Culture Bias in Psychology - AO3 Flashcards
Indigenous Psychologies (Alternative approach to counter ethnocentrism) …
P - One way to counter ethnocentrism in psychology is to encourage indigenous psychologies.
E - Afrocentrism is a movement whose central position is all black people have their roots in Africa, so psychological theories concerning such people should be African centred.
E - Afrocentrism disputes the idea that European values are universally appropriate descriptions of human behaviour.
L - Led to the development of theories relevant to the life and culture of people of African descent.
Emic-Etic distinction (Alternative Approach/Criticism)…
P - Problems with ‘emic’ approaches is that the findings are only significant to the understanding of behaviour within that specific culture.
E - Contrast, ‘etic’ approach seeks universals of behaviour. Achieve this and avoid cultural bias use indigenous researchers in a cultural setting.
E - David Buss, classic study on mate preferences. Data was collected from 37 different cultures using local researchers to resolve discrepancies.
L - Allows researchers to investigate universal behaviour whilst avoiding cultural bias.
Bias in research methods… (criticism)
P - Cultural bias can be dealt with by using studies with samples from different cultural groups.
E - This was not the situation at the end of last century.
E - Example: Bond and Smith (1998) surveyed research in one european textbook on social psychology. Found 66% of studies were American, 32% European and 2% from the rest of the world.
L - Suggests that psychology findings are unrepresentative on a global scale.
Consequence of Cultural Bias… (Criticism)
P - Culturally biased research can reinforce stereotypes.
E - Example was the US Army IQ test. Results showed that African Americans were at the bottom of the scale with the lowest mental age.
E - This data had a profound effect on the attitudes held by Americans towards certain groups of people (black people).
L - Therefore, the consequence was enduring negative stereotypes concerning ethnic groups.
The Worldwide psychology community (change overtime)…
P - Researchers travel much more now.
E - Leads to increased understanding of cultures at both a personal and professional level.
E - Academies hold international conferences where researchers meet and discuss ideas.
L - Means there is a much greater exchange of ideas which should reduce ethnocentrism within psychology.
