Culture bias - research that ignores cultural differences in behaviour + assumes that ones own particular cultures behaviour is the norm or standard by which other cultures are judged
Ethnocentrism - assumption that one culture is superior to another + that behaviour from the superior culture is the norm. A tendency to judge your own cultures as superior, just as Androcentrist tends to judge males as superior to females. In the case of females it's called Gyrocentric, here females are judged superior to males
Universality: belief that some behaviours are the same for all cultures, i.e behaviours we all share. In relation to gender bias it refers to behaviour that are the same for both genders or sexes
Cultural relativism: this is the idea that behaviour can only be understood in the context of the norms + values. It rejects behaviours which are universal
Joseph Henrich (2010) says the majority of claims about human psychology + behaviour was based on research that has studied participants who are WEIRD
Western
Educated
Industrialised
Rich
Democratic
Joseph Henrich (2010) WEIRD
Weir, educated from industrialised countries, rich + comes from democratic societies.
People who aren't weird will be seen as abnormal, because one culture is being used as the standard by which other cultures are judged. This is culture bias + ethnocentric
What to do to try to counter cultural bias
Only apply or generalise the research results or findings to the culture of the participants studied
Ensure that cross-cultural research is conducted where different samples are studied, e.g. with non-weird participants
Gender bias Ainsworth's study
Focuses on types of attachment using the strange situation as a measure of the quality. This was a North American study using North American participants. When the SS, a measuring instrument developed in the west, is used in different cultures it can lead to cultural bias
Takahashistudy on attachment in Japan
When the mothers left their babies alone the study had to stop for 90% of the time because the children became excessively anxious. This seemed to indicate the children were of an insecure resistant type + so had mothers who were inconsistent in their child rearing practices, i.e not always sensitive + responsive + so not ideal mothers whose children may go on to have later social + emotional difficulties.
Takahashi study on attachment in Japan
However, this excessive anxiety was due to the fact that the child rarely leaves the mother's side during childhood. This doesn't reflect the Japanese mother's child rearing practises as being of poor quality, which the label, insecure resistant implies. This is an example of culture bias + ethnocentrism because the research imposes its own cultural standards + norms on other cultures
Ainsworth: what to do?
Be more culturally relative
Before using the North American constructed strange situation in Japan, you need to take account of the cultural norms + practices of the mothers + children in Japan. So the SS findings may have a different meaning in a different culture so cross cultural research is needed to establish the different practices + traditions in that culture to understand the results
Gender bias research: Definitions
Deviation from social norms
Problem is that what is socially acceptable in one culture may not be in another
Gender bias research: Definitions
Fernando (2012) found that people from Afro-carribean cultures living in the UK were 7x more likely to be diagnosed from schizophrenia, than any other groups. Spiritual practices of hearing voices are typically part of their culture. So Western Doctors + psychiatrist + members of the public may misinterpret these spiritual rituals + experiences as signs of schizophrenia, mental illness requiring treatment, because they are applying the definition of schizophrenia universally without understanding the culture of the person they are diagnosing
What can be done?
Psychology needs to be culturally relative
There are universal behaviours. Eckman (1972) found certain facial expressions to be universal
Other evidence of human universals, where there is cross cultural evidence, includes sexual selection theory, monotropy etc