Voreingenommenheit („Bias“) in der Wissenschaft

Ein interessanter Text behandelt Voreingenommenheit bzw. Vorurteil in der Wissenschaft

Let’s start with truth: The core mission of science, including social sciences, is to discover things that are actually true. Anything else is politics, morals, or personal preferences masquerading as science.

IF THE PAPER FINDS BIAS, CITE IT! OTHERWISE IGNORE IT!

Citation counts are one very common measure of how “important” a scholarly publication is. When others cite one’s work they are usually acknowledging its importance and drawing on its ideas.  More citations, more influence and importance.

Now consider the storybook image of the scientist as someone who strives for objectivity. If it were true, studies of comparable scientific quality will be similarly influential, even if they produce different outcomes, because they both have comparable claims to reveal something true. But this is not the case. Papers in my home discipline of social psychology that can be used to craft narratives advancing social justice are generally cited far more than papers of equal or even higher scientific quality that contest those narratives. Here are two concrete examples.

When a paper finds stereotype bias, it gets nearly 1,000 citations but when a failed replication of that same study gets published, it gets 30.

When a paper reporting a single study finds evidence of bias against women in STEM it gets 600 citations; when another paper reporting five studies finds gender bias favoring women, it gets 70 citations.

Junge von Mutter als Mädchen erzogen, beim Wechsle zum Vater zeigt er wieder klassisches Jungenverhalten

Der „Guardian“ berichtet von einem interessanten Fall:

A seven-year-old boy who was “living life entirely as a girl” has been removed from his mother’s care after a ruling by a high court judge.

Mr Justice Hayden said the woman had caused her son “significant emotional harm”, and he criticised local authority social services staff responsible for the youngster’s welfare.

The judge said the woman had been “absolutely convinced” the youngster “perceived himself as a girl” and was determined that he should be a girl. He said the boy was now living with his father, who is separated from the woman. The youngster still saw his mother.

Hayden said “flares of concern” had been sent from a “whole raft of multi-disciplinary agencies”, and he could not understand why so many concerns had been “disregarded so summarily” by social services staff.

The judge said social services staff had “moved into wholesale acceptance that [the boy] should be regarded as a girl”. He said he wanted the council to undertake a review of the “social work response” to the case. A council spokesperson said bosses had already begun a review.

(…)

The boy’s mother “told me that [he] was ‘living in stealth’ by which was meant, she explained, that he was living life entirely as a girl”, said Hayden. “He dressed, at all times, like a girl and, it transpired, had been registered at a new general practitioner’s as a girl.”

The judge added: “I was also left in no doubt that [the mother] was absolutely convinced that [the boy] perceived himself as a girl.” Hayden said his “overwhelming impression” was that the woman “believes herself to be to fighting for [her son’s] right to express himself as a girl”.

He said the woman had told him that the boy “expressed disdain for his penis”. He added: “I consider that [the mother] has caused significant emotional harm to [her son] in her active determination that he should be a girl.”

Hayden said the boy had settled well in the care of his father and his father’s partner. “I have been told that [the father] and his partner were shocked when they first saw [the boy] by the extent to which he appeared to be a girl, both in appearance and in mannerism,” said the judge. “However, what is striking is how well [the boy] has settled down.”

The judge added: “I have noted from reports that the boy] has become interested in Power Rangers, SpongeBob, superheroes and is constantly finding new interests … It is striking that most of [the boy’s] interests are male-oriented.

“I am entirely satisfied, both on the basis of the reports and [the father’s] evidence at this hearing, that he has brought no pressure on (the boy) to pursue masculine interests. [The boy’s] interests and energy are entirely self-motivated.”

Natürlich hat die Mutter genau das Selbe angeführt: Ihr Kind würde sich eben ganz von sich aus gerne wie ein Mädchen benehmen.

Insofern ist die nunmehrige Umstellung nicht sehr aussagekräftig. Wenn es aber tatsächlich so war, dass er sich schlicht den Erwartungen seiner Mutter anpassen musste, weil er ja nun einmal bei ihr lebte, dann wäre das tatsächlich bitter.

Bei der Eltern-Kind-Entfremdung  merken die Kinder, dass der Elternteil, bei dem sie wohnen, glücklich ist, wenn sie den anderen Elternteil ablehnen. Sie merken die negativen Gefühle des Elternteils gegenüber dem anderen Elternteil und die Traurigkeit, die der andere fühlt, wenn man den Elternteil nicht doch ablehnt. Vielleicht wird dazu noch mit Belohnung und Bestrafung gearbeitet – das Lieblingsessen wenn man erzählt wie schrecklich es beim Papi war, das Essen, was man nicht mag, lieblos auf den Teller geklatscht und mit Schweigen und ignorieren garniert, wenn man ein schönes Wochenende hatte.

Gleiche Effekte kann man natürlich auch einsetzen, wenn man sich wünscht, dass das Kind nicht etwa ein Junge ist, sondern zumindest transgender.

Es gilt der alte Spruch, dass man jeder radikalen Feministin einen Jungen wünscht, aber keinen Jungen eine radikale Feministin als Mutter.