Cultural Bias

• In 1992, 64% of the world’s 56,000 psychology researchers were American
• In Baron and Byrne’s textbook (1991) 94% of the studies were conducted in North America
• Despite this, psychologists regularly claim to have discovered ‘facts’ about human behaviour that are universal.

Cultural bias: tendency to ignore cultural differences & interpret all phenomena through the ‘lens’ of one’s own culture.

Many psychologists suggest they have uncovered a universal ‘truth’ but in reality they can only really be applied to the people within the study.

Critics argue that mainstream psychology has generally ignored culture as an important influence on human behaviour and therefore incorrectly assumed that findings from western cultures can apply to everyone. 

e.g Kilham & Mann replicated Asch & Milgram's studies & found very different results.

If the ‘norm’ for a particular behaviour is judged only from one culture, then any cultural differences in behaviour, that depart from this standard, will be seen as ‘abnormal’, ‘inferior’ or ‘unusual’. 

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 & discrimination towards other cultures. In psychological research this is when we consider non-western behaviours to be to be unsophisticated and underdeveloped.

E.g. Ainsworth’s strange situation is criticised as reflecting only the norms and values of American culture. The research implied an ideal attachment between mother and child (secure). However, this led to misinterpretation of child-rearing practices in other countries which deviated for the American ‘norm. In Germany, mothers were seen as cold and rejecting rather than encouraging independence. The strange situation is then an inappropriate measure of attachment type for non-US children.

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.

Ainsworth is an example of IMPOSED ETIC (imposing you own cultural understanding to the rest of the world).

Berry (1969) has drawn a distinction between ETIC and EMIC approaches in the study of human behaviour. ETIC looks at behaviour from outside of a culture and attempts to describe the behaviours as universal whereas EMIC functions from within or inside certain cultures and identifies behaviours that are specific to culture.

Berry (1969) argues that psychology is often guilty of imposing ETIC, often arguing that theories, models and concepts are universal when in fact they are EMIC, specific within a single culture.

Psychologists therefore need to be aware of CULTURAL RELATIVISM within their research. Being aware of this is a way of avoiding cultural bias.

Individualism & collectivism - In the past psychologists have made refrence to "culture" within the context of the individualist-collectivist distinction. Individualist culture is associated with the West which is though to value personal freedom & independence. Collectivist cultures, however, place more emphasis on interdependence & the needs of the group. In the age of global communication & increased interconnecetdness such a simplistic distinction between cultures no longer applies. This suggests cuultural bias in research is less of an issue.

Cultural relativism Vs Universality - Berry's concept of imposed etic is a useful reminder of culturally specific nature of Psychology, however, it should not be assumed all psychology is culturally relative. Ekman found basic facial expressions the same over the human and animal world. Critique s of Ainsworth should not obscure that some features of human attachment (e.g imitation is universal) . A full understanding of human behaviour requires the study of both universals and individual variations among individual & groups.

Unfamiliarity with research tradition - When conducting research in the West, participants familiarity with general aims & objectives of scientific enquiry is assumed. However, same knowledge and "faith" in scientific testing may not extend to cultures that do not have the same historical experience of research. Therefore, demand characteristics may be exaggerated when working with members of the local population - & this may have an adverse effect on research.  

Operationalisation of variables - variables under review may not be experienced in the same way by all participants, e.g. the behavioural expression of emotions may give rise to quite different behaviours within an indegenous population. In China, an invasion of personal space is seen as normal.This may affect interactions between the researcher and participants or in cross-cultural studies.

Challenging "implicit" assumptions - Cross-cultural studies may challenge our typically Western ways of thinking & viewing of the world. Being able to see that some knowledge & concepts we take for granted are not shared by other people around the world may promote a greater sensitivity to individual differences & cultural relativism. This counters the charge of "scientific racism" and means that the conclusions drawn are likely to have more validity if they include recognition of the role of culture in bringing them about.