What is Gamma Bias?

In Cognitive Distortion in Thinking About Gender Issues: Gamma Bias and the Gender Distortion Matrix (Seager & Barry, 2019), the authors hypothesize about a "gender distortion matrix". This matrix suggests a subconscious bias that magnifies gender differences when these differences propel us to respond favorably (alpha bias) and minimizes gender differences when these differences push us to respond disfavorably (beta bias) to women. Gamma bias, a tendency to magnify some gender differences while minimizing others, combines both alpha and beta bias.

GOOD HARM
DO (active mode) FEMALE male (celebration) MALE female (perpetration)
RECEIVE (passive mode) MALE female (privilege) FEMALE male (victimhood)

The gender distortion matrix describes examples of gamma bias, i.e., situations in which aspects of our perceptions of men and women are MAGNIFIED or minimized.

What are examples of Gamma Bias?

  • DOING
    • GOOD (celebration)
      • magnification – females doing good things is magnified: a vast number of UN days are reserved to celebrate women for their gender rather than their actions
      • minimization – males doing good things is minimized: men do most dirty and dangerous but essential jobs, but this remains unremarked
    • HARM (perpetration)
      • magnification – males doing harm is magnified: "toxic masculinity"
      • minimization – females doing harm is minimized: "it's due to trauma"/"she was ill"
  • RECEIVING
    • GOOD (privilege)
      • magnification – the privilege of being male is magnified: men's greater earnings are due to a sexist "wage gap"
      • minimization – the privilege of being female is minimized: it is unremarked that girls get better grades for the same work or that women go to university at a much higher frequency than men
    • HARM (victimhood)
      • magnification – female victimhood is magnified: "295 Palestinians, including 42 women and 73 children, were killed by Israeli security forces"
      • minimization – male victimhood is minimized: male domestic violence victims are neglected, male suicide victims are forgotten, the fact that being male is the most significant risk factor of dying from COVID-19 after age is ignored, Boko Haram kidnapped over 10,000 boys and made them into child soldiers compared to the 276 girls they kidnapped which created a public uproar with social media campaigns like "Bring Back our Girls", ...

How does it apply to the current situation in Ukraine?

In the following listing, comments from TikTok taken from this Daily Mail article are in small font while articles are italicized. Before reading keep in mind that (a) all men from 18 to 60 are forced to fight while women are given free choice and (b) 32,000 women serve in the Ukrainian army of the 12,496,016 women aged 18 to 60 (as of January 1, 2021) which is only roughly 1 in 400 eligible (= aged 18 to 60) women.

Is there empirical evidence supporting the gamma bias hypothesis?

While the theory itself does not have direct support, there is ample tangential evidence of these cognitive and perceptual distortions in our thinking. Notably, the harm axis finds support in Man up and take it: Gender bias in moral typecasting (Reynolds et al., 2020). I suggest you look at my series of posts about the gender empathy gap for more information.