Culture Bias

• AO1 - Alpha bias in culture

  = refers to theories that assume real differences between cultural groups.

  Examples?

  Distinctions often made between collectivist and individualist cultures.
• AO1 - Alpha bias in culture

  We would expect members of ind. cultures to be less conformist because they are less oriented towards group norms.

  • To assess the validity of this view, Takano and Osaka (1999) reviewed 15 studies that compared the US and Japan in terms of ind/collectivism.
  • Findings = 14 of 15 studies did not support the common view about differences in conformity.

  This suggests that the ind/collectivism dimension may not be a real distinction, suggesting that the distinction between individualists and collectivists cultures is no longer a useful one.
• AO1 - Beta bias in culture

  = refers to theories that ignore or minimise cultural differences.

  = all people are the same and therefore it is reasonable to use the same theories/methods with all cultural groups

  Example: intelligence testing.

  Use of IQ test devised by Western psychologist to study intelligence in many different cultures.

  Assume that their view of intelligence apply to all cultures equally.
• AO1 - Beta bias in culture

  Example: western societies see intelligence as being within the ind. 

  Collectivist, such as Uganda society, sees intelligence as a functional relationship depending on shared knowledge between the ind and society (Wober, 1974).

  When such IQ tests are used on non-western cultures, non western people may appear less intelligent. Such test are described as imposed etic (where a research method or psychological test that is developed by one group is imposed on other group of people.)

  Etic = belief that perceptions, behaviours etc are shared by all cultural groups
• AO1 - Ethnocentrism

  Ethnocentrism = Alpha bias

  Ethnocentrism is an example of alpha bias because one’s own culture is considered to be different and better.

  The consequence of this is that other cultures and their practices are devalued.

  Example: individualist attitudes toward attachment: independence is valued and dependence seen as undesirable. In collectivist cultures, dependence tends to be more highly valued.
• AO1 - Ethnocentrism

  But also a Beta bias = if psychologists believe their world view is the only view.

  Example: IQ testing results from ethnocentrism. It was believed it is appropriate to use American IQ tests all over the world because there was an assumption that the American standard was universal.
• AO1 - Cultural relativism

  = the opposite of ethnocentrism ( in a way…)

  Refers to the idea that all cultures are worthy of respect and in studying another culture, we need to try to understand the way that a particular culture sees the world.
• AO1 - Cultural relativism

  BUT can also lead to….

  Alpha bias = assumption of real differences leads psychologist to overlook universals.

  Example: Margaret Mead’s Research in Papua New Guinea.

  She initially concluded that there were significant gender differences due to culture but later recognised that they were universals – that the men in all cultures were more aggressive than women.
• AO1 - Cultural relativism

  Beta bias = cultural relativism often discussed in the context of defining mental disorder.

  Do you remember the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality?

  Behaviours that are statistically infrequent in one culture may be statistically more frequent in others.

  Example: One of the symptom of schizophrenia is claiming to hear voices. However, this is an experience that is common in some cultures.

  = by assuming that the same rule applies universally ( a beta bias) we may diagnose people as mentally ill but that diagnosis is relative to our culture.