I&D - Culture in psychology: Cultural bias

Question 1

Cultural bias

Answer 1

The tendency to judge all people in terms of your own cultural assumptions. This distorts or biases your judgement.

Question 2

Cultural relativism

Answer 2

The view that behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates.

Question 3

Culture

Answer 3

The rules, customs, morals and ways of interacting that bind together members of a society or some other collection of people.

Question 4

Ethnocentrism

Answer 4

Seeing things from the point of view of ourselves and our social group. Evaluating other groups of people using the standards and customs of one’s own culture.

Question 5

What is ethnocentrism said a being?

Answer 5

A psychological inevitability.

Question 6

What did Rachel Hare-Mustin and Jeanne Marecek (1988) suggest?

Answer 6

that before being able to decide if there are cultural differences one must consider the extent to which any research (theory or study) is biased. Only then can the ‘truth’ be disentangled from the way psychological research has found it.

Question 7

Alpha bias in culture

Answer 7

Refers to theories that assume there are real and enduring difference between cultural groups - for example the distinction that is often made between individualist and collectivist cultures.

Question 8

Beta bias in culture

Answer 8

refers to theories that ignore or minimise cultural differences. They do this by assuming that all people are the same and therefore it is reasonable to use the same theories/methods with all cultural groups.

Question 9

Give an example of alpha bias in culture

Answer 9

Distinction made between individualist and collectivist cultures (e.g. the US and Japan).

For instance, we would expect members of individualist cultures to be less conformist because they are less oriented towards group norms.

To assess the validity of this view, Takano and Osaka (1999) reviewed 15 studies that compared the US and Japan in terms of individualism/collectivism. Surprisingly, 14 out of the 15 studies did not support the common view about differences in conformity.

This finding suggests that the individualism/collectivism dimension may not be a real distinction, suggesting that the distinction between ‘individualist’ and ‘collectivist’ cultures is no longer a useful one.

Question 10

Give an example of beta bias in culture

Answer 10

Intelligence testing.

Psychologists use IQ tests devised by Western psychologists to study intelligence in many different cultures. The psychologists assume that their view of intelligence applies to all cultures equally.

For example, Western societies see intelligence as something within the individual. In contrast, a collectivist culture such as Ugandan society sees intelligence as a functional relationship depending on shared knowledge between the individual and society (Wober, 1974).

The result is that, when such Western IQ tests are used on non-Western cultures, non-Western people may appear less intelligent. Such tests are described as imposed etic, where a research method or psychological test that is developed by one group is imposed on other groups of people (an ‘etic’ being the belief that perceptions, behaviours, etc. are shared by all cultural groups.

Question 11

Why is ethnocentrism an example of alpha bias?

Answer 11

Because one’s own culture is considered to be different and better, and the consequence of this is that other cultures and their practices are devalued.

Question 12

Give an example of how ethnocentrism is alpha bias

Answer 12

Individualist attitudes towards attachment where independence is valued and dependence is seen as undesirable. In collectivist cultures, dependence tends to be more highly valued.

Question 13

Why can ethnocentrism lead to beta bias?

Answer 13

If psychologists believe their world view is the only view.

Question 14

Give an example of how ethnocentrism can lead to beta bias

Answer 14

The case of IQ testing results from ethnocentrism where it was believed it was appropriate to use American IQ tests all over the world because there was an assumption that the American standard was universal.

Question 15

In a way, what is the opposite of ethnocentrism in psychology?

Answer 15

Cultural relativism

Question 16

How can cultural relativism lead to alpha bias?

Answer 16

Where the assumption of real differences leads psychologists to overlook universals.

Question 17

Give an example of how cultural relativism leads to alpha bias in research

Answer 17

Margaret Mead’s research in Papua New Guinea where she initially concluded that there were significant gender differences due to culture, but later recognised that there were universal (probably related to biology) - that the men in all cultures were more aggressive than the women.

Question 18

Give an example in mental disorders where cultural relativism is often discussed

Answer 18

In the context of defining mental disorder. In the case of the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality, behaviours that are statistically more infrequent in another. For example, one of the symptoms of schizophrenia is claiming to hear voices. However, this is an experience that is common in some cultures.

Question 19

Why is beta bias a problem in terms of mental disorders in cultures?

Answer 19

By assuming that the same rules apply universally (a beta bias), we may diagnose some people as mentally ill, but that diagnosis is relative to our culture.