Cultural bias

• • In 1992, 64% of the world’s 56,000 psychology researchers were American
  • Psychology is culturally biased as it is mainly the study of white American males
• Universablity and Bias

  • Many psychologists claim to have discovered ‘facts’ about human behaviour that apply to every human everywhere (i.e. They are universal)
  • However, their studies are often restricted to one particular group of people they were studying
  • Critics argue that mainstream psychology has ignored culture as an important influence on human behaviour
  • E.g. Classic studies like Milgram’s and Asch’s, originally conducted with US participants, revealed very different results when replicated in other parts of the world 
• Cultural bias

  • If psychologists judge what they perceive to be ‘normal’ behaviour based only on what is the norm in their own culture, then this is cultural bias.
  • This is because behaviours that do not follow their cultural norms will then be labelled as ‘abnormal’ or ‘inferior’ which is not an objective label
• Ethnocentrism

  • This is a form of cultural bias
  • It is the use of our own cultural group as a basis for judgements about other groups
  • In psychological research this may be evident through a view that any behaviours which do not conform to the (usually Western) model are inferior, unsophisticated or underdeveloped
  • Ainsworth’s Strange Situation (1970) is an example of ethnocentrism as it only reflects norms and values of American culture
• Ethnocentrism:

  • E.g. Ideal/secure attachment = infant showing moderate distress when mother leaves
  • However, this inappropriately labels mothers in other cultures because their children do not follow this American cultural norm for ‘secure’ attachment
  • E.g. German mothers were seen as cold and rejecting because they encouraged the independence of their children
• Cultural Relativism

  • Things psychologists discover only make sense from the perspective of the culture in which the study took place. For example, as Asch studied conformity in 1950s America, his findings about conformity only relate to the culture of 1950s America (McCarthyism and fear of standing out from the crowd). 
• Imposed etic:

  • Ainsworth’s research is an example of imposed etic
  • This is when a psychologist imposes their own cultural understanding upon other people from difference cultures 
  • Berry argues that psychology is guilty of imposed etic 
  • This means psychologists take the findings of research conducted on their own culture and then attempt to use it to make universal theories for ALL cultures
  • However, the things they discover only make sense from the perspective of the culture in which the study took place (cultural relativism)
• Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism can be applied to Asch:

  • Study could be accused of being culturally biased as the conclusions were used to explain why people conform around the world, whereas critics would’ve argued but it’s not reflective of universal human behaviour.
  • Research could be labelled as ethnocentric because it was conducted with male American students from 1950s and it has been found that people from other cultures like England conform less. This therefore suggests that his conclusions are affected by cultural relativism because they are only relevant to one culture

    
• AO3:

  • A criticism of the debate on cultural bias is the distinction often made between individualist and collectivist cultures.
  • In the past, psychologists have referred to Western cultures and individualist (value freedom and independence) and collectivist (emphasis on needs of the group)
  • However, it could be argued that it is lazy and simplistic to make  this distinction between cultures
  • Global communication and interconnectedness have blurred the traditional distinction between individualism and collectivism, potentially reducing cultural bias in research.
• AO3:

  • One problem with focussing on the cultural biases in research is that psychologists may ignore the fact that some elements of human behaviour are actually universal.
  • For example, Ekman suggests that basic facial expressions (e.g. Happiness or disgust) are the same all over the world in animals and humans
  • This suggests that a full understanding of human behaviour requires the study of both universal behaviours and differences among individuals and groups
• AO3:

  • A major problem with conducting cross cultural research is that certain cultures are more familiar with the scientific research process than others
  • As a result demand characteristics may be less or more depending on the culture. 
  • If participants are more aware of the aims of scientific research then this may lead to a change in their behaviour increasing demand characteristics  
  • This may reduce the validity of the research findings
• AO3:

  • A problem with conducting research in different cultures is that the behaviours being studied may have different meanings in different cultures
  • An example of this would be if researchers were trying to investigate aggression in cross-cultural research by studying invasion of personal space
  • In China, the invasion of personal space is seen as normal, whereas in the West it is seen as confrontational and aggressive
  • This is an issue because the operationalisation of variables needs to mean the same thing in all cultures studied otherwise the cross-cultural research lacks validity