Cultural Bias Flashcards
(8 cards)
Ethnocentrism
There are 2 sides of the cultural bias issue in psych
Ethnocentrism = seeing the world only from one’s own cultural perspective - believing its normal
E.g of ethnocentrism
Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
. Its not appropriate for addressing kids from non UK/USA as cultural differences in child - rearing styles make results liable to misinterpretation
Cultural Relativism
(The other side of the cultural bias debate)
. Insists behaviour can only be understood if the cultural context is taken into consideration
E.g of cultural relativism
Takahsi’s Research
. Conducted SS on Japanese infants and had to stop the study as kids became extremely distressed, had to adjust procedure of SS
Culturally Relative Studies
The best way to study cross-cultural and avoid cultural bias research is to employ a series of culturally relative studies that take place in local settings, conducted by local researchers using local techniques
Eval - Research Support for cultural relativism (S)
. Meaning of intelligence is different in every culture based off what they value. E.g: being academic depends on whats relevant
. A test designed to measure Europeans understanding of an Africans/Asians intelligence = disadvantaged
. Illustrates importance of having a series of culturally relative studies using local techniques instead of standard
Eval - DSM is culturally biased (S)
. Concepts of MH variates between cultures and times
. In some cultures, depression may be experienced in physical terms rather than with emotions
E.g: complaints of nerves and headaches in Latino and Mediterranean cultures
. Cultural bias exists = lead to mis - diagnosis, may not know that they have depression based on definitions from other cultures
Eval - Underrepresentation of cultures in psych research (S)
. Smith and Bond found in 1998 survey of European textbooks on social psych
66% studies = American
32% = European
2% from rest of the world
. Strength cultural bias exists = psych not applicable to describe psych in these cultures due to heavy western bias
COUNTER-ARGUMENT = indigenous psych created
. Theories drawing explicity on particular experiences of people in different cultural contexts
E.g: Afrocentrism = theories now recognise the African context of behaviours and attitudes