Cultural bias

Cards (7)

  • Cultural bias
    Its the tendency of psychological research, theories and practices to favor a certain culture.
    Smith & Bonds (1998) study found 66% of studies were American, 32% European and 2% from the rest of the world.
  • Cross Cultural Studies
    Emic- researcher studies culture from within. Bias- they may not be fully receptive to local meanings behind behaviour.
    Etic- researcher studies culture from outside. Bias- may misinterpret culturally specific behaviour.
    Imposed etic- treating an emic behaviour as if it was etic.
  • Cross Cultural Studies
    John Starey (1985) found that people from rural areas never reasoned at level 3 of moral development. But in Kohlbergs theory it emphasises individual morality and personal responsibility.
    Buss (1989) considered and altered questions to reflect a range of romantic relationships and translators were used.
  • Cultural differences/bias
    Myers & Diener showed that subjective well-being was higher in individualistic cultures (UK) than collectivist cultures (Japan).
    However, differences found in wellbeing could be due to cultural bias.
  • Ethnocentrism
    Its the use of our own cultural group as a basis for judgement. Tests often favor students from western backgrounds.
    Eurocentrism: psychologists view European norms and values as being typical at the expense of other cultures.
    Afrocentrism: a cultural movement that emphasises the importance and contributions of African history and perspectives. Key aspects: reclaiming history and challenging stereotypes.
  • Ethnocentrism
    Cultural relativism: all cultures are worthy of respect
    Alpha bias: assuming there are real differences between cultures and ignoring similarities
    Beta bias: assuming there are no differences between cultures and ignoring similarities.
  • Historical and social context
    Rosenzweig (1992)- 62% of the worlds 56,000 researchers are American.
    Fathali Moghaddam et al- American researchers are known as Westernised, Educated people from Industrialised, Rich, Democracies.
    However, cultural bias is reducing due to the increasing involvement of non-western countries in the development of psychological knowledge and research.