cultural bias Flashcards
what is culture?
the rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people. These are usually passed down through generations.
what is cultural bias?
the tendency to judge all cultures and individuals in terms of your own cultural assumptions. This distorts or biases your judgements.
what is cultural relativism?
the idea that behaviour, moral standards, ethics and values can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.
what is an example of cultural relativism?
Milgram’s study into obedience was originally conducted using 40 male American ppts, but then also replicated using Spanish students ( 90% obedience) and Australian students (16% obedience). This suggests that Milgram’s original results were specifically bound to American cultures.
what is an example of culture relativism that links to beta bias?
Defining mental disorders is sometimes culturally relative.
Behaviours that are statistically infrequent in one culture may be more frequent in another, e.g. schizophrenia when hearing voices.
Hearing voices is common in African cultures as it is a sign of spirituality and so individuals are more likely to openly report these experiences to their psychiatrist.
By assuming the same rules universally we may diagnose some people as mentally ill but relative to the culture they may not be.
what is alpha bias with regards to culture?
it refers to the assumption that there are real and enduring differences between cultural groups.
what is beta bias with regards to culture?
this refers to theories that minimise or ignore cultural differences.
they do this by assuming that all people are the same and therefore it is reasonable to use the same theories for different cultural groups.
what is imposed etic?
when an observer attempts to generalise observations from one culture to another.
what does an etic approach look at?
an etic approach looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours that are universal. (e.g. Ainsworth)
what does an emic approach look at?
it looks at functions from within/inside certain cultures and identifies behaviours specific to that culture.
what is ethnocentrism?
Judging other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own culture.
In its extreme form it is the belief in the superiority of one’s own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures.
