CULTURE BIAS Flashcards
5 things to remember for culture bias
emic constructs
etic constructs
ethnocentrism
culture
cultural relativism
cultural bias is the tendency to…
ignore cultural differences, interpret phenomenon through the lens of someone’s own culture
what findings in psychology are seen as ‘universal’?
western findings
what is culture?
all ways of life including arts, beliefs, institutions of the population passed down from generations
culture is usually described as…
‘a way of life for entire society’, e.g, dress, language, religion
which two approaches are there?
emic and etic approaches
an emic approach is…
functions within/inside culture, specific in that culture
an etic approach is…
behaviour outside of the given culture, identifies behaviour that are universal
ethnocentrism is when you judge…
other cultures by values of standards of your own culture
an extreme of ethnocentrism is…
believing the superiority of your own culture
what is an example of ethnocentrism?
ainsworth’s strange situation
how is ainsworth’s strange situation an example of ethnocentrism?
distress is interpreted as insecure attachment, german mothers value independence seen as being cold and rejecting
culture relativism is…
when psychologists are able to discover the ‘facts’ may only make sense from the perspective of the culture within which they discovered
four evaluation points for culture bias…
- cultural bias is present in classical studies
- cultural bias can lead to stereotyping of individuals
+ studying universal behaviours whilst avoiding cultural bias is possible
who were asch’s and milgram’s original studies conducted with?
white middle-class US participants, replications of these studies in different countries produced rather different results
asch-type experiments in ______ cultures found significantly _____ rates of conformity rather than the original studies in the US an _____ culture
in collectivist cultures were higher conformity rates rather than studies in the US, a collectivist culture
what does the cultural bias from asch and milgram suggest?
our understanding of such topics is limited such as social influence, and should only be applied to individualist cultures. it is important to recognise imposed etic & judging behaviours
why may individualism-collectivism no longer apply?
due to increasing global media, e.g, Takano and Osaka (1999) found that 14/15 studies comparing US and Japan found no evidence of individualist versus collectivist differences. this suggests that cultural bias research may be less of an issue in more recent psychological research
cultural bias can lead to ______ stereotyping of individuals
negative stereotyping
how can cultural bias lead to negative stereotyping?
before WW1, the us army assessed recruits using IQ tests, which was culturally biased to dominant white majority. unsurprisingly the test showed that african americans were at the bottom of the IQ scale and this had a negative effect on the attitudes of americans towards this group of people.
what does the evidence of cultural bias negative stereotyping show us?
the negative impact that culturally bias research can have - leading to specific cultural groups being at a disadvantage, resulting in discrimination and limiting opportunities
which researcher shows us that studying universal behaviours can still allow you to avoid cultural bias?
buss et al
how does buss et al show us that studying universal behaviours you can also avoid cultural bias?
he conducted a study on mate preferences and discovered massive cultural similarities. they collected data from 37 countries but used local researchers to ensure accurate translation and resolve discrepancies.
what does the research by buss et al indicate?
whilst it takes additional time and resources, universal behaviours can be researched and discovered if appropriate research methods are used to avoid culture bias
