culture bias Flashcards
ethnocentrism
form of cultural bias, belief in superiority of one’s own cultural group
= can be communicated through view that any behaviours which do not conform to usual model are somehow deficient, unsophisticated/underdeveloped
cultural relativism
idea that norms and values, plus ethics/moral standards = only meaningful and understood within specific social/cultural contexts
example of ethnocentrism
ainsworth’s strange situation is criticised for reflecting only the norms/values of American culture
when applied to Germany, many mothers seen as cold and rejecting rather then encouraging independence, due to differences in amount of distress infants showed
example of cultural relativism
ainsworth’s strange situation is an example of imposed etic
= studied behaviour inside american culture and assumed ideal attachment type could be applied universally
also applicable to definitions of abnormality
emic construct/approach
emic construct = applied only to one cultural group, so they vary from place to place
emic approach = investigation of a culture from within the culture itself, e.g., research of European society from a European perspective
why is emic approach more likely to have ecological validity
findings less likely to be distorted/caused by mismatch between cultures of researchers and culture being investigated
etic construct and imposed etic
etic construct = assumed to apply in all cultural groups, considered universal to all people and are factors that hold across all cultures
imposed etic = where construct from one culture applied inappropriately to another
e.g., although basic human emotional facial expressions are universal = can be subtle cultural variations
eval; limitation of culture bias
most influential studies in psych = culturally-biased
e.g., asch/milgram conducted studies exclusively with US pps, were white, middle-class
- replications in other countries = rather diff results
individualist vs collectivist
eval; strength of culture bias
emergence of cultural psych
= study of how ppl shape/shaped by cultural experience
- strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking emic approach, often alongside local researchers
= suggests modern psychologists are mindful of dangers of cultural bias and taking steps to avoid
eval; further limitation of culture bias
led to prejudice against groups of ppl
first intelligence tests led to eugenic social policies in US
many items on test = ethnocentric,
e.g., assuming everyone would know names of US presidents
poor performance of certain groups ( SE european, and AAs) = used to inform racial discourse about genetic inferiority of particular culture/ethnic group
= illustrates how CB can be used to justify prejudice/discrimination towards certain cultural/ethnic groups
