Culture bias

• What is culture bias?

  Refers to a tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the 'lens' of one's own culture.
• What is ethnocentrism?


  Judging other cultures by the standards and values of one's own culture. In its extreme form it is the belief in the superiority of one's own culture which may lead to prejudice and discriminated towards other cultures.
• Ainsworth's Strange Situation (1970) is an example of ethnocentrism, criticised as reflecting only the norms and values of American culture.
• What is cultural relativism?

  The idea that norms and values, as well as ethics and moral standards, can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.
• What is an etic?


  An etic approach looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours that are universal.
• What is an emic?

  An emic approach functions from within or inside certain cultures and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture.
• AO3 - Individualism and collectivism:

  Individualist culture is associated with countries such as the US which are thought to value personal freedom and independence. Collectivist cultures such as China are said to place more emphasis on interdependence and the needs of the group. Takano and Osaka (1999) found that 14 out of 15 studies that compared the USA and Japan found no evidence of the traditional distinction between individualism and collectivism. This could suggest that cultural bias in research is less of an issue than it once was.
• AO3 - Cultural relativism versus universality:


  It should not be assumed that all psychology is culturally relative and that there is no such thing as universal human behaviour. Research suggests that basic facial expressions for emotions are the same all over the human and animal world. Critiques of Ainsworth's Strange Situation should not obscure the fact that some features of human attachment are universal.
• AO3 - Unfamiliarity with research tradition:

  When conducting research in Western cultures the participants' familiarity with the general aims and objectives is assumed. However, the same knowledge may not extend to cultures that do not have the same historical experience of research. For this reason, demand characteristics may be exaggerated when working with members of the local population and this may have an adverse effect on the validity of the research.
• AO3 - Operationalisation of variables:

  For example, the behavioural expression of emotions such as 'aggression' may give rise to different behaviours in different cultures. In China, the invasion of personal space is seen as normal, whereas in the UK this may be seen as threatening or confrontational. Issues like these may affect interactions between the researcher and participants in cross-cultural studies.