Gender & culture : Cultural bias

Question 1

What is cultural bias?

Answer 1

• A tendency to interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of ones own culture, ignoring the effects that cultural differences might have on behaviour

Question 2

What did Henrich et al (2010) do and find?

Answer 2

• reviewed hundreds of studies in leading psychology journals & found that 68% of research p’s came from the USA & 96% from industrialised nations

Question 3

What did the review by Arnett (2008) find?

Answer 3

• that 80% of research p’s were undergraduates studying psychology

Question 4

What do findings by Henrich et al and Arnett suggest?

Answer 4

• that what we know about human behaviour has strong cultural bias

Question 5

What term did Henrich et al coin and why?

Answer 5

• WEIRD to describe the group of people most likely to be studied by psychologists - westernised, educated people from industrialised democracies

Question 6

What is ethnocentrism?

Answer 6

• judging other cultures by the standards and values of ones own culture
• form of cultural bias where one culture is seen a superior which may lead to prejudice and discrimination towards other cultures

Question 7

What example in psychology is there of ethnocentrism?

Answer 7

• Ainsworth & Bell (1970) strange situation
• conducted research on attachment type suggested that ‘ideal’ attachment was characterised by the babies showing moderate amounts of distress when left alone with their mother figure (secure)

Question 8

What has Ainsworth and Bell’s study on attachment type led to?

Answer 8

• misinterpretation of child-rearing practices in other countries > seen to deviate from the American norm
• e.g. Takahashi study found that infants were likely to be classed as insecurely attached > showed considerable distress on separation
• findings because Japanese infants rarely separated from their mother

Question 9

What is cultural relativism?

Answer 9

• the idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards can only be meaningful and understood within specific social & cultural contexts

Question 10

What does Berry (1969) draw a distinction between?

Answer 10

• etic and emic approaches in the study of human behaviour

Question 11

What is an etic approach?

Answer 11

• an etic approach looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours as universal

Question 12

What is an emic approach?

Answer 12

• an emic approach functions from inside a culture and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture

Question 13

What is one example of imposed etic in psychology attachment?

Answer 13

• Ainsworth and Bell - they studied behaviour inside one culture (America) and then assumed their ideal attachment type & methods for assessing it
• could be applied universally

Question 14

What is another example of imposed etic in psychology psychopathology?

Answer 14

• in relation to how we define abnormality
• Lefley and Pedersen argued that European/ American ideas about what it means to be healthy & mentally ‘normal’ - not necessarily shared by the rest of the world
• e.g. they see autonomy, self- actualisation, internal LOC as indicators of good MH
• demonstrating otherwise seen as less healthy

Question 15

How can psychologists avoid cultural bias in research?

Answer 15

(don’t need to know all)
- selecting different cultural groups to study
- conducting cross cultural research
- use researchers local/ native to culture being studied
- take a reflexive approach (constantly reflecting on own biases)
- do not attempt to extrapolate findings to cultures not represented in research sample

Question 16

What is a limitation of cultural bias based on classic psychology studies?

Answer 16

• most influential studies in psych are culturally biased
• e.g. Asch & Milgram studies conducted exclusively with US p’s (most white m/c)
• replications in different countries = different results
• e.g. Asch type experiments in collectivist cultures > higher rates of conformity than in original study in US (individualistic culture) - Smith & Bond

Question 17

What is a counterpoint of the eval on classic studies?

Answer 17

-age of increased media globalisation it’s argued individualistic-collectivist distinction no longer applies
- traditional argument = I cultures value individuals & independence, C cultures value society & group needs
- Takano & Oskano found 14/15 studies that compared US & Japan found no evidence of I or C - distinction lazy & simplistic
- cultural bias less of a issue in more recent psych research

Question 18

What is a strength of cultural bias?

Answer 18

• the emergence of cultural psych
• Cohen (2017) cultural psychology is the study of how people shape & are shaped by their cultural experience
• an emerging field that incorporates work from researchers in other disciplines (anthro, socio, political science)
• strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking an emic approach often alongside local researchers
• modern psychologist mindful of dangers of cultural bias> taking steps to avoid

Question 19

What is a limitation of cultural bias? (stereotyping)

Answer 19

• cultural bias in psych has led to prejudice against groups of people
• Gould > first intelligence tests led to eugenic social policies in the US
  -psychologists used opportunity of WWI to pilot IQ test on 1.75 million army recruits
  -many items on test were ethnocentric e.g. assumed everyone would know name of the US presidents
• recruits from south- eastern Europe & African Americans received lowest scores

Question 20

What was the poor performance of these groups on the IQ tests used to inform and what happened as a result?

Answer 20

• used to inform racist discourse about the generic inferiority of particular cultural & ethnic groups
• ethnic minorities deemed ‘mentally unfit’ & ‘feeble-minded’ in comparison to the white majority
• they were denied educational & professional opportunities as a result
• demonstrates how cultural bias can be used to justify prejudice & discrimination