Issues And Debates: Culture Bias

Question 1

What Is Universality?

Answer 1

• An underlying characteristic of human beings that is capable of being applied to all, despite differences of experience and upbringing.

Question 2

What Is Bias?

Answer 2

The tendency to treat one individual or group in a different way from others.

Question 3

What Is Cultural Bias?

Answer 3

• Overlooking cultural differences by looking at human behaviour from the perspective of your own culture.

Question 4

What Is Ethnocentrism?

Answer 4

• A type of cultural bias that involves judging other cultures by the standards and values of one’s own culture.

Question 5

What Is Cultural Relativism?

Answer 5

• The idea that human behaviour can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.

Question 6

What Is Imposed Etic?

Answer 6

• A test, measure or theory devised in one culture that is used to explain behaviour in another culture.

Question 7

What Is Collectivist Culture?

Answer 7

• Refers to cultures such as India and China that are said to be more conformist and group-orientated.

Question 8

What Is Individualistic Culture?

Answer 8

• Refers to Western countries (like the US) that are thought to be more independent.

Question 9

What Is Etic Approach?

Answer 9

• Studying behaviour across many cultures in order to find universal human behaviours.

Question 10

What Is Culture Bound Syndrome?

Answer 10

• Groups of syndromes classified as treatable illnesses in certain cultures that are not recognised as such in the West.

Question 11

What Is Emic Approach?

Answer 11

• Studying cultures in isolation by identifying behaviours that are specific to that culture.

Question 12

Psychological Research Is Usually Performed By Performed On White MC Men, What Is The Problem With This?

Answer 12

• Despite having restricted access to particular parts of the world, many psychologists try and say that they have discovered facts about human behaviour and that they are universal.
• E.g. Asch and Milgram both conduct research within America.
• If the norm for a particular behaviour is judged only from the standpoint of one particular culture then any cultural differences would be seen as abnormal.

Question 13

Provide An Example Of Ethnocentrism.

Answer 13

• Strange Situation.
• Behaviour is based on American standard of ideal (secure attachment).
• Misrepresentation of child rearing practices in other cultures.
• SS is an appropriate measure of attachment for non-US children.
• The SS is an example of imposed etic as Ainsworth imposed her own cultural understanding upon the rest of the world.

Question 14

Berry’s Argument Of Psychology Using Etic Approach.

Answer 14

• Berry argues that psychology has been guilty of imposing an etic approach.
• He argues that theories are thought to be universal, when they actually came about through emic research in a single culture.
• This suggests that psychologists should be more mindful of the cultural relativism of their research.
• The things that they discover may only make sense from the perspective of the culture within which they were discovered.
• By recognising cultural relativism, cultural bias in research can be reduced

Question 15

Cultural Relativism And Mental Health.

Answer 15

• Schizophrenic auditory hallucination is seen as a disorder in the UK, but seen as desirable in West Africa.
• Brain fag is the difficulty concentrating, remembering and thinking, West Africa.
• Koro is the belief that the penis is retracting into the body, China.
• Anorexia is not found in many other non-Western cultures.

Question 16

Evaluation: Weakness - Amplifying And Validating Negative Stereotypes.

Answer 16

• Culturally biased research can have significant real-world effects by amplifying and validating damaging stereotypes.
• The US Army used an IQ test before WWI which was culturally biased toward the dominant white majority.
• The test showed that African-Americans were at the bottom of the IQ scale.
• This had a negative effect on the attitudes of Americans toward this group of people, highlighting the negative impact that culturally biased research can have.

Question 16

Evaluation: Strength - Universal Behaviour.

Answer 16

• Not all psychological research is culturally relative as there are thought to be some universal behaviours.
• Caregiver infant interactions such as interactional synchrony are thought to be universal.
• It could be argued that a full understanding of human behaviour requires the study of both universal behaviour and culturally specific behaviour.

Question 17

Evaluation: Solution - Unrepresentative.

Answer 17

• One way to deal with cultural bias is to recognise it when it occurs.
• Smith and Bond found in their 1998 survey of European textbooks on social psychology that 66% of the studies were American, 32% European, and only 2% from the rest of the world.
• This suggests that much psychological research is severely unrepresentative and can be greatly improved by simply selecting different cultural groups to study.

Question 18

Evaluation: Solution - Contemporary Psychologists Are More Open Minded.

Answer 18

• Contemporary psychologists are more open-minded and well-travelled than previously, and have an increased understanding of other cultures at both a personal and professional level.
• For example, international psychology conferences increase the exchange of ideas between psychologists.
• This has helped to reduce ethnocentrism in psychology and enabled a more nuanced understanding and appreciation of cultural relativism.

Question 19

Evaluation: Solution - Indigenous Psychologists.

Answer 19

• This heightened awareness of cultural diversity has led to the development of ‘indigenous psychologies’: theories drawing explicitly on the particular experiences of people in different cultural contexts.
• One example is Afrocentrism, a movement which suggests that because all black people have their roots in Africa, theories about them must recognise the African context of behaviours and attitudes.
• This is an example of an emic approach, which emphasises the uniqueness of every culture and looks at behaviour from inside a particular cultural system.
  -This has led to the emergence of theories that are more relevant to the lives and cultures of people not only in Africa, but also to those far removed from their African origins.

Question 20

Evaluation: Solution - DSM Adaptation.

Answer 20

• Since 1994 the DSM has included a short appendix on culture-bound syndromes found in other parts of the world.
• It now includes illnesses such as brain fag and koro.
• Early versions of the American DSM system ignored mental disorders that are found mainly or exclusively in non-American cultures showing that psychiatrists are becoming aware of their cultural bias and are working to reduce it