Culture Bias Flashcards
Americans & students over-represented in research?
*Review found 68% of research came from USA & 96% from industrialised nations.
*Another review found 80% of research participants were undergraduates studying psychology.
What is WEIRD (Heinrich et al)?
Term WEIRD describes group of people most likely to be studied by psychologists: Westernised, Educated people from, Industrialised, Rich Democracies.
What does it mean if the norm of behaviour is set by WEIRD people?
Means behaviour from non-Western, less educated, agricultural & poorer cultures are inevitably seen as “abnormal” & “inferior”.
What is ethnocentrism?
Superiority of one culture and believing that culture is normal and correct. Form of cultural bias. E.g. a view that doesn’t conform to European/American standards will appear underdeveloped.
Example of ethnocentrism.
Ainsworth & Bell’s Strange Situation: research on attachment type reflected norms of US culture. Suggested secure = defined by baby showing moderate distress when left alone by mother. Led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practises in other countries, which deviated from US norm - e.g. Japanese babies rarely left alone, so classed as insecurely attached as they showed great distress on separation.
Cultural relativism helps to avoid cultural bias?
“Facts” psychologists discover only make sense from the perspective of the culture which they were discovered. Being able to recognise this avoids cultural bias in research.
Berry: etic & emic approaches?
Etic = looks at behaviour from outside a given culture & identifies behaviours that are universal.
Emic = functions from inside a culture & identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture.
Ainsworth & Bell demonstrate an imposed etic- studied behaviours inside a culture & assumed their ideal attachment type could be applied universally.
Limitation: many classic studies are culturally biased.
Asch & Milgram’s original studies were conducted with white, M/C, US participants. Replications of these studies in different countries produced quite different results. Asch-type experiments in collectivist cultures found higher conformity than original studies in US (collectivist culture). Suggests our understanding of topics such as social influence should only be applied to individualistic cultures.
COUNTERPOINT: limitation: many classic studies are culturally biased
Individualism - collectivism distinction may no longer apply due to increased global media. 1 study found 14/15 studies comparing the US & Japan found no evidence of individualist vs collectivist differences. Suggests cultural bias in research may be less of an issue in more recent psychological research.
Strength: emergence of cultural psychology
Cultural psychology is the study of how people shape & are shaped by their cultural experience. It is an emerging field that takes an emic approach. Research is conducted from inside a culture, often alongside local researchers using culturally-based techniques. Fewer cultures are considered when comparing differences (usually just 2). Suggests that modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias & are taking steps to avoid it.
