Culture Bias

• Culture bias


  = refers to the tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the 'lens' of one's own culture.

  • e.g. cultural differences in attachment types
• Ethnocentrism


  = judging other cultures by the standards and values of one's own culture. In extremity, believing one's own culture is superior leading to prejudice of others.
• Etic


  Berry - looks at behaviour from outside of a given culture and attempts to describe behaviours as universal (Strange Situation)
• Emic


  Berry - functions from within or inside cultures and identifies behaviours specific to that culture
• Cultural Relativism


  Idea that norms and values can only be meaningful and understood within specific social and cultural contexts.
• Eval : Strength


  Encouraging indigenous psychologies is a way of countering bias. One example is Afrocentrism, suggesting that because black people have roots in Africa, theories about them must recognise African contexts of behaviours and attitudes.
• Eval : Weakness


  There are real-world consequences of cultural bias, and example is the US army using an IQ test before WWI that was culturally bias toward the white majority. The test showed that African-Americans were at the bottom of the IQ scale, and so had a negative effect and created harmful stereotypes concerning certain ethnic groups.
• Eval : Weakness


  Copeland found that 69% of US psychiatrists diagnosed a patient with schizophrenia, but only 2% of British psychiatrists diagnosed the same patient. Suggests there is bias with diagnosing mental illness which can be dangerous for patients.