2. Culture Bias - Evaluation

Question 1

Consequence

• Hamburger

Answer 1

Culturally biased research can have significant real-world effects by amplifying and validating
damaging stereotypes. The US Army used an IQ test before WWI which was culturally biased toward
jinant white majority. The test showed that African-Americans were at the bottom of the IQ
a negative effect on the attitudes of Americans’ toward this group of people,
the negative impact that culturally biased research can have.

Question 2

Consequence

•Hamburger

Answer 2

Not all psychological research is culturally relative as there are thought to be some universal
behaviours. Caregiver infant interactions such as interactional synchrony are thought to be universal.
It could be argued that a full understanding of human behaviour requires the study of both universal
behaviour and culturally specific behaviour

Question 3

Solution

• hamburger

Answer 3

One way to deal with cultural bias is to recognise it when it occurs. Smith and Bond found in their 1998
survey of European textbooks on social psychology that 66% of the studies were American, 32%
European, and only 2% from the rest of the world. This suggests that much psychological research is
severely unrepresentative and can be greatly improved by simply selecting different cultural groups
to study.

Question 4

Solution

• Hamburger

Answer 4

Contemporary psychologists are more open-minded and well-travelled than previously, and have an
increased understanding of other cultures at both a personal and professional level. For example,
international psychology conferences increase the exchange of ideas between psychologists. This has
helped to reduce ethnocentrism in psychology and enabled a more nuanced understanding and
appreciation of cultural relativism.

Question 5

Solution

• Double Whopper

Answer 5

This heightened awareness of cultural diversity has led to the development of ‘indigenous
psychologies’: theories drawing explicitly on the particular experiences of people in different cultural
contexts. One example is Afrocentrism, a movement which suggests that because all black people have their roots in Africa, theories about them must recognise the African context of behaviours an
attitudes. This is an example of an emic approach, which emphasises the uniqueness of every cultur
and looks at behaviour from the inside of a particular cultural system. This has led to the emergenc
of theories that are more relevant to the lives and cultures of people not only in Africa, but also
those far removed from their African origins.