Culture Bias Flashcards
What is a culture?
The values, beliefs and patterns of behaviour shared by a group of people.
Define culture bias.
The tendency to judge people in terms of one’s own cultural assumptions.
What is another way of saying ‘alpha bias’ in culture bias.
Imposed emic
What is another way of saying ‘beta bias’ in culture bias.
Imposed etic
Define imposed emic.
Cultural differences are maximised, people are assumed completely different.
Define imposed etic.
Cultural differences are ignored or minimised, people are assumed the same.
Define ethnocentrism.
You view your own cultural norm as correct.
Give an example of ethnocentrism research.
Ainsworth’s Strange Situations- There were different values within cultures, for example, German mother sare more strict because they value independence, but the strange situation portrayed them as bad mothers when this is not the case.
Define cultural relativism.
Behaviour can only be properly understood if the cultural context is taken into consideration.
Give an example of cultural relativism.
Sternberg pointed out that different skills are more/less relative in different cultures.
Give one way to deal with culture bias.
To recognise it when it occurs.
Most psychology research (textbooks) is based on America and Europe. Culture bias can be improved by noticing it when it happens and including other culture groups to study as well.
Explain why contemporary psychologists are an advantage.
They are more open minded and well travelled, so their understanding of other cultures is increased.
They are more aware about cultural differences/bias so they can share their ideas to reduce ethnocentrism.
Explain the progress in diagnosing mental disorders.
Define universality.
It means that it can be applied to everyone, irrespective of gender and culture.
Explain the real world effective culture bias can have.
They can amplify and validate damaging stereotypes.
The US army used an IQ test which was culturally biased towards white majority. African americans were at the bottom of the scale, this resulted in people having a negative attitude towards this group of people.
There are prejudice/discriminatory consequences of culture bias.
