Cultural Bias Flashcards
define culture
1
the rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people
what implications does culture have on psychology?
4
much of traditional psychology represents a Western bias
this is because most of the worlds psychologists are trained in the West and most participants in psychological research are from Western cultures
when these Western based theories and research techniques are applied to other cultures, it reflects a cultural bias
if psychological theories and studies are culturally biased, this may explain why differences are found between cultures — the cultures may not differ, it is the methods used to test and observe them that are biased, meaning some cultural groups only appear to be different
define cultural bias
4
the tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions
leading to a distorted or biased judgement
the distorted view that psychologists have because of their own cultural affiliations and how this bias affects their theories and studies
there are 2 ways that theories can be culture biased; alpha and beta bias
alpha bias
5
refers to theories that assume there are real and enduring differences between cultural groups
for example, a distinction is often made between individualist and collectivist cultures (such as the US and Japan)
we would expect members of individualist cultures to be less conformist because they are less orientated towards group norms
Takano et al (1999) reviewed 15 studies that compared the US and Japan in terms of individualism and collectivism, they found that 14 of the 15 studies did not support the common view about differences in conformity
this suggests that the distinction between individualist and collectivist cultures is no longer useful or valid as in many areas of behaviour there are no significant cultural differences
beta bias
6
refers to theories that ignore or minimise cultural differences
they do this by assuming that all people are the same and therefore it is reasonable to use the same theories or methods with all cultural groups
for example, psychologists use IQ tests devised by western psychologists to study intelligence in many different cultures
they assume that their view of intelligence applies equally to all cultures but there are differences in how different cultures see intelligence — in Western society, intelligence is something within the individual whereas in collectivist cultures such as Ugandan society, intelligence is a functional relationship depending on shared knowledge between the individual and society
the result is that when such western IQ tests are used on non-western cultures, non-western people may appear less intelligent because these IQ tests conform to the western view of intelligence
such tests are described as an ‘imposed etic’ which is when a research method or psychological test developed by one group is imposed on other groups of people
ethnocentrism
4
seeing things from our own point of view and the view of our social group
involves evaluating other groups of people using the standards and customs of one’s own culture
the use of our own ethnic or cultural group as a basis for judgements about other groups
there is a tendency to view the beliefs, customs and behaviours of our own group as normal or even superior whereas those of other groups are strange or deviant if they do not conform to our beliefs, customs and behaviours
how does ethnocentrism lead to alpha bias?
3
ethnocentrism is an example of alpha bias because one’s own culture is considered to be different and better
the consequence of this is that other cultures and their practices are devalued
for example, in terms of attachment, individualist cultures value independence and see dependence as undesirable but in collectivist cultures dependence tends to be more highly valued
how does ethnocentrism lead to beta bias?
3
ethnocentrism can lead to beta bias in which psychologists believe that their world view is the only valid view
for example, IQ testing is ethnocentric because it was believed to be appropriate to use American IQ tests all over the world because there was an assumption that the American standard was universal
these IQ tests therefore ignored differences between cultures and how they view intelligence, making non-western cultures appear to be less intelligent
cultural relativism
3
the view that behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates
the opposite of ethnocentrism
the idea that all cultures are worthy of respect and in order to study another culture we must understand how that culture sees the world
how can cultural relativism lead to alpha bias?
3
cultural relativism can lead to the alpha bias where the assumption of real cultural differences leads psychologists to overlook universal similarities
for example, Margaret Mead’s research led her to initially conclude that there were significant gender differences due to culture
this caused her to initially ignore but later recognise that there were actually universals and that men in all cultures are more aggressive than the women
cultural relativism and mental disorders
5
cultural relativism is often discussed in the context of defining mental disorders
according to the definition of statistical infrequency, abnormality involves displaying behaviours that are statistically infrequent
but behaviours that are statistically infrequent in one culture may be statistically more frequent in another
for example, one symptom of schizophrenia is claiming to hear voices but this is a common experience in some cultures
by assuming that the same rules apply universally (which is a beta bias), we may diagnose some people as mentally ill but such a diagnosis is relative to our culture and they would not be considered mentally ill in their own culture
is cultural bias being addressed?
1
as developing countries increase their involvement in psychological theory and research, this bias is slowly being addressed
x4 evaluation points
indigenous psychology
biased research methods
consequences of cultural bias
the psychological community is becoming more worldwide
EVALUATION
indigenous psychology
4
one way to counter ethnocentrism in psychology is to encourage indigenous psychology, which is the development of different groups of theories for different countries
for example, afrocentrism is a movement whose central proposition is that all black people have their roots in Africa and that psychological theories concerning such people must therefore be African-centred and must express African values
Afrocentrism disputes the view that European values are universally appropriate descriptions of human behaviour that apply equally to Europeans and non-Europeans alike
it suggests that the values and culture of Europeans at worst devalue non-European people, and at best are irrelevant to the life and culture of people of African descent
EVALUATION
biased research methods
7
cultural bias is often a result of biased research methods
for example, many psychological studies use samples from only one culture yet try to apply findings from such studies to all people
in 1998, Smith and Bond surveyed social psychology research in a European textbook and found that 66% of the studies were American, 32% European and only 2% came from the rest of the world
Sears (1986) reported that 82% of research studies used undergraduates as the participants, of which 51% were psychology students
a more recent study found that 67% were American psychology students and that a randomly selected American student was 4000 times more likely to be a participant in a study that a random non-Westerner
this suggests that a considerable amount of psychology is based on middle-class, academic, young adults who are often white males
not only are a huge amount of psychological studies unrepresentative on a global scale but they are also unrepresentative of western culture itself
