3.1.1.1 Culture Bias

• Universality = the idea that there are universal behaviours & values which are the same for every culture; challenged by cultural bias
• WEIRD sample

  • Western
  • Educated
  • Industrialised
  • Rich
  • Democratic
• Cultural Bias = Judge other cultures based on own cultural assumptions; challenges universality
• Topics for Cultural Bias

  • Diagnosis of Schizophrenia
• Ethnocentrism = Base perceptions and understandings of other groups or cultures on one’s own; other cultures are judged unfavourably
• Topics for Ethnocentrism

  • Deviation from Ideal Mental Health
• Deviation from Ideal Mental Health (Ethnocentrism)

  • Jahoda's Criteria = Autonomy, Self-Actualisation
  • Enforcing independence
• Cultural relativism = Behaviour is only understood with cultural context
• Etic = cultural universals
• Emic = cultural uniqueness
• Imposed etic = applying a theory for one culture onto another
• Topics for Cultural Relativism

  • Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
• Ainsworth’s Strange Situation (Cultural Relativism)

  • Misinterpretation of child-rearing practices
  • Other cultures have different understanding of attachment
• Evaluation = Individualism & Collectivism

  • Takano & Osaka 14/15 studies comparing US & JPN found no distinction between individualistic & collectivist cultures
  • Simplified concept
• Evaluation = Focus on scientific methods

  • Focus on objectivity & replicability
  • Shaped through ‘WEIRD’ lens
  • Led to scientific racism
• Evaluation = Reducing cultural bias

  • APA suggested ways to reduce it
  • Use researchers native to the culture
  • Use a reflexive & emic approach to reflect on own biases
  • Increase representation of diverse groups