Culture bias Flashcards
outline
this refers to when psychologists ignore differences between cultures and develop research that is more reflective of one culture alone.
Evidence
According to research in 1992, 64% of the world’s 56,000 psychology researchers were American which suggests that the results of their studies reflect only American behaviour and tell us little about behaviour found in other parts of the world.
Ethnocentrism
where researchers from one culture judge other cultures by their own standards which can lead to the belief that their culture is superior.
Example of ethnocentrism
the matching hypothesis states that people choose someone of similar level of attractiveness to themselves when entering a romantic relationship (individualist). However, this is less reflective of collectivist cultures like India who favour arranged marriages chosen by your family.
Cultural relativism
It relates to the idea that behaviour can only be understood within the cultural context it occurs.
Example of cultural relativism
Ainsworth’s strange situation assumes that behaviour of anxiety from the infant means the same thing in different cultures but this is not the case. I.e Japan where infants traditionally spend the first year of their life not being left alone by their care-giver.
Evaluation strength: an emic approach
where behaviour is looked at from the perspective of one culture. I.e in the strange situation, a measure of attachment should be used to look at behaviours that relate to Japanese culture.
Evaluation strength: there is recognition
Takano & Osaka (1999) found 14 out of 15 studies compared the USA and Japan found no evidence of the traditional distinction between individualism and collectivism.
Evaluation strength: some behaviour found are universal
Ekman’s research that all facial expressions like sadness, fear etc are found across all societies. This shows that we don’t always have to take an emic approach to study behaviour.
Evaluation weakness: there will always be an issue
As people from non-western cultures may not be used to taking part in psychological research. The means that they may be affected by demand characteristics and act in a artificial way that will be difficult to make comparisons.
