Cultural Bias

Ethnocentrism:

• Impose values onto other cultures, e.g. our own views and beliefs are seen as ‘normal/standard’ or even superior to others

• Inappropriately generalising the values and research findings of one culture to another without bothering to test other cultures

• This limits the validity of these theories and neglects the important cross-cultural differences

Rosenzweig (1992):

• Psychology is predominantly a white, Euro-American enterprise

• 64% of the world’s 56,000 psychological researchers are from the US

• 94% of the studies referred to have US PPs, 2% European, 3% rest of the world

• Samples of predominantly white middle-class

The topic:

• Attachment (SS developed with American children) leads to a flawed (bias) classification of non-American children

• Social Influence research: Explanations of conformity and obedience largely based on research of Male explanations are biased

• Cognitive development (e.g. Piaget’s theory represents Western, individualist approach to learning:

  • Cultural bias in IQ tests

Cultural Relativism:

• Cultural relativism insists that behaviour can be properly understood only if the cultural context is taken into consideration

• Therefore, any study which draws its sample from only one cultural context (like American college students) and then generalises its findings to all people everywhere, is suspect

• No one can say if someone else is right or wrong: it is a matter of personal opinion, and no society can pass judgment on another society

• This is the idea that all cultures are different and equally worth studying

Etic analysis:

• Belief that behaviour is universal so cultural differences can be ignored. A good example is the application of Western-based psychiatric diagnosis to non-western groups

• But behaviour that looks abnormal in such groups may have different causes to similar behaviours in Western groups

Emic analysis:

• Behaviour is culturally specific

• We are all different

Ways to reduce Cultural Bias:

• Cultural bias isn’t intentional, so it can be difficult to prevent

• However, there are ways to reduce it:

  1. Research should recognise cultural relativism. This is accepting that there are no universal standards for behaviour and that research done must take into account the culture it takes place in

  2. Samples should be representative of the groups you want to generalise to

  3. Berry (1969) recommended conducting research in a meaningful context and using local researchers who are part of the culture being studied

     • This avoids the problem of imposed etic

Social Implications:

• Cochrane and Sashidharan (1995) found that people of African-Caribbean origin in the UK were up to seven times more likely than white patients to be diagnosed with schizophrenia.

  The rate of schizophrenia in the Caribbean is no higher than in the UK, so it seems that African Caribbeans don't have a genetic predisposition towards it.

• Littlewood and Lipsedge (1989) found that African-Caribbean patients were often prescribed stronger doses of medication than white patients, even though their symptoms were the same.

  This suggests that their symptoms are interpreted as being more severe than they actually are.

• These findings could be the result of culture-biased assumptions influencing how people's behaviours are interpreted. It seems that all patients may be judged against norms for the white population, even if they're originally from a different culture.

Problems doing Cross-Cultural Research:

Cross-cultural research can help to reduce cultural bias, but the results aren't always valid.

1. Even with a translator, it can be difficult to interpret what participants say and do — some beliefs and customs may be difficult for people from other cultures to understand. This means that findings can be misinterpreted and research can be ethnocentric because the researchers judge behaviour against their own cultural norms.

2. Cross-cultural replications of studies are difficult to do. Smith and Bond (1988) argued that perfect cross-cultural replications are impossible because procedures will have different meanings to people in different cultures. This means that studies can lack validity — they might not be testing what they aim to test.

Ways to reduce cultural bias in research:

Cultural bias usually isn't intentional, so it can be difficult to prevent. However, there are ways to reduce it:

1. Research should recognise cultural relativism. This is accepting that there are no universal standards for behaviour, and that any research done must take into account the culture it takes place in.

2. Samples should be representative of the groups you want to generalise the results to — they should include all relevant sub-groups.

3. Berry (1969) recommended conducting research in meaningful contexts and using local researchers who are part of the culture being studied. This avoids the problems of an imposed etic.