Culture Bias Flashcards
What is culture bias?
A tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the lens of one’s own culture- this distorts your judgement.
What is Ethnocentrism?
Ethnocentrism is a form of cultural bias which surrounds the idea that individuals believe that their own culture is superior to others, and proceed to judge other cultures by the standards and values of their own. Behaviours which do not fit with the norms and proposed models of a culture, which is typically Western, is seen as deficient and labelled as abnormal.
What is an etic approach?
Looks at behaviours from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours that are universal.
What is an example of an etic approach?
DSM-5 and ICD-10 assume no difference between cultures. Validity and reliability reduced as they may not measure what they claim to be measuring. Ethnocentrically biased and lacking cultural relativism. In schizophrenia, some positive symptoms such as hearing voices is seen as acceptable in African cultures
What is an emic approach?
Looks at behaviours within certain cultures and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture.
What is an example of an emic approach?
Afrocentrism= movement which proposes that all black people have their roots in Africa and that psychological theories concerning them must be African-centered and express their African values.
What is cultural relativism?
Opposite of ethnocentrism.
The view that behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates. This raises awareness and lessens assumptions
Describe how a piece of psychological research is ethnocentrically biased?
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation:
She developed the procedure and results based on the US, and her sample was made up of 100,white Americans from the middle class. She then applied a model based on the values of American culture universally, leading to the incorrect classifications of infants from other cultures and a misunderstanding of child-rearing practices. For example, infants in Israel were labelled as insecure because they did not react to their mother leaving, but this was due to the culture they were raised in; growing up in a Kibbutz means that infants were used to not being with their mother as communities shared care of children.
What is indigenous psychology?
Defined by Kim and Berry (1993) as the “scientific study of human behaviour or mind that is native, that is not transported from other regions, and that is designed for it’s people”.
Culture bias eval points
- Worldwide psychology community
- Cultural relativism leads to awareness.
- Encourage indigenous psychologies
- Social implications of cultural bias
The worldwide psychology community
Researchers in Psychology travel much more now than they did 50 years ago. This means they have an increased understanding of other cultures at a personal and professional level. Academics hold international conferences where researchers from many different countries and cultures regularly meet to discuss and exchange ideas.
This means there is a much greater exchange of ideas, which should reduce ethnocentrism in psychology and enable a more nuanced understanding and appreciation of cultural relativism.
Indigenous psychologies
One way to counter ethnocentrism in psychology is to encourage indigenous psychologies= the development of different groups of theories in different countries.
E.g. Afrocentrism= movement which proposes that all black people have their roots in Africa and that psychological theories concerning such people must be African-centered and express African values. Afrocentrism disputes the view that European values are universally appropriate descriptions of human behaviour.
COUNTER- It should not be assumed that all psychology is culturally relative. For example, social releasers - Innate ‘cute’ social behaviours or characteristics which elicit attention and response from a caregiver and leads to attachment. Biologically pre-programmed.
Social implications of cultural bias
Culturally biased research helps to create or reinforce stereotypes.
For example, the US Army IQ test used just before the First World War showed that European immigrants fell slightly below white Americans in terms of IQ and African Americans were at the bottom of the scale with the lowest mental age. This had a profound effect on the negative attitudes held by Americans towards this group of people.
Cultural relativism leads to awareness
Helps raise awareness and sensitivity towards cultural differences potentially resulting in reduced discrimination as people become more understanding.
Ainsworth’s imposed etic of the Strange Situation led to Van Ijzendoorn’s more emic study into cultural differences which improved knowledge of how different culture’s child rearing practices effect attachment behaviours of infants in different ways.
