Culture bias

• Culture bias can threaten the universality of findings in Psychology
• Culture bias is when underlying characteristics of beings can be being applied to all despite differences of experience and upbringing
• Culture bias


  • Often, research assumes that findings from western research can be applied universally, but this is not the case
  • For example, Asch's study into conformity found different rates of conformity in other parts of the world due to cultural differences in norms surrounding social behaviour in groups
• Ethnocentrism


  The assumption that one ethnic group is superior to another or all others, and that behaviour in that group is the norm
• Ethnocentrism


  • When using Ainsworth's Strange situation tool, German mothers were seen to be cold and rejecting due to the high frequency of avoidant attachment types, but this was because German culture favours independence in their children
• Culturally biased research can have significant real world effects by validating damaging stereotypes, such as the US Army IQ test before WWII that showed African-Americans were at the bottom of the scale
• We should not assume that all Psychology is culturally relative and that there is no such thing as universal human behaviour
• Universal human behaviour


  • Basic facial expressions for emotions such as happiness and disgust are the same all over the human and animal world
  • Some features of human attachment such as imitation and interactional synchrony are universal
• For a full understanding of human behaviour, we must study both universals and variation among individuals and groups
• Dealing with cultural bias


  • Recognise when it occurs, such as the finding that 66% of studies in European textbooks on social psychology were American, 32% European, and only 2% from the rest of the world
  • Conduct cross-cultural research to counter 'scientific racism' and promote greater sensitivity to individual difference
• Cultural relativism


  The belief that it is essential to consider cultural context when examining behaviour in other cultures
• When carrying out research, psychologists must ensure that variables are operationalised appropriately, as the variables being investigated may not mean the same thing in all cultures
• In the past, research has made the distinction between individualist and collectivist cultures, but in the age of global communication a simplistic view no longer applies
• Reducing the complexity of cultural differences to two categories does not seem to make it more valid for considering this when developing an appropriate methodology, emphasising the importance of culturally relative research