Issues And Debates: Cultural Bias ao1

Question 1

Cultural bias

Answer 1

• Refers to the tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all behaviour through the “lens” of one’s own culture
• so can lead to ppl forming views of behaviour of others without any actual experience with them

Question 2

research showing how psych is culturally biased - procedure and findings

Answer 2

henrich published “the weirdest ppl in the world”
ppts in most research are from W>E>I>R>D societys
Western
Educated
Industrialised
Rich
Democratic
they found that from published psychological studies….
- 68% of ppts came from the usa
- 96% of ppt from western industrialsed nations like europe and australia

Question 3

research showing how psych is culturally biased -
conclusions and findings

Answer 3

• the findings suggest that members of W.E.I.R.D societies, including young children are among the least representative populations one could find for generalising about humans (henrich 2010)
• concluded this leads to biased view of other cultures, lead to the beh of non westernised, poorer, less educated or agricultural ppl being seen as abnormal

Question 4

example of culture bias - definitions of abnormality

Answer 4

• deviation from social norms is when someone behaves in a way that doesnt fit within what society expects as normal so beh = abnormal
• issue bc something abnormal in one culture could be normal in another
• for example a positive symptom of schizophrenia is hallucinations (hearing voices
• fernando found ppl from afro-carribbean heritage who were now living in the uk were 7x more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia
• for these cultures its normal for spiritual practices to involve hearing voices so its normal as opposed to abnormal
• but the west misinterprets this as a hallucination and a sign of schiz
• so trying to apply ideology universally can lead to cultural bias and misdiagnosis

Question 5

Universality

Answer 5

• refers to the belief that some behaviours are the same for all cultures
• Even though psychologists argue their research can be applied universally in reality it can only be applied to certain groups of people (most of the time)

Question 6

describe research into behaviour that is universal

Answer 6

• dr paul ekman established that basic facial expressions for emotions are universal
• he studied western and eastern cultures
• he studied a people group in new guinea living in an isolated culture
• he found within 4 experiments (asking people to make faces based on 4 diff scenarios eg what face would you make if you stepped on a smelly dead pig that evidence was remarkably consistent
• so there are universal facial expressions of emotion

Question 7

Milligram and asch (example of universality)

Answer 7

• Conformity and obedience studies
• These were originally conducted on
  US participants
• When replicated across the rest of the world they found very different results - eg Germany Australia
• If a norm or standard behaviour is taken from one culture, if a different culture behaves differently from this
• It could be seem as abnormal
• This is then cultural bias

Question 8

Ethnocentrism

Answer 8

• refers to viewing your own culture as the standard by which other cultures are judged
• Superiority of ones cultural group
• Any beh that doesn’t conform to (usually western) model are seen as undeveloped or unsophisticated

Question 9

Strange sit - example of ethnocentrism

Answer 9

Criticised as it reflected norms and values of
Americans
- designed in america
- by an american researcher
- studying 100 american infants
* She suggested that the “ideal” attachment was shown when a child displayed moderate stranger and sep anxiety
* This led to the misinterpretation of child rearing practices in other countries which were seen to deviate from the American norm
Eg - German mothers desire non clingy infants mothers seen as cold and rejecting babies are independent
- when takahashi used the strange situation in japan they had to stop the study 90% of the time due to extreme anxiety the children showed bc it was unnatural for their mother to leave them
lead to ss being an inappropriate measure of attachment for non US children bc it doesnt reflect their child rearing practices

Question 10

what is cultural relativism

Answer 10

• refers to the idea that a behaviour can only be properly understood in the context of the norms + values of the society or culture in which it occurs
• rejection of beh being universal

Question 11

whats a solution to culture bias

Answer 11

• only apply the results of their research to the culture of ppts being studied
• (being more culturally relative)
• ensure that cross cultural research is conducted where diff samples are studied, particularly with non WEIRD ppts

Question 12

Etic approach

Answer 12

Looks at beh from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those beh thats are universa

Question 13

Emic approach

Answer 13

Functions from within or inside certain cultures and identities beh that are specific to that culture

Question 14

Ss is an example of what app

Answer 14

Etic app
Studied beh within a single culture and assumed her ideal attachment type could be applied universally. In cultures like Japan and Germany

Question 15

Berry argues what about an etic approach

Answer 15

Argues that psychology has often been guilty of an etic approach
• Psychologists should be much more mindful of cultural relativism of their research
• The things they discover may only make sense from the perspective of the culture within which they were discovered
• Being able to recognise this is one way of avoiding cultural bias

Question 16

Individualistic culture

Answer 16

Associated with western cultures such as the US who are thought to value personal freedom and independence

Question 17

Collectivist culture

Answer 17

Associated w places such as china and India place more emphasis on interdependence and needs of the group