cultural bias controversy Flashcards
introduction
Culture refers to rules, customs and morals that unite together members of a society or a community of people, whilst cultural bias refers to the tendency of people to make assumptions about the behaviour of others based on their own norms and practices.
para 1: cross cultural studies kohlberg
Research is often conducted on various cultures in order to gain a greater understanding on how behaviour differs with culture and what behaviours are universal. This is a strength in the sense that findings can be easily generalised and it can create the basis of many important findings and research, however this research may also suggest that lots of psychological research suffers from ethnocentrism, the use of our own cultural or ethnic groups as a basis for judgement of other groups. In research, ethnocentrism could indicate that cultural bias is present due to beta bias, consequently reducing the external validity and applicability of these studies- supporting the fact that false claims and findings can easily be brought about from the overreliance of research subjects from the US. Research is too often gathered with ethnocentric mindsets, following the assumption that behaviours in every country can be explained by Western ideas and are based on Western standards. An example of this is Kohlberg’s (1968) study, who studied 75 American boys in a cross-cultural study comparing results from the USA to the UK, Canada, Taiwan, Mexico and Turkey when establishing a theory of moral development. This means that Kohlberg’s findings are culturally biased since he is over relying on the stage model based from the American philosophical tradition and has then applied this to non-western cultures in Taiwan and Turkey. So, kohlberg’s findings, e.g. that Taiwanese boys at the age of 16, had less prevalent stage 5 thinking than in the USA, is likely to be a false claim about moral development- presenting beta bias and imposed etic, reducing the validity of kohlberg’s study.
para 2: downside of kohlberg
However it could be argued that kohlberg’s use of other cultures in general, following the assumption that the stages of moral development are innate, actually reduces cultural bias. This means that the statement may not be entirely true since even though kohlberg did overly rely on Western cultures his claims may not be false.
para 3: WEIRD
Psychologists very regularly use participants of the WEIRD category- Western, Educated, Industrialised, rich and democratic, and it was actually found that whilst 66% of all research is conducted on Americans, 82% is conducted on students and 96% is on Western cultures. Additionally, the historical or social context behind research is equally as important to consider since the applicability of this research may differ depending on when it was conducted and the participants used. Sears also found that 82% of psychology research used undergraduates as participants, 51% of these being psychology undergraduates which is an issue because these beliefs and opinions may only be relative to those subcultures. An example of this overreliance is Loftus and Palmer’s (1974) research on eyewitness testimony, in which only students were used and these students were all American, attending the University of Washington- only relying on Western ideas. This means that no generalisations can be made since the students will not be representative of people in other cultures, and other subcultures since age and undergraduate degree may also have an effect. No generalisations leads to the findings being unrepresentative of global psychological behaviour and lacking ecological validity showing that false claims about human psychology and behaviour can be made from an overreliance on western cultures.
para 4: cross cultural research in reducing false claims
Cross cultural research is a common method in order to reduce false claims made by those participants of the WEIRD category, and to make broader implications about complex behaviours. An example of this is by Buss (1989) who studied relationships in 36 cultures with over 10000 participants and found that males look for signs of fertility and youth while females look for resources in potential mates. In many of these cross cultural studies, a common problem is that a different culture may not understand local practices and meanings, and then misinterpret participants’ understanding, however Buss ensured that his research removed these discrepancies as he used 3 bilingual psychologists. One translated from english to the native language, the second one translated from the native language to english and then the third one checked person 1 & 2 for mistakes. This careful approach shows that even research conducted across cultures can establish valid and reliable findings, supporting the idea that some psychological theories may be universal rather than culturally specific. Therefore, while the overrepresentation of Western participants may raise concerns, findings like those from Buss suggest that human behaviour may go beyond cultural boundaries, questioning the claim that such research leads to false conclusions.
para 5: WEIRD in producing false claims
Triandis et al (2001) found that only 60% of people conform to the dominant cultural norms, highlighting that not everyone abides by its majority values. This questions the assumption that findings from Western, individualistic samples can even be generalised within those cultures, let alone across the globe. For example, in an individualistic culture such as the UK, some individuals could have collectivist values due to their upbringing, religion or their own personal circumstances, illustrating intercultural variability. This supports the statement that reliance on WEIRD samples can produce false claims about psychology since it risks an imposed etic perspective that ignores culturally specific variation. Therefore, whilst individualism and collectivism are important, overgeneralising from homogenous samples will lead to biased conclusions.
para 6: study of intelligence
The study of intelligence has historically been accused that emic constructs are actually etic constructs. It has been argued that abilities of problem solving, reasoning, memory and so on define intelligence in every culture. Whilst Berry (1974) had disagreed and advocated for cultural relativism, suggesting that intelligence varies between cultures, other researchers highlight common ground in people’s cognitive processes. For example, whilst Cole et al (1971) showed that the Kpelle tribe sorted objects based on their functionality rather than categories, this doesn’t necessarily invalidate Western ideas of intelligence, instead it just reflects different ways of applying similar cognitive abilities such as problem solving, within cultural contexts. Furthermore, Spearman (1904) had claimed that core aspects of intelligence are present across cultures, even if they’re expressed differently. This implies that even though behaviours can differ due to environmental or cultural needs/expectations, the underlying cognitive abilities are shared. This challenges the statement, as it means that findings from western participants aren’t exactly false or not applicable to other cultures.
conclusion
In conclusion, even though cultural bias can lead to the misrepresentation of behaviours and ideas across cultures, this doesn’t mean that the findings from western participants are entirely false. But, by using culturally sensitive methodologies in research and making sure to recognise intercultural variability, psychologists can minimise this cultural bias and ensure that research and its findings are reliable and applicable globally, not just in western cultures.
