Issues And Debates: Cultural Bias

Question 1

What is cultural bias

Answer 1

• refers to a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena’s through the ‘lens’ of ones own culture

Question 2

Outline the relationship between universality and cultural bias

Answer 2

• critics have argued mainstream psychology has generally ignored culture as an important infleunce on human behaviour
• e.g. studies of conformity and obedience originally conducted with us patients revealed very different results when they were replicated in other parts of the world (kilham and Mann)

Question 3

What is ethnocentrism

Answer 3

• a type of culture bias: judging other cultures by the standards and values of ones own culture
• extreme form = belief in superiority of ones own culture which may lead to prejudice + discrimination
• e.g. ainsworths strange situation - suggested the ‘ideal’ attachment was character by the infant showing moderate amounts of distress when left alone by the mother figure (doesn’t apply to all cultures)

Question 4

What is cultural relativism

Answer 4

• the idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts
• ainsworth is an example of an imposed etic - assuming the US based model of classifying attachment was the norm, ainsworths imposed her own cultural understanding on the world

Question 5

What contribution did john berry make in relation to etic and Emic approaches

Answer 5

• drew a distinction between etic and emic approaches
• an etic approach looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture + attempts to describe those behaviours that are universal
• an emic approach functions from within or inside certain cultures and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture

Question 6

According to berry, what approach has psychology been guilty of imposing

Answer 6

• an etic approach - arguing theories, models, concepts etc are universal when they actually came about through emic research within a single culture

Question 7

What are the three evaluation points for cultural bias in psychology

Answer 7

• individualism and collectivism
• cultural relativism versus universality
• unfamiliarity with research tradition

Question 8

Outline ‘individualism and collectivism ‘ as an evaluation point for cultural bias

Answer 8

• in the past, when psychologists have made reference to ‘culture’, they have done so within the context of a individualist - collectivist distinction
• critics have suggested, in this age of global communication and increased ‘interconnectedness’ that such a ‘lazy’ and simplistic distinction between cultures no longer applies

Question 9

Outline ‘cultural relativism versus universality ‘ as an evaluation point for cultural bias

Answer 9

• psychologists should be aware of the culturally speifcfic nature of their work
• however, not all psychology is culturally relative
• e.g. research suggests tha basic facial expressions for emotions are the same across the human and animal world

Question 10

Outline ‘unfamiliarity with research tradition‘ as an evaluation point for cultural bias

Answer 10

• when conducting research in so called ‘western cultures’, participants familiarity with the general aims and objectives is assumed
• however, the same knowledge and ‘faith’ in scientific testing may not extend to cultures that don’t have the same historical experience of research