Cultural bias

• Culture


  The rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people
• Cultural bias


  The tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions. This distorts or biases your judgement
• Cultural relativism 


  The view that behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates.
• Example of cultural relativism - Milgram


  Milgram's study into obedience was originally conducted using 40 male American participants:

  • American male participants - 65%
  • Spanish students = 90% (Miranda et al.)
  • Australian female students = 16% (Kilham and Mann)

  This suggests that Milgram's original results were bound to American culture.
• Alpha bias refers to theories that assume there are real and enduring differences between cultural groups.
• Example of Alpha bias - collectivist v. individualist cultures

  An example of alpha bias is the distinction that is often made between individualist and collectivist cultures. For instance, we would expect that members of individualist cultures to be less conformist because they are less orientated towards group norms. To asses the validity of this view, Takano & Osaka (1999) reviewed 15 studies that compared the US and Japan in terms of individualism/collectivism. 14 of the 15 studies did not support this. This finding suggests that this may not be a real distinction.
• Beta bias refers to theories that ignore or minimise cultural differences. They do this by assuming that all people are the same and therefore it is reasonable to use the same theories/methods for different cultural groups.
• Example of Beta bias - IQ tests

  Psychologists use IQ tests devised by Western psychologists to study intelligence in many cultures, as they assume that their view of intelligence applies to all cultures equally.

  Western societies see intelligence as something within the individual, whereas in a collectivist culture, intelligence is a functional relationship depending on shared information between the individual and society.

  The result is that when Western IQ tests are used, non-western people may appear less intelligent.
• Ethnocentrism


  The use of our own ethnic/cultural group as a basis for judgements about other groups.

  There is a tendency to view the beliefs, customs, and behaviours of our own group as 'normal' and even superior, whereas those of other groups as 'strange' or deviant.
• Ethnocentrism is an example of alpha bias because one's own culture is considered to be different or better, and the consequence of this is that other cultures and practices are devalued. An example of this is individualist attitudes towards attachment where independence is valued and dependence is seen as undesirable.
• Cultural relativism can lead to an alpha bias where the assumption of real differences leads psychologists to overlook universals.

  For example, Margaret Mead's research in Papa New Guinea where she initially concluded that there were significant gender differences due to culture, but later recognised that they were universals (probably related to biology) - that all men in all cultures were more aggressive than women
• Ethnocentrism can also lead to a beta bias, if psychologists believe their world view is the only view. For example, problems with American IQ tests results from ethnocentrism as it was believed it was appropriate to use American IQ tests globally.
• Cultural relativism - beta bias

  Cultural relativism is often discussed in the context of defining mental disorders. In the case of statistical infrequency of abnormality, behaviours that are statistically infrequent in one culture may be statistically more frequent in another.

  For example one of the symptoms of schizophrenia is claiming to hear voices. However, this is an experience that is common in some cultures.

  By assuming that the same rules apply universally (a beta bias), we may diagnose some people as mentally ill, but that diagnosis is relative to our culture
• Indigenous psychologies 


  The development of different groups or theories in different countries (to counter ethnocentrism)
• Example of ethnocentrism - Ainsworth's strange situation

  Ainsworth’s Strange Situation is an example of cultural relativism due to suggesting that a secure attachment was only characterised by moderate separation and stranger anxiety. Therefore, German mothers, whose children showed little separation and stranger anxiety (thus being insecure-avoidant according to Ainsworth’s system), were deemed as cold and rejecting.
• Cultural bias AO3 - Indigenous psychologies

  One way to counter ethnocentrism is to encourage indigenous psychologies.

  Afrocentrism is a movement whose central proposition is that all black people must have their roots in Africa and that psychological theories concerning such people must therefore be African-centred and express African values. Afrocentrism disputes the view that European values are universally appropriate descriptions of human behaviour. This has lead to the development of theories relevant to the life and culture of people of African descent.
• Cultural bias AO3 - the emic-etic distinction

  Afrocentrism is an 'emic' approach; it emphasises the uniqueness of every culture by focusing on culturally specific phenomena. The problem with such approaches is that the findings tend to be significant only to the understanding of behaviour within that culture.

  On the other hand, an 'etic' approach seeks universals of behaviour. One way to achieve this, while avoiding cultural bias is to use indigenous researchers in each cultural setting.

  e.g. David Buss et al. collected data for their study in 37 cultures using local researchers
• Cultural bias AO3 - bias in research methods

  Cultural bias in psychology can be dealt with by using studies with samples from different cultural groups.

  Smith & Bond (1998) European psychology textbook studies: 66% American, 32% European, 2% other.
• Cultural bias AO3 - bias in research methods: WEIRD men 


  A lot of psychological research is based on middle-class, academic young males.

  Sears (1986) 82% of studies used undergraduates as participants

  Henrich et al (2010) 67% were American psychology students

  This suggests that there is an almost institutionalised cultural bias is psychology.

  (Western, Educated, Industrialised nations, Rich, Democratic)
• Cultural bias AO3 - consequences: US Army IQ test

  A danger of culturally biased research is that it reinforces negative stereotypes.

  The US Army IQ test showed that European immigrants fell slightly below white Americans in terms of IQ. This data has a profound effect on attitudes held by Americans towards certain groups of people, leading to stereotyping and discrimination.
• Cultural bias AO3 - Not all behaviours are affected by cultural bias

  Although there may be differences in rates of obedience (Milgram) and conformity (Asch) between collectivist and individualist cultures universal behaviours still exist.

  Ekman et al. found that facial expressions for anger, guilt and disgust were universally recognised across all cultures.
• Cultural bias AO3 - worldwide psychology

  Researchers can now travel more, so have a greater understanding of other cultures, and more opportunities to conduct cross-cultural research. Academics hold international conferences where researchers exchange and discuss ideas.

  This means there is a greater exchange of ideas, which should reduce ethnocentrism in psychology, enable an understanding of cultural relativism and mean that real differences are identified and valued.