cultural bias

Question 1

culture

Answer 1

can be defined as the norms, values, beliefs and patterns of behaviour shared by a group of people.

Question 2

culture bias

Answer 2

Cultural bias is the tendency to judge people in terms of one’s own cultural assumptions

Question 3

ethnocentrism

Answer 3

• seeing the world only from one’s own cultural perspective,
• believing that this one perspective is both normal and correct
• one’s own culture is superior to other cultures

Question 4

cultural relativism

Answer 4

• the idea that a behaviour can only be properly understood/only has meaning/only makes sense
• in the context of the norms + values of the society or culture in which it occurs

Question 5

universality

Answer 5

When a theory is described as universal,
- it means that it can apply to all people,
- irrespective of culture

Question 6

positives of cultural bias - cross-cultural research

Answer 6

• cross-cultural research is one way to prevent cultural bias in psychology
• shows that knowledge + concepts that we take for granted are not shared by other people around the world
• counters the charge of scientific racism that has been made against some psychological theories in the past
• also means the conclusions that psychologists draw are likely to have more validity

Question 7

positives of cultural bias - some universal behaviour

Answer 7

• evidence that some human behaviours are universal
• e.g. the basic facial expressions for emotions such as happiness or disgust are the same in all cultures
• even in the animal kingdom
• also interactional synchrony between an infant and their caregiver has been observed in many cultures.

Question 8

negatives of cultural bias - mental illness

Answer 8

• there are mental illnesses in some cultures that do not exist in others
• e.g. the term brain fagis used in West Africa to describe a person who is experiencing difficulty concentrating and thinking
• In China a man who believes his penis is retracting into his body is diagnosed with koro

Question 9

negatives of cultural bias - validity of DSM + ICD

Answer 9

• psychs found that African-Caribbean immigrants are 7x more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness
• led many to question the validity of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual(DSM) + International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
• for diagnosing individuals who are born outside of the culture that they were developed in

Question 10

negatives of cultural bias - individualistic + collectivist cultures

Answer 10

• historically psychologists have referred to individualistic cultures + collectivist cultures
• Individualistic cultures are mostly western cultures
  = supposedly value personal freedom and independence
• Collectivist cultures, such as India and China,
  = place more emphasis on the needs of the group
• Critics have argued that such a simplistic distinction is unhelpful + inaccurate
• 2 psychs found that 14/15 studies which compared the US and Japan
  = found no evidence of the traditional distinction between individualistic cultures and collectivist cultures

Question 11

how to reduce cultural bias

Answer 11

• answer on q2 2020 paper