To Start: Where might the attitudes expressed here have come from? Consider the following quote by a researcher called Westen (1996): “By twentieth century Western standards, nearly every human who has ever lived outside the contemporary West is lazy, passive, and lacking in industriousness. In contrast, by the standards of most cultures in human history, most Westerners are self-centred and frenetic.” Where might the attitudes expressed here have come from?

Think back to last year’s content… Where did most of the studies we looked at take place?

America, the USA, The United States… In 1992, 64% of the world’s Psychology researchers were American. In a 1991 textbook on social psychology, 94% of the studies were conducted in North America. What does this imply about Psychological research?

Culture Bias A tendency to ignore cultural differences and interpret all phenomena through the lens of one’s own culture.

Types of Culture bias Alpha bias – assumes cultural groups are different. This bias assumes that cultural differences should always be taken into account. Individualistic and collectivist cultures Beta bias – This is when cultural differences are ignored or minimised – results in universality. IQ testing

The Chitling Test of Intelligence Have a go at the Chitling test of intelligence. What problems do you encounter? What point do you think the researcher Dove is making about IQ testing? http://www.wilderdom.com/personality/intelligenceChitlingTestShort.html

The Chitling Intelligence Test (1968) Answers How did you do? 1. (c) 8. (a) 2. (c) 9. (c) 3. (c) 10. (d) 4. (c) 11. (d) 5. (c) 12. (a) 6. (c) 13. (b) 7. (c) 14. (a) 15. (b) The Chitling Intelligence Test is an example of a culturally biased test that tends to favour African Americans. People of other cultures traditionally underperform. What does this imply about British IQ testing?

Match the key terms with the definitions The beliefs and customs that a group of people share, such as child-rearing practices. Emic Constructs The term used to describe the belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic and cultural group. Our own cultural perspective is taken as a standard by which we measure other cultures. Etic Constructs Analyses of behaviour focuses on the universal of human behaviour, universal factors that hold across all cultures. Looking at behaviour from outside of the culture. Ethnocentrism Are specific to a given culture and vary from one culture to another, look at behaviour from the inside of the cultural system. Culture Cultural Relativism Behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates. Challenge: Psychology has been argued to take an _________________ approach because…

Match the key terms with the definitions The beliefs and customs that a group of people share, such as child-rearing practices. Emic Constructs Etic Constructs The term used to describe the belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic and cultural group. Our own cultural perspective is taken as a standard by which we measure other cultures. Analyses of behaviour focuses on the universal of human behaviour, universal factors that hold across all cultures. Looking at behaviour from outside of the culture. Ethnocentrism Are specific to a given culture and vary from one culture to another, look at behaviour from the inside of the cultural system. Culture Cultural Relativism Behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates. Challenge: Psychology has been argued to take an imposed etic approach because it argues that theories/concepts are universal despite research being conducted using emic constructs within a specific culture. BERRY (1969)

Let’s Apply it! On your table are a number of key studies and concepts from Psychology. Annotate it with your ideas for how it relates to culture bias. Ensure you apply key terminology and explain.

DSM - A specific example - depression Cross-cultural research in psychology shows that there are substantial variations in depressive experience and disorder. Different historical and cultural traditions frame depressive experience and disorders. Depression may be experienced largely in somatic terms rather than with sadness or guilt. Complaints of nerves and headaches (in Latino and Mediterranean cultures), of weakness, tiredness, or imbalance (in Chinese and Asian cultures) problems of the "heart" (in Middle Eastern cultures) may express depressive experiences.

Yerkes IQ tests IQ tests in America devised for the military showed lower IQ scores for eastern European immigrants who had gone to America to join the army.

Focus on the Strange Situation Remind yourself of the Ainsworth Strange Situation & Van Ijzendoorn’s Cross-Cultural research on attachment. 1.According to SS research, how do Japanese & German children differ from American children? 2. Briefly explain why using Ainsworth’s strange situation technique to study cross cultural differences in attachment is criticised as being an imposed etic and therefore suffers from ethnocentric bias. 3.In what way could the imposed etic that occurs when the SS is used with non-US samples lead to misleading conclusions? 4.“The meaning of a behaviour can only be understood with reference to its cultural context.” Explain this statement, referring to the cross-cultural SS research.

Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Conducted in America, Ainsworth tested children’s anxiety on separation from a primary care giver. She found that the ideal attachment type was secure in which the infant displayed moderate levels of anxiety when separated with a primary care giver. However differences in childrearing strategies were debated.

Milgram In his study testing American males, Milgram found that 65% of participants, although unwilling, administered a full scale of what the participant believed to be real electric-shocks. Milgram claimed that such high levels of obedience were due to ‘the power of the social situation’. There may be many factors, specific to America, which may have resulted in such findings, for example, Americans may be have more respect for authority figures as they value the police system, or, they may be more obedient due to American schooling and so on.

Margaret Mead & the Samoa (1928) Using the video and the summary of Mead’s research.. How might this demonstrate cultural bias? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw1NZjNkAYI

Evaluation of cultural bias Can be used for unethical reasons – The use of IQ tests to show African Americans at the bottom of the IQ scale. (consequences of bias) Psychological research is dominated by the West, particularly America – therefore this viewpoint dominates. Smith and Bon found that 66% of studies into social psychology were American. Awareness of cultural differences has helped in the diagnosis of mental illness. – The DSM IV included an appendix on culture bound syndromes such as amafufunyana (Violent behaviour caused by spirit possession) and Koro (a fear of genitals retracting and disappearing (shrinking penis syndrome) Bias in research methods (unrepresentative globally, but also within cultures) The worldwide psychology community

Headings / Prompts for AO3 Just because all cultures are ‘different’ or ‘relative,’ does that mean that all behaviour is non universal? Might demand characteristics play an even bigger role in invalidating cross cultural research? How far does cross cultural research lead to open mindedness and less western stereotypes? Could do as paper chains – 3 different colours of paper. Could also mix and match the whole classes – to make a whole class paper chain (after they have all written their points on slips of paper!)

AO3: How far is cultural bias in psychology positive/negative? For each of the AO3 evaluation points: State whether it is a positive or negative argument for culture bias in Psychology. Explain why…. Explain what it suggests about culture bias in Psychological research. Challenge: Can you think of any examples of each point you could use to illustrate it? Think synoptically! 

Questions Explain what is meant by cultural bias in psychology (2) Explain the terms ethnocentrism and cultural relativism (4)

Q1 Cultural bias in psychology occurs when psychologists of one culture make assumptions about the behaviour of people from another culture based on their own cultural practices and norms.

Q2 In psychology, cultural bias can be in the form of ethnocentrism. This is where a psychologist will favour the norms and behaviours of one culture and generalise them to other cultures. Cultural bias can also be that researchers fail to judge behaviour in the specific cultural context. Therefore may judge behaviour as abnormal when it is perfectly acceptable in that culture. This is known as cultural relativism.