Culture Bias Flashcards
Define culture.
The values, beliefs, and patterns of behavior shared by a group of people.
What is cultural bias, and how can it impact judgment in psychology?
Cultural bias is the tendency to judge people based on one’s own cultural assumptions. It can impact judgment by leading to misunderstandings or misinterpretations rooted in cultural differences.
What is alpha bias in the context of cultural perspectives?
Alpha bias occurs when a theory assumes profound differences among cultural groups, suggesting that recognizing these enduring differences must always inform psychological research and understanding.
In what way does beta bias manifest regarding cultural differences?
Beta bias occurs when real cultural differences are ignored or minimized. It assumes that all people are the same, resulting in universal research designs and conclusions that mistakenly assume cultural homogeneity.
Define Ethnocentrism.
Ethnocentrism refers to seeing the world only from one’s own cultural perspective and believing that this one perspective is both normal and correct.
Define cultural relativism.
Cultural relativism insists that behavior can be properly understood only if the cultural context is taken into consideration.
What does it mean for a theory to be described as universal in psychology?
When a theory is described as universal in psychology, it means that it can apply to all people, irrespective of gender and culture. It suggests that the principles of the theory are applicable across diverse cultural contexts.
Provide an example illustrating the impact of ethnocentrism in mental health diagnoses.
An example of ethnocentrism in mental health diagnoses is the claim by Rack (1984) that African-Caribbeans in Britain are sometimes diagnosed as mentally ill based on behavior considered normal in their subculture. This is attributed to the ignorance of African-Caribbean subculture by white psychiatrists.
How does Ainsworth’s Strange Situation exemplify ethnocentrism in research?
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation is an example of ethnocentric research in attachment assessment. Researchers often assume that the Strange Situation has the same meaning for infants from other cultures as it does for American children. However, German children, for instance, may demonstrate higher rates of insecure-avoidant behavior, not because German mothers are more insensitive, but because they value and encourage independent behavior.
What is meant by “imposed etic” in cross-cultural research?
“Imposed etic” refers to a technique or theory developed in one culture and then imposed on another. In the case of the Strange Situation, it was developed in the American cultural context and assumed to have the same meaning when applied to infants from other cultures, like German children.
Why is a study suspect according to cultural relativism if it draws its sample from only one cultural context and generalises findings to all people?
According to cultural relativism, a study is suspect if it draws its sample from only one cultural context (e.g., American college students) and then generalises its findings to all people everywhere. This approach fails to consider the diversity of cultural contexts.
How does cultural relativism view the meaning of intelligence across different cultures?
Cultural relativism views the meaning of intelligence as different in every culture. For instance, Sternberg (1985) highlighted that skills essential for life in a preliterate society, such as coordination skills for shooting a bow and arrow, may be mostly irrelevant to what is considered intelligent behavior in a literate and more “developed” society.
