Cultural bias

• Cultural bias


  The phenomenon of interpreting and judging phenomena by standards to ones own culture.
• Cultural bias in the diagnosis of mental health disorders


  Deviation from social norms- We have depression in the DSM but in China and Japan there is no concept of depression. Therefore this suggests that mental illness is probably a culturally biased concept.
• Cultural bias due to researchers and samples deriving from America


  64% of the worlds 56,000 published psychological researchers derive from the US.

  96% of social psychological research studies were carried out in north America.
• Cultural bias and universality


  There's the wrong assumption that findings obtained from western research can be applied universally. e.g Milgram and Asch's research found very different results when replicated in other parts of the world.

  Definitions of abnormality could be culturally biased.
• Ethnocentrism


  Judging one culture by the values and standards of another. In the extreme, one culture is claiming superiority and devaluing another. This shows alpha bias or can lead to beta bias if psychologists believe their world view is the only one.
• Imposed Etic- Cultural Relativism


  The idea that behaviour can only be properly understood/ has meaning/ only makes sense in the context of the norms and values of the society in which it occurs.

  If you do not do this it is called imposed etic e.g Ainsworth strange situation.
• Individualism and Collectivism


  The distinction no longer applies- e.g China and India- globalisation= coming more individualistic.

  Takano found 14/15 studies that compared the US and Japan found no evidence of the traditional distinctions of collectivist and individualistic- this could suggest that cultural bias is no longer the issue it was.

  Therefore individualism and collectivism is no longer relevant.
• Cultural relativism vs Universality


  We shouldn't assume that all research is culturally relative. Facial expressions for emotions are the same all over the world- happiness or disgust. Some features of attachment are universal- e.g interactional synchrony. Therefore we must still study universals and variation amongst individuals and groups.
• Use of indigenous psychology to overcome cultural bias

  There are two approaches to dealing with bias: Emic and Etic (indigenous psychology). Emic: psychologists focus on one culture only in order to examine culture specific behaviours e.g Bartlette looked at how Swazi herdsmen knew each detail of their cattle as these are culturally important.

  Etic: research done across cultures to see what aspects of their behaviour may be universal. Berry replicated Asch in Sierra Leone with Temne people and the Inuit in Canada. Temne conformed yet Canada did not.