cultural bias

Question 1

who is Henrich et al and what did he review

Answer 1

reviewed hundreds of studies from psychology jounrnals

Question 2

what did henrich et al find.

Answer 2

found that 68% of participants came from the US
96% from industrialised nations.

Question 3

what did Heinrich et all finding conclude.

Answer 3

that what we know about humans has a strong cultural bias.

Question 4

define cultural bias

Answer 4

tendency to interpret all phenomena throughout the lens of ones own culture, ignoring cultural differences might have on behaviour.

Question 5

what dose WEIRD stand for

Answer 5

westernised
educated
industrialised
rich
democracies.

Question 6

what happens to other cultures when they are compared to ‘WEIRD’

Answer 6

seen as abnormal, inferior or unusual.

Question 7

define ethnocentrism

Answer 7

judging other cultures by the standards and values of ones own culture. Believe in superiority of ones own culture.

Question 8

what dose ethnocentrism lead to

Answer 8

leads to discrimination and prejudice towards other cultures.

Question 9

give one example of ethnocentrism

Answer 9

Mary Aimsworth’s strange situation.

Question 10

why was Aimsworths study ethnocentristic.

Answer 10

reflected only the norms and values of western cultures.
attachment types led to miniterpreation fo child rearing practises in other countries.

Question 11

one example of how aimsworths study was ethnocentric in reference to culture.

Answer 11

Japanese infants likely to be classes as insecurely attached due to considerable distress when seperatred

Question 12

why where Japanese babies likely to be labeled as insecurely attached

Answer 12

because in Japanese culture, the babies where not likely to be separated from their mother.

Question 13

define cultural relativism.

Answer 13

the idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.

Question 14

What did John berry do.

Answer 14

drew a conclusion between emic and etic approaches in human behaviour studies.

Question 15

What is an etic approach

Answer 15

looks at behaviour from the outside of a given culture, and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal.

Question 16

what is a emic approach

Answer 16

Functions from inside a culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culutre

Question 17

one example of an imposed etic

Answer 17

Ainsworth and bells.
only studied behaviours inside one culture. (America)

Question 18

why are psychologists guilty of an imposed etic approach.

Answer 18

as they state they’re theories, models and concepts are universal when they actually came through emic research inside a single culture.

Question 19

one limitation

Answer 19

many classic studies are culturally-biased

Asch’s and Milgram’s original studies were conducted with white middle-class US participants. Replications of these studies in different countries produced rather different results.

suggests our understanding of topics such as social influence should only be applied to individualist cultures.

Question 20

what did Smith and Bond find

Answer 20

Asch-type experiments in collectivist cultures found significantly higher rates of conformity than the original studies in the US, an individualist culture

Question 21

one strength.

Answer 21

the emergence of cultural psychology.

Cultural psychology is the study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience (Cohen, 2017). It is an emerging field that takes an emic approach and strives to avoid ethnocentric assumptions.

Research is conducted from inside a culture, often alongside local researchers usually culturally-based techniques. Fewer cultures are considered when comparing differences (usually just two).
This is a strength because it suggests modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias and are taking steps to stop it.

Question 22

limitation of cultural bias

Answer 22

Gould (1981)

first intelligence tests During WW1 were ethnocentric (e.g. name US presidents), so recruits from south-eastern Europe and African-Americans scored lowest and were deemed genetically inferior.

matters because it illustrates how cultural bias can be used to justify prejudice and discrimination towards ethnic and cultural groups.