Cultural bias, including ethnocentrism and cultural relativism
Cultural bias happens when psychologists judge other cultures using their own culture as the standard. This distorts research findings and makes them unfairly apply to everyone.
Real World
Ainsworth's Strange Situation classified German babies as insecurely avoidant at high rates, but Grossmann and Grossmann (1985) showed German parenting deliberately encourages independence — the 'insecure' label reflected American cultural norms, not poor attachment.
Exam Focus
Always offer a culturally relativist counter-example when evaluating ethnocentric research — this demonstrates AO3 analysis effectively.
Evaluation Scaffold
A four-step framework for high-quality evaluation. Use this for 'assess', 'evaluate', and 'to what extent' questions.
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