Culture bias

• What topics link to culture bias

  • Abnormality: Jahoda’s checklist in deviation from ideal mental health -> cultural relativism
  • Aimsworth‘s Strange Situation: criticism of German parents -> ethnocentrism and an imposed etic
  • Cross-cultural research -> Emic approach
  • Symptoms of schizophrenia-> imposed etic approach
• Outline of debate

  The extent that psychological research or theories ifnore cultural differences and interprets all behaviour through the lens of the researchers own culture which is often the US.

  In 1992, 64% of the world‘s psychology researchers were American
• Universality definition

  the ability for underlying characteristics of human beings found from research to be applicable to all, this specifically relating to doing so cross culturally
• Ethnocentrism definition

  A form a cultural bias characterised by believing in the superiority of one’s own cultural group which may be shown through holding a view that any behaviours that do not conform to the usually western model are somehow deficient, unsophisticated or underdeveloped.
• Cultural relativism definition

  The idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.
• Emic approach

  This approach functions from within or inside certain cultures and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture
• Etic approach

  An approach used when behaviour is looked at from the outside of a given culture and it attempts to describe behaviours as universal