex differences in intelligence:

“Intelligence tests, for example, have demonstrated for all time the falsity of the once widely prevalent belief that women as a class are appreciably or at all inferior to men in the major aspects of intellect” (p. 1).

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Scoring Questionnaire 1: BSRI

• Compute the following averages:

Score 1: Add your scores on items 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 37, 40, 43, 46, 49, 52, 55, 58. Divide total by 20.

Score 2: Add your scores on items 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38, 41, 44, 47, 50, 53, 56, 59. Divide your total by 20.

• Compute the following difference:

Score 3: Score 2 – Score 1

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Scoring Questionnaire 2: PAQ

• Compute the following sums:

Score 1: Add items 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15.

Score 2: Add items 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16.

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2. What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology?

Research Methods and History of Research on Gender Psychology

1. What sources of bias do psychologists encounter when conducting research on gender? (continued)