Chess and Gender Bias?
Psych 🧠- 247/300
Hello Reader,
In this newsletter, we have read about Gender Bias before & the psychology of it.
Assuming you know what ‘Chess’ is, here is a research on it with a correlation (out of nowhere!)
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What is it?
This study focused on the underrepresentation of girls and women in chess, exploring the influence of gender bias in this disparity.
The research involved parents & mentors recruited from the U.S. Chess Federation, and their evaluations of youth players. While not all measures showed bias, some noteworthy findings emerged.
Parents and mentors tended to perceive female youth players as having lower potential chess ratings compared to males. This bias was more pronounced among those who believed that chess success required innate brilliance.
Furthermore, mentors who endorsed this belief also expressed concerns that female mentees were more likely to quit chess due to perceived low ability.
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What do I need to know?
These findings highlight the existence of gender bias in chess and its potential implications for other fields associated with intellectual ability and characterized by gender imbalances, such as science and technology.
They found that parents and mentors tended to underestimate the potential of female youth chess players compared to male players. It's interesting to note that this bias didn't extend to underestimating the ability of female players compared to male players.
Parents and mentors generally believed that both players had similar abilities, but they anticipated more barriers for female players, which led to a lower estimation of their potential chess ratings. It's possible that some parents and mentors unintentionally shifted their comparison group when evaluating female players' potential versus their ability, resulting in these biased estimates.
Furthermore, the study also looked at parents' and mentors' perceptions of the environment for female players in chess. While there is evidence that the chess environment is less welcoming to women, most parents and mentors in their sample didn't perceive significant gender bias. This highlights the need for greater awareness and efforts to promote gender equity in chess.
Recognizing and addressing these biases could lead to a more inclusive and supportive environment for female players and, over time, help reduce gender imbalances in the world of chess.
Sources:
https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-xge0001466.pdf
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2023/10/female-chess-players-gender-bias