by Summary:
Clearly, humans are in many ways very similar – we share the same physiology and have the same basic needs, such as nourishment, safety and sexuality. So what effect can culture really have on the fundamental aspects of our psyche, such as perception, cognition and personality? Let’s take a look at the evidence so far. Experimental psychologists typically study behaviour in a small group of people, with the assumption that this can be generalised to the wider human population. If the population is considered to be homogeneous, then such inferences can indeed be made from a random sample. However, this isn’t the case. Psychologists have long disproportionately relied on undergraduate students to carry out their studies, simply because they are readily available to researchers at
Topics:
Mike Norman considers the following as important: applied statistics, cognitive psychology, cultural bias
This could be interesting, too:
Clearly, humans are in many ways very similar – we share the same physiology and have the same basic needs, such as nourishment, safety and sexuality. So what effect can culture really have on the fundamental aspects of our psyche, such as perception, cognition and personality? Let’s take a look at the evidence so far. Experimental psychologists typically study behaviour in a small group of people, with the assumption that this can be generalised to the wider human population. If the population is considered to be homogeneous, then such inferences can indeed be made from a random sample. However, this isn’t the case. Psychologists have long disproportionately relied on undergraduate students to carry out their studies, simply because they are readily available to researchers at
Topics:
Mike Norman considers the following as important: applied statistics, cognitive psychology, cultural bias
This could be interesting, too:
Clearly, humans are in many ways very similar – we share the same physiology and have the same basic needs, such as nourishment, safety and sexuality. So what effect can culture really have on the fundamental aspects of our psyche, such as perception, cognition and personality? Let’s take a look at the evidence so far.
Experimental psychologists typically study behaviour in a small group of people, with the assumption that this can be generalised to the wider human population. If the population is considered to be homogeneous, then such inferences can indeed be made from a random sample.
However, this isn’t the case. Psychologists have long disproportionately relied on undergraduate students to carry out their studies, simply because they are readily available to researchers at universities. More dramatically still, more than 90% of participants in psychological studies come from countries that are Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic (W.E.I.R.D). Clearly, these countries are neither a random sample nor representative for the human population.
Last evening I was reflecting on how silly this approach is. Not just statistics either. It lies at the foundation of the assumption that Western liberalism is "natural" as well as the assumptions about "natural law" that abound in Western thinking and form the basis for Western values.
In Logic 101, this is called the informal fallacy of hasty generalization. It also involves the moralistic fallacy. In psychology, it is a blend of cognitive biases, e.g., confirmation and anchoring bias.
In other terms, this approach to supposedly fact-based reasoning is fallacious and persisting in holding incorrect assumptions is irrational.
This is the Achilles hell of liberal internationalism, liberal interventionism, and liberal globalization. Paradoxically, it is also illiberal.
How knowledge about different cultures is shaking the foundations of psychology
Nicolas Geeraert | Senior lecturer, University of Essex
See also
Roger Farmer's Economic Window
Ergodicity
Roger Farmer | Distinguished Professor of Economics at UCLA
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Information Transfer Economics
Ergodicity!Jason Smith
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Brad DeLong | Professor of Economics, UCAL Berkeley