Lesson 2: Cultural Bias In Psychology Flashcards
Cultural bias in psychology
- in 1992, 64% of the world’s 56,000 psychology researchers were American. In Baron and Byrne’s 1991 textbook on social psychology, 94% of the studies cited were conducted in North America. It would appear that as well as being a male-dominated discipline, Psychology is mainly the study of white American males.
- despite having restricted their enquiries to particular parts of the world, researchers often claim to have discovered facts about human behaviour that are the same for all cultures. Critics argue that mainstream psychology has generally ignored culture as an important influence on human behaviour and has assumed that findings derived from studies conducted in Western culture can be straightforwardly applied all over the world. This is not true for example, classic studies into obedience (Milgram, 1963) and conformity (Asch, 1951) reveal very different results when they were replicated in other parts of the world.
Cultural bias
- tendency to judge people in terms of one’s own cultural assumptions. If the norm or standard for a particular behaviour is judged only from the standpoint of one particular culture, then any cultural differences in behaviour will be seen as abnormal or even inferior
- in order to reduce cultural bias in their research, researchers should not attempt to extrapolate findings or theories to cultures that are not represented in the research sample or assume that there are universal norms across different cultures. They should use researchers who are native to the culture being investigated, carry out cross-cultural research rather than research with a sole culture, and be sensitive to cultural norms when designing research.
Ethnocentrism
- emphasising the importance of the behaviour of one’s own culture. In psychological research this is communicated through a view that any behaviours that do not conform to the model are somehow deficient, unsophisticated or underdeveloped. Mary Ainsworth’ strange situation is an example of this, it assumed that a securely attached child would show moderate distress (separation protest) when their caregiver left them and that if this didn’t happen, the child was insecurely attached. This means that German mothers were seen as cold and rejecting because their babies did not show this mild distress, when it could be interpreted as German mothers encouraging independence.
Cultural relativism
- It has suggested that psychologists should be more mindful of cultural relativism. This is the idea that a behaviour can only be properly understood in the context of the norms and values of the culture in which it occurs.
Minus of cultural bias in psychology
- culturally biased research can have significant real-world effects by, for example, amplifying and validating damaging stereotypes. The US Army used an IG test before WW1 which was culturally biased towards the dominant white majority. Unsurprisingly, this test showed that African-Americans were at the bottom of the IQ scale and this had a negative effect on the attitudes of Americans towards them, which highlights the negative impacts culturally biased research can have.
Pluses of culture bias in psychology
+ One way to deal with culture 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.
+ Contemporary psychologists are significantly 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 which has helped to reduce ethnocentrism in psychology and enabled a more nuanced understanding and appreciation of cultural relativism.
+ 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 the inside of a particular cultural system. This matters because it 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. The development of indigenous psychologies is often seen as a strength of cultural relativism.
+ There has also been some progress in the field of diagnosing mental disorders. Early versions of the American DSM system virtually ignored mental disorders that are found mainly or exclusively in non-American cultures. DSM-IV in 1994 acknowledged the inadequacy of that approach and included a short appendix on culture-bound syndromes found in other parts of the world. However, Kleinman and Cohen (1997) dismissed this appendix as ‘little more than a sop thrown to cultural psychiatrists and psychiatric anthropologists’ and pointed out that detailed work in several non-Western cultures had uncovered many disorders totally ignored by DSM-IV. Examples include: pa-fend (fear of wind) found in China; amafufunyana (violent behaviour caused by spirit possession) found in South Africa.
+ It is also important to note that when a theory is described as universal, it means that it can apply to all people, irrespective of gender and culture however this means it also needs to include real differences. With regard to culture, one way to achieve universality would be to employ what Berry (1969) described as a derived etic. This is where a series of emic studies take place in local settings, conducted by local researchers using local techniques. Such studies can build up a picture of human behaviour in a similar way to the ethnographic approach taken by anthropologists. This is the study of different cultures through the use of comparisons, as by making comparisons between cultures we can learn more about a target culture.
