Cultural bias controversy
Introduction:
Cultural bias is the tendency to interpret and judge phenomena in
terms of the distinctive values and beliefs of the society or community
to which one belongs
This can lead people to make decisions and form opinions of others in
advance of actual experience with them
Cross cultural studies:
A way in which we can address cultural bias issues in psychology is to
conduct cross cultural studies
These let us investigate if cultural practices affect our behaviour and
allow us to see which behaviours are universal and genetic and which
ones are influenced by environmental factors
A cross cultural study example is Buss’ study “Sex differences in
human mate preferences”
This looked at whether there were similarities in mate preferences all
across the world
Buss analysed 37 samples from 33 countries and used a total of
10,047 participants
The samples varied in size from 55 in Iran to 1,491 in USA
Buss developed a questionnaire consisting of sections like biographical
data and mate preferences
Bilingual speakers were employed to translate the questionnaires from
English into their native language and translate their answers back to
English
Occasionally, questionnaires needed to be changed to reflect the
cultural differences of the various cultures
The research data was collected by native residents of each country
and mailed to the US for analysis
Buss found the same mate preferences across cultures. It showed that
men look for youth and good looks whereas women look for whereas
women look for resources, ambition and industriousness
As this implies sexual selection is the same from culture to culture, we
can conclude that sexual preferences are innate
Buss’ study may still be flawed with cultural bias as the information
was interpreted by western researchers who may not understand local
Introduction:
Cultural bias is the tendency to interpret and judge phenomena in
terms of the distinctive values and beliefs of the society or community
to which one belongs
This can lead people to make decisions and form opinions of others in
advance of actual experience with them
Cross cultural studies:
A way in which we can address cultural bias issues in psychology is to
conduct cross cultural studies
These let us investigate if cultural practices affect our behaviour and
allow us to see which behaviours are universal and genetic and which
ones are influenced by environmental factors
A cross cultural study example is Buss’ study “Sex differences in
human mate preferences”
This looked at whether there were similarities in mate preferences all
across the world
Buss analysed 37 samples from 33 countries and used a total of
10,047 participants
The samples varied in size from 55 in Iran to 1,491 in USA
Buss developed a questionnaire consisting of sections like biographical
data and mate preferences
Bilingual speakers were employed to translate the questionnaires from
English into their native language and translate their answers back to
English
Occasionally, questionnaires needed to be changed to reflect the
cultural differences of the various cultures
The research data was collected by native residents of each country
and mailed to the US for analysis
Buss found the same mate preferences across cultures. It showed that
men look for youth and good looks whereas women look for whereas
women look for resources, ambition and industriousness
As this implies sexual selection is the same from culture to culture, we
can conclude that sexual preferences are innate
Buss’ study may still be flawed with cultural bias as the information
was interpreted by western researchers who may not understand local
