Issues and Debates - culture bias

Question 1

ethnocentrism

Answer 1

one culture is seen as the norm and all other cultures are seen as deviants from this

Question 2

cultural bias

Answer 2

judging behaviour based on cultural norms

Question 3

cultural relativism

Answer 3

behaviour should be understood within cultural contexts (there is no global right or wrong)

Question 4

imposed etic

Answer 4

western ways of doing research are assumed to be universal

Question 5

emic approach

Answer 5

looks at behaviour within a culture and identifies specific behaviour

Question 6

etic approach

Answer 6

looks at behaviour outside of a culture and assumes that all behaviour is universal

Question 7

how has psychology traditionally conducted research (culture-wise)

Answer 7

ignored culture as an important influence on behaviour (beta-bias), etic approach, not with cultural relativism in mind

Question 8

what percentage of studies were conducted in America (1991 textbook)

Answer 8

94%

Question 9

what was the Chitling test of intelligence and what did it demonstrate

Answer 9

IQ test designed for African-American culture, demonstrates how IQ tests are racially unfair

Question 9

what is the issue of using the DSM-5 and ICD-10 to diagnose mental health issues in non-western cultures

Answer 9

imposed etic so leads to inaccurate diagnoses. e.g African-Caribbean 3-5x more likely to get diagnosed with schizophrenia

Question 10

Mead and Samoa (1928)

Answer 10

visited Samoa and reported the place she visited as very safe, with no rape and premarital sex being common. Freeman challenged this and it was found that Mead was lied to (demand characteristics) but she also based the research on her own beliefs

Question 11

strengths of culture bias

Answer 11

+ can be reduced by encouraging more indigenous psychology
+ reciprocity, basic emotions, interactional synchrony are seen as universal
+ globalisation allows communication between countries, decreasing cultural differences. Takano (1999) 14/15 comparison studies of the US and Japan showed no difference

Question 12

weaknesses of culture bias

Answer 12

• western pts may assume research procedures so may show demand characteristics
• operationalising variables may not be the same across cultures. e.g. invading personal space = norm in China
• Henrich (2010) found 96% of pts in leading psychology journals are western. WEIRD bias (western, educated, industrialised, rich, democratic)