culture bias Flashcards
what is culture bias?
a tendency to interpret all phenomena through the lens of ones own culture, ignoring the effect that cultural differences might have an effect on behaviour
what is universality?
any underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing. gender and culture bias threaten the universality of findings.
what is ethnocentrism?
judging other cultures by the standards and values of ones own culture. in its extreme form, it is the belief in the superiority of ones own culture which may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures.
what is cultural relativism?
the idea that norms and values as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningful and understood within specific specific social and cultural context.
what is imposed etic?
a technique or theory developed in one culture and then used to study the behaviour of people in a different culture with different norms, values and experiences.
what is an etic approach?
looks at behaviour from the outside of a given culture and attempts to describe behaviours that are universal
what is an emic approach?
looks within/inside cultures and identified behaviours that are specific to that culture
how was Milgrams research culturally biased?
are all cultures this obedient? maybe some are more obedient or some are less. also used a self selected sample of white American males so it can’t be generalised
how is Ainsworths research culturally biased?
only based on western cultures of parenting (UK,US) with white, middle class mums and home-reared infants. her findings can’t be generalised to eastern parenting
how is the DSM classification systems culturally biased?
hard to classify behaviours as abnormal and mentally ill as other cultures may see these as normal. can the characteristics of mental health in the USA be applied elsewhere in the world.
AO3: how is ‘may lead to predjudice and stereotypes’ a limitation to culture bias?
an issue with with research that is culturally biased is that it may lead to stereotypes and predjudice towards other cultural groups. this is an issue as the research findings might be used to justify and deny opportunities or lead to negative attitudes and discrimination towards some cultural groups within society. for example, early intelligence tests were ethnocentric and based on ‘western intelligence knowledge’ which disadvantaged other cultural groups. this led to eugenic policies within the USA as non-americans achieved low scores. for example, South American and African Americans were viewed as being ‘mentally unfit’ and denied educational and employment opportunities. therefore research that suffers from cultural bias can have damaging consequences within society and should be avoided.
AO3: how is ‘based on culturally biased research’ a limitation to culture bias?
another issue is that many significant theories/studies within psychology are based upon culturally biased research. this is an issue because our understanding of behaviour can often only be applied to the culture in which it was studied and can’t offer a universal understanding of behaviour. for example, many theories of psychology originate from research using western samples. replications from other cultures have shown different results e.g. there are higher conformity rates in ASCHs study in collectivist cultures compared to individualistic ones. therefore psychologists need to be careful when attempting to generalise their research to all cultural groups as this may misrepresent their experiences.
AO3: how is ‘higher awareness today’ a strength to culture bias?
an advantage of culture bias is that psychologists are more aware of this today when conducting research. this is because psychologists now have a better understanding of the impact of culture specific behaviours and are more cautious of this when conducting research and reporting their findings. this has had major benefits, for example in the diagnosis of mental illness where culture specific behaviours were often misdiagnosed as symptomatic pf psychological abnormality. recent issues of diagnostic manuals such as the DSM now include a list of culture specific behaviour. therefore, such understanding of cultural differences and variations can lead to more accurate diagnosis of mental health issues and reduce discrimination.
AO3: how is ‘less of an issue today’ a strength to culture bias?
cultural bias may be less of an issue today compared to in the past. as a result of globalisation, the divide between collectivist and individualist cultures is not as significant as it once was which means that research may be more applicable to multiple cultures. for example, research by OSAKA (1999) looking at 15 studies comparing the USA and Japan, 14 found no evidence of the traditional distinction between individualism and collectivism. this also suggests that some behaviours may well be universal. therefore, this suggests culture bias is less of an issue than it was perviously.
