CULTURE BIAS
CULTURE BIAS → a tendency to interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture, ignoring the effects that cultural differences may have on behaviour
W - Weird
E - Educated
I - Industrialised
R - Rich
D - Democratic
(these are the people most likely to be in psychological studies)
ETHNOCENTRISM → a belief in the superiority of one’s own culture group. (for example, Ainsworth’s STRANGE SITUATION uses only the norms and values of American culture. Ignores other child-rearing practices such as that in Japan where children were more likely to be classed as insecurely attached due to their considerable separation anxiety)
CULTURAL RELATIVISM → the view that behaviours, norms, values, ethics and moral standards of a particular culture can only be meaningful and understood within the context of the culture in which they appear
AFROCENTRISM → emphasis the importance of recognising the African context of behaviours and attitudes
EVALUATION
Research Support:
→ CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
One strength is the emergence of cultural psychology.
Cultural psychology is, according to a psychologist, the study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience.
Cultural psychologists strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking an emic approach and conducting research from inside a culture, often alongside local researchers using culturally-based techniques.
This suggests that modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias and are taking steps to avoid it.
Conflicting Research:
→ CLASSIC STUDIES
One limitation is that many of the most influential studies in psychology are culturally-biased.
Cultural bias is a feature of many classic studies of social influence. For instance, both Asch’s and Milgram’s original studies were conducted exclusively with US participants.
Replications of these studies in different countries produced rather different results. For example, Asch-type experiments in collectivist cultures found significantly higher rates of conformity than the results in the US (an individualistic culture).
This suggests our understanding of topics such as social influence should only be applied to individualistic cultures.
However, in an age of increased media globalisation, it is argued that the individualistic-collectivist distinction no longer applies.
The traditional argument is that individualist countries value individuals and independence, whilst collectivist cultures value the group and interdependence.
However, one study found that 14/15 studies that compared the US and Japan found no evidence of individualism or collectivism - describing the distinction as lazy and simplistic.
This suggests that cultural bias in research may be less of an issue in more recent psychological research.
→ ETHNIC STEREOTYPING
One limitation of cultural bias in psychology is it led to prejudice against groups of people.
Psychologists used the opportunity of WW1 to pilot their first IQ tests on 1.75 million army recruits. Many of the items on the test were ethnocentric (e.g. assuming everyone would know the names of US presidents).
The result was that recruits from south-eastern Europe and African-Americans received the lowest scores. As a result of this, ethnic minorities were deemed ‘mentally unfit’ in comparison to the white minority, and were denied professional opportunities as a result.
This illustrates how cultural bias can be used to justify prejudice and discrimination towards certain cultural and ethnic groups.
CULTURE BIAS → a tendency to interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture, ignoring the effects that cultural differences may have on behaviour
W - Weird
E - Educated
I - Industrialised
R - Rich
D - Democratic
(these are the people most likely to be in psychological studies)
ETHNOCENTRISM → a belief in the superiority of one’s own culture group. (for example, Ainsworth’s STRANGE SITUATION uses only the norms and values of American culture. Ignores other child-rearing practices such as that in Japan where children were more likely to be classed as insecurely attached due to their considerable separation anxiety)
CULTURAL RELATIVISM → the view that behaviours, norms, values, ethics and moral standards of a particular culture can only be meaningful and understood within the context of the culture in which they appear
AFROCENTRISM → emphasis the importance of recognising the African context of behaviours and attitudes
EVALUATION
Research Support:
→ CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
One strength is the emergence of cultural psychology.
Cultural psychology is, according to a psychologist, the study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experience.
Cultural psychologists strive to avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking an emic approach and conducting research from inside a culture, often alongside local researchers using culturally-based techniques.
This suggests that modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias and are taking steps to avoid it.
Conflicting Research:
→ CLASSIC STUDIES
One limitation is that many of the most influential studies in psychology are culturally-biased.
Cultural bias is a feature of many classic studies of social influence. For instance, both Asch’s and Milgram’s original studies were conducted exclusively with US participants.
Replications of these studies in different countries produced rather different results. For example, Asch-type experiments in collectivist cultures found significantly higher rates of conformity than the results in the US (an individualistic culture).
This suggests our understanding of topics such as social influence should only be applied to individualistic cultures.
However, in an age of increased media globalisation, it is argued that the individualistic-collectivist distinction no longer applies.
The traditional argument is that individualist countries value individuals and independence, whilst collectivist cultures value the group and interdependence.
However, one study found that 14/15 studies that compared the US and Japan found no evidence of individualism or collectivism - describing the distinction as lazy and simplistic.
This suggests that cultural bias in research may be less of an issue in more recent psychological research.
→ ETHNIC STEREOTYPING
One limitation of cultural bias in psychology is it led to prejudice against groups of people.
Psychologists used the opportunity of WW1 to pilot their first IQ tests on 1.75 million army recruits. Many of the items on the test were ethnocentric (e.g. assuming everyone would know the names of US presidents).
The result was that recruits from south-eastern Europe and African-Americans received the lowest scores. As a result of this, ethnic minorities were deemed ‘mentally unfit’ in comparison to the white minority, and were denied professional opportunities as a result.
This illustrates how cultural bias can be used to justify prejudice and discrimination towards certain cultural and ethnic groups.
