Culture Bias Flashcards
What is cultural bias?
The act of interpreting and judging behavior and psychological characteristics of one culture by holding them to standards of your own.
Cultural bias can lead to misunderstandings and misinterpretations of behaviors in different cultural contexts.
What are some reasons why cultural bias happens?
- Researcher’s own cultural beliefs
- Biased research methods (e.g., unrepresented sample, unclear procedures)
- Theories developed in one culture may be inappropriately applied to others
These reasons highlight the importance of cultural awareness in research and interpretation.
Define cultural relativism.
The idea that all cultures are worthy of respect and that studying another culture requires understanding how that culture perceives the world.
Cultural relativism promotes an appreciation for diversity and challenges ethnocentric views.
What is beta bias in the context of cultural relativism?
Cultural relativism discussed in the context of defining mental disorders, where behaviors that are statistically infrequent in one culture may be more frequent in another.
This can lead to misdiagnosis or misunderstanding of mental health issues across cultures.
Give an example of a behavior that may be interpreted differently due to cultural bias.
Hearing voices as a symptom of schizophrenia, which is common in some cultures but may be misinterpreted in others.
This demonstrates how cultural context can influence the perception of mental health symptoms.
True or False: Cultural bias can lead to incorrect diagnoses of mental illness.
True
Misinterpretation of culturally specific behaviors can result in labeling individuals as mentally ill when their experiences are culturally normative.
Fill in the blank: Cultural bias involves judging behavior against the standards of your _______.
[own culture]
This emphasizes the subjective nature of cultural interpretation.