cultural bias

• cultural bias

  refers to a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the lens of one culture
• ethnocentricism

  judging other cultures by the standards and values of one own culture.
• cultural relativism

  the idea that norms/values as well as ethics and moral standards can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural constructs
• universality and bias

  Critics argue that mainstream psychology has generally ignored culture as an important influence on behaviour.This means that findings from studies carried out in western culture has wrongfully been considered as universal.Social influence studies such as conformity and obedience had very different results when replicated in other parts of the world.If the standard/norm for a behaviour is categorised based from the aspect of one specific culture,then any cultural differences in that behaviour that deviate from the norm will be seen as abnormal or unusual
• ethnocentricism

  Refers to a type of cultural bias and is a belief in the superiority of one’s own cultural group.For example,if a behaviour does not conform to western studies ,they are seen to be deficient and unsophisticated.Ainsworth’s strange situation was criticised for only reflecting the norm/values of American culture.She suggested that ‘secure’ attachment was shown when the child showed distress when left alone by the mother figure.This led to the misunderstanding of other cultures child-rearing practices.
• cultural relativism

  Ainsworth’s research is an example of an imposed etic as it assumed that the US based model for classifying attachment was the norm.Ainsworth then imposed her own cultural understanding on the rest of the world.
• etic approach

  looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviors that are universal.
• emic approach

  functions from within certain cultures and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture.
• Culture bias can occur when a researcher assumes that an emic construct (behavior specific to a single culture) is actually an etic (behavior universal to all cultures) .Making the assumption that behaviors are universal across cultures can lead to imposed etics, where a construct from one culture is applied inappropriately to another. Imposed etics is when theories are considered to be universal based on emic research in one individual culture.