cultural bias

• culture is a way of life of a group of people. Its the behaviours, beliefs, ideas and values accepted by a social group, which are passed along from one generation to the next.
• what is ethnocentrism


  research which is 'centred' around one cultural group. Ethnocentric research should not be used to try and understand/interpret behaviours of different cultural groups. If we judge another culture based on the values of our own culture, we are being ethnocentric.
• Ethnocentrism is a belief in the superiority of ones own cultural group, and suggests that behaviours which do not conform to the (usually western) model are inferior.
• examples of ethnocentrism: attachment research

  strange situation was devised by Americans for Americans, using a test made by one culture to test a different culture; is unfair. Some cultures had lower levels of secure attachment e.g German mothers were seen as cold and rejecting but it could be that their childbearing styles differ from the American norm (German mothers may encourage independence in their children). It could be due to the test being ethnocentric.
• examples of ethnocentrism: attachment research

  Goldberg suggests that we can only make valid interpretations of the strange situations in cross-cultural studies, if we understand the attitudes to child bearing in that culture. If we don't understand them then we are making incorrect judgement.
• examples of ethnocentrism: mental health

  cultural bias can affect DSM diagnosis in the category of homosexuality. However, Black west Indians are twice as likely to be admitted to a mental hospital than white people in London. Twice as many Maoris in new Zealand and Aborigines in Australia are admitted to mental hospitals than white people. An explanation for this bias, is the interpretation of how different cultures express anxiety, emotion and illness and how it is interpreted by the drs diagnosing
• what is cultural relativism

  idea that norms, values, ethics and moral standards can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural context.

  no one culture is superior to another, they are simply different, and this should be acknowledge when trying to understand behaviour.
• John Berry has drawn a distinction between emic and etic approaches in the study of human behaviour.
• an etic approach looks at behaviour from outside of a given culure and attempts to describe those behaviours that are universal.
• imposed etic 


  if we impose western beliefs on people from other cultures or beliefs its imposed etic. We are imposing our western values/ cultures onto another different culture and judging them by it. It can cause conflict, bias, misunderstanding, superiority and cause acts of aggression between groups. Many countries today accuse the US of trying to impose their own etic or cultural norms on others.
• an emic approach looks at behaviour from inside a culture and identifies features that are specific to that culture. Emic constructs are specific to a particular culture, so they vary from place to place. These are liable to be ignored or misinterpret as reseachers from one culture may not be sensitive to local emics. Psychologists truley emerge themselves in a specific culture developing an understanding of that cultures practices and developing research procedures, interpreting research findings with just that culture in mind. procedures might create invalid results.
• examples of cultural relativism: strange situation

  Ainsworth imposed her view on what kind of attachment was 'secure' and therefore superior. Ainsworth research is an example of an imposed etic- she studied behaviours within a single culture (america) and then assumed her ideal attachment type could be applied universally. Ainsworth did not consider attachment differences between cultures or attempt to study attachment from the perspective of other cultures.
• examples of cultural relativism: definition of abnormalities 


  deviation from social norms definition has the problem of cultural relativism. Social norms vary alot between different cultures and different time periods. E.g hearing voices is a positive thing in some cultures but a sign of mental health in the UK. This suggests its difficult to judge people living in one culture when they have the norms of the country which they originate from.
• weakness of cultural bias, distinction between individualism and collectivism

  individualist cultures value the individual while collectivist cultures value the group. Critics argue that this is a simplistic distinction that no longer applies with findings that there is no clear distinction between the two cultural types in the USA and Japan. This could suggest that this form of bias is an inappropriate conclusion.
• strength of cultural bias, allowed for the recognition of both cultural relativism and universals

  The imposed etic shows the culturally specific nature of psychology, but we should not assume that all psychology is culturally relative and that there is no such thing as universal human behaviour. Ekman suggests that basic facial expressions are universal for humans and animals. This suggests that for a full understanding of human behaviour, both the study of universal and variations among cultures need to be acknowledged.