culture bias

Question 1

universality - culture

Answer 1

psychological research mostly based on weird cultures
- westernised, education, industrialised, rich, democratic
so findings not universal

Question 2

cultural bias

Answer 2

interpreting behaviour through the lens of own culture, so behaviour in non-weird cultures seen as abnormal or unusual

Question 3

cultural relativism

Answer 3

one cannot judge a behaviour properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates

eg understanding ‘hearing voices’ is seen as normal in some cultures

Question 4

imposed etic

Answer 4

a technique or theory developed in one culture and used to study the behaviour of people in another culture

eg using Strange Situation outside of the US and UK

Question 5

emic approach

Answer 5

something that applies only in one culture eg culture-bound syndromes

Question 6

classical studies

Answer 6

P - limitation is many of the most influential studies are culturally biased
E - eg Asch and Milgram - only US participants
E - replications in other countries produced different results eg conformity higher in collectivist cultures
L - understanding of topics such as social influence can only be applied to individualistic cultures

P - increase in media globalisation
E - individualistic-collectivist distinction no longer applies
E - 14 out of 15 studies that compared the US and Japan found no evidence of individualism or collectivism - distinction is too simplistic
L - culture bias in research may be less of an issue in recent research

Question 7

cultural psychology

Answer 7

P - strength is emergence of cultural psychology
E - study of how people shape and are shaped by cultural experience
E - avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking an emic approach and conducting research from inside a culture along with local researcher
L - modern psychologists are mindful of dangers of cultural bias

Question 8

ethnic stereotyping

Answer 8

P - limitation is led to prejudice against groups of people
E - first intelligence test led to eugenic social policies - tests were ethnocentric eg names of US presidents
E - poor performance used to inform racist discourse about genetic inferiority
L - cultural bias used to justify prejudice and discrimination