Cultural Bias^

Question 1

Universality & Bias

Answer 1

psy is mostly white Euro-American
Henrick et al
- reviewed 100s studies
- 68% of p were from US
- 96% from industrialised nations
- led to WEIRD
Arnett
- 80% of p were undergraduate psy students
- volunteer bias - demand characteristics

Question 2

WEIRD

Answer 2

western, educated people from industrialised rich democracies
norms seem to be made from WEIRD p so any diff beh will be considered abnormal

Question 3

Ethnocentrism

Answer 3

belief that one cultural group is superior
so any diff beh is abnormal
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
- led to misunderstanding of child rearing in diff cultures
- Takahashi: high sep anxiety so insecure resistant, but in Japan is rare to separate from child

Question 4

Cultural Relativism

Answer 4

norms and values only understood withing specific social/ cultural context

Question 5

Imposed Etic

Answer 5

look at beh from outside of a given culture
attempt to describe beh that are universal

Question 6

Emic Approach

Answer 6

looks at beh within a certain cultures and identifies beh that are specific

Question 7

Imposed Etic Strength

Answer 7

Allows for cross-cultural comparison
Generalisations
Key concepts for specific objectives are selected
Multiple cultures can be studied

Question 8

Imposed Etic Limitations

Answer 8

Cross-cultural comparison are assumed/invalid without establishing equivalence
Variables important to researcher might not be imp for research part.
Features of studies are treated as independent variables not holistically

Question 9

Emic Approach Strength

Answer 9

Understand the point of view from other cultures
Find out importance/ meaning of culture
In-depth/holistic knowledge from qualitative research

Question 10

Emic Approach Limitations

Answer 10

Hard to generalise due to variables
- culture-bound conclusions
Mistranslated = subjective bias
Takes resources and time

Question 11

Classic Studies

Answer 11

culturally-biased studies
Asch and Milgram’s p were WEIRD
replications in diff countries had diff results
- Asch’s results in collectivist had more conformity than in original in ind
Understanding of topics only applies to individualist

Question 12

VS Classic Studies

Answer 12

increased media globalisation so ind-coll distinction no longer applies
Ind (USA) value independence while coll (China) society
But Takano & Osaka
- 14/15 studies of US VS Japan found no evidence of ind/coll
- distinction = simplistic
Culture bias might be less of an issue in recent research

Question 13

Cultural Psychology

Answer 13

emergence of c.psy.
Cohen
- study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience
Strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions
- take emic approach
- conduct research from inside a culture
Modern psy. are mindful of cultural bias dangers and try to avoid it

Question 14

Ethnic Stereotyping

Answer 14

culture bias led to prejudice
Gould
- first intelligence test
- used on army recruits in WW1
- questions were ethnocentric so minorities scored the lowest
Blamed it on them no the test
Minorities seen as ‘mentally unfit’
Cultural bias can be used to justify prejudice

Question 15

Relativism VS Universality

Answer 15

cross-cultural research can challenge ind. thinking/ view of world
seeing that some knowledge/consepts are not hardwired can give better exp/ of human nature
Shouldn’t assume all psy is culturally relative and some could be a universal beh
Such as emo expressions (Ekman)
Critics shouldn’t ignore the fact that some are universal