Cultural Bias Flashcards
What is cultural bias?
=The tendency to interpret all phenomena in the eyes of our own culture and to ignore cultural differences.
Universality and cultural bias?
Psychologists frequently claim universal facts about human behaviour, but cultural influences have not been considered.
What is the acronym WEIRD?
The acronym WEIRD describes the type of people who are studied in psychological research. Westernised, educated, industrialised, rich, democracies. Their behaviour is set as the standard and people who do not fit in this mould are considered abnormal.
What is enthocentrism?
=Judging other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own culture. In its extreme form it’s the belief in the superiority of one’s own culture.
In psychology behaviours that do not conform to the, usually Western, model are considered abnormal.
Psychological research and enthocentrism?
Ainsworth’s strange situation is criticised for only reflecting the norms and values of American culture. Secure attachment is characterised by moderate separation anxiety. However this leads to misinterpretations of child rearing in Germany, as German mothers were seen as cold and rejecting rather than encouraging independence. Therefore the strange situation is inappropriate to use on non-American children.
What is 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 is imposed etic?
Imposed etic- when researchers study human behaviour in different parts of the world using Western theories and studies. The strange situation and definitions of abnormality.
What is the emic approach?
Emic approach= looks at behaviour from inside the cultures and identifies them as to being specific to the culture (emphasises differences).
What is the etic approach?
Berry 1969- Etic approach= looks at behaviour from outside a cultural and attempts to describe the behaviour as universal (emphasises similarities).
Evaluations: strengths: individualist/collectivist.
In the age of global communication and globalisation, there is no argument that the traditional collectivist/individualist cultures no longer exist. Takano and Osaka (1999) found that 14 out of 15 studies that compared the USA and Japan found no evidence of the traditional; distinction between individualism and collectivism. Perhaps cultural bias is less of an issue than it once was.
Evaluation: strengths: cultural relativism vs universality?
Cultural relativism vs universality- it should not be assumed that all psychology is culturally relative and there is no universal behaviour. Elkman 1989- suggests basic facial expressions are the same all over the animal and human world. Although there is criticism of attachment studies, some features such as interactional synchrony are universal.
Evaluation: strengths: cultural psychology.
is the study of how people shape and are shaped by cultural experience. These psychologists strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking an emic approach with researchers who understand the culture.
Evaluation: strengths: being aware of bias.
Being aware of cultural bias helps us to challenge our typical Western way of thinking and promotes a greater sensitivity to individual differences and cultural relativism. This counters scientific racism and researcher’s conclusions have more validity.
Limitations: research tradition.
when conducting research in Western countries, we are familiar with the general aims of science. But this faith in science may not extend to other cultures who don’t have the same historical experience of research. Demand characteristics can occur when working with local populations.
Limitations: operationalised variables.
conducting research in different countries has issues that may not be experienced in the same way by all participants. Certain behaviours are viewed differently so in observations, different behavioural categories are confused. Cross-cultural research suffers from this issue.
