Gamma bias

Gamma bias refers to a cognitive gender bias theory developed by Seager & Barry (2019).

Gamma bias entails the interrelation of two concurrent biases: alpha bias (exaggerating or magnifying gender differences) and beta bias (ignoring or minimizing gender differences). Gamma bias occurs when one gender difference is minimized while simultaneously another is magnified, resulting in a doubling of the cognitive distortion.

The authors state that gamma bias works to magnify women's issues and achievements and to minimize men's issues and achievements. Alternatively, the dynamic is reversed and employed to minimize negative female traits and behaviors, while magnifying or exaggerating negative male traits or behaviors.

Theories on the purpose of gamma bias

Hypotheses regarding the growth of gamma bias and the disfavoring of males include the operation of evolutionary pressure for males to protect and provide for women which includes a reluctance to view men as vulnerable, or alternatively the social explanation of 'ingroup' and 'outgroup' bias which may have developed around men and women in the form of social conventions.

A further explanation is provided by gynocentrism theory which posits an increase of narcissism among women in the context of heterosexual relationships and exchanges, creating what Robert Millman has called 'acquired situational narcissism' - a dynamic supported by the operation of the gamma bias process of maximizing/minimizing certain gendered behaviors to ensure women are beneficiaries of narcissistic reassurance. This theory further assumes that the maximizing/minimizing process of gamma bias can be witnessed in classic 'narcissist to non-narcissist' relationships.