Culture Bias Flashcards
(19 cards)
What is culture?
A set of customs, social roles, behavioural norms, and moral values shared by a group of people.
What is alpha bias?
When differences between cultures are exaggerated.
What is beta bias?
When differences between cultures are minimised.
What are three possible explanations for cultural bias?
- Researchers assumed everyone acted the same as those from western cultures.
- Researchers assumed non-western were primitive and thus less worthy of study.
- Researchers couldn’t do cross-cultural research due to lack of resources and money.
What is ethnocentrism?
Where an individual believes their own culture is the norm.
What are two pieces of psychological research that displayed culture bias?
- Asch (1951).
- Milgram (1963).
How did Asch (1951) display culture bias?
Ethnocentric as it only studied Americans.
How did Milgram (1963) display culture bias?
Imposed etic, as it used American participants to test a hypotheis about Germans.
What is culture relativism?
The idea that norms and values can only be meaningful and understood within a specific social and cultural context.
What is etic research?
Research from a specific culture that is applied to other cultures to find universal laws.
What bias can etic research lead to?
Beta bias.
What is emic research?
Research from a specific culture that studies variations in behaviour between groups of people within that specific culture.
What bias can emic research lead to?
Alpha bias.
What research is there into the social implications of culture bias?
- Cochrane and Sashidharan (1995).
- Littlewood and Lipsedge (1989).
What was found in Cochrane and Sashidharan (1995)?
People of African-Carribean origin in the UK were seven times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia than people of white British origin.
What was found in Littlewood and Lipsedge (1989)?
People of African-Carribean origin were often prescribed stronger doses of medication than people of white British origin.
What do the findings in Cochrane and Sashidharan (1995) and Littlewood and Lipsedge (1989) suggest?
Culturally biased assumptions could be influencing how people’s behaviour is interpreted.
What is a limitation of cross-culture research?
Smith and Bond (1998) argued it is impossible as procedures may have different meaning to different cultures, leading to poor validity.
What is a strength of cross-culture research?
It may promote greater sensitivity to individual differences and culture relativism.
