I&D - Culture in psychology: Cultural bias Flashcards
Cultural bias
The tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions. This distorts or biases your judgement.
Cultural relativism
The view that behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates.
Culture
The rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people.
Ethnocentrism
Seeing things from the point of view of ourselves and our social group. Evaluating other groups of people using the standards and customs of one’s own culture.
What is ethnocentrism said a being?
A psychological inevitability.
What did Rachel Hare-Mustin and Jeanne Marecek (1988) suggest?
that before being able to decide if there are cultural differences one must consider the extent to which any research (theory or study) is biased. Only then can the ‘truth’ be disentangled from the way psychological research has found it.
Alpha bias in culture
Refers to theories that assume there are real and enduring difference between cultural groups - for example the distinction that is often made between individualist and collectivist cultures.
Beta bias in culture
refers to theories that ignore or minimise cultural differences. They do this by assuming that all people are the same and therefore it is reasonable to use the same theories/methods with all cultural groups.
Give an example of alpha bias in culture
Distinction made between individualist and collectivist cultures (e.g. the US and Japan).
For instance, we would expect members of individualist cultures to be less conformist because they are less oriented towards group norms.
To assess the validity of this view, Takano and Osaka (1999) reviewed 15 studies that compared the US and Japan in terms of individualism/collectivism. Surprisingly, 14 out of the 15 studies did not support the common view about differences in conformity.
This finding suggests that the individualism/collectivism dimension may not be a real distinction, suggesting that the distinction between ‘individualist’ and ‘collectivist’ cultures is no longer a useful one.
Give an example of beta bias in culture
Intelligence testing.
Psychologists use IQ tests devised by Western psychologists to study intelligence in many different cultures. The psychologists assume that their view of intelligence applies to all cultures equally.
For example, Western societies see intelligence as something within the individual. In contrast, a collectivist culture such as Ugandan society sees intelligence as a functional relationship depending on shared knowledge between the individual and society (Wober, 1974).
The result is that, when such Western IQ tests are used on non-Western cultures, non-Western people may appear less intelligent. Such tests are described as imposed etic, where a research method or psychological test that is developed by one group is imposed on other groups of people (an ‘etic’ being the belief that perceptions, behaviours, etc. are shared by all cultural groups.
Why is ethnocentrism an example of alpha bias?
Because one’s own culture is considered to be different and better, and the consequence of this is that other cultures and their practices are devalued.
Give an example of how ethnocentrism is alpha bias
Individualist attitudes towards attachment where independence is valued and dependence is seen as undesirable. In collectivist cultures, dependence tends to be more highly valued.
Why can ethnocentrism lead to beta bias?
If psychologists believe their world view is the only view.
Give an example of how ethnocentrism can lead to beta bias
The case of IQ testing results from ethnocentrism where it was believed it was appropriate to use American IQ tests all over the world because there was an assumption that the American standard was universal.
In a way, what is the opposite of ethnocentrism in psychology?
Cultural relativism