[anna_spanner89]

Ok im revising cultural bias...

in an essay, i would a) write about different types, eg theoretical, methodological THEN talk about studies as examples yes??

well i've just done the one..can someone tell me if im on track, what needs too be improved etc

Psychologists tend too define culture into two types, individualist and collectivist. Individualist can refer mainly too western cultures which emphasise the importance of the individual. This is opposed too collectivist which focuses on the importance of the group, such as eastern society. However catagorising these two cultures holds a problem as it ignores many sub-cultures under one ‘umbrella’ term and oversimplifies the complexity of western society. These two terms are refered too as theoretical bias, a term which also covers ethnocentrism and eurocentrism. Ethnocentrism refers too the belief that your own culture/group is more superior than all others and the use of ones cultural norms too judge and examine another culture. Eurocentrism however refers too the tendency to view Europe as the main culture in human societies and negatively compare all other cultures too it, all of these terms refer too theoretical bias.
On the other hand methodological bias refers too research or theory that is constructed in a way that it disadvantages other cultures. There are two approaches too this. The Etic approach is when the study has the ideas and beliefs that all behaviours are universal . Many critics believe the strange situation approach by ainsworth and bell too be an example of the etic approach in that they used studies and findings from America too judge all other cultures. The second approach is the Emic approach which has the belief that views, behaviour and beliefs are culturally specific. One example of this is a study into intelligence by cole which investigated how objects can be sorted into groups. He found Americans sorted into catagories whilst Africans sorted into their usefulness, suggesting the definition of intelligence differs in other cultures, an example of an emic approach. Also the sample selection can be bias, statistics show us that 90% of all psychological research is conducted on white, middle class Americans and therefore cannot be a true representation on human society as a whole.


STUDIES
One area of psychology that is culturally bias is defining abnormality. There are 3 areas that involve this. Deviation from social norms define abnormality to be from an individual who acts out of the expected behaviour from a culture and society. Statistical infrequency involves gathering data and producing a normal distribution curve, the further away the mean behaviour is the more abnormal it is deemed to be. Finally deviation from ideal mental health involves measuring behaviours against a list of criteria that mentally healthy people should aspire too be. Another area of psychology that is culturally biased is the system used too diagnose mental illnesses, the DSM which was produced by the American psychological association. It was first produced in 1952 and goes under revision, we are currently up too DSM-4. The manual divides disorders into 5 main catagories and the mental illness is diagnosed through comparing the symptoms observed in the patient with the description of symptoms in the manual.
The definitions of abnormality are culturally biased because they are all based on research that was carried out in individualist cultures, such as America. Subjects were typically white, middle class males which means the statistically frequent behaviours exhibitied by this population only and any other cultures would be deemed abnormal. This definition is therefore ethnocentric and is an example of an imposed etic; a technique that is developed in one culture and then used too study another. This could be one reason why afro-caribbean men have the highest frequency of schizophrenia, they are being diagnosed wrong due to etics in the research tool.
The DSM is culture biased because it was developed by American psychologists based on their experiences and cultural views. Clinical disorders were based on primarily white patients and then assumed to be valid for diagnosing disorders in other cultures, this means it is ethnocentric and does not take into account the differences in behaviour between cultural groups, this is therefore an example of an imposed etic.


The social norms definition is used from those who have individualist cultures, this is an example of acculturation bias as it assumes the norms of the society where the researchers were raised are far more superior than others, therefore far more people from different cultures are more likely to be diagnosed . A more valid way could be carrying out a series of emic studies looking at the statistical infrequency of the behaviours, social norms and ideal mental health in cultures this would result in a derived etic and a less biased view of other cultures.

[xjust_an_angelx]

thats what i plan to do! x