Cultural Bias

Question 1

What is Cultural Bias?

Answer 1

a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the lens of one’s own culture
•Historically this is typically white culture
•This happens when we wrongly assume universality

Question 2

Berry (1969): Emic Constructs

Answer 2

•Only applies to one cultural group
•Focuses on the uniqueness of a culture
•Immersion into the culture
•Highlights cultural relativisism

Question 3

Berry (1969): Etic Construct

Answer 3

•Assumed in all cultural groups
•Applying studies from outside the culture
•Can occur when a researcher assumes an emic construct is actually etic

Question 4

Berry (1969): Imposed Etic

Answer 4

•Assumes culture doesn’t effect results
•Argues that theories are universal despite research being conducted using emic constructs
•Leads to ethnocentrism

Question 5

Implications of Cultural Bias

Answer 5

They create prejudice and reinforce racism
•Gould (1981): data from an IQ test had a profound effect on attitudes Americans had towards black and south-asian people
-> IQ tests support scientific racism, creates the idea that every culture shares the same common/basic general knowledge
•May support the use of eugenics

Question 6

Reducing Cultural Bias

Answer 6

•Reflexivity- consider whether they are being biased
•Sharing research- greater exchange of ideas across different countries
•Ethnography- anthropological research
•Indigenous psychologies- Afrocentrism argues that European values are universally appropriate descriptions of human behaviour
•Using emic research instead !