Cross Cultural Research And Methods

Question 1

Cross cultural studies

Answer 1

Comparing behaviours in different cultures to see whether cultural practices affect behaviour.

Question 2

Strengths of cross cultural studies

Answer 2

• enables psychologists to see whether some behaviours are universal
• aids clinicians understanding of how culture plays a role in the validity and reliability of diagnosis
• dinetift elements of abnormal behaviour that can be purely attributed to biological factors
• reduce the level of ethnocentrism and improve generalisability of research
• doctors who diagnose patients not from their own cultural group can refer to cross cultural research in order to understand subjective experience of patient

Question 3

Weaknesses of cross cultural research

Answer 3

• observer bias - researcher have expectations of how they anticipate other cultural groups will behave
• communication difficulties
• researcher may use tests and procedures that are developed in a certain (usually western) culture and aren’t valid in another, making other culture seem “abnormal” or inferior - imposed etic
• pps may not be representative of that culture and then we make generalisations about the whole culture
• conflict in cultural values between pps and researcher so conclusions may lack validity

Question 4

Littlewood and lipsedge (1997)

Answer 4

British psychiatrist described a Jamaican Rastafarian as mystical, thinking their god like, eccentric, irritable and arrogant behaviour

Question 5

Kim and Berrios (2001)

Answer 5

• Schizophrenia translates to “disease of the disorganised mind” in some Asian countries
• in Japan, psychiatrists are reluctant to diagnose patients with it due to stigma
• only 20% of ppl will schizophrenia are aware of it

Question 6

Cinnerella and Loewenthal (1999)

Answer 6

• for schizophrenia all groups except white catholics had a fear of being misunderstood by health professionals
• black Christian’s ans Muslim Pakistanis thought schizophrenia carried a social stigma and belief the power of prayer can relieve symptoms
• certain communities are reluctant to seek help for mental disorders

Question 7

Malgady et al (1987)

Answer 7

Puerto Ricans believe people can be possessed by evil spirits that doesn’t make them schizophrenic but this may be mistaken in western cultures

Question 8

Culture bound behaviour syndromes

Answer 8

• behaviour is culture bound is it is only found in one culture
• if behaviours isn’t mentioned in DSM and not fully understood then it’s culture bound

Question 9

Examples of culture bound syndromes

Answer 9

• Koro = South east Asia - anxiety disorder where a man is fearful his pen is will be drawn into his abdomen and he will die
• Piblokto = Eskimos - an a cute attack of screaming and crying and uncontrollable running through the snow
• Windingo = Algonquian Indians - a hunter imagines he is under the control of a flesh eating supernatural monster