Culture Bias In Psychology

Question 1

Cultural bias

Answer 1

In 1992, 64% of the worlds 56,000 psychologists were American.
In Baron and Byrne’s 1991 textbook on social psychology, 94% of the studies were conducted in North America.
Statistics like this suggest that as well as being a male dominated discipline, psychology is mainly the study of white American males.
Despite being restricted to parts of the world some psychologists claim to have discovered facts about humans that are universal.

Question 2

Ethnocentrism

Answer 2

It is seeing the world from your own cultural perspective and seeing yours as the norm and correct. It refers to the superiority of ones own culture.
An example of this is Ainsworth’s strange situation, criticised as reflecting only the norms and values of American culture.

Question 3

Cultural relativism

Answer 3

Suggests that behaviour an be properly understood only if cultural context is taken into consideration.