Cultural bias

Question 1

Cultural bias

Answer 1

Tendency to interpret all phenomena through the lens of one’s own culture, ignoring the effects that cultural differences might have on behaviour

Question 2

Ethnocentrism

Answer 2

Judging other cultures by the standards and values of your own culture
- In its extreme form it is the belief in the superiority of your own culture which may lead to the prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures
- For example - The strange situation - Only reflects the norms of western cultures - Suggested secure attachment was the most desired attachment type - this wasn’t the case in other cultures

Question 3

Cultural relativism

Answer 3

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
- Etic approach = looks at behaviour from the outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal - the strange situation is an example of imposed etic
- Emic approach = functions from inside the culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture

Question 4

Cultural bias - evaluation - strength

Answer 4

• Emergence of cultural psychology
• Cultural psychology is the study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience
• Cultural psychologists strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking an emic approach and conducting research from inside a culture

Question 5

Cultural bias - evaluation - limitation

Answer 5

• Many of the most influential studies in psychology are culturally-biased
• Culture bias is a feature of lots of the classic studies in social influence e.g Asch and Milgram’s studies were conducted in the USA
• Replication of these studies in other countries produced different results
• e.g in replications of Asch’s experiments in collectivist cultures they found higher rates of conformity