Culture Bias

Question 1

What is culture bias?

Answer 1

Tendency to judge people in terms of one’s own cultural assumptions, assuming findings from one culture can be applied to other cultures

Question 2

Which type of people are most likely to be studied?

Answer 2

WEIRD people (westernised, educated, from industrialised, rich democracies)

Question 3

Ethnocentrism

Answer 3

Seeing the word from one’s own cultural perspective, believing this perspective is normal and correct

Question 4

Cultural relativism

Answer 4

Insists that behaviour can be properly understood if cultural context is taken into consideration

Question 5

Etic approach

Answer 5

Looks at behaviour from outside a culture, identifying behaviours that are universal. Imposed etic assumes behaviours from a single culture can be applied universally

Question 6

Emic approach

Answer 6

Looks at behaviour inside a culture, identifying behaviours specific to that culture

Question 7

Strength of culture bias

Answer 7

• Emergence of cultural psychology (eg. Cross-cultural research challenges western assumptions, promoting greater sensitivity to individual differences)

Question 8

Limitations of culture bias

Answer 8

• Culture bias in many classic studies (eg. Asch and Milgram used white male US p’s. Replications in other cultures produced different results)
• Unclear distinction between individualism and collectivism (eg. Takano & Osaka found 14/15 studies comparing US to Japan found no distinction)
• Ethnic stereotyping (eg. During WWI, US army IQ test showed African Americans scored lowest and deemed genetically inferior)