Cultural bias

What is cultural bias ?

Using the standards of your own culture to interpret/judge another culture

What is ethnocentrism ?

The belief that one’s own culture is superior and therefore is used as the norm

Give an example of ethnocentrism in psychological research

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation: the US/UK child rearing norms were misapplied to other cultures, such as Japan and Germany.

Use of labels such as insecure, avoidant, resistant, make the norms of other cultures seem deficient

What is cultural relativism ?

The idea that behaviour can only be understood in the cultural context that it occurs

What is imposed etic ?

Applying a theory developed in one culture, to another culture

How can cultural bias affect the interpretation of behaviour ?

Behaviour can be misunderstood and mislabelled and can therefore result in invalid conclusions

What is the difference between emic and etic approaches ?

emic= culturally/contextually specific

etic= universal approach

AO3: how can cultural bias be reduced in research ?

(A) use culturally diverse samples

(B) employ and include indigenous researchers

(C) emphasise emic approaches

AO3: what are the consequences of cultural bias ?

(A) reinforces stereotypes

(B) leads to incomplete theories and can lead to problems with misdiagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders

(C) reduces scientific credibility of psychological research