2.2 Culture in Psychology: Cultural Bias

Question 1

define cultural bias

Answer 1

the tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions
this distorts or biases your judgement

Question 2

define cultural relativism

Answer 2

the view that behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates

Question 3

define culture

Answer 3

the rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people

Question 4

define ethnocentrism

Answer 4

seeing things from the point of view of ourselves and our social group
evaluating other groups of people using the standards and customs of one’s own culture

Question 5

summarise cultural bias in psychology

Answer 5

bias produces differences that don’t exist (Hare-Mustin and Marecek)
example of alpha bias - individualist versus collectivist cultures; difference not found in meta-analysis of conformist behaviour (Takano and Osaka)
example of beta bias - western based IQ tests used to measure other cultural groups who then appear less intelligent (an imposed etic)
ethnocentrism - assuming one’s own beliefs are the correct ones
- alpha bias because difference leads to devaluing the other group (e.g. seeing attachment as related to independence, a western preference)
- beta bias because of assumptions that there are no differences in intelligence and therefore it is acceptable to use western IQ tests
cultural relativism - relating the behaviour of cultural groups to their own standards
- alpha bias if psychologists assume there are differences and overlook universals
- beta bias because may mistakenly assume symptoms of mental disorder are universal (e.g. hearing voices); results in misdiagnosis

Question 6

evaluate cultural bias in psychology

Answer 6

indigenous psychologies, each rooted in their own culture, such as Afrocentrism that seeks to understand the culture of Africans
the emic-etic-distinction - indigenous psychology is an emic approach; an etic(universal) approach can use indigenous researchers for data collection (e.g. Buss et al)
Bias in research methods - samples in textbooks mainly American (Smith and Bond) and mainly middle-class, young adults (Sears, Henrich et al.)
consequences of cultural bias - US army IQ tests led to enduring and damaging stereotypes about black immigrant populations (Gould)
the worldwide psychology community meets much more now than 50 years ago, which should reduce ethnocentrism and cultural bias