culture bias

Question 1

define cultural bias

Answer 1

ignoring cultural differences and interpreting behaviours through the norms of your own culture

Question 2

why is cultural bias an issue

Answer 2

leads to the misinterpretation of behaviour

Question 3

define ethnocentrism

Answer 3

a belief that your personal culture is superior

Question 4

why is ethnocentrism an issue

Answer 4

leads to prejudice and misinterpretation of cultures

Question 5

define emic behaviours

Answer 5

behavioural constructs particular to a specific culture

Question 6

define etic behaviours

Answer 6

behavioural constructs that are universal to all people

Question 7

define imposed etics

Answer 7

when emics and etics get mistaken for each other

Question 8

define cultural relativism

Answer 8

behaviour can only be properly understood when cultural context is taken into consideration

Question 9

why is cultural relativism an issue

Answer 9

avoids cultural bias but limits universality

Question 10

outline an example that shows ethnocentrism in cultural research

Answer 10

• Ainsworth’s strange situation

- researchers assume that attachment types have the same meaning for all children from different cultures

Question 11

outline how cultural bias can have real-world effects with the use of an example

Answer 11

• US army IQ test
• culturally biased towards the white majority
• test results showed African-Americans were at the bottom of the IQ scale
• had a negative effect on the American attitudes towards this group of people
• encourages stereotypes

Question 12

explain individualism vs collectivism supporting the fact that culture bias is an unsolvable issue

Answer 12

• individualist cultures value independence and freedom
• collectivist cultures value group needs
• cultures not comparable in terms of origins of behaviour
• cause an etic to be imposed leading to compromised validity of any theory construction

Question 13

explain how culture bias in textbooks is a limitation

Answer 13

• to deal with culture bias is dealing with it when it occurs
• Smith and Bond found that 98% studies in textbooks were either American or European
• suggests research is unrepresentative and and can be improved by selecting different cultures to study

Question 14

explain how the emergence of indigenous psychologies is a strength

Answer 14

• theories focusing on experiences of people in different cultural contexts
• eg afrosentrism
• led to emergence of theories more relevant to the cultures of people not only in Africa but also those removed from their roots