Cultural Bias Flashcards
What is the definition of culture?
Beliefs, attitudes, social & child-rearing practises that people of group share & distinguish group from others
What is ethnocentrism?
Belief in superiority of one’s own cultural group, people from US & Europe present ethnocentric view of human behaviour
Ainsworth’s S.S. only reflected norms & values of Western culture - ‘ideal’ attachment = secure, showing moderate distress when left by mother-figure
Led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practises in other countries as deviating from American ‘norm’, e.g. Germans & Takahashi
What is cultural relativism?
Things discovered in research may only make sense from perspective of culture they’re discovered in - one way of avoiding culture bias in research
Cultural relativists believe all cultures are of equal value
What is the difference between Etic & Emic constructs?
Etic - universal traits found cross-cultures
Emic - traits specific to certain cultures
Imposed Etic - studied behaviour in 1 culture, then assuming it can be applied universally (S.S.)
What is universality in psychology?
Critics argue mainstream psychology mostly ignored culture as important influence on behaviour
Thus, findings from studies carried out in western culture wrongfully considered universal - if ‘norm’ based on western culture, then any other behaviour seen as abnormal/inferior
EXAMPLE - Social conformity studies have different results in other cultures apart from west
What are some issues with cultural bias in psychological research?
CAN AMPLIFY & VALIDATE DAMAGING STEREOTYPES - US army WW1 IQ test culturally biased towards dominant white majority
Test showed blacks bottom of IQ scale, thus, negative impact on views of blacks
OPERATIONALISATION OF VARIABLES - Issue conducting research in various cultures is variables under review not experienced same as all participants
In china, invasion of personal space normal - in West confrontational
MOST OF CLASSIC STUDIES ARE CULTURALLY BIASED - Asch’s & Milgram’s studies both conducted with just white, middle-class students, when they’re replicated, varied results found. E.g. collecgivist cultures found higher rates of conformity compared to original individualist USA culture. Understanding of some topics should only be applied to individualist cultures
What are some impacts of cultural bias in psychological research?
DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY - How people shape & are shaped by cultural xp Strives to avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking Emic approach & conducting research inside culture & focuses on 2 cultures instead of larger studies with 8+
Modern psychologists mindful of dangers of cultural bias & taking steps to avoid it
CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGISTS MORE OPEN-MINDED & TRAVELLED - international psych conferences increase idea exchange between psychologists
Increased understanding of other cultures on personal & professional level THUS -
Reduces ethnocentrism & more nuanced understanding & appreciation of cultural relativism
DEAL WITH CB: RECOGNISE WHEN IT OCCURS - Smith & Bond (1998) found in their survey of European textbooks on social psych: 66% USA 32% EU 2% ROW
Much psych research severely unrepresentative & can be greatly improved by selecting different cultural groups to study
