culture bias

• culture bias


  the tendency to interpret everything through the lense of one's own culture, ignoring the effects cultural differences have on behaviour
• cultural relativism


  norms, values, ethics & moral standards can only be meaningful & understood within social & cultural contexts
• ethnocentrism


  Judging other cultures by the standards & values of one's own culture. Leads to prejudice & discrimination
• etic constructs


  Analysis of behaviour focuses on the universality of human behaviour. Can be applied across all cultures & is done from outside of the culture.
• emic constructs


  Is specific to a given culture & vary from cultures. This is done from inside of the culture.
• examples of culture bias

  -DSM-5: emic construct - used in America & suited to American culture; imposed etic as is used in different societies that have non-western ideas

  
  

  -Yerks IQ test: ethnocentric. American standards & ideals applied to Eastern Europeans

  
  

  -Ainsworth's strange situation: imposed etic & ethnocentric (American research, tried to apply to all other cultures)
• AO3


  Strength(s):

  -the differences between individualistic & collectivist cultures may not be as big of an issue as thought. Global communication has made the world more interconnected & 14/15 studies comparing America & Japan found little difference between the cultures. This means that culture bias may not be a serious issue and research may be universal due to the similarities between the cultures

  -emergence of cultural psychology means research is being focused on phenomena inside of cultures. Researchers avoid ethnocentric assumptions by taking emic approaches, work with local researchers. Imposed etic is avoided & research is culturally relative

  
  

  Weakness(es):

  -hard to look though a completely objective lens. All people have cultures & these differ so, researchers may not be fully scientific. HOEVER, researchers are aware of this & recognise this. They try to minimise the effects of this so research will still be valid