cultural bias Flashcards
who is Henrich et al and what did he review
reviewed hundreds of studies from psychology jounrnals
what did henrich et al find.
found that 68% of participants came from the US
96% from industrialised nations.
what did Heinrich et all finding conclude.
that what we know about humans has a strong cultural bias.
define cultural bias
tendency to interpret all phenomena throughout the lens of ones own culture, ignoring cultural differences might have on behaviour.
what dose WEIRD stand for
westernised
educated
industrialised
rich
democracies.
what happens to other cultures when they are compared to ‘WEIRD’
seen as abnormal, inferior or unusual.
define ethnocentrism
judging other cultures by the standards and values of ones own culture. Believe in superiority of ones own culture.
what dose ethnocentrism lead to
leads to discrimination and prejudice towards other cultures.
give one example of ethnocentrism
Mary Aimsworth’s strange situation.
why was Aimsworths study ethnocentristic.
reflected only the norms and values of western cultures.
attachment types led to miniterpreation fo child rearing practises in other countries.
one example of how aimsworths study was ethnocentric in reference to culture.
Japanese infants likely to be classes as insecurely attached due to considerable distress when seperatred
why where Japanese babies likely to be labeled as insecurely attached
because in Japanese culture, the babies where not likely to be separated from their mother.
define cultural relativism.
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.
What did John berry do.
drew a conclusion between emic and etic approaches in human behaviour studies.
What is an etic approach
looks at behaviour from the outside of a given culture, and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal.
what is a emic approach
Functions from inside a culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culutre
one example of an imposed etic
Ainsworth and bells.
only studied behaviours inside one culture. (America)
why are psychologists guilty of an imposed etic approach.
as they state they’re theories, models and concepts are universal when they actually came through emic research inside a single culture.
one limitation
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.
what did Smith and Bond find
Asch-type experiments in collectivist cultures found significantly higher rates of conformity than the original studies in the US, an individualist culture
one strength.
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.
limitation of cultural bias
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.
