cultural bias Flashcards
what is cultural bias?
a tendency to interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture, ignoring the effects that cultural differences might have on behaviour
what is ethnocentrism?
judging other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own culture. in its extreme form it is the belief in the superiority of one’s own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures
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 an example of ethnocentrism?
Ainsworth’s strange situation, criticised as reflecting only the norms and values of what is sometimes called ‘western’ culture, this led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practices in other countries which were seen to deviate from the American ‘norm’
what is the classic studies limitation?
many of the most influential studies in psychology are culturally-biased,
Asch and Milgram’s original studies(individualist culture) were conducted with only US participants, replications of these studies in different countries produced rather different results,
for e.g. Smith and Bond: Asch-type experiments in collectivist cultures found significantly higher rates of conformity,
this suggests our understanding of topics such as social influence should only be applied to individualist cultures
what is the counterpoint strength to classic studies?
however in an age of increased media globalisation, it is argued that the individualist-collectivist distinction no longer applies,
Takano and Osaka: found that 14 out of 15 studies that compared the US and Japan found no evidence of individualism or collectivism-describing the distinction as lazy and simplistic,
this suggests that cultural bias in research may be less of an issue in more recent psychological research
what is the cultural psychology strength?
emergence of cultural psychology,
Cohen: the study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience (cultural psychology),
cultural psychologists strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking an emic approach and conducting research from inside a culture,
this suggests that modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias and are taking steps to avoid it
what is the ethnic stereotyping limitation?
it has led to prejudice against groups of people,
Jay Gould: explained how the first intelligence tests led to eugenic social policies in the US, psychologists used the opportunity of WW1 to pilot their first IQ tests on 1.75 million army recruits, many of the items on the test were ethnocentric,
ethnic minorities were deemed ‘mentally unfit’ and /feeble-minded’ in comparison to the white majority and were denied educational and professional opportunities,
this illustrates how cultural bias can be used to justify prejudice and discrimination towards certain cultural and ethnic groups
