What’s coming up….  Ethnocentrism  Nature-nurture  Individual and situational explanations  Determinism and free will  Reductionism and holism  Psychology as a science  The usefulness of psychological research

Round Robin: Debates and Issues  1. Key words, ideas, theories, theorists  2. Review, tick and add  3. Studies  4. Strengths  5. Weaknesses  6. Image  7. Questions (usefulness, methodologies)  Name and class

Survey Monkey  What subjects you are taking?  What kind of activities do you find help you learn in class?  What are you planning/hoping to do after school?  What areas are you excelling in?  What do you feel you need more help with?  Anything else that you think I might need to know?

Ethnocentrism Issues and Debates This powerpoint has been adapted from Garnette Watts’s powerpoint.

Learning intentions  Outline ethnocentrism.  Describe two piece of research that are ethnocentric.  Discuss the strengths and limitations of ethnocentrism in research.  Explore to what extent ethnocentrism is useful in research.

Ethnocentric  Choose a word and picture that describes ethnocentrism for you.  Describe what a study would look like if it was ethnocentric.

Definition: Ethnocentrism Originally: The belief of superiority of one’s own group. Now:  A ______ tendency to assume that what happens in one’s own _____ is common to other _______.  The inability to think outside one’s own cultural experience. How can a study be ethnocentric? In what ways can a study be bias towards or against a certain culture?

Ethnocentrism Procedures/components of the study. Intelligence test: 

Studies  Choose two pieces of research do you think demonstrates ethnocentrism? A2 and AS  How is it ethnocentric? PEC  Try and choose one that discusses the sample and the procedures.

Studies Sample Milgram (Social Psychology)Rosenhan (Individual Differences) Kohlberg (AS) Gudjohnsson (Forensics)

How is Milgram’s study related to ethnocentrism? Is there support from other cultures for obedience levels?  It is ethnocentric because it used an American sample from the New Haven area to look at obedience levels.  The results therefore cannot be generalised to other cultures or groups as the level of obedience may vary in different cultures.  Other psychologists have tested subjects from many different cultures on obedience & found that people generally obey figures of authority regardless of culture therefore the research is quite reliable.

Is Kohlberg’s (A2) research ethnocentric?  Kohlberg’s research is ethnocentric because it looks at young BOYS in terms of progression through stages of moral development. This does not consider how females morals are and at what stage/age they progress.  However, his research has been done on children in the UK, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey and the USA and there has been support across cultures on the stage theory. This suggests that the stage theory can be applied to some extent to other cultures making it less ethnocentric.  Although they progress through the stages in the same order, individuals in different cultures seem to do so at different rates suggesting that individuals have different beliefs.  This suggests that the study may lack generalisability as the way individuals think about doing things may be different to others. The focus on morality and upbringing will vary in different types of groups and cultures.

How would Rosenhan’s study relate to other cultures? Think about the issue of diagnosis  The issue of diagnosis varies from one culture to another (DSM vs ICD).  What is abnormal behaviour? It can be seen and defined differently in different cultures.  Symptoms of mental illness are more subjective and less objective and this can increase the possibility of an inaccurate diagnosis (some mental disorders overlap as they have similar symptoms).  Rosenhan’s study showed that it is not possible to distinguish the sane from the insane in a psychiatric hospital (bring in evidence).

Strengths and Weaknesses StrengthsWeaknesses Ethnocentric research allows one to test a particular group in more detail. Involves inappropriately generalising the values & research findings of one culture to another without bothering to test other cultures. Even though findings are mainly Western Based, findings have been useful to a range of people. Often is has then prompted the studies to be replicated in different cultural settings. Ethnocentric research is deterministic. Allows comparisons to be made between cultures. When studies are replicated in different cultures you can see to what extent people’s behaviour changes based on the culture. Provide that the procedure does not contain any cultural bias. Ethnocentric research is reductionist.

What are the strengths of ethnocentric research?  Point: Even though findings are mainly Western Based, findings have been useful to a range of people.  Evidence: Milgram’s study used all Americans but it is useful because it shows why people may obey authority figures and the importance of the situation. It shows that ordinary Americans can obey others and go to such an extent to shock people.  Comment: This has implications for how people may get influenced in society especially if in a hierarchy structure with others of authority. Also after doing it on Americans other psychologists carried it on other cultures and found high obedience although it did vary from culture to culture. This is useful as a starting point to investigate further on other groups of people.

What are the weaknesses of ethnocentric research?  Point: Involves inappropriately generalising the values & research findings of one culture to another without bothering to test other cultures.  Evidence:  Comment:

Is ethnocentric research useful?

 Point: Useful because it still generates useful information and can be used as a starting point for one culture and then investigated at a later stage to different cultures.  Evidence: Kohlberg’s research is useful as it looks at the stages of moral development in children. It was done on American boys and then he went on to study children in other countries including the UK, Taiwan, Turkey, Mexico and USA.  Comment: This generated useful information on stages of moral development which can be generalised to a range of different people as so many countries were looked at. There was support across cultures for the stage theory which suggests that people follow some kind of pattern when developing morally. It also brings awareness for society (especially parents) into when children learn to develop certain behaviour and when they can distinguish between right and wrong. However, it looked at all males once again which is biased towards a particular gender (andocentric) and morality will still vary depending on the upbringing and environment of the individual.

Is ethnocentric research useful?  Point: Not all people are the same and does not include the diversity of human experience across different cultures.  Evidence: Milgram’s study shows that some people did not obey (14/40 participants). Milgram did not take into account all of these participants who did not obey and perhaps why they didn’t obey with the majority of the participants. This suggests that there are individual differences and people do obey at different rates and this varies between cultures.  Comment: This suggests that findings are generalised to others which can lead to invalid and inaccurate assumptions. One needs to consider the individual behaviour in order to make sound conclusions. It is wrong to make assumptions about what people may do in a particular situation as this could vary between people. However, it does provide useful and valuable findings about why the Germans behaved the way they did during the Holocaust.

Reflection: Do you agree?  Ethnocentrism is as much of a concern today as it was in the past. Learning Intentions:  Outline ethnocentrism  Describe two piece of research that are ethnocentric  Discuss the strengths and limitations of ethnocentrism in research  Explore to what extent ethnocentrism is useful in research.