culture bias Flashcards
(20 cards)
what is culture bias
-give an advantage to one culture over another
-ignore difference between cultures and impose understanding based on study of one culture to other cultures
example of culture bias
in 1991 94% of studies cited in the psychology textbook were conducted in north america
what is cultural reativism
all cultures are worthy of respect and need to understand how another culture views the world
how is culture bias applied to psychology
-psychologists ignore cultural differences
-researchers would originally study people who were available
-not much research to compare people from different cultures
why do we see cultural bias in psychology?
-assumption that non-western countries are more primitive
-cross cultural research takes a lot of time and resources
what is ethnocentrism
-when an individual uses their own ethnic group to make judgements on other individuals from other ethnic groups
what are behaviours that don’t conform to the western model seen as?
unsophisticated or underdeveloped
what can cultural relativism lead to
-alpha bias
-beta bias
what is alpha bias in culture bias
-cultural relativism can lead to assumption of real differences
-leading psychologists to overlook individuals
example of alpha bias
Mead’s research in Papua New Guinea concluded significant gender differences due to culture
-later found that it was universal that men were more aggressive than women
what is beta bias
-overlooking cultural differences
example of beta bias
-in defining psychiatric conditions
-statistic infrequency
-behaviours that are statistically infrequent in one culture may not be in another
what is an etic approach (leading to culture bias)
looks at behaviour from outside a given culture and identifying behaviours that are universal
issue with an etic approach
difficult to generalise and research could be guilty of bias (imposed etic)
what’s an emic approach (that leads to culture bias)
-functions from within certain cultures
-identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture
issues with an emic approach
can lead to exaggerating differences between cultures
avoids imposed etic
what’s imposed etic
-applying a theory developed in one culture to another culture
-doesn’t consider relevance or meaningfulness in new culture
-potentially lead to misinterpretations
what is an example of imposed etic
-Ainsworth’s strange situation research
-studied behaviours in a single culture and assumed her ideal attachment type could be applied universally
when is cultural relativism a good thing
-when we need to study a culture from within it (an emic approach)
what would happen if we took a culturally relativist approach in Ainsworth’s strange situation study
-we would see that independence is more valued in German cultures, there is nothing wrong with how German citizens raise their children
