Issues and debates - cultural bias

• OVERVIEW OF STRUCTURE

  AO1

  Intro = defining cultural bias

  • > Ethnocentrism + example
  • > Cultural relativism + example

  AO3

  • Undermines the field of psychology (Asch and Milgram)
  • Individualist and collectivist distinction no longer applies
  • Active steps taken against it
  • Ethnic stereotyping (WWII)
• Intro

  Cultural bias refers to a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the "lens" of one's own culture

  • > Researchers have often wrongly assume that findings from western cultures can be applied all over the world - a concept known as universality. However, this is a culture bias, as any differences between cultures are seen from this perspective as abnormal.
• AO1

  • > Ethnocentrism (with example)
  • The belief that one culture is more superior than another. In psychological research, this may be communicated through a view that any behaviors that do not conform to the (typically) Western model are somehow deficient or undeveloped
  • > For example, Ainsworth's "Strange situation" study has been criticised for it only reflecting the norms and values of American culture as "secure attachments" in infants is seen as ideal. This has led to a mis-interpretation of child rearing practices in other countries
  • > mothers in Germany being seen as cold and unloving rather than encouraging independence of their children.

  = Due to this, it was concluded that the strange situation was an inappropriate means of studying attachment for non-US children.
• AO1

  • > Cultural Relativism
  • Cultural relativism helps avoid or minimize cultural bias, as psychologists are able to recognize the facts they discover only make sense from a perspective of a certain culture
  • John Berry = distinction between etic and emic approaches to psychological research
  • > Ainsworth's study is an example of imposed etic -> she studied behavior within a single culture and assumed her ideal attachment type generalized
  • Psychology has been criticized for its use of an etic approach = the suggestion is that psychologists should be much more mindful of cultural relativism, understanding that things only make sense from the perspective of the culture in which they were discovered.
  • > recognizing this may reduce cultural bias in research.
• AO3

  1. Undermines the field of psychology

  • Some of the most influential studies in psychology are culturally biased
  • > Both Asch and Milgram conducted their experiments using participants exclusively from the US, and replications of these studies that have been conducted have produced differing results
  • > Asch type experiments conducted in China (collectivist culture) found significantly higher rates of conformity than the original studies in the US

  = Research into social influence, though a fundamental aspect of psychology, cannot be taken holistically and can only be applied to individualist cultures.
• AO3

  1. BUT individualist and collectivist distinction no longer applies

  • Within changing times, arguably cultures aren't as definitive as they once were
  • > Takario and Osaka (1999) found that 14/15 studies comparing the US and Japan found no evidence of individualism or collectivism - describing the supposed distinction between the two as lazy and simplistic
  • > therefore this suggests that cultural bias in research may be less of an issue in more recent psychological research.
• AO3

  1. Emergence of more carefully considerative research

  • Emergence of cultural psychology = study of how people shape and are shaped by their cultural experiences
  • > Cultural psychologists now strive to avoid ethnocentrism by taking an emic approach and conducting research from within a culture, usually alongside local researchers
  • > Cross-cultural research has also emerged = Kroonenberg's 1988 study

  = Modern psychologists are mindful of the dangers of cultural bias, and are taking steps to avoid it, thus adding credence to psychology as a discipline.
• AO3

  1. Cultural bias research can lead to damaging ethnic sterotyping

  • Intelligence testing in WWI -> led to eugenic social policies in the US
  • > 1.75 million army recruits took an intelligence test based on the names of the US presidents
  • > recruits from south-eastern europe and African-Americans received the lowest scores

  = Ethnic minorities, due to culturally biased fundamentals, were deemed "mentally unfit" in comparison to the white majority and were denied professional opportunities

  • > illustrates how cultural bias can be used to effectively justify prejudice and discrimination towards certain cultural and ethnic groups = it is still an issue.