“Although we live in times where we rightly talk about the conscious and unconscious bias against women, we are not yet conscious of our biases against men.” ~ Martin Seager and John Barry
A bias is a prejudice in favor of or against a thing, person, or group usually considered unfair, misleading, or a direct distortion of the truth.
“Gamma” bias is a form of cognitive distortion that builds on the existing concepts of alpha bias and beta bias. Alpha bias is the magnification of gender differences. Beta bias* is the minimization of gender differences. Gamma bias illustrates how these opposing distortions can operate simultaneously.
Gamma Bias and Gender
Gamma bias is a form of cognitive distortion that operates within a matrix of four possible judgments about gender**:
- Doing good (celebration/valuing)
- Doing harm (perpetration)
- Receiving good (privilege)
- Receiving harm (victimhood)
Gamma Bias has an Ugly, Unfriendly Face
As described recently by British psychologists Martin Seager and John Barry in “Gamma Bias: A New Theory” (The Psychologist), the theory predicts:
- Within mainstream Western cultures, masculinity is highlighted only in the domains of privilege (receiving good) and perpetration (doing harm).
- Masculinity is hidden in the domains of celebration (doing good, heroism, etc.) and victimhood. Heroism may be gender neutralized (“firefighters”), and male victimization by women domestically is excluded in gender narratives.
Effects of Gamma Bias on Men and Women
- Men receive less credit for doing good and less support for being victimized.
- Women receive more significant support for being victimized and are held less accountable for being perpetrators.
Summary of Four Judgments Related to Gender
Female Privilege is Ignored in Gamma Bias
Though not explicitly addressed by Seager and Barry, female privilege (female receipt of “good” benefits) is almost entirely unaddressed because of gamma bias. This is a critical oversight for understanding the preeminence of female choice in mate selection as a gender-specific privilege.
This privilege is demonstrated by the exchange of sexual access (fertility) for resources and security inherent in the unconscious sexual psychologies for reproduction and childrearing — the supply and demand dynamics of millions of sperm (and hundreds of men) chasing one, quite privileged egg. Physically attractive, fertile-aged women (in the West) have significant privilege in securing mates and advantages in other domains of life.
The Four Judgments Operate Independently
All four judgments can operate concurrently; the opposing distortions are not zero-sum.
- Women can be victims and perpetrators.
- Women can be privileged and be victims.
- Men can be heroes and perpetrators.
- Men can be privileged and victims.
The four cognitive distortions function as independent “dials” of influence. Each dial operates on a continuum or gradient of strength; they are not on-off switches.
Gamma Bias is Pernicious – Let’s Do Better
Gamma bias has an ugly, unfriendly face. It has never been more pernicious in American culture than it is now. Let’s be aware of our judgments, pay attention to our narratives, and be fair to all.
Notes:
*Beta bias is more characteristic of today’s narrative about gender and sex. It often includes minimization of biological differences between males and females.
**“Gender,” used here, means biological females (presenting as women) and biological males (presenting as men).
OK, Steven, right off the bat you had me at the opening image… or rather you had me recoil! It is a powerful choice to highlight the pernicious and damaging impact of misplaced biases in interpersonal relationships between women and men. I can’t really speak to how these biases might play out in other forms of relationships, but I can assume that they still have potentially destructive effects when they distort our views of others in harmful ways.
One other thought that occurred as I was reading your post is in the statement that “male victimization by women domestically is excluded in gender narratives.” I would think that perhaps an even harder issue to raise would be when that victimization is occurring in either sex in the workplace. We are finally seeing some much needed awareness of how women can be treated in harmful ways by males in work settings, but it occurred to me that men can also be victimized in some ways by women in positions of power now that they are more able to assume those levels of authority. That may be rare, of course, but the very infrequency of it coming to light could be another example of the power of this Gamma Bias at work (pun unavoidable).. Let’s aim to dial those distortions down!
Yes, it all goes both ways. Now let’s be fair.
I would think that Gamma bias would be most dangerous to adolescent males, who pick up on subtle behavioral queues in the process of creating their own identities. What happens after that infectious bias gets a foothold in them might entail many anti-social behaviors from addictions to depression to general withdrawal from society resulting from digital games, online pornography, and other solipsistic, often technological, immersions. In the light of Gamma bias, where are the masculine hero-models that boys can emulate?