Issues and debates - culture bias

Question 1

what is culture bias ?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

what are individualist cultures ?

Answer 2

refers to western countries like the US that are thought to be more independent

Question 3

what are collectivist cultures

Answer 3

refers to cultures such as india and china that are said to be more conformist and group orientated

Question 4

what is the problem with psychology in terms of culture bias

Answer 4

it is a western male dominated discipline

Question 5

the problem with culture bias in psychological has led to what ?

Answer 5

psychologists claiming that what they have found is universal yet it can only be applied to particular groups of people

Question 6

what is an example of culture bias research in psychology

Answer 6

obedience research by (milgram) originally conducted with US participants revealed very different results for other parts of the world -> kilham and mann (1974)

Question 7

what is ethnocentrism ?

Answer 7

superiority of one’s own culture group.

a type of culture bias that involves judging other cultures by the standards and values of own culture

Question 8

what is one example of ethnocentrism ?

Answer 8

The strange situation

Ainsworth (1970)

Question 9

how is the strange situation an example of ethnocentrism

Answer 9

suggested behaviour demonstrated in a securely attached American infant was ideal
This leads to misinterpretation of child rearing styles in other cultures.
The SS is a Inaccurate measure of attachment for non US children

Question 10

what can be concluded by the strange situation in terms of culture bias

Answer 10

reflects only the norms and values of American culture

Question 11

other than ethnocentrism, ainsworth strange situation is a example of what ?

Answer 11

imposed etic

Question 12

define imposed etic ?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

how is the strange situation and example of imposed etic

Answer 13

assumed the us based model of classifying attachment was the norm and could be applied universally.

imposed her own cultural understanding upon the rest of the world.

Question 14

what is the etic approach

Answer 14

looks at universal behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe and explain those behaviours that are universal

Question 15

what is the emic approach

Answer 15

looks at behaviour from within a given culture and identifies behaviour specific to that culture

Question 16

what did Berry (1969)

argue ?

Answer 16

psychology has imposed an etic approach arguing tha theories, models etc are universal

Question 17

how have the models, theories actually came about in psychology

Answer 17

through emic research within a single culture

Question 18

how can cultural bias in research be reduced

Answer 18

cultural relativism

Question 19

what is cultural relativism

Answer 19

the idea that norms and values as well as ethics and moral standards can only be understood within specific social and cultural contexts

Question 20

what are culture bound syndromes ?

Answer 20

groups of syndromes classified as treatable illnesses in certain cultures but not recognised in the left

Question 21

what are examples of culture bound syndromes

Answer 21

brain fag - difficulty concentrating and thinking - common in west africa
koro - belief that penis is retracting into the body - china

Question 22

the existence of culture bound syndromes suggests what ?

Answer 22

that diagnostic manuals of mental disorders in the west (DSM and ICD) may be ethnocentric
- mental disorder is not a universally agreed concept

Question 23

what is a negative impact of cultural bias - damaging research

Answer 23

culture biased research amplifies and validates damaging stereotypes.

The US army had an IQ test which was culturally biased towards a white majority african americans were bottom of the IQ scale

negative effect on attitudes towards african americans

highlights impact that culturally biased research can have

Question 24

negative impact of culture bias - unrepresentative

Answer 24

smith and bond -
survey of European text books on social psychology - 66% of studies American, 32% European and 2% rest of the world

psychological research -> severely unrepresentative and should be greatly improved by selecting different cultural groups

Question 25

what is a positive impact of cultural bias - evolving psychology

Answer 25

contemporary psychologists are more open minded than previously

increased understanding of other cultures

eg international psychology conferences increase the exchange of ideas between psychologists.

helped to reduce ethnocentrism
more appreciate cultural relativism

Question 26

what is a positive impact of cultural bias

Answer 26

development of indigenous psychologies, - based on particular experiences of people in different cultural contexts.

eg afrocentrism which emphasises the importance of recognising the African context of behaviours and attitudes.

example of emic approach- looks at behaviour from the inside of a particular cultural system.

lead to emergence of theories that are more relevant to the lives and cultures of people