Issues and Debates- Cultural Bias Flashcards
What does culture refer to?
The set of customs, social roles, behavioural norms and moral values that are shared by a group of people
Who do psychologists tend to study?
People who were available- from their own cultural background
What are the three possible reasons that researchers only tend to use participants from their own cultural background?
- Researchers assumed that people from western cultures are essentially the same as people in other cultures
- May have been assumed that non-western cultures were more ‘primitive’ and less worthy of study
- Researchers wanting to do cross-cultural research couldn’t because they lacked time and resources
What are the three possible reasons that researchers only tend to use participants from their own cultural background?
- Researchers assumed that people from western cultures are essentially the same as people in other cultures
- May have been assumed that non-western cultures were more ‘primitive’ and less worthy of study
- Researchers wanting to do cross-cultural research couldn’t because they lacked time and resources
What did Berry identify?
Etic and emic approaches
What is an etic approach?
Research from a specific culture which is then applied to other cultures to find universal laws
Why might etic research sometimes be good?
All humans have basically the same physiology and many behaviours are found in all cultures
Why might etic research be problematic?
It’s difficult to generalise findings to all cultures so etic research could make researchers guilty of imposed etic
What is an emic approach?
Research based on a specific culture that’s used to understand that culture from within, findings aren’t generalised to other cultures and instead studies variations in behaviour between groups of people which avoids the problem of cultural bias through imposed etic
Why might bias still occur in emic research?
By exaggerating differences between different cultural groups and neglecting to look at difference within cultural groups
Why is it important not to neglect the variety found within groups?
Individual differences
What is ethnocentrism?
Where the researchers own culture is taken as the norm that we judge other cultures against
How is Asch’s study ethnocentric?
Because it only studied Americans- further research found that conformity levels vary between cultures
What are the three ways to reduce cultural bias in research?
- Research should recognise cultural relativism
- Samples should be representative of groups you want to generalise results to
- Using local researchers who are part of the culture being studied avoids the problem of imposed etic
